椰丝面包（汤种）

“汤种”在日语里意为温热的面种或稀的面种。

汤种面包与其它面包最大的差别在于淀粉糊化使吸水量增多，因此面包的组织柔软，具有弹性，可延缓老化，迎合现代人口味。

汤种制作：

1. 水和高筋面粉的比例为5：1。做的少的话一般15克面粉75克水。做的多的话100克面粉（大概是1/2cups+3/2Tbs)，500克水(3cups)。Mix water and bread flour 5:1 ratio. For small portion, 15g of bread flour and 75 g of water. Or for bigger portion 100g of bread flour and 500 g of water.

2. 把水和面粉搅拌均匀。Mix the bread flour and water well.

3. 把混合物加热至65C (149F)，需不停搅拌，以防锅底烧焦。Heat the mixture above to 65C or 149 F, mix frequently to prevent mixture burn at the bottom of the pot.

4. 到65C离火。在面糊表面加保鲜膜，降至室温后使用。Take off the heating element at 65C or 149F. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap to keep in the moisture.

汤种若未用完，可以密封放入冰箱保存1-2天。若汤种变灰就不能再使用了。

材料：

A：
高粉210g
低筋粉56g
奶粉20g
細砂糖 42g
盐1/2茶匙
速溶酵母 6g

B：
全蛋30g
水85g
汤种84g
C：
无盐发酵奶油 22g

椰蓉馅：
无盐奶油50g
50克糖(1/4cup)
1个鸡蛋
椰丝100g
奶50g

酱油分为酿造酱油、配制酱油和化学酱油三类。

酿造酱油——是指以大豆或脱脂大豆、小麦或麸皮为原料,经微生物天然发酵制成的液体调味品; 　如果是纯酿造酱油的成分应该只有“大豆、小麦、盐和曲子”。
配制酱油——是指以酿造酱油为主体,与酸水解植物蛋白调味液、食品添加剂等配制而成的液体调味品。这里面的添加剂还挺多的。常见的有苯甲酸纳，是防腐剂；谷氨酸钠（味精 的主要成分）是增味剂；还有焦糖色，通常是老抽里面加的，用来上色的色素；。
化学酱油——也叫酸水解植物蛋白调味液。以含有食用植物蛋白的脱脂大豆、花生粕、小麦蛋白或玉米蛋白为原料,经盐酸水解,碱中和制成液体鲜味调味品。

酱油的营养指标——氨基酸态氮（国内的酱油瓶标签上有，这边卖的好像没见到过）含量越高表示蛋白质分解得越好,营养成分也越高,味道也就越鲜。氨基酸态氮含量≥0.8g／100ml为特级，≥0.4g／100ml为三级，两者之间为一级或二级。

推荐我们家现在一直用的金味王（酿造酱油）。

My new finding at Costco is this tasty black bean veggie burger. Look at this nutrition information. Can you believe it is tasty and somewhat healthy? It comes in a 10 patty pack about $10 at your local Costco.

周末和朋友去了温哥华。周日早上本来是奔着少林面庄去的，结果发现自从火灾就关门了。倒是在不远的一家，吃了听说还挺正宗的陕西凉皮。还真挺不错的。什么时候自己想试试。

凉皮的做法
1、适量高筋粉加水和成面团。(我用的不是高筋 估计就是面筋劲不筋道的区别吧 普通的面就可以)
2、然后把和好的面团放进清水中反复清晰，洗出面粉中的淀粉，洗到出了面筋为止。把面筋盖好,几小时后, 放到笼屉里蒸25分钟左右。
3、把洗好的面粉水放入冰箱冷藏室，我一般是放一个晚上，反正时间越长越好。（姐就等了几个小时 等待在咽口水中度过。。。也差不多 追求完美的还是多沉淀沉淀吧）
4、第二天，取出沉淀好的淀粉水，把上面的清水倒去，剩下淀粉湖。稀绸可以自己掌握。
5、烧开水，放好笼屉，放入一个小的托盘，托盘上抹上稍许食用油，然后倒入2-3毫米的淀粉湖，大火蒸5分钟即可。如果要厚一些可自己掌握，不过皮子薄了更好吃。
6、把蒸好的皮子放到凉水中，用手轻轻揭下，放到盘中。每层凉皮中间要抹上适量的食用油，一是以防粘连，二是色泽好看。

I love Le Creuset design and color, however not the price. So I started search online for a similar but more reasonable priced replacement. This casserole is made of porcelain-enameled cast iron.

Cast iron retains heat very well, and its heavy secure-fitting lid also keeps the heat, moisture in the pot. It also claims to keep in the nutrients. There is no way for me to verify that so I guess I’ll just take their word for it. I like to use this for stews, soups, etc. It cuts the cooking by half at least.

