Life in United Kingdom

Common beans and lentils in Europe and America navy beans (Europe), used in baked bean tins   red kidney beans (common in America and Europe)   chickpeas (Middle East, Mediterranean and India)   black beans (South and Central America)   butter beans, aka Lima beans (originate from south America and USA, now common in the UK)   lentils (originate from Middle East, now common in the UK)   cannellini beans, aka white kidney beans (originate from south America)   chili beans, aka pink beans (originate from South America)   pinto beans (common in Mexican and Southwest of the USA)   Common beans in Asia soybeans (common in Asia), called edamame when they are immature   soybeans  黄豆 ...

My cousin told me she made Jiaozi dumplings with her classmates one weekend, fillings are "wild chives" and pork mince. They picked "wild chives" in the wood behind their house. Though I asked her to show me next time and also pick some to make dumplings, I was suspicious, and not so enthusiastic about making wild chive dumplings. There is an old Chinese saying, 'He who was once bitten by a snake will always have a fear of a coiled rope.' Last Christmas, I bought a bunch of daffodils and mistook them as garlic sprouts. I cooked with pasta, half an hour after dinner, my stomach started aching and vomited everything out. Luckily my daughters didn't like the bitter taste, they only ate a little. They vomited also, but not as serious as me. It's said on the internet that many Chinese mistake daffodil as garlic shoot and got poisoned. I AM afraid of being poisoned again by some unknown plant. Today we went for a walk along a the Ox Field Beck, crossed...

I am not a big fan of Jiaozi dumpling, but when I notice the familiar shape of Italian Tortellini, I still felt glad of finding another similar western food. There are two kinds of Tortellini on the supermarket shelf, one filling is spinach and ricotta cheese, another bacon and ham. I don’t expect fillings like pork mince and garlic chives or cabbages as we usually do in China. During the research, I found that there are other varieties similar as Chinese Jiaozi along the Silk Road from Korea in the east to Italia in the west, all the way cross the Siberian Plain and turns at Middle East to India in the south west, such as Korean Mandu, Japanese Gyoza, Siberian pelmeni, Italian Tortellini and Ravioli, Turkish Manti, and Indian Gujia (also called gujhia). There are no questions that Mandu and Manti are cognate words, while Gyoza, Jiaozi, and Gujia are cognate words from another origin. Pelmeni is originated from Tartar Pilmän. The Korean word Mandu was derived from Chinese Mantou, w...

Youtiao literally means ‘oil stick’, is a long golden-brown deep-fried strip of dough, it’s twisted like a cruller and so made that you can tear it lengthwise in two halves. If crullers are described as resembling "a small, braided torpedo", then I would say Youtiao is a mini "finger of God" tornado twister. Youtiao is eaten at breakfast, as an accompaniment for rice congee, soy milk, or stuffed inside a roasted flatbread to make a sandwich. We really missed this for breakfast in the first year in the UK, youtiao was one of the reason for homesick. One day we found Yorkshire Pudding, which is mainly flour-based and fried, with its similar texture and its golden colour, but it seems totally different kind of food judged by its round cup shape. Oven-baked for four minutes till it’s crispy when dipped into soy source, Yorkshire Pudding tastes exactly same as Youtiao and perfect with rice congee, and soy milk too!

A man stopped me on the road and wanted to buy a cigarette. I just lighted one up and took a puff, so I gave it to him, saying, "if you don't mind, you may have it." He took my cigarette, and we walked along. I told him I was gong to work at the Chinese take away, he told me he knew it just around the corner. And he stays not far from there. Being asked if he like Chinese food, he said, "Too salty, mate, Chinese take away are too salty. I cook at home, my wife also cook, but I love to cook, you know, so I knew how to meet different people's tastes, some people like salty, but other not. I let themselves add the salt. You can put in salt, but you can't take it out, you know, so always let themselves add salt." He was drunk, but he seemed to be a wise man. When we separated at the cross road, he shook hand with me and introduced himself as Jim Clark. After he cross the road, he turned to me and shouted, "Remember always let themselves put in the s...

Customers starts to inquire if the Chinese takeaway shop will be open on Christmas Day. "I am not sure." I said, " Last Christmas it was closed because of no delivery driver. But one of our driver says he can work on Christmas this year. He says that he is a White Paki. And there is a customer told us that she always got her curry for Christmas dinner, so I promised her we will be open for Her." The customer felt indignant when she heard we may open on Christmas Day. She said, "Police or firefighter or doctors have to serve for emergence, but I don't think the bloody chinese takeaway or chip shop have o be open." I said , "Yeah, but we're not Christians, and don't have a tradition of celebrating it." "But Jesus love all human kind," she said, "not just for Christians." The delivery driver explained the meaning of White Paki to me. And said he can work every day seven days a week like a Pakistanese. But ...

