Profile

MerMei

Grew up on Minnesota church basement potlucks, then moved out East to various places in the Mid-Atlantic, then waaaaaay east to China and back. My cooking is a sort of Sino-Minnesotan with a dash of Old Bay, but largely meat and dairy free.

  • Location: Baltimore

Korean Recipes

There's a great website - www.maangchi.com - that explains how to cook Korean food in detail, with videos. I've made a bunch of things from there and she's never led me astray!

This Week at Serious Eats World Headquarters

Agree with the comment that this makes me wish I worked at SeriousEast HQ. Then I remember that I'm allergic to everything, and I realize that dream will never be. *sniff*

Snapshots from Hong Kong and Mainland China: The Best Things I Ate

Whoops - the preview recognized the Chinese! That gibberish was the characters for "gan bian si ji dou."

Snapshots from Hong Kong and Mainland China: The Best Things I Ate

I suspect those green beans are "干煸四季豆," which is just "dry-fried green beans." :-)

Great pictures! Looks like a very fun trip. I really enjoyed Jinli Street when I was in Chengdu - I don't care if it was built in "ancient style" for the tourists. There were great food carts!

Wake and Bake: Dutch Baby

So.... was Pannekoeken Huis (a restaurant dedicated to Dutch pancakes) only a Midwestern thing?

Chichi's Chinese: Hot and Sour Soup

Hi Chichi, Question: most of the hot and sour soup I've had in Taiwan has had duck blood in it; do you have any idea if that is a regional variation (and not Cantonese), or if it's just not done in the U.S. because of the trickiness of having duck blood on hand?

I'm also really excited to follow this column!

Vegan, oil-free and still at least sort of a treat?

Yeah, both lard and chili powder are out for me (for the time being).

Thanks so much for all the great suggestions! I'm so deeply encouraged to have so many options. I'm sure I'll end up making a few of them and seeing what everyone ends up liking the best (and maybe a cake-shaped jell-o mold on the side, because that is a stellar idea. There's always room for jell-o...).

Cheap, healthy, fast recipes with NO EGGS

Frozen shrimp thaws quickly and can be steamed in a heartbeat, then put on a salad, in soft taco shells, mixed with mayo into a shrimp salad sandwich, tossed with olive oil and garlic and pasta, etc.

Do you have food allergies?

All dairy. *sigh*

Favorite Carb?

1. Fly to Taiwan for the night markets and lots of flaky night-market scallion pancakes with egg and hot sauce
2. Whole wheat English muffins
3. Definitely French Fries. A weakness. Though remember, if they're made from sweet potatoes, then they're Healthy.

Our Secret List of Banned Words

"Sammie" drives me crazy. Baby talk for "sandwich," which isn't all that hard to say or type.

Where should I eat in Edinburgh Scotland?

We actually really liked Amber, the restaurant inside the Scotch Whiskey Experience (next to the castle). 'Course, we also looooved the Scotch Whiskey Experience (especially the Gold level tasting!)

Poll: Do You Eat Pizza When Traveling Abroad?

I've had pizza all over, partly just for fun and partly because if my dad is around, he'll insist on it (as he did in Vietnam recently). It's often very different, but if you don't get too hung up on ideal definitions and try it as interesting local food, it can be good. (I can't eat dairy, though, so my pizza is always a bit weird to begin with.)

Is Din Tai Fung the Gold Standard For Soup Dumplings?

I agree with everyone who likes the original Taipei store best; when going for a vegetarian meal, Shanghai and Beijing branches do great. I haven't had the soup dumplings outside of Taipei; in Shanghai, I usually go local.

Coolest Part About Japanese Rice Balls: The Packaging

I love these - and rely on them for lunches at one archive I work at in Taipei, where there's almost nothing nearby but 7-Eleven. I wish they were in the grab-and-go markets in Baltimore.

Video: How To Make Soondubu Jjigae (Korean Soft Tofu Stew)

For what it's worth, my dolsot is more or less flat on the bottom, and it works just fine on an electric range. I think I bought it in Nanjing, but I've seen the same ones in the local H-Mart.

I've also never put kimchi in soondubu jjigae. Sounds good, but definitely like a hybrid.

National ( Food of Your Choice) Day!

@Traveller - my birthday is also May 2nd, and I am also a popcorn addict (world's most perfect snack food), so I second your motion. It is declared....

