“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 According to Chir, the ruling class originally made their chopsticks out of bronze, which turned out to be poisonous, so they switched to silver and ivory.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.

But chopstick etiquette isn’t simply how to hold the chopsticks, it’s also what to do with them when they are no longer in use.

“It is very rude to cross chopsticks on your plate or suck on them or leave them sticking out of your bowl of rice,” says Chir, who insists that real chopsticks must be between 6 and 8 inches long unless they are primarily used for cooking. “When you are finished with your food, place the chopsticks next to each other so that they rest on top of the bowl. That’s the polite way to say you are finished.”

And, by no means, should New Yorkers ever point them at another person at the table, unless they’re looking for a fight.

“Chopsticks are an integral part of Chinese culture,” says Chir. “If you have a Chinese girlfriend and want to impress her mother, you have to learn proper chopstick etiquette.”

By Jacob E. Osterhout. Read the entire article.

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.

Q: Who taught you how to cook?

A: My grandmother influenced me a lot because I lived with her before my family moved to South Africa. Although I was very young, I grew up watching her in the kitchen cooking on her enormous wok and working her magic. In South Africa and the UK, my mother influenced and taught me. When I was 11, my mother started going away a lot for work and I was responsible in the kitchen, so I started young. It started as a necessity and I grew to love it.

Q: What are the cornerstones of Chinese cooking?

A: Chinese food is very much about sharing and giving. Food is a means of expression and, in China, the most common greeting is “Ni chi fan le meiyou?” which means “Have you eaten?” No matter which part of China you come from, everyone is united by this single bond – the passion for sharing good food.

Eating seasonally and with balance is also very important, understanding the balance of yin and yang energy in ingredients as well as in methods of cooking. The goal is to nourish the body with the right foods giving it the right energy it needs.

Q: One of the essentials of Chinese cooking is a wok. Which is the best to buy?

A: If you have an electric hob, use a flat-bottomed wok, but the best is to have a gas hob and either a flat-bottomed wok or round-bottomed (but you will need a wok ring to keep it stable). Woks come typically in two materials, carbon steel and cast iron. Carbon steel is lighter and, if you are a beginner, buy a non-stick one as it is easier to look after. However, when you are used to wok cooking, invest in an unseasoned carbon steel or cast-iron wok and create your own seasoning. It is healthier this way as some non-stick coating can be toxic if heated over 230°C.

Make sure you buy a wok light enough to handle for tossing the food. I like a 14-inch wok (cooks for a family of three to four) with a bamboo handle, so it’s easier to lift. With a wok, you can cook soups, braise, steam, shallow-fry, deep-fry and stir-fry, so it pays to invest in a good one.

Q: What are some essential store cupboard ingredients for Chinese cooking?

A: Light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, a good quality oyster sauce, Chinese five spice powder, toasted sesame oil, Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry). Use groundnut oil or vegetable oil for cooking.

Q: You have published three books, China Modern, Chinese Food Made Easy andChinese Food in Minutes. Out of all your recipes, is there one you go back to again and again?

A: There are so many I rely on! But if there is one, it would have to be my seafood congee.

Q: You are well known for your healthy touch to Chinese cooking. Share a traditional recipe that you have given a healthy makeover.

A: It would have to be my grandmother’s traditional zong zi or bamboo-wrapped rice dumplings. She used to use fatty belly pork and salted duck egg, fill the dumpling with raw rice, fried peanuts and the pork and egg yolk, then either boil or steam them for hours until the rice was cooked. I use cooked rice, seasoned and stir-fried. For the filling, I use lean chicken, stir-fried with Chinese mushrooms, five spice, soy and shallots, cashew nuts and then wrap them in the bamboo leaves so they are ready to eat. It takes half the time and is much healthier.

Q: MSG is something we are told to avoid yet the Chinese use liberal amounts of it in their cooking. Why?

A: MSG was not made in China. It is from Japan and was introduced to Chinese cooking. I don’t believe in its use because fresh ingredients have natural glutamates in them so it is not necessary to add it to food, especially if you use quality ingredients. When MSG is added, there is only one flavour profile and that is salty, whereas flavours should always be more balanced. Chinese food is subtle and the mixture of ingredients should give it layers of flavour.

By Hilary Biller. Read the article here.

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

½ cup millet, rinsed and drained
4-6 cups of water, depending on desired consistency
1 X 4″ to 1 x 6″ piece of kombu, soaked in water for 10 minutes until reconstituted
1 cup of fresh corn, removed from a single corn cob
1 small onion, diced
1 celery rib, diced
1 cup of half-inch cubed kobocha squash, or other sweet squash of choice (such as butternut)
½ tsp sea salt or 1-2 tbsp of white miso or brown rice miso, diluted in a small amount of water
1 tbsp sesame oil, or ¼ cup water for a water sauté

Soup garnish:

¼ cup roasted pumpkin seeds, rinsed and drained
a pinch of both shiso powder and nori flakes
1 scallion, thinly sliced

1. Heat oil or water in a 4-quart pot. Saute onions, celery, corn and salt for about three minutes, or until the vegetables are translucent. Add the millet, kombu and water. To create a quick stock, add the remaining corn cob to the pot, which will sweeten the dish. Bring to a boil, cover, place a flame deflector under the pot and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes.

