Actually, CT took this photo cos after the food came I was too focused on eating. All the dumplings are hand made, including the wrapper, so it took a while to get all of our orders but really, the table couldn’t have fit 120 dumplings all at once anyway. As we finished some plates they’d replace them with more. Also, I think they offer pan fried and steamed/boiled versions of all of their dumplings. We got two plates of the pork and chive, one pan fried and one boiled, and we all liked the boiled better.

Everyone has different fave dumplings, so I can’t say what to order — although we all liked the pumpkin and pork special, I think some of CT’s friends didn’t when they tried it, and I thought the dill and pork were really good, but Kay didn’t like them at all. They also have a “vegetable” dumpling which we didn’t try, but we did try the “triple vegetarian” dumplings — we thought there were maybe eggs in them — not sure, just something to double check if you have dietary restrictions — or don’t bother cos we didn’t like them anyways. My fave vegetarian dumpling/pot sticker/gyoza type thing is still the vegetarian gyoza from Cha-Ya in San Francisco. But overall, I thought China Bistro was great! If I’m ever jonesing for dumplings in the DC area, this would be the place for sure. Actually I did actually kinda feel like some tonight for dinner, so I dunno one of these weekends we’ll have to make some, and they’ll be good (if I do say so myself), but in a different way.

Sometimes I think the DC metropolitan area has better Chinese food — like the Bay Area doesn’t have too many good places at all! Except whenever I voice this opinion, people think I’m nuts. But then I remember that we don’t really have parents and family telling us where to go, and taking us there to boot, so… it’s probably our own fault. :D

But! When they’re not exploding, marbled tea eggs are delicious — they’re really good as a part of dinner (appetizer? side dish?) or snack — and easy peasy to make, which is a great combination! Maybe someone can make it and test my microwaving-is-ok-if-the-eggs-are-peeled theory, how about it? :)

Marbled Tea Eggs 茶葉蛋

Adapted from Chinese Home Cooking Made Easy by Shyh-Pwu Tien.

12 medium or large eggs
5 black tea bags or 3-5 tablespoons of black tea or oolong tea, or a mixture of both
5 star anise
1/3-1/2 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon five spice powder (optional)
1 teaspoon salt (optional)
Actually to be perfectly honest, all the amounts are random, I increased everything the cookbook said, except the eggs and salt, ’cause I like flavors, but it worked out fine. It’s a very forgiving recipe.

1. Place eggs in a pot, cover with cold water, add a little salt (optional), bring to a boil over medium high heat, boil for maybe a minute, then turn off stove and let sit for 10-12 minutes or so. I like to use older eggs for this because it makes the eggs easier to peel when eating — so buy the carton of eggs about a week before you are going to make this.
2. Drain the hot water, rinse under cold water to cool. Gently tap or roll the eggs to make cracks, but leave the shell on.
3. Place the eggs in a crock pot, slow cooker, or regular pot on the stove (whatever you like), cover with water, then add in the tea, star anise, soy sauce, five spice power if you have some, and salt if you feel like it. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and then simmer for 30 minutes minimum. (I think longer is better, personally, like 3-5 hours wouldn’t be amiss.)
4. Take off the stove, serve hot or cold. Or maybe serve hot the first day, then cold thereafter so you don’t have microwave mishaps! We reheat on the stove now. :p

Actually, this reminds me: if you go to any 7-11 in Taiwan, they’ll have a rice cooker/steamer keeping tea eggs warm for sale. Delish!

Of the tart yogurt places, I like Yogurt Harmony on Shattuck (between Bancroft and Kittredge) — I think it’s a good balance of sweet and tart and creamy. Usually I just get a plain tart flavored yogurt with no toppings (they have other flavors of the day like lychee, peach, mango, or pomegranate, usually 4 flavors total, but it changes daily/weekly), but after I tried some mochi topping when Julie got it, I’m a convert. (She also recommends Cap’n Crunch and strawberry, which is rather good too.) Anyway, they charge like 95¢ for the first topping and $1.25 for 2 toppings, so I always get at least two toppings if I get toppings, cos that’s how I roll.

I also like Yogurt Harmony ’cause they serve their yogurt in a compostable thick paper bowl (sorta like chinet?) with a compostable corn plastic spoon, yay! They also have a frequent buyers card, like if you buy 8, you can get 1 free, or something. I think I’m on my third (maybe fourth?) card since they started the program, which you know, isn’t too bad — it’s summertime! :)

This week’s been hot, which brings frozen yogurt to mind. Well it does for me!

