Fluffy Sparkle - Food and Culture

Two years ago, I said goodbye to my old friends and packed as much stuff as I could to move to Seattle, including a rick cooker stuffed with several pairs of socks for anti-friction protection. But, the result is it takes one and a half hours to cook. In fact, there are tons of variety of rice cookers we can buy from Asian markets and Amazon. I used to go to Chinese restaurants even though I define myself a foodie. The true reason was I couldn't understand at all those non-visualized menus crammed with unfamiliar vocabularies. I got a trick from one of my friends, "Can I have the same order as that table has, it looks very good." The nightmare started. When the dishes were severed, they were completely not delightful as what I saw from that table. I pretended that the meal was enjoyable when the waiter came to ask, actually, I just swallowed a jalapeno wrapped with bacons or bit a stinky cheese.  I regaled those unforgettable stories with my friends, they taught m

Thanksgiving is a national holiday in China. You can easily buy turkey from supermarkets in China. Chinese people don't eat mashed potatoes in China. Chinese people make the same pumpkin pie as you eat in America.   Cyber Monday is the biggest online shopping day in China.  Check out your answers: 1. Thanksgiving is not a national holiday in China. 2. People who live in the big cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, can buy frozen turkey from imported supermarkets and order a turkey from a hotel restaurant. Or, they usually roast geese or chicken instead. But the best substitute food is roasted Peking Duck.  3. Chinese style mashed potatoes. It’s savory and not heavy as American style mashed potatoes by mixing with butter and cream.   4. Chinese pumpkin pie is fried, crispy outside, and soft inside by filling with sweet sauce, such as read bean.

Crab Wonton Stir-fried seasonal vegetables   Sweet and sour eggplant Beef noodles Soup Egg-fried rice Sweet and sour pork with sliced pineapple Moo shu pork Check out your answers: 1. These deep-fried dumplings filled with crabmeat and cream cheese are popular...but nobody eats cheese in China.  2. Chinese people love vegetables. Vegetable is an indispensable part of Chinese food culture. But the question is what kind of vegetable you stir fry. 3.This well-known Sichuan eggplant dish is hot, salty, sour, and sweet. 4. Beef noodle soup is a traditional Chinese noodle soup made of stewed or red braised beef, beef broth, vegetables and noodles. It exists in various forms throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia. 5. It’s a go-to dish in China. You can find egg-fried rice anywhere in China, from high class hotels to family-run restaurants on the street.  6. Called “咕嚕肉” or “ goo lou yok ” in Cantonese dialect, sweet

1. Ice cream originated from Japan. Yes / No 2. There over 2,000 locations of P.F Chang’s in China.  Yes / No 3. If you are starving to death, you can start eating first  when you have a family meal.  Yes / No 4. Eating long noodles is a traditional dish on someone’s birthday.  Yes / No 5. Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes is the most common  and popular home cooking in China.  Yes / No 6.  Soy sauce originated from Japan.  Yes / No Check out your answers:  1. Ice cream first originated from the Chinese around 2000 BC. 2. Sorry, you cannot find P.F Chang’s in China. The privately held chain has 211 domestic locations and more than 50 international ones, including in Canada, Mexico, Latin America, the United Arab Emirates，the Philippines, and Korea. 3. Youths should not start eating before the elders start eating. So, please put down your chopsticks until the elders, such as your grandparent, parent, aunts and uncles, start

Are you bored of eating or cooking poached egg, scrambled egg, fried egg, or even omelette? Are you the person who is lacking of cooking genes? Do you want to have something new for your food adventure? Tea egg is super easy to cook and provides you nutrition.  Peeling off the egg shell, the natural fragrance of black tea combined with the scented spices fill in your month and linger on your tongue. I promise there is no weird smell. You just cannot stop eating. But, don't eat too many eggs within a day. We need rooms for other foods. Five Steps to cook perfect tea egg. (My Secret Recipe)          Step One.  You have to have at least one egg. If you have more eggs on hand, that’s great. But you have to make sure not to throw away your tea eggs if you really don't like the flavor.Grab a pot (I mean not a vessel pot or pottery), and get some water in there. Step Two.  Pour the secret sauce into the pot. What are exactly ingredients in my secret sauce? Of

The Chinese Zodiac consists of a 12-year cycle, each year of which is named after a different animal. Many Chinese believe that the year of a person's birth is related to this person’s personality traits, physical and mental attributes and degree of success and happiness throughout this person’s lifetime. It is calculated according to Chinese lunar calendar.  Check your Chinese Zodiac sign here. Year of Rat  Spicy and sour shredded potatoes Year of Ox             Beijing Duck             Year of Tiger Mapo Toufu Year of Rabbit Beef stew with carrots   Year of Dragon Glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves Year of Snake Sichuan Hot Pot Year of Horse Stir fry bok choy Year of Sheep Steamed egg custard Year of Monkey Mango pudding  Year of Rooster Twice cooked pork Year of Dog Chili-fried chicken cubes Year of Pig Crispy green onion pancake All food phot

1. Broccoli is a Chinese vegetable. Yes / No 2. Have you ever heard of Ants Climbing Tree?  It is deep fried tree branches with ants.  Yes / No 3.Chinese eat moon cakes based on the full moon calendar. Yes / No 4.Wood ear is made from fresh leaves and pig ears.  Yes / No 5.Chinese people use chopsticks to eat  because we are too lazy to cut our food.  Yes / No 6. If you want to raise someone’s attention and talk to this person during the meal, you can point at this person with your chopsticks. Yes / No Check out your answers:   1.Broccoli is not a Chinese vegetable; in fact, it is originally an Italian vegetable. But we have Chinese broccoli, called Gai Lan .   2.We like to give catchy name for our daily dishes. Some names have nothing to do with their ingredients. Ant climbing tree is glass noodles with spicy minced pork. 3. We are not vampires. Eating moon cakes is to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festiva