2. Roast the pumpkin seeds on a medium to medium high flame, stirring constantly, for about eight to 10 minutes, until they turn golden brown. Remove from heat immediately by placing in a bowl.

3. After 30 minutes, remove the kombu from the soup. Then add the squash, sea salt and additional water if needed, and continue to cook until the squash is soft, about eight to 10 minutes. If you add miso instead of salt, add the diluted miso after the squash is cooked, and let it gently simmer for three to four minutes (be careful not to let it boil, which will destroy beneficial enzymes). Immediately remove pot from stove, garnish with the pumpkin seeds, scallion, shiso and nori, and serve.

By Samantha Bonar. Read this full article.

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

Hiking the Great Wall:

Read 10 books about China

1 should be a work of translated fiction

1 should be nonfiction.

Here you can read 1 book (but only 1) about Chinese immigration. So, stories of Chinese people abroad, or nonfiction about overseas Chinese communities.

Silk Road Trek:

Same as “Hiking the Great Wall,” but you also have to do (and blog about!) at least 3 of these other China-Related activities:

By Jennie. Read the entire article.

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.

Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken Breast Nutritional Facts. Assuming you get two serving spoons of Panda Express SweetFire Chicken– and by two serving spoons, you should be aware that Panda Express serving spoons are not spoonfuls, but are, in fact, large spoons, the likes of which is used to serve heaping portions of food — quickly — and this amounts to well over 880 calories, which is over 320 fat calories (it takes 10 minutes, running at a speed of at least 5 mph on a treadmill to burn off just 100 calories — just calories).

Now, Panda Express is a buffet. There’s a queue, you wait behind people and grow increasingly more hungry — and impatient — with each whiff of that pungent, Chinese food. You take a tray and wait to choose your food. Someone else serves you and now here is what happens: Panda Express SweetFire Chicken: two servings (880 calories); steamed rice: one serving (420 calories); mixed veggies: one serving (190 calories). Damage: 1,490 calories.

By Stefan Pinto. Read the article details.

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.

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.

And for the reds, our Beaujolais, a Moulin à Vent, was exceptional with the dumplings, and good with the spring rolls. Delicate flavours, not too rich and a great acidity seemed to contrast nicely, without overpowering the plates. All the other reds proved too powerful.

Those little spare ribs: dry and spicy whites, fresh and fruity reds

Just mention Chinese food to me, and these little meat candies come to mind. Glazed with honey, the sweetness dominates the palate. All the wines that had any sweetness, including my beloved German riesling and the New World reds, were simply gross.

What we began to notice was that when a wine didn’t work, it really didn’t work. I asked Lesley to send me her impressions of the evening afterward, and she hit the nail on the head when she wrote, “It’s interesting how a wine that is ill-suited to a French dish can still be enjoyed, whereas a poorly chosen wine with Chinese food clashes terribly.”

By Bill Zachariw. Read the entire food article.

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.

Unlike many Asian countries where desserts are often not served, Malays love rich sweet desserts often based on glutinous rice, sago, mung beans and bean flour. Coconut milk provides the richness, palm sugar adds sweetness and the pandanus leaf adds flavour. The latter is used in a similar way we use vanilla beans. Sweet spices such as cinnamon, cardamom and cloves flavor many desserts.

By Jan Bilton. Read more of this article.

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.

Some of the food was so absurdly different from what we’re used to in Canada that I was forced to take pictures just to prove to the people back home that it actually existed.

Fried milk is a good example.

We indulged in this delicacy on our first night in Beijing at a swanky restaurant downtown. Fried milk looks something like an over-sized Twinkie. It has a crispy, golden exterior and is about the width of your forearm. At my table, I was the first to take a bite of this crazy-looking dessert, (at least that’s what we thought it was!).

You’re meant to dip it in this sweet, delicious cream that tastes a little bit like melted Betty Crocker vanilla icing. I made sure to slather my fried milk in this sauce before taking a bite. Upon sinking my teeth into the strange food, my mouth was filled with a supremely creamy, gooey substance that almost seemed a little flavourless, (we gathered this was the milk), but the melted cream really made it sweet! Who knew something called fried milk could taste so good? It wasn’t just in the restaurants where we were met with strange foods. On the street, you could buy things like glazed, skewered apples and corn-cobs! In fact, they seemed to be a little obsessed with corn over there. You could buy these soft, unseasoned corn-cobs on every street corner, and you could spy the locals eating them all over the place.

They also sold bowls of corn at McDonalds, something else that led me to believe they’re nuts about it in China.

The sweets were also something to marvel at. Instead of fruit-flavoured popsicles and candy, they seemed to have a thing for flavours like frozen-peas, corn, and red-bean! You could buy popsicles in the shape of corn-cobs that tasted like real corn! In the candy-section at Walmart, (yes, Walmart exists in China, too!), I noticed about a dozen different kinds of milk-flavoured candy, and an entire aisle devoted to gelatinrelated sweets. Needless to say, I brought a lot of this absurd candy back home to share with my friends and family. It was too strange to pass up.

