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eat your medicine

Sichuan's Finest Spice

on Fri, 11/23/2012 - 07:06

It has been quite some time since I last posted, truth be told it has been over a year (though if you've been following me on facebook, I do get something up there almost daily). In any event, I owe you an explanation and a commitment to be back on here regularly ....

Kitchen Medicine

on Tue, 12/06/2011 - 11:30

And lastly, a cooking tip I learned as per fresh water fish (any non ocean fish) : take your fish, do what you need to do it (keep it whole and gutted or filleted) and submerge it in water with vinegar ....

Perfect Persimmons: The "Other" Apple

on Tue, 10/25/2011 - 09:30

I didn't eat my first persimmon until 2002. I remember this because it was an event, that's how delicious persimmons are. I had been wondering what is that odd looking orange'ish-yellow tomato that's not a tomato sitting amongst all the fruit in China Town in NYC ....

Congee : Digestive Healer

on Sun, 10/16/2011 - 09:30

Congee is by far one of the most prevalent examples of medicinal cooking's marriage with commonplace kitchen knowledge in Chinese and Asian culture(s) at large (in Thailand it's Khao Tom, in Japan it's Zohsui or Kayu, in Korea it's Jook/Juk, and so on) ....

Purslane, the Underappreciated Weed

on Fri, 09/09/2011 - 03:30

There will be no recipe with this post as I am in the midst of moving madness (to Chongqing, China) and can barely put two pieces of bread together with something in between let alone concoct a proper meal ....

Tomato Time

on Wed, 08/17/2011 - 03:30

I feel like I am about to write this post a few weeks too late for those that haven't been relishing in this season, in tomato season. Not that you can't eat tomatoes in the winter, as there are many a freshly canned (sans preservatives beyond salt) brand and given how we consume, you can find them all year round anyway - but they really don't taste as good as they do right now ....

Welcome to Chongqing

on Fri, 07/29/2011 - 03:30

Since I will soon be relocating to Chongqing (formerly Chungking), which just so happens to be Chicago's sister city, I thought I'd share a few snippets of the life and food there. There will be more as the years go by and I delve even further into yao shan (medicinal cooking) which is a big part of why I am going there ....

Mulberry Magic

on Thu, 07/07/2011 - 03:30

This last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited over to a friend's home on a bright sunny day to go wild and pluck as many mulberries, mulberry leaves, and mulberry twigs as I wished from her mulberry tree. Nevertheless, I was quite tame and only took a little for my home medicinal purposes as I'll be leaving to live in China again soon to continue my work and study on yao shan, a.k.a. medicinal cooking.

Blue Potatoes - Happy 4th of July!

on Fri, 07/01/2011 - 03:30

As the 4th of July weekend approaches (or for those not in the U.S., perhaps a warm weekend of barbecues?), consider the blue potato. Some time ago I wrote about the potato in all it's simple glory.

The Passion (Fruit)

on Wed, 06/22/2011 - 03:30

On a most recent trip to Paris I was lucky enough to catch sight of the absolutely spectacular and surreal passion fruit flower which begins to fruit in the Spring in France (though in places closer to the equator the seasons are longer August -

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