花香菜脯沙葛粒 @ Home by "一碌葛"的我！

Life will not change no matter which part of planet I am in. The same old house chores to do: washing the mountain high laundry, shopping for food, cooking, vacuuming + moping the never clean floor, yelling "can you girls please clean up your mess" a thousand times, go to sleep NOW, etc.....

While I stayed at my mum's place during the last summer vacation, I worked as usual, and that's what I called, GREAT LIFE. Honestly, being able to "maintain" the same quality of livings across the globe can't be a better deal.



Yet, there is a difference. The food that you can find in the market has a distinctive difference. I love wet markets! I love to find things that I have never seen or eaten before. When I went to Wanchai market, my eyes were always screening for fresh and unique stuff, or things that I couldn't get in Japan.

This time, I spotted 沙葛 (Kudzu) and 夜香花 (Night Blooming Jasmine). In Japan, Kudzu are well used in many 和菓子 (Japanese cakes) such as 葛切り　(Kudzu Kiri) or 葛餅 (Kudzu Mochi) where both turn the Kudzu gluten into some glutinous cakes. However, Night Jasmine is not so popular in Japan.

As the name says, Night Blooming Jasmine, so it blooms at night and closes during the day. At night, its sweet fragrance will be released as its name depicts.

Grandma used to cook winter melon soup where a bunch of Night Blooming Jasmine will be added to enhance its fragrance. Oh, how much I missed that.

As soon as I spotted Night Blooming Jasmine, my eyes widened. Pretty much liked how my younger daughter spotted an ice-cream shop where she would flap her hands up and down, yanking on my T-shirt or even rolling on the floor until she got one. Except that I am a fully grown up now and won't exercise my basic instincts to get what I want.

I asked for 2 taels, paid HKD $8, thought that was pretty cheap. Next thought, how much did grandma use to pay for it? That would be more than 30 years ago event and could anyone tell me?????????????????? Contented and my next challenge came up.

How should I cook it? Dump it into winter melon soup like grandma? Naah........ that would be too boring. So, I gave it a thought and considered the current weather, then came up with a bashing down the heat dish.

花香菜脯沙葛粒

Basically this dish contained of the following:

菜脯. Preserved white radish. Cooling vegetable.
Celery. Another cooling vegetable.
Carrot. Another cooling vegetable.
Kudzu. Another cooling vegetable.
Night Blooming Flower, a cooling flower, too.

So I concluded that this dish is a "summer" dish to cool down your body heat during the hot and humid HK summer. (My conclusion! ha ha ha...)

My dear dear sister gave it a look and asked, "So this white cubes are Kudzu.... hmm...." I believed she had never had it before.

She easily wrapped up her first bowl of rice then headed for her second refill. I asked in amazement, "You are having a second serve?". Why was I so bewildered? She is as skinny as a stick and I have never seen her refilling for rice.

My heart went a bit sour at that point. Poor thing must be missing home cooking badly or may be she was so badly fed by HK eateries....... This old Chinese saying popped up from my mind immediately, "若讓小兒安，三分飢與寒". So may be starving her a bit may not be a bad thing though! Wahh Kaaa Kaaa............ (What kind of sister am I!!!!! ha ha ha... ke ke ke...).

After I wrote this article, a "foodie" friend (she is a REAL food pro) told me, "do you mean 沙葛 instead of 粉葛" as I wrote "粉葛" in the beginning. That shone light over my head as I only had "粉葛" in my mind but what I really meant was "沙葛". The reason being, I only thought about the medicinal purpose of Kudzu where all Kudzu have similar healing functions, yet, different types of Kudzu offers different textures in taste.

I have to say, I am such a "一碌葛" (meaning a piece of Kudzu). Why? Cantonese is a very interesting language where it uses heaps of objects to describe a certain kind of behavior or person. Especially when it comes to "swearing words". For example, if someone says you are a piece of Kudzu "一碌葛", that means you have no response and non-alert. Just like me, I always think I am a huge piece of 葛根, day dreaming all day.

When I wrote this blog, all I had in my mind was Kudzu roots as （葛根）, its cooling function that is suitable in summer as well as good to people with high blood pressure. Its （辛涼解表） (cold-pungent diaphoresis) function can help to reduce fever. It can also reduce neck pain and stop diarrhea, etc... I kept thinking 葛根湯's 葛根, where it was made from the white powdery Kudzu "粉葛".

