Salted Eggs with Pumpkin

Are we getting richer?'Tis a rather confusing question on some aspect .Decades ago my parents would never consider eating vegetables a higher

class diet than animal products. Meat was the most rarely seen food on dinner table that could only be discovered as an ingredient,if not the main ingredient,wrapped in dumplings during Spring Festival.Eggs,as well as dairy,were limited only to pregnant women.

Nowadays,however,our complaints o

n food supply grows even stronger. Especially with the mounting inflation. Price of food has already become a common topic among housewives.

To the contrary,we are no longer anxious of meat,what

makes us so anxious is the price of vegetables.Good vegetable is more expensive than meat and eggs,milk is the same price as mineral water.So I tend to admit that fast food store represents real food values on market--chicken is the cheapest.

My parents' dream of eating meat has come true.

Does that mean we are wealthier in front of our dishes? Not quite so. Because it's OK for our human to be a vegan,but we can't live without those

edible plants!

A healthy diet is always a luxury.

The other day I saw salted eggs on sale in a supe

rmarket:6 duck eggs for 3RMB,though cracked and probably not very fresh. Arriving home,I saw my mother forgot to use the squash which she bought specially for pumpkin congee for dinner. Naturally comes the idea of "Salted Egg wi

th Pumpkin".

"Salted Egg Yolk with Pumpkin"is renown for its deliciousness and simpleness. So do not follow my recipes which made this dish neither delicious nor health. For those responsible cookers,see the recommendation.

Salted Egg with Pumpkin(failure version)

Ingredients:

Pumpkin(I used squash): 300g its peel and seeds removed,cut into slices

6 Salted eggs: mashed

vegetable oil

Method:

heat the oil in a stir-fry pan,put in the pumpkin slices,cook until soften(edges begin to burn slightly),take out;

heat the remaining oil,put in the eggs,stir-fry until bubbles;

put in the cooked pumpkin,combine well.

Recommendations:

Use 3-4 salted egg yolks to 300g pumpkin, put in some cooking wine for smother taste;you can add a little salt if not salty enough.

For this particular dinner, my tricky squash dish goes perfectly well with my mother's tricky white congee. It's more or less going back to those old days which we were eating preserved vegetable. It was a pity. Well,time changes everything.

Nestle's new mate

Has any of you ever tried this?If so,who can tell me what the resulting taste should be like if used properly?Umm...maybe I should go to Starbucks some day for a "nutty sweetness of hazelnut" experience(a description written on the package of hazelnut flavor).

I loved the idea when I first saw this new product in BHG Market Place.I'm not a big fan of coffee,which is still a bit luxury for me on the aspects of both hardware and software.But that is part of my motivation to take these boxes home.I'd grasp every in-café chance to enjoy freshly brewed coffee and has always been wondering what is behind the other terms on menu.I've got a brewer,and this elicits another part--Mon has just brought some coffee home.

I did hesitated in front of the shelf.You see,the original coffee mate has such packaging,too.20 individual bags in 1 box for 6RMB.Whereas this flavored mate is at 15RMB/8 individual bags.Bien sûr,soon I realise it might be cheaper than a sum of original mate,sugar and vanilla powder.

There isn't any instruction for the proper ratio apart from "to taste".I've got a Nestle mug and a Nestle golden spoon so I thought 1 bag mate goes with 1 mug coffee made from 1 spoon coffee powder,Thus my experiment reveals how instant coffee lacks of flavor because I couldn't taste much difference after adding 1 bag "caramel macchiato".At least no sweeter.It couldn't be like this!Alright my coffee may be too dense.So I poured out a half and refilled with water and add another bag.Mon Dieu!My caramel macchiato is more bitter than Starbuck's Americano,if not smoother.Is there really some sugar in it as written on the package?As mother said it's fine I came out with another idea---to dissolve the white powder in milk.

Haha,there were finally some change to the taste of the milk.Unfortunately,it was not sweet but a taste of flavoring that may disgust you if you had too much.What's worse,I felt neither caramel for the "caramel macchiato" nor that "nutty sweet" for "hazelnut".If it hadn't been myself who tear up the package,I would have judged them as original coffee mate.

I guess the liquid mate shall be better ,will that be put into Chinese market?

A Cream Puff Story

I have to agree,nothing is impossible.

We are so familiar with cream puff.If you you think it's true that you can conceive exactly the feeling of having a cream puff in your mouth then I shall say Beard Papa® is something that makes it inconceivable.If you are someone like me,define cream puff as whipped cream wrapped in flaky soft cake that can never be categorised to high class dessert,you must find a store near you and try a vanilla puff immediately;if you are a puff lover and and want to retain confidence on self-made cream puffs or would like to have different puffs every time then you'd better skip Beard Papa®,because you won't want to try others after a Beard Papa® cream puff.

It's clear that Beard Papa® has made effort on both the puff and filling,the outside short crust(don't ask me how it is done) makes the puff crispy and flavourful,with n appearance that resembles a flower with petals.To maintain its crispiness,Beard Papa insist fill the puff only after you've paid.It's normal to see customers waiting in line for filling their puffs,but there's more to see.Sometimes you can catch the scene of assistants processing vanilla sticks for the pastry cream filling!Isn't it impressive in this commercial world,especially in oriental world where vanilla is grown almost nowhere!

