2009年11月12日

Shoes to Wear in The Kitchen

Every cook we know is in endless pursuit of the perfect cooking shoe. I'm keeping search for the cosy anti-water shoes that I could wear in the kitchen that are easily washed clean.

As we enter the house through the kitchen door and take off the kitchen shoes and wear slippers about the house. Carpet is as white and pure as before.So we don't often wear the same shoe in the kitchen and the bedroom since kitchen is a place with water and besmirch. But what do you wear in the kitchen? Slippers that anti-water ? I sometimes wear Crocs shoes, i find it not bad for walking in the kitchen area.

Crocs shoes is really a great design and invention, it give me a great choic for walking in the rain days, and also it solved my kitchen shoe choice problem.

Check my Shoe Zone blog for more info.

Cotton in the Kitchen

Cotton collection in the your kitchen add function and flair. They are at home in the kitchen and not just as the cottonseed oil found in products ranging from potato chips to salad dressing. Cotton lends itself easily to home textiles such as kitchen towels and aprons because it is a hollow fiber that readily accepts dyes and promotes comfort through breathability. Beyond these obvious uses for cotton, there are others that get right to the heart of any chef's culinary skills.

Cheesecloth, for example, can be used to clarify butter, strain homemade stock and, when soaked in a combination of broth or wine, butter and herbs, creates a rich lacquered effect on roasted poultry.

Similar to cheesecloth are spice bags. As the name implies, these can be used to hold spices when preparing dishes or sauces in which loose spices and herbs would create an undesirable texture. They are also ideal for steeping loose teas. The drawstring allows all the flavor of the bag's contents to infuse the dish or sauce, but keeps the solids contained. And, if you are frugal and environmentally conscious, they can be washed and reused.

An indispensable item in any kitchen is butcher's twine, sometimes called kitchen string. One roll should last the average cook from one Thanksgiving to the next. Butcher's twine can be used to tie roasts so that they keep their shape, to secure the legs of poultry for roasting and, when tied to a spice bag, makes retrieving the bag a breeze. The advantage of cotton here is that it won't taint the flavor of whatever it is bound to, unlike a synthetic-based twine.

To learn more, check my Cosy Cotton blog: Cosy Cotton for Your Home Cotton Collection


2009年5月31日

I Have Opened Two Wordpress Blogs

I quite like the wordpress, since it offers many freedom as to the template style and the widgets choice.

Mind Lost in Garden

Garden related ideas for relaxed lifestyle. Fresh air, nice mood, vivid color, go green…. enjoying life in a nice garden.

Chic Apparel and Love Changes You

Apparel Make the Women - Stay Chic. Color, Style, Fabric, Brands, it all counts. Be a Smart Lady. Sharing Your Happiness and Love Story. Life is Beautiful and you are beautiful.

2009年5月3日

I Don't Care, I Eat Pig Just as Usual

The swine flu has no sign of leaving us, it continues to generate horror feelings around those places where it has verified patient, like hongkong. People are wearing masks just like what we do in the "SARS" period.

The origin and cause of this new kind of viurs is still a mystery. It has makes pig under focus and people would unintentionally eat pig less even if been told by the govenment that it has nothing to do with pig acturally, and there is no dead pig beacause of this until now. When pigs catch up with this new flu virus, they will just endure it like a common flu, unlike humankind, who would be likely to die if go the hospital too late.

I still eat pig as usual, what can I do ? Eat fish everyday, or just be like a vegetarian? I happen to have a vegetable garden in my home. If pig could talk, they would have more complainment than us humans. There is one person that catch this new virus in Mexica, and than got hundreds of pig infected, the fate for these pigs are black.

There is great opportunities for the fish market and those fish dealers, but fish is a little tricky to handle in the kitchen, and nowadays, with water pullution, fish got some kind of smell which I can's describe. It needs many ginger or other condiment to rid off this smell sometimes.

2009年4月28日

Swine Flu Make Pig Under Focus in Mexican

I used to think pig meat is pretty safe to eat, at least when compared to beef or chicken. Never thought Swine flu desease would cause so much fuss in the world just like now. We Chinese eat the most pig meat than everywhere else, but we seem not too worried about this issue until now, the govenment are taking strict precedures to prevent such things happening and people are very calm, not in panic as I have seen.

Maybe because of that "SARS" experience, Chinese people and govenment are pretty composed when handling such public safety matter. The travelling plan to Mexico and America are banned, and those people who are taking similar trip have postphoned their travel plan recently. Pitty is those Chinese people who are already in Mexica city or those city with Swine flu discoved, they have to be strictly careful.

The Swine flu happens very suddenly and out of nowwhere, it's said to be a new kind of variation of virus, Or it's just rumor since when SARS horror was wildly spreading in China, the sars virus was decribed like a monster and deadly terrible, but in the end, people found out that it's not at all that terrible as people said, So it's possible that the Swine flu matter is some kind of panic caused by rumor, may not be that serious at all, Let's hope it will pass more quickly.

2009年4月20日

What to Eat in Wuxi

Different cities in China got its own unique eating culture and food delicacy. Sichuan food, for an example, is famous for its pepper ustage, Nanjing, the city where I live, people tend to eat the processed duck more often. So what about Wuxi city, where is a important travelling spot in Jiangsu province, China.

Wuxi diet is belongs to Su style and Suxi alliance which "four major systems and eight style of cooking alliance ", the taste is partial sweet. Best place of Taste Wuxi snack of traditional properties should be regarded as to the Chongan temple of Wuxi.

The traditional Wuxi foods are very sweet and savoury types of food, but there is a wide range of selection of western foods.In some alleys there are different kinds of foods on a stick, it is very poular with a lot of locals going.

