Chinese Food 101: Adventures in Cooking Rice
“Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.” – Chinese Proverb I’m no housewife, but oh how I wished I had practiced cooking rice before moving to China! The first few weeks here were brutal without this simple knowledge. My roommate and I and purchased a rice cooker, but I had no idea how to […]
I finally ate at KFC
If God grants me longer life, I will see to it that no peasant in my kingdom will lack the means to have a chicken in the pot every Sunday. -Henri IV There it stood. That multi-level “western” food flashiness: K. F. C. I knew I shouldn’t, but its power was too great. I was […]
My First Chinese New Year
The fireworks have stopped. All but one of my favorite noodle shops has reopened. The old man barber down the street has started to cut people’s hair again. I got a letter in the mail that was sent over two months ago. The new teaching semester at school has begun. Is the New Year celebration […]
Chinese Food 101: Basic Ingredients
“Never eat Chinese food in Oklahoma.” – Bryan Miller Agreed. I would add Wisconsin to that statement as well. To get the best, most authentic Chinese food, you need to know what you’re looking for. If you’re not from China and you’ve never been to China or Chinatown you might lack this ability, but not […]
And then it was Christmas…
It’s Christmas night, and there I sat… in my apartment, by myself, watching The Muppets Christmas Carol. I had worked all day (teaching about Christmas to Chinese kids), went to a grand dinner with a Chinese friend (more on that later), and had a nice long Skype conversation with my family back home (who was […]
Chinese Food 101: Basic Cooking Utensils
The honorable and upright man keeps well away from both the slaughterhouse and the kitchen. And he allows no knives on his table. – Confucius Disregarding Confucius’ advice on keeping well away from the kitchen, I decided to chronicle my cooking adventures here in China with an ongoing series of blog posts on Chinese food. […]
The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
These past two years, I’d like to think that I’ve perfected my chocolate chip cookie recipe. I made a batch almost every week and gave them out to various friends and family. The only negative feedback I got was from my mother, who commented, “Too many chocolate chips!” Please disregard – everyone else has loved […]
Pak Zam Zam
If you’re in the mood for Pakistani food (and when are you not?), my friends and I found the perfect place. For this “birthday” dinner, we visited Pak Zam Zam on Central in NE Minneapolis. It’s completely worth it and highly recommended! The first thing we noticed, of course, was the décor – bright bright […]