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The Ten Most Recent Comments By gnomatic

From Slice

Pizza Greases the Wheels of Labor

It's a long tradition in high tech office in Silicon Valley to provide free food & drinks to employee. Hell, some company claim the free food is a great benefit (yes I am talking about those Google recruiters).
Ahh those naive fresh grads who join the company, fresh out of school (with big student loans), it all sounds fantastic. Oooh what a great company to work for they would say.
Silly kids, that they are just feeding you to keep you in the office to work more (most people are on salary, no overtime). You will cease to have a life outside the office, eat too much free food, don't get excerise, become caffeine addicts and become light sensitive.
After a few years (and many projects later), you know better, become very bitter and it's all "Show me the MONEY!" (Yes, ignore the stock options and bonuses too..those are subject to change). Yes you will still jump on the free food (damn it, they don't pay me enough), but it will not distract you.

From Required Eating

Grocery Ninja: Lotus Roots, Enlightenment, and Chomping on Culinary Crack

Pretty sure I have seen them in little buckets...but only around Chinese New Year time frame...but I live in San Jose, and there is very big Vietnamese community (I think it's one of the biggest in the US) around here. I think some of the Vietnamese delis sells them too. But I don't pay much attention to them as I don't like them...I only like lotus seed in the form of fillings for moon cakes.

From Talk

Food for a stressed student stomach?

Avoid the caffeine. I learned the hardway my first year of college...crammed most of the night, way too much caffeine...nothing worst then needing a bathroom break in the middle of that 3 hr chemistry exam.

From Required Eating

Grocery Ninja: Lotus Roots, Enlightenment, and Chomping on Culinary Crack

You can usually get roasted or candied lotus seeds around Chinese new year at Chinese or Vietnamese supermarkets.

My mom always use lotus roots for chinese vegetarian dishes or soup.

I don't like the seeds or the root, but I guess I grew up with the stuff (and mom telling me to eat my veggies).

From Talk

Buying Produce for One

I do my produce shopping at my local farmer's market. Unlike the supermarket, where everything are freakish uniform in size (and much too big for my needs), the farmer's market always have some smaller size produce.
But I have a habit of buying too much veggies (especially if they are in season and look so good at the market), so I end up turning them into soup.
I don't eat much bread in general, so I always freeze them (if I buy them at all).

From Required Eating

Pretty Food Packaging from Switzerland

Those mango lassi are so good.. but pretty much any dairy product in Switzerland taste amazing. I was too busy eating the stuff to notice the pretty packaging.

From Talk

Chinese Dumpling and Soup Technique

Karen, I think the dumpling cooking/broth style, indicate not so much a large geographical region of China, it could be just a village/family "touch", or at what time the family left China.
My family is Cantonese.
My mom makes some very common cantonese dishes, but often adds the dried citrus peel to it...it's something people from her families village does.
My dad sometimes mentions the starvation during the cultural revolution in mainland China, and they would result to drinking the vegetable water as soup for nutrition (It was something they didn't do before, or after). They would even boil leaves from trees. To this day my dad still hates potatoes because that's all there was at that time to eat (he was lucky, as his family had a fish farm so they always had protein). While visiting SF Chinatown, my dad said it was the restaurant food as they used to make it back in the 1960's, 1970's (immigrant population much older in SF), different from the Toronto restaurant styles (more modern, reflecting new immigrant population).

I grew up liking "american soups" too, because Chinese soup isn't so much about good taste, but it's all about being healthy for you...and many of those ingredients taste (too be nice) like dirt..if not worst (ginseng....eeek!).

IMHO, there is nothing mythical or spiritual about Chinese home cooking. There isn't a lot of asking WHY we do certain things when we cook (probably because the reason behind it is long lost), it's just always been done, it works, it tastes good, just do it, don't question it. Many of us learned at a young age in our mother (or grandma's) kitchens ....just do as you are told, hurry up because people are waiting! Hell, even now when I make things on my own, I do it as I was taught because 1) it wouldn't taste as good if I did it differently 2) mom would frown upon it if she found out..even though I am not going to tell her...but you know she will just KNOW...

