Wok Fusion Flavor

The chopstick expert, Wei Jane Chir, 55, explains, there is right way and a wrong way to use these simple yet elegant utensils.

“Westerners sometimes hold their chopsticks too low or too high,” says Chir, a Taiwan native who is also the artistic director and designer of the International Chinese Culinary Competition.

“Chopsticks should be used as if they were an extension of your arm. Proper use of chopsticks shows that you have education and good manners.”

Indeed, watching Chir maneuver chopsticks while eating food at the Radiance Tea House (158 W. 55th St.; 212-217-0442) is like watching an artist paint. With her slender right hand she deftly works the retractable stainless steel sticks she always keeps in her purse, grasping even the smallest grain of rice.

Chir demonstrates the proper way to hold chopsticks, by resting the lower stick on the ring finger and the gap between the thumb and the index finger, then gripping the second chopstick with the index finger and thumb. The bottom chopstick does not move while the top one is manipulated by the index finger.

“Using chopsticks keeps the brain in shape,” says Chir, an upper West Side resident who owns at least 36 pairs of chopsticks. “More than 100 nerves and muscles have to work in order to use the chopsticks. There is scientific research that shows people who use chopsticks are less likely to get Alzheimer’s disease.”

Chopsticks originated in China more than 4,000 years ago. According to Chir, the ruling class originally made their chopsticks out of bronze, which turned out to be poisonous, so they switched to silver and ivory. The working class most often made their chopsticks out of wood, which is more common in north China, or bamboo, more common in the south.

For Chir, the beauty of chopsticks, which are used not only in China but Japan, Korea and Vietnam, lies in their versatility. They can be used for whisking, pulling, clamping, digging, cutting and, of course, picking up various sumptuous items of food.
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While many people think of Chinese food as a greasy takeaway option, celebrity chef Ching-He Huang is on a mission to sell its everyday, healthier side

Q: You grew up in Taiwan, came to South Africa as a girl and moved with your family to the UK as a teenager, where you are now based. Do influences from all these countries reflect in your cooking?

A: Not so much South African cuisine but I draw from my mother’s improvising skills when she cooked us Chinese meals in South Africa, especially when it was so hard to find Chinese ingredients. I have very loving memories of South Africa because it was my first encounter with Western food, so trying things such as avocado, yoghurt, mielie pap, biltong, ostrich, boerewors . it was such a food adventure for me as a young child.

My cooking now is a blend of my favourite dishes, whether Taiwanese, British-Chinese, Cantonese, Sichuanese or Eastern Chinese. I like to share dishes I think are a joy to cook and eat, and of course that are accessible to the Western kitchen. I have managed to keep my identity, culture and heritage through cooking Chinese. For that I’m grateful because as a teenager growing up in UK, all I wanted to do was fit in but cooking has meant I have been able to keep my “Chinese-ness”.

Q: Have you ever been back to South Africa?

A: Yes, I was back in 2008 for the Sunday Times Food Show. It was great fun and good to be back. I miss the warmth, sunshine and a good braai.

Q: Many people only consider Chinese food a greasy takeaway option. How do you go about changing this perception?

A: Chinese “fast food” is very different from home-style cooking, which is much lighter and healthier. At home, soups, stir-fries and steamed dishes are cooked more often than deep fried dishes. You also use fresh ingredients and can see exactly what you are putting into your food, which makes you eat more consciously. So my recipes try to reflect the diversity of Chinese food, traditional dishes and regional dishes so people can appreciate that Chinese food is not just served in a takeaway.
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Join doctor of Chinese medicine Henry Jun Wah Lee and holistic chef Vicky Valencia for an evening of food and learning in Pasadena on Thurs., Sept. 23 at 6:30 p.m. There will be tasty (and healthful) dishes to sample, practical recipes you can use, and enlightening information on how to stay healthy in the coming months, drawing from principles of Chinese medicine.