Needless to say, the food on the other side of the world was enough to give me such an intense cultureshock that I’m sure I’ll stay electrified all year. It was fascinating to see how the other side eats; Not quite fascinating enough to have me indulging in fish-eyes and corn popsicles for dessert, but interesting all the same.

By Tess Allen – Editor of Whatever

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.

Visit Beijing Railway Station. Because of very real language and cultural barriers, it’s difficult for tourists to Beijing to get a real sense of China’s rich diversity. A trip to Beijing Railway Station, conveniently located on Subway Line Two, can show visitors a broad swath of Chinese society. As a major destination for Chinese citizens of all stripes, the station is one of the few places to see people from across China. Visitors should be warned that the train station is filled with “sanzhishou” (pickpockets) and beggars. Nonetheless, an hour sitting in this station will tell you more about the Middle Kingdom than a visit to the 2008 Olympics venues.

Tour the Beijing Police Museum. The main reason to visit this museum is because most Chinese people don’t know it exists. When I tell them I went they usually respond, “There’s a police museum?” The museum offers an impressive display of guns and truthfully presents some heartbreaking history such as when the police department was dissolved during the Cultural Revolution and the number of officers who were killed during that period.

Eat at the International Food Warehouse. Even the most adventurous of diners will yearn for more familiar food while abroad. The International Food Warehouse, located off exit C at Guomao subway station, offers a mix of Western and Asian dishes. The concept is “open kitchen” so you see trained chefs preparing everything from dumplings to hamburgers. Food is served fast and service is rendered by professional English-speaking staff. Helpful hint: if your bill is more than 300RMB, request a “discount card” in order to save on your meal.

By Glen Loveland. Read more on Beijing things to do.

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.

The lobby features etched glass and gold artwork on one wall, depicting a pair of dragons playing with a golden ball. (The ball represents wisdom, and the dragons, representing people, are forever chasing it.) The dining room is brightened with colorful lanterns in pale greens, blues and reds and elegant glass sculptures from China backlit on one wall.

Next door, the 200-seat Lotus Blossom Cafe offers counter-service. And the Joy of Tea outdoor cart features hot and cold teas, trendy frozen green tea concoctions and alcoholic drinks such as plum wine and wine green tea slush.

By Larraine Stacey

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.

Mr. Alford and Ms. Duguid make another interesting point about the nutritional quality of brown rice:

“It is true that brown rice has more calcium and iron as well as higher protein levels and significantly more of the B vitamins [and] more fiber than white rice. But brown rice is less digestible than white . . . rice. The aleurone layer and embryo, still present in brown rice, contain phytate phosphorus, which seems to interfere with the absorption of calcium, zinc, and iron.”

Bottom line: if you prefer white rice, just make sure you’re also eating lots of vegetables or beans with it.

By Martha Rose Shulman. Read more about Chinese rice.

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.”

One of the first restaurants I saw that used tea in the kitchen was a place next to the Soho branch of the Guggenheim Museum in the 1980s. Sadly, I can’t remember the name of the place but I remember the passion for tea in the woman who owned it. The shop sold loose teas, tea accoutrement and had a café that featured savory and sweet dishes, the majority of which had tea as an ingredient. The tea was usually a subtle note in the food but the results were delicious. One of my favorite stops in Paris is the Left Bank location of Mariage Frères, a wonderful and evocative tea shop that also features a small restaurant upstairs (in the basement, there is a fascinating tea museum). Several of the dishes on the menu include tea as an ingredient, and they offer tea-pairing suggestions for every dish. It is an eye-opening experience to taste just the right tea that marries perfectly with a particular dish, and often the same tea that is in the dish. It is like drinking the same fine old Burgundy that was used to make the coq au vin. What grows together goes together. The Heiss’ include a quote that is written around the doorframe of a traditional charcoal-firing tea factory in China that is a fitting coda to this piece. It is as follows:

The time is here…
Let everything be happiness
Through the door
Let this fragrance spread
Happiness all over this place.

by James Mellgren

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.

Read more about hong kong restaurants, By Christine Chow.

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

A Christmas Story (1983)

The Joy Luck Club (1993)

Eat Drink Man Woman (1994)

My Life as McDull (2001)

Rice Rhapsody (2004)

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.

Instead
1. If you like egg drop soup, try the wonton soup instead.
2. If you like the egg rolls, try the steamed dumplings instead.
3. If like the fried main dishes, try them boiled, broiled, or steamed instead.
4. If you like the fried meat dishes, try dishes with lots of vegetables instead.
5. If you like the dishes with cashews and peanuts, try them with water chestnuts instead.
6. If you like the fried rice, try the steamed rice instead.
7. If you like the lobster sauce, try the sweet and sour sauce instead.

Practice the following
1. Can I have this without the sugar or starch?
2. Can I have the sauce on the side?
3. Can I have this without MSG?
4. Can I have a doggy bag before I start eating?
5. Can I have the sauces on the side?

By Lu Young. Lu is a Boston Terrier owner. She rescued her dog from the pound over 7 years. For more information check her out at http:// www.bostonterrierville.com.