Showing posts with label chinese food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chinese food. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

TANG

As we successfully manage to just completely skip fall the way Foxy Brown manages to just completely skip court appearances, we begin to head into hibernation season, and my thoughts inevitably begin to drift to the warm, comforting, motherly aspects of Chinese cuisine. Particularly, I dream of soup, which also happens to be my last name in Mandarin (tang, but pronounced tong). Like all aspects of Chinese cuisine, tang is widely varied - from the ultimate decadence of the south, shark fin tang, to watery peasant tang; sweet dessert tang with tapioca and taro, to weirdly bitter herbal medicinal tang. Tang is so pivotal that the Cantonese serve it both at the start and end of a meal. Most Cantonese restaurants in Chinatown serve both complimentary house tang and dessert tang. If you are not getting it (probably because you are not Chinese) you are missing out, and should ask your waiter for it.

Fish Ball Tang, one of my favorites.


Chicken Curry Noodle Tang




There are also those lovely little delectable tang dumplings, which are really not considered tang at all, and actually literally translates into "little dragon buns (more or less accurate). But because i love them so much, be so kind as to entertain me and pretend that they too are tang. Since so many people seem to have difficulty mastering the art of eating these little devils, i provide here my very own Food Genius trademarked pictorial tutorial:

First, pick up your chosen darling with extra care (if you pierce the skin it's all over), preferably ones with crab meat inside:



Next, tenderly bathe chosen dumpling in the vinegar and ginger provided, and delicately place it on your spoon. Puncture the skin ever so slightly so that you can carefully slurp up the broth inside, like so:




Finally, gobble down the remainder of the dumpling, and hope that you haven't just burned off all your taste buds, because that would be a damn shame for the rest of the meal:


It's not easy to find little dragon buns here like the kind they have in Shanghai or Taiwan, but I am always relatively pleased at Joe's Shanghai on Pell Street. It's also always a fun kitschy stop in Chinatown, especially since you sit family style with random strangers. When I went last year with some friends, we were seated with some clueless tourists and some equally clueless hipster boys.


Even though these dudes (there were four of them) were hipsters and clearly from some part of Williamsburg, I was shocked at the fact that they only ordered two bins of dumplings and nothing else. I wonder what they thought of us four girls when we had our own two bins, plus:

Duck



Clams


Fried Noodles



And My favorite Chinese vegetable - kong qing cai


Plus we had way more Tsingtao then all of them.


SUCKAAAS!!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

A Berry Chinatown Birfday

To mark my entrance into my early mid-twenties, I decided this year that I wanted a proper celebration, complete with an authentic Chinese banquet dinner and all. Fittingly, I dragged some of my nearest and dearest to 8th Ave. Seafood Restaurant, in one of Brooklyn's Chinatowns (at 4418 8th Avenue). This is a restaurant that my mom's friend Ding Ding owns - very authentic, and very Cantonese. I knew it was the perfect choice when we walked in because every single head in that restaurant turned around to unabashedly stare (staring is a proud Chinese national sport), looking like they'd never seen WHITE PEOPLE before. Who knows, maybe they hadn't. Me and 14 whiteys - god what a sight!

Ding Ding was really nice to have accommodated my request for a mix of "stuff we like and stuff that's not too weird that Americans would like. Oh and also some vegan dishes for those geniuses among us who decided that was the best way to live life." Here is what he came up with:

The starter plate:

Cold Jelly Fish (one of my favorite appetizers - crispy and squishy all at once) with squid and fried pork chops. We had some trouble with the less adventurous eaters with this one. They didn't know what they were missing.


Ally is thinking "Would a Russian eat this? Probably." God knows what Darius is thinking. He's probably been just reminded of some horror in Shihezi.

Fish and Chinese Vegetables

You can see the really yummy starter soups in the background.

Prawns with Broccoli and Walnuts in a creamy sweet sauce

A very Cantonese dish, this was a big hit.

Pickled Turnips and Carrots with something I can't remember. Was it is eel or fish?


More Fish, but sauteed with vegetables - tender like a baby's butt.


Lobster with Garlic and Scallion (in Shell)


Sauteed Chinese Vegetable


"Pork Chop with Champan Style"


Fried Tofu


Fried Noodles (all vegan!!)

The freshly made noodles are a must have for Chinese birthdays. The long noodles represent longevity, and you're not supposed to break them otherwise you will not live a long life. Long like the noodles.

Rack of Veal with Black Bean Sauce


Fried Rice

Even with so much other food, I always have room for some good fried rice.

Sebastian and Nils - all the way from Germany!




Even with 15 of us we didn't do a very good job at finishing our plates. If my mom had been there no one would have been allowed to leave until every last morsel was gone. "Just one more bite!" I tried to play that role, but it didn't work out so well.

Chinese Birthday Buns (with lotus)



I made Darius study the bill since, you know, he was the only one of us who could read Chinese. *Sigh.

Pure Overeaten Joy

I couldn't have imagined a better way to turn 24. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Friday, January 05, 2007

Holiday Eating Wrap-Up

SO it's 8 o'clock right now, and I'm still at work trying to get shit done. Actually, I'm sitting at my desk thinking about how I still need to pack for my trip to Argentina, which I leave for tonight at 3:00 a.m., and I suddenly realize that I haven't shared my holiday eating adventure with everyone. What shame! Here are some highlights:

CHRISTMAS DAY: Chinatown meandering with Mom and Hans

We had some Shanghainese dim sum at the place next to the gigantic Cantonese dim sum place in Chinatown (there was a private party)


Taro cake


Hans enjoys some delicious Oil Sticks - Chinese churros, really


Some real Chinatown kids, unlike us fake suburban Chinese!


Egg tarts from "Egg Tart King"

CHRISTMAS DINNER: PEI FAMILY STYLE (selected highlights)
You know, Christmas used to be such a novelty, funny cause no one in my whole extended family was Christian (though my grandfather was Muslim, and so is my uncle). Now all the sudden there's at least 3 - 4 of them! Someone explain that one to me.


Aunt # 4, #5, and #1 (L-R)


Simmering whole fish in garlic. Mouthwatering.


Beef sauteed with dried tofu, peppers, and scallions


A Taiwanese dish - tofu skin wrapped around taro and chicken liver. People in Taiwan used to make this dish out of leftovers when guests came over unannounced. Trick them into thinking it's fresh!


Pig's feet. Yes, pig's feet.


Jellyfish


Some kind of fresh special shrimp that melted in your mouth. This was my favorite of the night.


Crab with Sticky Rice.


Tofu with Crab meat.


Red Bean yum yum cake


Tiramisu Cake


Uncle #5 made Chinese soy dessert. It's kind of like silky sweet tofu-pudding.


Mochi


Cyrena's vegan ginger cookies.





There were a ton more dishes...



Thanks Aunt #4!!