Thanks to her, it woke me up from my dream. Wake up Wake up, Tokyo C9!!! In HK, there are 2 common Kudzu roots (葛根)。　

1. Powdery Kudzu (粉葛) where it is a long cylindrical shape root. As its name depicts, it is very powdery. Yet, it has more fiber and not that crunchy. We Cantonese normally use it for soup.

2. Sand Kudzu (沙葛） where it is a fusiform shape root. Its skin can be easily peeled off leaving its snowy white root. Very juicy and crunchy. We normally use this Kudzu root for stir-fry.

Although both Powdery Kudzu (粉葛) and Sand Kudzu (沙葛）are of the same Kudzu root (葛根) family with similar medicinal functions, its texture differs greatly.

I sincerely thank my professional foodie friend pointing this out and please let me know if there's any "weird" or not making sense stuff in my blog going forward! I normally type out in the middle of night where my brain only half functions leaving lots of spelling, expressions, faulty content stuff, etc... ha ha ha.... The main thing is continuity. I want to jot down what my family taught me so I can pass on these words to the next generation. C9, ADD OIL!

感恩 Dinner.... @ Home

March 11 2011 marked a very special day in my life. I have always thought my life is rather unique as compared to my other siblings. Yet, this event made my life even more unique as not too many people would have had the same experience as me.

Lots of dear friends and relatives offered their kindness and support to me during this very harsh time in my life. In Chinese medicine theory, when you are in fear （驚恐）your emotion will be greatly disturbed （亂）.　

From : 『黄帝内経』 『素問』「拳痛論」七情傷気
百病生於気也。怒則気上、喜則気緩。悲則気消、恐則気下。寒則気収、炅則気泄。驚則気乱、労則気耗、思則気結。九気不同、何病之生。岐伯曰、怒則 気逆、甚則嘔血及飧泄、故気上矣。喜則気和志達、栄衛通利、故気緩矣。悲則心系急、肺布葉拳。而上焦不通、栄衛不散。熱気在中、故気消矣。恐則精却、却則 上焦閉。閉則気還。還則下焦腸、故気不行矣。寒則腠理閉、気不行、故気収矣。炅則腠理開、栄衛通。汗大泄。驚則心無所倚、神無所帰。慮無所定。故気乱矣。 労則喘息汗出。外内皆越、故気耗矣。思則心有所存、神有所帰。正気留而不行、故気結矣。

That was exactly me.

To thank all those who had given me lots of care and support (and they are STILL continually supporting and caring for me!!!), there's hardly anything I could do to repay them. I could possibly treat them for a nice dinner but how much could I pay??? Everything is so expensive in HK nowadays! The only thing that I could do would be cooking up a very simple meal, just to show my appreciation.

I prepared much in advance knowing I wouldn't have the "manpower" to do anything at home. When I thought everything was "set", then C got microplasma the very next day we arrived HK. Running with a high fever and coughing non-stopped, I didn't dare to take the risk of having guests in the house.

However, it was a miracle that her fever rescinded the very next day and her condition was well under control to the extent that I believed I could manage to host my guests. With the drawback of worrying spreading the germs to other kids, I only asked my close relatives to come. I warned my sister in advance, "I don't bear any responsibility if your child gets sick!".

Yet, with great courage, she and her family came and we had our thanksgiving party on schedule. I sincerely apologize to those who couldn't attend this time. Let's plan again!!!

(Corn salad in Yuzu dressing with Botargo).

(My sister called this clam shooters! ha ha ha.... it is clam cooked in rice sake then hardened the jus with agar agar. I added 茗荷(a kind of onion looking herb), ginger, 穂紫蘇 and pickles mustard in it).

(昆布〆鯛の手毬寿司. The bream was marinated in rice vinegar then sandwiched with Konbu (Kelp). Lollipop sushi with vinegar marinated bream).

(C's dinner. Plain rice porridge! I got to say she knew what she could eat and not when she falls sick. She never complained about rice porridge whenever she felt sick).

(Salmon and avocado salad in exotic Thai dressing).

(中勢以's aged beef RARE roast beef. I made this very rare, almost raw to "show-off" the genuine taste of this beef).