Besides being a TCM doctor, Lee is a licensed acupuncturist, medical qigong instructor and Eastern nutritionist with private practices in Pasadena and Venice. Valencia is a holistic chef who received her training from the Kushi Institute, a renowned macrobiotic educational and healing center in Massachusetts. She privately cooks and teaches in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Mexico City.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the lungs and colon are the most susceptible organs affected by the fall season, according to Lee. This is a time when imbalances related to these organs–including allergies, asthma, colds, constipation, dry skin and wrinkles, and sadness and grief– appear or worsen. To combat these conditions, Lee and Valencia have come up with this “energizing and stabilizing” grain-based soup.

In the following recipe, millet and pumpkin seeds counter dry conditions by lubricating and strengthening the lungs and colon, Lee says. Squash contains beta-carotene, which boosts immune system function and protects the lungs and colon against colds and the flu.

The class will be held at 74 N. Fair Oaks Blvd. in Pasadena. The cost is $25 and includes cooking ingredients and recipes. Call (323) 540-4180 for more information or to sign up. Class is limited to 15 people.

Millet-Corn Chowder with Sweet Squash
From: Chinese medicine doctor Henry Lee and holistic chef Vicky Valencia
Note: Kombu is a seaweed available at Asian markets and at Whole Foods.
Serves: 4
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We hear about China all the time in the news. It has one of the richest and longest literary histories in the world. It’s a huge and changing country, and there are a million books out there to enjoy. In order to help us understand China, join the China Challenge!

The challenge will last a year and a day, from September 1, 2009-September 1, 2010.

Audio books are fine, as are books for all age levels. If you want ideas of things to read, just click on the “China” tag at the end of this post to see a bunch of my previous reviews of all sorts of books about China.

There are several levels to choose from:

Armchair Traveler:

Read 1 book about China. I’m defining this pretty loosely, but the majority of the action should take place in China. For the sake of ease, places such as Hong Kong, Macau, Tibet, and Taiwan count.

Fast Train to Shanghai:

Read 5 books about China

1 should be a translated work of fiction by a Chinese author (or not translated if you have the language skills.) I will make exceptions for Chinese authors that also write in English– their English works are fine.

1 should be nonfiction
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Facebook fans of Panda Express are furiously downloading coupons for free SweetFire™ Chicken Breast from this buffet, chain Chinese food restaurant.

Panda Express promises “all-white meat chicken, fresh red bell peppers, diced onions and juicy pineapples, wok-tossed to perfection in our zesty sweet chili sauce,” but abstains from advising that it is not part of their new “WOK SMART” dish, and rightly so, as indulging in Panda Express SweetFire Chicken Breast might not be such a good idea.

Panda Express clearly states that the SweetFire Chicken Breast is 440 calories and is based on a 2,000 calorie a day diet. Panda Express “WOK SMART” dishes all claim to be less than 250 calories per serving.

However, the serving size is 5.8oz and 5.8oz of Panda Express SweetFire Chicken Breast is a smidgen over one cup. I don’t know about you, but I eat way more than one cup of food, and if you’re hitting a buffet, more than likely, you’re going to get a plateful of extras, to not only fill the plate, but to get your money’s worth.
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The overwhelming majority of so-called Chinese restaurants in North America are derived specifically from Cantonese cooking. Dim sum is exclusively Cantonese. Of a culinary tradition that has evolved in diverse geological and cultural settings within China’s borders for over 5,000 years, what we are able to taste now is only an oily drop in a bucket.

Same story with the next most popular regional style, Shanghainese food. Shanghai is only one city on the East coast. Its cookings style, while bearing unique flourishes of its own, is a subset of Huaiyang cuisine, which developed in the area between the Huai and Yangtze rivers on the Eastern seaboard.
What it Should be

Chinese food is both highly scientific and pragmatic—food is food, so it should be judged on nutritional content and taste. The standard measure for a good dish is color, aroma, taste, and cut.

The five major regional styles of Chinese food are Sichuan cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Dongbei (Northeastern) cuisine, and Shandong cuisine. All styles adhere to the principles of yin-yang theory in their ingredient selection and preparation methods. In traditional Chinese medicinal manuals, the five colors and five aromas in food correspond to the health of five major bodily organs. Therefore eating certain foods aided the treatment of specific health problems.
Presentation is Secondary

The Chinese know how to cook and certainly know how to eat, so why is Chinese cuisine so lacking in critical acclaim?
Of Zagat Guide 2009′s top ten restaurants in New York City, six are French, three are contemporary American, and one is Japanese.