It is only oven safe up to 450 degrees F which means, yes, you can try that famous Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon recipe with this. The only downside to this wonderful kitchen additional is inevitable given its weight(almost 20 pounds). It had to be hand washed.

Also word of caution: this pot is rather wide, 14inches at its base means you can’t use another full size pan or pot next to it on the stove.

Purchased from amazon.com at $45

Ingredients:

Eggs, 3 separated
Granulated Sugar, 6 tbs
Cake Flour, sifted, 3/4 c
Confectioner’s Sugar, 6 tbs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, then brush 2 baking sheets with softened butter and line with parchment paper.
2. Beat the egg whites with a whisk or electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
3. Gradually beat in the ganulated sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form again; the meringue will be glossy and smooth..
4. Lightly beat the egg yolks with a fork, and fold into the meringue with a wooden spoon.
5. Sift the flour over the mixture and fold in gently.
6. Pipe the ladyfingers: Fit the pastry bag with the large plain tip and fill with the ladyfinger batter.
7. Pipe strips of batter 5 in. long and 3/4 in. wide diagonally onto the baking sheets, leaving 1 to 2 in. between each strip.
8. Sprinkle half the confectioner’s sugar over the ladyfingers; wait 5 minutes and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
9. Holding the parchment paper in place with your thumb, lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess confectioner’s sugar.
10. Bake without opening the oven door for 10 min.
11. Then, rotate the baking sheet so the ladyfingers color evenly.
12. Cook until lightly golden, about 5 more minutes.
13. Remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and let cool on a rack.

Two things are needed for a good stir fry vegetable dish.

First, you need to have a very good heating source. If your kitchen has the flat top stove instead of the gas range, then a cast iron wok is a must.

Second requirement would be dry vegetable. So we don’t end up boiling the vegetables instead of stir-fry them. Now this salad spinner will help you accomplish that.

Priced at $19.99 from amazon.com

I purchased the large size.

I first saw this at my napa winery tour. Our pourer used this for the red wine, and had us taste the before and after effect of it.

It supposed to “enhance the flavor, bouquet, and finish of any wine”.  That’s a lot of fanny talk, but does it work? Well, yes sorta.

It speeds up the breathing process by aerate while you pour. Since I normally don’t purchase wine that’s more than $10, this does make a difference (or at least that I want to believe that it does) it has become my favorite gifting item.

Listed price at $39.95, but you can usually find it a little cheaper on amazon.com

This is one of my favorite item in the kitchen. Something that I use everyday for sure.

It boils and keeps water warm with a 4-liter capacity. It has 4 temperature settings: 175 (green and white tea), 195(Oolong tea), 208 (black and flower tea), and vacuum-insulated.  4-liter capacity works great for me, since I also use the hot water to clean my cast iron wok after cooking. It also makes quick ramen meal even quicker 😀

I bought it at $165 on amazon.com

For the past several years, I’ve been looking for a non-stick wok. Some had worked well, but they all had one problem in the end. The non-stick coating peels off after a while. Also you cannot run them very hot. My mom had this very old (must be over 15 years old) iron wok that she bought in New York City China town. It is still very solid. Sadly, I’ve been to all of the Asian supermarket around Seattle, and wouldn’t find anything close to hers.  So I started to look online. I read lots of posts and comments from Chinese forums, and decided on cast-iron.

Cast-iron’s got several benefits:

it retains heat well which is very handy when stir-fry vegetable
it doesn’t have any coating
it suppose to last a very long time

I found couple options, one was from this Chinese Importer website based in California. Even though from the picture, the woks there would look more like what my mother has, the shipping totally kills it. And the fact that there wasn’t any reviews on the website, I wasn’t sure if I can trust the picture that much without important information like the weight and the handle of the wok.

After much research, I ended up purchase this Lodge Pro-Logic 14-Inch Cast-Iron Wok with Loop Handles from amazon.com $45 with free shipping

The cast-iron wok came pre-seasoned, so that saved some trouble. Or here is a video that I found very informational that teaches you How to Season a Wok

I’ve been using this wok for quiet some time now. It is great. I didn’t realize that before this wok, I actually never stir-fried vegetable. Instead, I was boiling them. I had never been able to make stir-fried shredded potato at home until now.

With this wok, I had to pre-heat it for a while, but once it is heated, it retains the heat very well. Although be careful the loops get very hot as well. The only compliant that I have about it is that it is really heavy, which makes plating a bit hard after stir-frying. Normally I would hold the wok with one hand, and pour the food out, and using a wok utensils in the other hand to sweep the food on to the plate. But with this one it is impossible. Since there is

no way that I could possibly hold it with one hand. Also, cleaning could be tricky. After get the food out, I pour in a cup or two of hot water and scrub with a bamboo wok brush (any  stiff, non-nylon kitchen brush or a grill brush would work just as well). Pour out the dirty water, put it back on the heat to boil off any excess moisture, and wipe it with an oiled paper towel and let cool.