From Talk

Leftover Asparagus-What to make?

I just made a "creamy" asparagus soup last night with asparagus & potatoes. Yummy. Sautee onions, shallots, garlic, add asparagus, add chicken broth, potatoes, dash of salt & pepper. Boiled everything until it's soft. Puree in blender.

From Talk

Chinese Dumpling and Soup Technique

The adding water thing? There is a reason? I guess I just never asked, we just always do it so the water doesn't boil over or maybe it's just habit.

I admit I am surprise that some people use the water used to boil the dumplings in for the soup. We always make a separate good quality broth to serve with wontons & "soup dumplings". We might boil the broth & dumplings together for a little bit after the dumplings is cooked, but we don't serve the dumpling boiling water.

From Talk

Beef cooked chinese style

I think in alot of chinese takeaway restaurants, they flash fry the meat first before stir frying. We don't do that with home cooking.

My mom used to drag me to Chinatown to shop, under the pretense of teaching me about chinese food (but really so I would carry the bags for her). But being a teenager, I was not thrill with these lessons nor did I pay attention. I sure do regret it now, especially since I don't really read chinese. I wish someone would translate what chinese cuts of meats are into their English equivalent . Preferably with pictures :D

Responses to Comments by gnomatic

From Recipes

Essentials: Rice

I love good rice! I noticed several entries that mentioned cooking rice in a pressure cooker. I recently inherited my Dad's old Mirro and I would love to try it for my next rice cooking. Could someone please describe how to do it in a pressure cooker? Thanks!

From Slice

Pizza Greases the Wheels of Labor

I work at home.
My attitude would be greatly improved and my productivity would increase if someone would send me a pizza.
Please.

From Talk

Food for a stressed student stomach?

Ohh, I feel you! It's exam time too, here at good ol' Penn State.

I've been living on steamed broccoli and veggie burgers for like, a week now.

Also: apples, nonfat yogurt, barley and mushroom salad, pastina cooked in Mushroom Broth, I made some tofu stir fry the other night and it was excellent.

Tonight is my last final and all I want to do is go home to good NJ diners and Mom's mac and cheese. Good luck on the exam!!!!

From Talk

Food for a stressed student stomach?

@Shelby: Gained 10 during my bar study. It was a sedentary slog. Wish I exercised more . . . .

Apart from eating "brain food," you study-ers might try exercising, if you have time to get rid of test anxiety. Takes the edge off.

From Talk

Food for a stressed student stomach?

My husband just finished his finals last week. I looked up "brain food" online & found that these foods (among others) help with alertness & overall brain function:
Yogurt
Olive oil
Spinach
Bananas
Blueberries
Nuts
So I made him eat yogurt & a banana for breakfast the mornings of his finals (he usually doesn't eat breakfast at all, so this is a big step), & tried to incorporate as many of the other ones as possible (like pesto or spinach salad or something) for dinner the night before.

From Talk

Food for a stressed student stomach?

kathy in oakland - 25 pounds? is the bar really that stressful? I mean I know it is, but that real world account just kind of scared the shit out of me I'm going to end up eating my own arm by the end of this summer, aren't I?

From Slice

Pizza Greases the Wheels of Labor

@gnomatic: Happy Tuesday to you too!

From Slice

Pizza Greases the Wheels of Labor

When the powers that be want extra hours out of me, my rule is "feed me or pay me." It doesn't matter which one.

From Required Eating

Grocery Ninja: Lotus Roots, Enlightenment, and Chomping on Culinary Crack

@ one day- yes, one must keep one's eye on the prize! Not everything edible starts out beautiful.

From Talk

Food for a stressed student stomach?

Plain (read: unsauced, but dried spices are ok) chicken or fish, veggies, brown rice, fruit. Stay away from anything spicy, caffeinated, sugary, or fried. If you have any sensitivities to eggs, wheat, dairy, etc., just leave them out of the diet. Go for stuff that's just easy on the system. Make sure you eat enough protein to keep yourself strong and keep your concentration up.