“There’s absolutely no Chinese [on the list],” said Lei Xi, producer of the upcoming 2009 New Tang Dynasty Television’s International Chinese Culinary Competition in New York. “Why is Japanese food regarded so highly? It’s because it is somehow matched with Westerners’ understanding of presentation. It’s got small portions, it’s delicate. That style of presentation matches the French high cuisine concept.”

In Chinese food, “presentation” and the cooking process is intimately linked. Take for example stir fries. “After stir fry, how the chef lands the food on the plate is an art in and of itself,” said Xi. “Sometimes they literally throw it. Once it lands on the plate, you can’t touch it. You can’t do what a French chef would do—tweak it or top it with a mint leaf. It has to be eaten right then and there.”

By Christine Lin. Read more on this article.

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For soups, you can go white wines and go rich. Hot and sour, won ton, spicy ginger.

Not surprisingly, whites worked better than the reds. The sweet German riesling that I pulled from my cellar easily handled the hot and sour, its sweetness acting as the ideal foil to the heat of the chilies. It received a thumbs-up from everyone, including our German guest May’Britt, who confided in me earlier that she hates German wine. Hah! Another convert.

But the real surprise was that the wine that worked best with all three soups was a Californian chardonnay: high alcohol, loads of oak and so buttery that we nicknamed it “the fatty.” A wine that I figured would be a write-off wins round one.

Dumplings with peanut butter sauce and spring rolls: rich whites, fresh and fruity reds

Whether the richness came from the peanut-butter sauce served with the dumplings or the oil that cooked the spring rolls, the best wines were the same. Again, the German riesling, with its sweetness and acidity proved to match the richness while providing enough acidity to refresh. Our gewurztraminer wasn’t totally out of place, though it was a touch too aromatic. “Fatty,” again, was surprisingly good.
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Mexican macaroni and Chinese carrots were returned back to the State of California which part of a food giveaway in the Central Valley.

The Community Food Bank distributed the food in Mendota about on August 25th at a giveaway attended by Fresno Congressman Jim Costa. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer joined Costa, and he noticed that some of the food came from China.

Local leaders got angry, since many of the people receiving food have lost jobs in the food industry.

See more video about this story.

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Malaysia has a rich food history, offering exotic delights with a touch of spice. Try these simple recipes to bring a taste of Asia to your dining table. Malaysian cuisine is a tempting potpourri of Malay, Indonesian, Indian, Chinese and Sri Lankan foods. The style of cooking is similar to Indonesian where spices are ground to a paste with a pestle and mortar and stir-fried to bring out the flavor. In addition, Portuguese explorers brought their own ingredients and cooking techniques to Malaysia in the 16th century, adding further appeal to a range of exotic dishes.
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It’s supper-time, and you’re sitting down to a take-out meal — a double cheeseburger with fries and a Coke.
The damage? Roughly 1,000 calories.
On the other side of the world, a Chinese family is having a light breakfast of home-made dumplings and white rice.
Note the difference? I did.
You hear it all the time; The differences between Western food and Chinese food are vast. Well, after my overseas adventure, I’ve come home with the knowledge to crack this myth open.

As it happens, real Chinese food, (as opposed to chicken balls and fortune cookies), is about three-million times better for you than anything we eat here, for the most part, anyway. It’s a sad and inconvenient truth, but it’s the truth nonetheless.

That isn’t to say that everything they eat in China is 100 per cent healthy; it just doesn’t ever leave you with a feeling like you’re going to have a stroke immediately after consumption (a problem I sometimes face after eating our greaseladen food).

To put it lightly, the food in China is vastly, almost infinitely, different from what we Canadians are used to. Not only is the food there about a million times less greasy and fattening, but it all comes in much smaller portions, as well.