A customer, while she waiting her meal, typed our Chinese takeaway telephone number into her mobile phone, when she finished, she said, "it's a better idea, isn't it? Add the number to my contact. I always take a menu, then lose it. " I totally agree with her, because the golden rule of customer service is -- customer is always right. What's in my mind was, she couldn't type more than 200 different meals and its prices into her mobile phone. Of course if she is a kind of customer who never change her meal, always a chicken curry and fried rice, it doesn't matter. Some customer never changes, never ask something different, even if they try to, but after looking at the confusing menu, those strange name of sources and cooking style, then give up, once again on the safe side buy a chicken curry. So, where can customers who keep losing the takeaway menu find when they need it? The answer is to go online. Some lazy shop owner don't send out menu, or...

The online takeaway website Just-Eat launches a campaign to 'save the public from cooking and the tyranny of celebrity chefs.' They codenamed a gang of rebellious chefs  Mr. Mozzarella, Mr. Basmati, Mir. T-Bone, Mr. Sweet & Mr. Sour, and Mr Halloumi, respectively. Mr. Mozzarella represents Italian, which is a kind of fresh or unripened cheese traditionally made from water buffalo's milk; Mr. Basmati for Indian, which is the 'easy-cook' basmati rice; Mr. T-Bone, that's steaks of beef cut from the short loin, consisting of a T-shaped bone with meat on each side; Mr. Sweet and Mr Sour of course represent Chinese or Japanese, which is a kind of source; and Mr. Halloumi is a semi-hard, unripened brined white cheese made from a mixture of goats' and sheep milk, it's favourite cheese in Cyprus, Greece, and Middle East. The leader of the gang, Mr. Mozz (short for Mozzarella), points out that there is "a madness that is threatening our livelihoods...

Porcelain Chinese Soup Spoons, Set of 12 - Set of 12 (Google Affiliate Ad) Just installed a Just-eat online takeaway service for our Chinese takeaway. It works like this: when customers find Just-Eat on the internet, they enter their postcode to find the takeaway or restaurant  that deliver to their area, they order from the online menu, and pay by card or cash on delivery. The restaurant receives the order on a printed copy straight to their Just-Eat terminal. The Just-Eat terminal looks like a card swipe machine, but it basically works as a remote thermal printing device, connected by GPS modem, and controlled by a wireless SIM card, this SIM card might be provided by mobile phone company, such as O2 or T-mobile, etc, since it uses their mobile network to send and receive data. it is activated upon signing the contract with Just-Eat website. To use this device is very simple, when it beeps, you press F1 button to accept the order, or F2 button to reject it. This func...

I saw our Chinese takeaway boss making toast the other day, he dipped a piece of bread into the beaten egg, and deep fried it, served with honey, it tastes delicious. This Hong Kong Style toast is originated from French toast.

A bottle of Marmalade on my table, I wonder if it is the same thing as jam? My wife said, marmalade is made of orange, while jam made of berry. They looks so similar, but not identical. Here are some confused people like me: Marmalade is made of citrus fruit and jam is made of other kinds of fruit. There are other kinds of jam besides strawberry and raspberry, e.g., blueberry jam is quite popular too. Definition from dictionary: Marmalade: a soft substance with a sweet but slightly bitter taste, made by cooking fruit such as oranges with sugar to preserve it. It is eaten on bread, usually for breakfast. Jam: a sweet soft food made by cooking fruit with sugar to preserve it. It is eaten on bread or cakes: strawberry/raspberry jam, jam sandwiches. And another soft thing is jelly. Jam, Jelly, and Marmalade, they're so similar. "The proper UK word for jelly is gelatin. Jam and jelly/gelatin are two different things."

Butter Bean Pate This butter bean pate with bread recipe is from BBC Food and Recipe . Ingredients: Can of butter beans, drained Lemon, grated rind and juice Garlic, crushed Fresh mint finely chopped Olive oil Salt and black pepper, to taste Sprigs of mint, to garnish Bread of your choice Method: 1. Place the butter beans and lemon juice in a food processor and blend until smooth. 2. Add the rest of the ingredients, adjusting the amount of water to give a smooth pate. 3. Season and spread onto your chosen bread. Add the mint to garnish. Also delicious with salad. Tuna & Bean Bagel This beany, fishy, cheesy fresh idea is from Sainsbury's supermarket , Sainsbury's always have some easy-to-learn recipes. Ingredients: Tuna in spring water Butter beans in water Fresh parsley Basic natural yogurt Bagel British mature Cheddar Method: 1. Mix 1 tin of tuna in spring water, drained, with 1 tin of butter beans, drained, and chopped fresh parsley. ...

