January 26, 2004
Dirty Chinese Food...

Just what have I gotten myself into this weekend.

Anyhow, I got out to lunch on Sunday, to one of those little Chinese restauraunts. It being the first weekend of the new year and all, here's a stuff going on in Chinatown this Sunday, even though it's quite cold outside, there's still a lot of banging drums, lion dances, and people throwing oranges, lettuce and firecrackers. So the way it's supposted to work is that the lion is like a spirit, that can bring you both fortune and calamity. So you want it to come by, but if it does come in front of your business, you have to appease it to make it go away, thus the organges, which are rather golden colored, and the lettuce which is green. Gold and green... Hmm. I think that lion would be asking for some money. Now the troop generally responsible for the lion is a kung fu studio, and there's various people following the lion around holding banners proclaiming some benevolent civic organization. Being students at the kung fu studio, they look like kind of rather large burly gangster types. And they're banging on drums, and going from door to door and they won't go away till you give them somthing. Now I'm not too familiar with exactly what the tradition is behind this whole thing, because it sounds like some sort of extortion to me.

So we get into the restaurant and sit down. Being one of those chinese cafes, and it being really cold outside I decide for a cheap bowl of hot soup. Not realizing completely what I was saying, or realizing that my Cantonese was so bad. I pointed at what I thought was a bowl of noodle soup, with stewed beef-steak on it. The person ordering it pointed out that she was surprised that I liked that. I think the Cantonese word I was going to use was "Gnow Nam Mien", I think I said "Au Ah Mien." Unfortunately somehow she interpreted it as wanting stewed beef entrails (that's stomach, tendon, lungs, and some other quite undesirable parts of the cow). I don't know if it was a compliment to be called "Dirty Chinese Food" for ordering but looking back at it was kind of funny. Then again when the soup arrived, it was exactly as described. Pretty much inedible, so I picked out all the random cow parts, eh... gawds. Blech...

So I know my Chinese is bad enough to get you in trouble when you can't tell the difference between what you're ordering between Cantonese and Mandarin. I suppose if I was in Taiwan, the same exact thing would have been called "Niu You Min" essentially beef and noodle soup. Maybe I should have been like my Canadian friend, who always seems to order the same thing, roast duck over rice, with vegetables. Can't go wrong with the roast duck.

Friday Night's recipe for those interested is attached:

So after inviting a different group of people over friday night and seeing that because of the mad cow scare, the price for porterhouse steaks is more reasonable. I'm decide to make a waldorf salad.

Oh, and although we weren't making the steaks with as much alcohol, this weekend, the chef, still manages to get flames licking up from my stove. I'll sautee the same thing, but his onions always end up carmelized and a little bit sweeter than mine.

Salad:
Leaf Spinach
Feta Cheese
Raisins
Sliced Almonds
Golden Delicious apples
Oranges
Dressing consisting of Balsamic Vinegar, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and Sugar

Steaks - Broiled with Salt and Black Pepper.

Au Gratin Potatoes -
5 lbs potatoes
2 Onions.
Cheddar Cheese
1 cup of whipping cream
1 cup of milk
1 cup of butter
2 tablespoons of flour.

Bake for 2 hours till tender (okay the combination of cream, butter, and cheese, plus the potatoes, won't make it either on the low fat, or the low carb diets)

Foccatia, French Bread.
Ricotta Cream Spread
1st quality Ricotta Cheese
Whipping Cream
Salt
Chill and serve with a dollop of Olive oil on top.

Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel

Dark Chocolate Mousse

Posted by justin at January 26, 2004 12:02 PM
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