A Sandwich a Day: Lefse from Viking Soul Food Cart in Portland, OR

We were such lefse purists growing up, we didn't even put sugar on it - just a little butter, hot off the griddle... yum.

The Vegan Experience, Day 10: Surprise! 7 Foods You Thought Were Vegan!

Another daily allergy here, and I agree: the omnipresence of casein can make you crazy. I've almost never had a vegan meal on an international flight that was actually vegan, either. Sometimes they screw up a little (margarine with casein), sometimes a lot (yogurt - seriously). And when they don't screw up, it's just depressing: twice I've gotten all fruit for the 12 hours from the US to Tokyo.

Thin is now IN, Holidays are OUT

I never do the detox until after Chinese New Year. First, I don't really overindulge during Christmas, because I have a dairy allergy and can't eat most of the rich things that tempt everyone else. BUT right after New Year's every year I go and visit my sister in England, where we going on a dairy-free eating and drinking BINGE in whatever place we've decided to go (this year: whiskey tours in Scotland), so once I get through some much needed dumplings on Chinese New Year, I try to be good until March.

In Food Policy This Week: 5 News Bites

I toured an organic farm in China last year, and no matter what this article says, it will be a long, long, LONG time before that can be made sustainable, profitable, and the resulting produce affordable in China, while supporting the 1.3 billion people in the country (and growing). Right now, we produce enough food for the world, but since there is not yet a one world government governing distribution (and thank goodness for that, really), people still starve. Introducing organic farming won't change that, unless the one world government part has already changed.

Must Have Vegan Christmas Gifts?

Yeah, vegan cookbooks... or maybe a tofu press, which is the sort of thing I just can't imagine buying for myself when a heavy pan works as well, but which would be awful nice to have....

Thanksgiving: Vegetarian Mains

I usually end up either making some baked tofu or just skipping the "vegetarian main," because the suggestions I read are generally solid carbs. If you're not replacing the whole meal, just the turkey, then it doesn't make sense to add in some pasta when you have stuffing and potatoes.

The Food Lab Answers Thanksgiving Questions: On Turkey, Non-Turkey Mains, Gravy

mercuryhime - Thanks for the link! We usually just stick with all the sides, but that site has some great suggestions. I feel like most of the vegan/vegetarian "mains" I usually see suggested about are SO starchy they could be meals unto themselves - I can't imagine eating squash pasta with a side of dressing and mashed potatoes!

I'm going to file this away, though, because I don't eat Turkey myself, but every other year I cook one. Thanks!

The Food Lab Answers Thanksgiving Questions: On Sides and Desserts

JansSushiBar, Realies, AnaisKoi, chuondat, and (of course) Kenji - oh, thank you all so much for the help on the corn pudding (or, in Kenji's case, the effort to answer all the questions). I'm going to go compare all those suggestions, but we'll definitely pick one. Thanks again!

Vegan, oil-free and still at least sort of a treat?

I believe in my heart it is not possible to make cake or cookies taste really, really good without both eggs and oil. I just do. But in a case of exceptionally bad timing, I'm doing a (doctor-supervised) elimination diet that has me off eggs, spices, oil, and dairy just in time for my birthday. Normally I wouldn't worry about it (this diet is definitely temporary, just to try to isolate a food allergy or sensitivity), but there's a standing tradition to bring in treats on your birthday at work. Is there anything, anything at all, that I could make that wouldn't be breathtakingly awful for everyone else but that I could still eat? (If I can't come up with anything, I'll make them cookies and just not eat them myself. But that might be slightly pathetic if anyone notices....)

Thanks for any ideas at all!

Dairy-free sides for Christmas

We're making baked salmon and pork loin for Christmas, and have potatoes planned, but we're running out of ideas for good veggie sides that are not the standard casseroles filled with cheese. (This is totally self serving - my relatives will eat any bag of frozen veggies if there is enough cheese added, but I'm allergic to dairy and would like not to have all separate food).

A few other parameters:
- We roasted brussels sprouts at Thanksgiving and would like not to repeat.
- Oven space will be at a premium, so are there any good stove-top ideas?
- We are - as all good Minnesotans are at holiday feasts - already swimming in starches. So potatoes/sweet potatoes and the like are not really needed.

Any ideas (I hope, I hope)? We're fresh out.

MerMei hasn't favorited a post yet.