My daughter's school asks for help by donating no-perishable food items for the Christmas raffle which will be held during a Christmas party. They are looking for 'Christmas' type good to make up luxury hampers containing items such as: Boxed mince pies Xmas pudding Mincemeat Shortbread Stollen/small Christmas cake Cranberry Jelly Tin of ham Pickled onions Chocolates After dinner mints Wine, Sherry etc Tin of salmon Christmas crackers And other no-perishable item we can think of that we would usually find in a luxury Christmas hamper. I have never heard of Christmas Hampers!  And I have no idea of some 'Christmas type' goods listed above, such as 'shortbread', 'stollen'. I haven't even eaten a Christmas pudding, and asked my wife if she knew.  She said, 'yes, I have bought one after Christmas one year for a reduced price. But it tastes awful.' I said, 'They seems pour some liquid on it and ignite a big fire on the Christmas dinner tab...

I grow up without cheese, even hardly with milk. But I started to love cheese, especially that melted on toast or chips. I like Cheddar cheese, and think it's ideal and quality enough for making cheese toast. You may use any cheese, but preferably, it should be full fat cheese, as half-fat cheese does not bubble and melt and go deliciously golden brown under the grill as much as the real stuff. When we make toast, we use the toaster, but a toaster is most definitely not practical for cheese on toast, as the cheese will all drip down to the bottom of the toaster, we use grill instead. First, get the ingredients ready, sliced bread, Sliced or grated cheddar cheese. You may want to add chopped tomatoes, or chopped onions, sliced ham etc., get ready as well. Once the grill has heated up sufficiently, place the bread in the middle of the baking tray and place directly under the grill, the closer the better, although obviously not too close. The bread will be brown on one side. Remove th...

Can you imagine that in 1940s, people in Derby had never eaten bananas. I am reading an article written by Peter Saunders, Hoylake, Wirral, in the article, he wrote: "and I recall the excitement when there was a rumour that bananas would be on the menu for our sweet one day. We only knew them from pictures in books, although there was understood to be a banana tree out-of-bounds in one of the park glasshouses." It's understood that all tropical fruits and vegetables might not have been on their table too. We can see Lychee sold in supermarket, 8 bananas a pack only for under one pound today.

Among all the infant formula milk, HiPP Organic Infant milk is the cheapest one. But my baby seems to cope better with HiPP than SMA, because she has "nice yellow" poo, feeding with HiPP seems less chances of getting green poo than feeding with SMA. Nowadays, people worry about the genetically modified food and synthetic chemical pesticides, but according to the exclamation, HiPP Organic contains no GM ingredients, it "is made using the finest organic milk which in accordance with strict production standards comes exclusively from GM free feeding. " "All the organic ingredients used in HiPP Organic Infant milk have been produced without the use of synthetic chemical pesticides." Recently, melamine Contaminated Sanlu baby milk formula has made thousands of infants ill in China, and two baby died. Melamine is a toxin found in fertilisers and cleaning products, and is blamed for causing kidney stones in the sick infants. SMA tastes very fishy, no nice at all....

I am not sure especially in the middle of melamine contaminated baby formula crisis, if you buy Toufu from supermarket which are made in China. The ingredients of Toufu is soybean, water, and coagulating agents. Traditionally the coagulant used is nigari, which is a sea water precipitate rich in minerals such as magnesium and calcium chlorides.My mum used to make Toufu by adding this kind of stuff, of course safe to eat. But there are reports that some individual Toufu makers use medical gypsum which are bought (or recycled from) medical gypsum bandages taken off from patients' broken legs or arms and thrown into the bins in the hospital. In China, there are also reports that people use human hair to make Soy sauce, too. I might have consumed this kind of soy sauce and eaten toufu made of medical gypsum, who knows, luckily I am still alive.

I did frown on the box of Sharon fruit when my wife asked me if I liked it. "You likes what ever reduced price," I said, "I never dare to buy before, because I know unripen one tastes very astringent and bitter. I always wonder how could people eat unripe persimmon?" The instructions say that I can eat persimmon as apple. My daughter ate it, and my wife did so. This encouraged me to try, and I am quite surprised by its sweetness, not astringent and bitter at all. It's a different specie called non-astringent persimmon. The Persimmon originated in China and is called "shizi" (柿子) in Chinese. Persimmon tree is deciduous, with broad, stiff leaves. Persimmon bears sweet, slightly tart fruits with a soft to occasionally fibrous texture, It is edible in its crisp firm state, but has its best flavor when allowed to rest and soften slightly after harvest. Persimmon fruits are commonly called "Sharon fruit" in Western supermarket named after Sharon pl...

Strange food some times may be mixed up with weird food, but to me they are totally different things. We may first discuss the difference between strange and weird, one of those many anwsers I could find is: weird is something you think about for awhile, and is more eye catching, but strange is just something you notice for a second, then may stop paying attention to. This is not a linguistic explanation, but do the job. You meet a strange person first time, then you may forget him or get on with. Strange things are those you are not familiar with, but you may know a weird person for a long time, weird things are those which emerge from inside a community, but strange things may come from outside, even from a remote country. Strange food to you may be some oriental food, such as Japanese eat raw fish, bee larvae as well bees, those are not strange food to Japanese at all; But weird food is abnormal food. For instance, we like to eat boiled rice with milk and sugar, most people may like...