Dinner, most of the time, consisted of plain white rice, stew, steamed vegetables, and some kind of chicken or beef dish. And it was all delicious! Well, most of it was, anyway. I can’t say I was totally nuts about everything, (You can just imagine my surprise when my Chinese buddy offered me her version of chicken fingers, gnarled claws and all, or the look on my friend’s face when she found an entire chicken’s talon in her soup), but to each their own, I suppose.
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Most travelers to Beijing will stick close to the well-beaten paths of the Forbidden City and Wangfujing Street. For those lucky enough to visit Beijing on a second trip or have more time to spend in the city after seeing the Great Wall, I offer some interesting alternative suggestions:

Attend a service at Chongwenmen Church. The Chongwenmen Church is one of the largest Christian Protestant churches in Beijing. Many foreigners who visit Beijing end up seeing the Catholic Church at Wangfujing Street, but the Chongwenmen church is smaller and more intimate. President Clinton attended services here when he visited Beijing in 1998. Although a little difficult to find, the church warmly welcomes foreign guests and offers earphones to listen to an English translation of the service. Most interestingly, is seeing the number of Chinese congregants who arrive at the church as early as 6:00 am in hopes of getting a seat. You won’t know it but more people are sitting in the basement to watch the services via television.

Souvenir shopping at Lost & Found. Skip the mob scene that is known as the Silk Market and head to this small gift shop, located not far from the Yonghegong Lama Temple. The store offers unique t-shirts and vintage items such as old pencil boxes that were used by Chinese children. For those who are looking for one-of-a-kind gifts, this is the place to shop.

Take a cooking class. ChunYi Zhou offers small cooking classes in a hutong specializing in Guangzhou and Sichuan style dishes. Participants have commented that they learned more about Chinese cuisine after taking these hands-on classes. In addition to making food, an alternative “market tour” takes participants to local shops and vendors to introduce ingredients and spices that are vital to making Chinese food. All classes are taught in English.
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Epicurean adventures into five Chinese provinces await World Showcase travelers at the 250-seat Nine Dragons Restaurant where servers from China enjoy interacting with guests. (Placemats are a conversation starter with Chinese writing symbols and their evolution through centuries.)

The menu showcases authentic Chinese cuisine, but with a lighter, contemporary touch. You can still order traditional appetizers such as pot stickers and eggrolls, but a favorite is the Dioa Yu Tai cucumber salad, with a light spice and sweet-and-sour vinaigrette. Or the crisp shrimp and taro “lollipops,” deep-fried and served on a stick.

Entrées range from traditional such as fried rice, sweet and sour chicken and kung pao chicken, but more contemporary Asian fare include peppery shrimp with spinach noodles, spit-roasted Beijing chicken with mashed taro and a mix-and-match noodle sampler.
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I keep many different types of rice on my pantry shelves: lots of basmati (both white and brown), medium-grain brown rice, red rice from Bhutan and Chinese black “forbidden” rice, which is really purple. Dig deeper into the back shelves, and you’ll find starchy Spanish rice, Italian arborio rice (for risotto) and jasmine rice from Thailand.

Rice has a long storage life — indeed, in some cultures older rice, such as basmati, is prized. But like flour, rice will attract grain moths if left sitting around for too long, and I like to get to it before they do.

Rice is a thoroughly sustaining food. According to Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid in “Seductions of Rice,” a beautiful, well researched survey of rice traditions around the world , “Rice has the highest protein digestibility and energy digestibility among all the staple foods.” In most rice-consuming cultures, rice is supplemented with vegetables and legumes, small amounts of meat and fish, and oil.

I don’t share the current national aversion to white rice. True, nutritionists prefer brown rice because the high fiber content slows down the carbohydrate absorption rate. But you can get the same benefit by combining rice with high-fiber vegetables and legumes.
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In his masterly book, “The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea” (The Penguin Press, $25.95), master tea blender Michael Harney says that from the original six teas carried by his family’s business, which were doubtless mostly blends at the time, they now sell over 300. In 1988, after a career in France with the venerable brandy firm Camus Cognac, Harney joined his father’s tea company as buyer and blender. Harney’s book offers a more succinct overview of the history of tea, and instead delves into the intricacies of tasting tea. He divides the six basic categories of tea (white, green, oolong, yellow, black and puerh) into eight chapters: White, Chinese Green Teas, Japanese Green Teas, Oolong Teas, Yellow Teas, Chinese Black Teas, what he dubs British Legacy Black Teas (Darjeeling, Nilgiri, Assam, Ceylon, Kenyan and British Black tea blends), and Puerhs. Harney explains his five-step tasting guide, and for each tea profiled in each chapter, he offers detailed descriptions of the teas and extensive tasting notes.