By a glance you may consider it "unbelievably expensive"--a puff=2kg flour?I became aware how this equation proved true after a first buy.

By compare I also bought some Brownie®'s puff,which is also praised highly by the public and runs much the same way with Beard Papa®.I'm sorry for giving it such an opponent.As you see,the puff dough has a crumb opping which makes it somewhat better than small puffs,but obviously flavourless and soft compared to Beard Papa®,the filling is...thumbs up if Beard Papa® filled its puff with whipped cream but now...the two versions of pastry cream is definitely not on the same level,just like the gap between high quality chocolate and very cheap one.Thank you Beard Papa®,I think I've discovered a pastry cream superior to Gourmet Corner's!

Celebraing the Tradition

Happy Dragon Boat Day!

I'm curious who at what time made this translation.It must be long ago,because glutinous rice dumpling obviously contributes more to this holiday nowadays,for some people,all the tradition lies in a dumpling.

Needless to say,traditional holidays are also losing their meanings,people no longer do that something for the same purpose but for following a trend.How many youngsters actually knows the background of Dragon Boat Day(DBD)?

DBD can't go without glutinous rice dumpling.This year I'm eating Daoxiangcun®'s,a redoubted brand,every Beijinger has got something on this term.A dim sum lover like me can never thank it too much.You know what's behind this hundred-year brand only after one try.There's no chance to get disappointed.From her I learned the power of frame.There's never a day one of the chain stores is not crowded.I usually prepare such festival foods at least a week earlier,because as the day drawing near,the line gets longer,it normal for a one-block long queue lines from the gate.
Making a glutinous rice dumpling is nothing complex,the most difficult part is wrapping.I'm not a big fan of this dim sum,I guess it's because the filling was too little.Today we can find in stores almost all such festival foods except my favourite--moon cakes.This may be forgivable because good moon cakes must be prepared by hands and are considerably time and space consuming to get the best flavour.I shall say more on it on Mid-Autumn Day.
I also made some traditional multi-layer pastry--remember the Chinese pastry I've mentioned before?If you like it,there's even more:try to use this method on your danish bread,it saves your butter,time and electricity(fridge-free),for people like me,flavours can be modified variously by adding drink powder to the oil dough without bothering the yeasts so that the bread is good enough eating alone!
Chinese multi-layer pastry:
flaky dough:
50ml soy oil
100g sugar
a pinch of salt
250g flour
30g baker's milk powder
100ml water
Mix the above ingredients,knead until smooth.Divide into 32 portions.Roll each one into thin round.
oil dough:
150ml soy oil
100g sugar
a pinch of salt
250g flour
Mix until well blended.Divide into 32 portions.
filling:
32 salted egg yolks
500g date paste
Wrap each egg with date paste(get yourself some good material so that it'll be easier to work).
Wrap each oil dough with flaky dough.Roll each into thin round.
Roll up from one side,press each portion flat.
Roll out each portion length wise,roll up like jelly roll.
Repeat the roll out and roll up steps.
Place a portion edge on top,press with hand,and roll into thin round,wrap 1 portion filling.
Continue with the remaining dough.
Bake at 200C until slightly browned.
This may not assemble puff pastry as it is somewhat tend to be crispy.As for the oil,lard work best,however,butter is also allowed.
Chinese style chocolate Danish:
bread dough:
400g bread flour
2tbsp sugar
2tbsp instant dry yeast
1tsp salt
30g unsalted butter
50g baker's milk powder

oil dough:
400g bread flour
200g sugar
200g soy oil(butter is preferred)
1tsp salt
Mix until well blended,use as he wrap-in butter.
I'm getting busy as my finals are coming,god bless me on this!

filling:
350g milk chocolate

Follow the way of normal danish making,just notice that there's no pause among the 3 folds.

The Charm of Puff Pastry

My mother always say I cannot be an easy-going person.According to her,my mind is never clear enough and I'm just too critical about anything.

I used to ague.However,as I grow I have to say:"Mom,you are right."

My mother said she hated such situation when an old friend came to visit and asked:"What does your daughter like?"She didn't know he answer as a mother.She never buys anything with me following since my father sometimes does spend money only to meet with a quarrel.

Mom,this is not merely a problem of you,my every style changes so fast that even myself cannot make a long-time decision.

My taste on food can be a good example.also one of the biggest worries of my mother,although things have been made better when I became the cook.There are quite something on my dinner table described "none-edible"by my father or something initially specially for me but finally none end up in my mouth.

My eating habit is bad--I never say it isn't.From some day I suddenly find a particular dish is "to taste",it will be on my diet at amazing amount and frequency,until some time I consider it "disgusting",which means I've had enough,it disappears if there's never such a dish,not even a small bite when I am asked to have some quality ones.

So I guess puff pastry is in my fashion.This startled me so much because I've tasted so many publicly favoured such multi-layered pastries and never consider them tasty.Falling in love with such flavourless yet expensive pastry would sound nothing more than a joke.I tried to modify it by adding much sugar when making mine but,why not just have some good cookies?

I don't know when I began to fancy puff pastry.It was not earlier than last month I threw a bag of elephant ear into trash tin.Would it because puff pastry sound more challenging in hot summer?Je ne sais pas.Anyway,I discovered he subtly appealing butter flavour and substituted my daily cookie baking with Chinese pastry(similar to puff pastry despite that it doesn't puff).