(Steamed chicken with homemade clam sauce. I am Chinese and steamed chicken is a MUST for me! ha ha ha.... 大魚大肉！）

(Very simple pan fried 中勢以 aged beef sirloin steak).

(畳鰯 sandwich. Tatami Iwashi means baby sardine flattened sheets. The filling was potato salad with smoked salmon topping).

(Foie Gras Flower! My sister commented that the "flower" was not that easy to eat so I modified this idea into something else for my next "foie gras" attempt. Yup, I love foie gras, livers and anything that can lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol and 高脂血症! Life is short and enjoy when you still can).

(Mr. Yim's birthday cake. My sister paid for this black forest cake. Hoping I will get a cake in return on my b'day.... that was a 妄想！ Which I should have known better......).

龍璽 Dragon Zeal

"A million dollar night view" (百万ドルの夜景) as the Japanese always said so to the glittering Hong Kong neo-lights shone sky. Yet, going out at night still poses some difficulty to me and I always have to compromise to daytime outings.


(You don't get a view like this in any toilet)

(Fine bone china from Nikko. Impressive.)

A while ago, I was priviledged to dine at "Dragon Zeal" located on the 101th floor of the newly erected high-rise, ICC. A friend of mine told me it belongs to Dragon King Restaurant Group (龍皇) and they charge a premium for its location.

I thought to myself, being a tourist, I should try this out and to enjoy the splendid view on a sunny day. I made the right decision on the right day!

(Another breathtaking view)

How "rich" or "wealthy" a country is can be seen from the quality of the Dim Sum a restaurant offers. Modern Dim Sum has its new look where a simple stable "Siu Mai" (焼賣) ought to have a thin slice of abalone topping and the "Ha Gao" (蝦餃) got to has a thin film of gold paper on top. Is it really necessary? Not to me, but to appeal itself as a high-end restaurant, perhaps it is essential.

(龍璽焼賣皇 HKD$70)
Steamed Pork Dumpling Dragon Seal Style

Yup, it was the taste of our traditional "Siu Mai" and with the thin slice of abalone topping, the restaurant could charge an extra $40. Honestly, with or without it, it didn't make much difference to me but it was steaming hot and fresh prawns were used. So, it was OK in $$$ terms even to this budget tight C9.

(澳洲石蠔春卷 HKD$70)
Deep fried spring roll with Australian Rock Oyster

Another steamy hot dish but I could hardly taste the oysters. Shredded pork and yellow Chinese chives were prominent and I guessed the oyster were so finely chopped that its existence went under par after various seasonings were added.

(老爺子古法鬆糕 HK$55)
Steamed sponge cake

The name arose my curiosity. I could understand that part "古法鬆糕" meaning sponge caked made in the orthodox school method. Probably it didn't use the modern "blowing up" method where baking powder was commonly used, and instead, it used the traditional "natural yeast". Yet the first part of the name, "老爺子" (grandpa) made me puzzled for a while. Why old grandpa recipe sponge cake? Regardless of all, thumb up for its great taste! Spongy yet moist and not too sweet. Good stuff. However, $55 is a bit price-cy to me!


(雪影叉燒飽 HKD$60)
Baked BBQ pork buns

Hot Hot Hot....!!! Very well done!


(立方荔芋盒 HKD$65)
Deep fried taro cubes

You may have realized that I ordered lots of "deep fried" dim sums because my mum was not with me and I could freely lift up all the "restrictions" imposed by her. ha ha ha....

Tell you a trick to make this. The oil temperature got to be around 160 to 170 so that the lard will melt and clump with the wheat gluten to come up with this "flaring" effect. If the temperature is too high, the whole thing will turn out to be a solid "ROCK"! (From my past experience! ha ha ha... meaning I had failed numerous time before knowing the trick.)

Want to try making this tomorrow.....

(黑松露老城炒飯 HKD$150)
Fried rice with seafood and black truffle

The taste was ordinary fried rice and the black truffle was almost non-noticeable. Yet, if you add "black truffle" on the menu, you can bump up the price of a plate of fried rice by 50%. Why not?

I had no complain about the service. Me and my girls were well pampered by all the surrounding staff which was a "rare" phenomenon in HK's service industry nowadays. It is really sad to see that HK restaurant or hotel service quality deteriorates by year. I was quite impressed by their well trained staff and their awareness of serving me "hot" food on a timely manner. Thank you.