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Chinese New Year - Red Envelope Traditions

2/17/2015

Just for fun, I made a video on one of my favorite Chinese New Year traditions:

The gift giving and receiving of Red Envelopes (pockets) which contain cash. The Red Envelopes known as 紅包 (Hóng bāo) in Mandarin are found in different sizes for fitting cash and usually come in red and gold colors.

Some interesting common practices with this tradition:

coins are rarely used since it's easy to tell how much is inside
usually new crisp dollar bills are given
any dollar amount with the # 4 in it should be avoided (as 4 in Mandarin sounds like the word "death")
the # 8 in Mandarin sounds like the word "luck", so it's lucky to get an amount with 8 in it
married people usually give these to unmarried people
Red Envelopes can also be used as gifts for other special occasions (example: weddings)

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How to Save Soup Stock : Tips & Tricks

2/14/2015

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A whole pot of Organic Homemade Chicken Soup Stock. Make your own from my Chicken Rice Recipe.

So you've slaved away and made yourself a delicious soup stock and now you have a whole stockpot leftover. What to do?
Well, if you have a big family to feed and they love soup, they might be able to drink a bowl or two, but in real life, you'll likely have tons of leftovers.

If you know you'll be using the soup stock within a few days, it's perfectly fine to put it in the refrigerator. If not, I like to freeze mine in ice cube trays. : )

Why Ice Cube Trays? 3 Good Reasons . . .

Reason #1: Longer Storage Time. Freezing the broth gives me more time to use it in future recipes, either for cooking with rice, making a tasty soup, or even using a bit of it for stir frys instead of water.

Reason # 2: Handy Portions. Let's say I want to make an Asian vegetable stir fry, or another recipe that calls for a bit of chicken broth . . . the cubes are small enough where I could just defrost 1-3 pieces for quick use.

Reason # 3: Save Your Freezer Space. After the cubes are frozen, I like to transfer them into a plastic ziplock bag. This way it fits better in my freezer and I can refreeze another batch of soup stock.

Perfectly Square Ice Cubes (Chicken Stock Cubes)

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Hot Pot Equipment - What I use at HOME.

2/7/2015

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Looking to buy new hot pot equipment? If you love cooking Asian hot pot at home, you'll need a portable tabletop burner. Either a butane gas burner or an electric skillet. I've used both and my preference is the electric skillet. The ones I use at home are the Zojirushi brand. I've got an older model of this one and the newer model Gourmet d'Expert Electric Skillet (EP-PBC10). Yes, I have two! Comes in handy when you have a big group of mouths to feed. ; )

The reason why I prefer the electric skillet over the gas burner is because of the butane cans. Each butane can usually lasts me around an hour or so (depending on how high you've used the flame) and that's not enough time to eat a whole meal (hey, I eat slow). This means I need to change cans mid-eating. Even though it only takes a few minutes, I'd prefer not to.

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Why I made this Blog. For you guys (of course) !

2/6/2015

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Seriously, did you have to ask? I never really thought about creating a blog or website, but early on in my YouTube video making several people reached out to me and asked if I could post the ingredients in the video descriptions or someplace else that was easy to print. I guess people were skipping around the videos trying to find the right measurements. (Sorry guys!) : P

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Style & Fashion. My Wardrobe when Filming.

2/4/2015

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Lately, I've been getting a ton of questions on what brand of clothes I wear in my videos. Thank you so much, for those of you who have asked and graciously complemented! After all, a girl can never receive too many compliments. : )

I love fashion and I do try to be stylish when at all possible - but let's be honest, I'm cooking in the kitchen, so there's only so many practical pieces of clothing I can wear.

dress by Free People, as seen in my Almond Milk Tea recipe video

Before filming my videos, I go scrounge around though my wardrobe to see what I can mix and match. In general, I try NOT to wear the same clothes twice. Sadly, I broke that rule many videos ago.

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Chinese New Year 2015 - MY MENU.

2/4/2015

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New Year Sheep design by Freepik

Chinese New Year (CNY) 2015 will be on February 19th. It's the year of the Sheep (or Goat) but I like saying Sheep better + plus the little guy looks like a cute sheep, don't you think?

I get a lot of questions about what recipes I plan on making for CNY or what menu items should be served. I think it really depends on your family and what your traditions are. Most people will celebrate Chinese New Year with a family dinner on the eve before CNY day, (so this year it will be February 18th).

Growing up, my Grandma would always make us Taiwanese Style Hot Pot which was fun and delicious for everyone. Hot Pot for us was a meal that was traditionally served for Asian holidays and special occasions. She would also cook Turnip Cakes (those yummy squares often served in Dim Sum restaurants) and Chinese New Year Cakes (sticky rice cakes). If you haven't had the Chinese New Year Cakes before, they taste like a warm gooey mochi. (Yum!)

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Chinese New Year - Red Envelope Traditions

How to Save Soup Stock : Tips & Tricks

Hot Pot Equipment - What I use at HOME.

Why I made this Blog. For you guys (of course) !

Style & Fashion. My Wardrobe when Filming.

Chinese New Year 2015 - MY MENU.

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