How would I compare these two books? They are both excellent and should be part of your tea library. Indeed, they could be your tea library, and you would have all the information you would ever need. The best way to compare them then is to say that while “The Story of Tea” brings to life the tea gardens, culture and personalities of the tea-growing world, and most importantly the teas themselves, making the reader not only want to immediately make tea but also to get on a plane bound for China, India or Ceylon, reading “The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea” is like taking a master class from a master buyer/blender. If God is in the details, Harney’s book is a holy manifesto indeed. Like the best wine writers, he has a gifted way of describing the flavors in the cup, such as this comparison of Chinese and Japanese green teas: “Compared with the darker, more mouth-filling Japanese green teas, Chinese greens have the gentler vegetal flavors of steamed leeks, green beans, or bok choy. And where Japanese greens have no sugariness, Chinese greens have charming sweet notes of cooked carrots, jasmine, and sometimes a subtle hint of honey.”
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Sometimes restaurants just seem so easy. For those who seek more of a challenge from their dining experience, Hong Kong offers private kitchens — restaurant “speakeasies” in unlicensed spaces. The best private kitchens tend to boast the a set of rules that heighten their aura of exclusivity:

1. Seating is available only by reservation through an unlisted telephone number at least a week in advance.
2. A minimum of 10 to 12 people is required per reservation.
3. The establishment consists of just two or three private dining rooms in an otherwise non-descriptive building.
4. The chef will confer with you in advance on likes, dislikes and budget for a prix-fixe sharing menu.
5. Only cash is accepted.
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I really liked this picture so I wanted to share it with you. Here is an interest picture of Chinese food lego style.

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A summer trip to China resulted in quarantine for students from South Florida. (Facebook.com / June 13, 2009)

Nine South Florida high school students have hit the streets of Beijing again after a weeklong quarantine in a Chinese hotel, according to one of their fathers.

Chinese officials released the group around 11:30 a.m. Monday in Beijing, which is 12 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Officials feared they had come in contact with someone on their flight who carried the H1N1 swine flu virus.

“They’re on the road again. They’re happy,” said Freddy Aquino, who spoke to his 17-year-old son, Malcolm Aquino, of Plantation, after his release.

After the students were detained last week, they coped with days of boredom and heat in a hotel where the air conditioning was turned off to prevent any germs from circulating. But they had fun, too, said Darien Morrison, 16, a student at College Academy at Broward College.

“It’s really not bad at all. Parents make it seem like it’s horrible,” Morrison wrote, adding the students were given pizza, DVDs, Internet access and large water guns to play with.

By Alexia Campbell, Juan Ortega and Missy Diaz.
Read the entire thread from the South Florida Sun Sentinel

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Take a look at some movie talking or having to do with Chinese food in them by click on each link below.  When you go to each of these web pages, click on the video picture to see a quick and short preview of the movie. The video clips will not be available for a few of the movies listed here.

A Christmas Story (1983)

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

My Life as McDull (2001)

Rice Rhapsody (2004)

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One of the most popular cuisines in The United States can be one of the healthiest if the food choices are made wisely.

Sodium content is often high but with planning can be reduced.

The size of the portions of Chinese food is often large, so try asking for a doggy bag upfront and putting some of the food away for another meal. Removing some of the food before you start eating will reduce your chances of overdoing it.

Also, you should try sharing the larger portions with your dining companions to make more appropriate portion sizes.

Ask the server if you can order a child size entrée. That will also reduce the volume of food you receive to a more manageable level.

Best Picks
1. Choose main courses with mostly vegetables and steamed rice.
2. Pick chicken instead of duck.
3. Avoid or try to eat very small quantities of the crispy fried noodles.
4. Ask that your food be prepared with less oil, soy sauce and salt.
5. Ask that your food be prepared without the MSG.
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If you can’t find a place to eat, here’s a brief list of places for you to visit before you go out with friends and family. Try out the following websites for great eating places in your local area: 1) Chowhound, 2) OpenTable, 3) Yelp, and 4) Zagat, You even make reservations when you travel around from city to city when you use Opentable.

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