I don’t know if Cook Off is worth the full price cos there aren’t that many recipes and you can finish the game pretty fast, but if you can find it used, it’s awesome, really fun. I guess it’s pretty worth it if you want a minigame type game. It’s better than the first DS version of Cooking Mama (haven’t tried the second), cos it’s fun to do things with the wiimote. Also, the Wii version seems like it’s trying to show you how the actual cooking is done, although sometimes, chopping garlic is a step all by itself, which seems a bit silly. The DS version has a lot of weird parts during cooking, like blowing on the pot while I’m boiling pasta, stuff that’s there just to give you something to do.The DS version has way more recipes though, and it’s pretty fun too, good for a few recipes before bed. :)

YB asked me for turkey cooking tips yesterday, which yay! Someone asking me for cooking advice! Haha:) Anyhows, I thought I’d make a post out of it. (Yay content!)

For the turkey:
Brine brine brine! I use SFGate’s Best Way Brined Turkey Recipe although I’ve heard good things about the Good Eats Roast Turkey. In a way, we combined some ideas from both. We’ve always used turkeys that are 12 lbs -14 lbs, less is ok, but too much smaller and bones start making up a greater and greater percentage of the overall weight of the turkey. Also, I prefer free range! Organic if you can find it, but free range FOR SURE! Although brining makes up for it if you absolutely can’t find free range or free range organic, I actually think that the free range turkeys taste better. The basic stuff that you NEED for the brine is the 1.5 cups of salt, the cup of (light) brown sugar, and the water. Everything else is optional, although since we’re both pro-garlic, I guess the garlic is a yes! Also, we add things like thyme or rosemary (everyone likes rosemary but me so I add a little), or whatever herbs (fresh or dry) we like depending on what we have. I put black pepper in cos I like black pepper.

Adapted ingredients list:
* 1 turkey, about 12 pounds
The brine:
* 1 cup light brown sugar
* 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups (kosher) salt
* 2 1/2 gallons cold water
* 1 head of garlic, cloves separated and peeled
* ground pepper
For roasting:
* 2 tablespoons softened butter + butter for basting
* 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
* 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock, or more as needed

Before roasting, after we rinse and pat the turkey dry, we rub softened/melted butter all over the damn bird (this is actually a bit of a chore). CT doesn’t bother, her philosophy is, there’s fat on the turkey. But I like butter. We like to grind black pepper over it though, and put a couple stalks of celery, a few pieces of carrot, some fresh herbs if there’s something you like/have extras of, a small onion (in strips) maybe, and maybe a couple of apple pieces. It’s just for extra moisture/good smells, so it’s optional. I don’t know if it does anything seriously. Don’t pack the turkey cavity too tight cos you don’t wanna stuff the turkey. No turkey stuffing! This is important! Basting is up to you. Just watch the turkey, it’ll give you cues. Maybe go with the recipe if it’s your first time.

For the gravy:
I use Alton Brown’s Gravy from Roast Drippings recipe (approximately).
I dunno though, I kinda half make it up as I go along. (This is why I believe in having an instant gravy packet or canned gravy around, fail safe.) But it’s nice to use the turkey drippings. Be sure to have low sodium chicken broth for the gravy, cos the turkey is brined, the drippings can be salty. I dunno they’ve been fine before too, so maybe take a quick taste and then decide if you wanna use regular or low sodium. (Is there an actual taste difference between regular and low sodium broth? I’m actually not sure.) If you feel like being swanks, you can use the gibblets and whosiwhatsits to make your own broth. If you don’t have a bay leaf, well no big. I’ve dumped mushrooms in it and called it mushroom gravy too. Maybe I’ll do a garlic gravy this year since I’ve just declared love for garlic.

Cranberry sauce:
Love this stuff. I make it sometimes as a plain cheesecake topping. Or whatever! I like the Homemade Whole Cranberry Sauce recipe by Deb from Smitten Kitchen. It’s delicious! And it solved a problem for me — people seem to think that orange and cran are flavors that go together. Which is fine, except that I lurve cranberry! And when I’m eating cranberry sauce I keep thinking, the orange, it’s distracting me from my cranberries! But what she does with the orange zest and the small squeeze of orange is perfect. And I think she uses less sugar than the regular recipe from the back of the Ocean Spray bag. I like tart. But I’ve also made the sauce with just cranberries, water, and sugar before if I didn’t have the orange. Or used a splash of orange juice. It’s whatevs. (Y’know, this sort of weird thing about orange juice in cranberry sauce and the whole hate rosemary thing may be what my family is talking about when they tell me I’m picky. I’m pretty sure everyone else was fine with the orange juice and cranberries method.)

Anyhows, I think the most important thing is that the recipes are like a starting point. You should edit for your own tastes — like if you like cranberry sauce with orange juice (and I’m not coming to dinner!) never mind about what I said, obviously! :) Etc. Etc.

It’s cos corn is delicious; the worm knew it too. Well it’s all his now. :p