Envelope the steamed bun
It is famous snack of Wuxi, has had a history of one hundred years. It is meticulous that it selects first-class flour, materials for use; the small cage is cooked, southern taste. Have characteristic of get up not broken skin, stand up and does not leak the bottom, suck and stew in soy sauce glibly, Steamed bun urgent ferment and skin thin, filling steamed plentiful, tender and delicious, at the autumn and winter, filling the heart go back to enter the boil familiar crab butter, famous " crabmeat little cage ", delicious food in taste.

Three kinds of delicacies wonton
It is originate from Xishan city east pavilion township among the people, develop into traditional famous snack in Wuxi. Wonton with fresh meat, Kaiyang, tuber, make the filling heart, so call "the three kinds of delicacies ". And make the soup by meat bone, bean cured strips, silk of egg as the condiments. The wonton of three kinds of delicacies that the cover is thin, fillings are many, the soup is delicious, is the most popular pastry liked by citizens in Wuxi.

What to Eat in Nanjing

I love the city where I lived for nearly 8 years now, which is Nanjing. Apart from me, many foreiners travelled to China would come to Nanjing and enjoyed its culture and atmosphere very much. It's a great city for living, not so modern and quick rythem like Shanghai, but more got more leisure, peace and green trees with it.

It's a city that pay more attention to the environment. You may notice this when you take a walk in the main street. There is various kinds of green trees everywhere, in some streets with long history, you may not need to worry about the sun damage problem in the deep summer, since the tree leave is so thick as to protect you from the terrible sunshine.

I like Naning, and I want to collect some information about dinning here for those who came here for the first time. Just name a few for your reference:

Duck Blood Soup
The name of this dish may sound odd to foreigners who might wonder how the blood and soup is combined. Actually Chinese people do eat the blood of duck, goose and chicken but in a unique way. They collect the blood of a freshly killed duck or goose and stir, then seal and refrigerate until ready to use. The result is blood cakes. The soup is seasoned with salt, pepper, and subtly spicy undertones. Simmer gently for several minutes and serve with eggs, noodles and caraway. This food is the top of all travelers' recommendations. The cheap stalls at Fuzimiao dining street sell the best at 3.5 yuan.

Gan Si (Shredded Bean-curd Sheets)
A refreshing cold dish made of Bean-curd sheets. The bean-curd sheets are cut finely into threads with seasoning of sauce, sesame oil and vegetables shreds of bamboo root, mushroom, chicken or meat. It has fine shreds and a tender taste. It can also be boiled in broth and served with other meat shreds.

Salted Soup Duck
Autumn in Nanjing is a season of scented osmanthus blossom and the best time to make the delicious Salted Soup Duck because ducks at this time are fat. The chef chooses well-bred ducks and smears salt and spice on them to add flavors. The spice ingredients are a secret. Then the spiced ducks are marinated in a sauce for two hours. Just before eating, the ducks are steamed. It should taste fragrant, crisp and tender. The best restaurant to taste it is Jinling Restaurant near Xinjiekou.

Pressed Duck
A legend goes that in China's Southern Dynasties (420 - 589) an emperor was besieged by enemies in the imperial city. Soldiers guarded the city and fought hard in bloody battles. Women made salted ducks and wrapped them with leaves to preserve the flavor. Ducks were packed into a large jar and delivered to the soldiers. When the soldiers unwrapped the ducks, they found the ducks pressed flat, thereby the name Pressed Duck.

2009年4月15日

Chinese Summer Snack - Cucumber Recipe

Now I feel it's so hard to eat fresh fresh cucumber like in the past when I was living in the villiages where I could easily get fresh cucumbers in the farmland.

We could only bought them in the supermarket or in the food market. You can imagine they are one days early picked at least since they have to be get packaged and transported, then finally get into your bowls.

The best way to eat vegetables is to grow them in the garden yourself. Cucumber is such a great vegetable that contain many Vatamin C and other benefitial elements.

Summer Ice Cream Time is Coming

One of the things I like about summer is that I could store in my fridge a big bowl of ice cream and taste them after a cool bath.

That feeling is great even though someone tell me that ice cream is making people fat. But I don't be afaid of anthing that have big calorie or fat since I was born a natural slim body. Friends says that my genes are so great that I can enjoy month happiness better than those people who are easiliy getting fat.

I thinks for my health, I would learn to make ice cream myself at home. DIY ice cream must be fun and can be more personalized and more healthy since you won't add any potential bag elements into it.

There is many tips for ice cream DIY, and I would contribute some of them in my later posts and won't say anything here today. Anyway, it require that you are a lady who loves kithen work and loves yummy food creation and most of all, not lazy at all. It may not be as easy as you think about, you can encounter many obstacles in the process.

2009年4月13日

Chinese Wonton as Amazing Appetizer

Wonton is a kind of traditional Chinese food. We can buy wonton easily from supermarkets, Or enjoy them easily at restaurants, or you can make them yourself at home.

The Choices: There’s a vatiety of choices such as the fried wonton, steamed wonton, wonton soup with pork and shrimp filling, crisp-burnt wontons, and the increasingly popular Vegetarian Wonton. There’s also…

The Ease of Preparation: Wontons are seasoned meat fillings wrapped in dough. Compared to the dumplings, they are very easily to made, don't required any techniques. You just put one seasoned meat or other inner ingredient into the thin flower piece and give it a grips to make it stick together, then it's ok to put into the pant.

Whether it’s in an evening snack, or for a delicious breakfast choice, wonton is a great way to fill the stomach or you could call it an enjoyment.