Edible History: Pekin Noodle Parlor in Montana

It's the oldest continuously operating Chinese restaurant in the country! Pekin Noodle Parlor first opened its doors in 1911. The first documented Chinese eatery in the US is San Francisco's Canton Restaurant from 1849, but Pekin Noodle Parlor is the oldest still in business.

Hello Kitty Monstrosity of the Day: Hong Kong's Dim Sum Restaurant

My love of dim sum is duking it out with my hatred of Hello Kitty here:

Nerds Behaving Badly: Harvard Business School Prof Threatens Legal Action Over $4

Seriously?

Crazy For Kimchi: The Rise of Korean Food in the US

What's not to love?  One of my favorite dishes is bulgogi.  So good!

China: Frozen Dumplings, Fridges, and Environmental Impact

Here's a stat for ya: 

In the 12 years between 1995 and 2007, China’s domestic refrigerator-ownership numbers have jumped to 95 percent from just 7 percent of urban families.

MM in the Kitchen: Chinese Ginger-Garlic Poached Chicken

This dish often associated with Hainan is so simple and so good.  You can't go wrong with garlic, ginger, and scallions, really!  There's even a helpful video:

Make rice (jasmine's my favorite kind) with the poaching liquid and serve with the chicken.  Add something green (I like baby bok choy sauteed with ginger or garlic), and you have a wonderful meal.  The menfolk in the family love adding spicy chili sauce (and also the inevitable Sriracha). For a twist, make rice porridge and serve the chicken with that; it's especially good for a winter breakfast.  For lunch the next day, shred the chicken and put it on top of salad greens with maybe a soy sauce sesame oil dressing.

Tasty Chinese

Here's an interesting post about language, translation, and usage.

I can't help including an anecdote from a big family get-together from a while back.  It was late, and some of us were hungry but too tired to go out, so one of my aunts offered to cook something quickly. How about some frozen dumplings?

OK, said my ever-ravenous brother. "What kind?"

"Big Testy," said my aunt (she's got a rather thick accent.)

"Big WHAT?" 

"Big Testy!"

"Big Testy?" he asked, just to be sure.

My aunt started getting flustered. "Testy!" she repeated. "Testy, testy!  Big!  Testy!"

My brother looked at me and smirked.  I knew exactly what he was thinking.  My mother looked confused.  We didn't bother to enlighten her.  My aunt opened a bag of frozen dumplings and proceeded to empty it into a big pot.

The brother then intercepted the bag before it fell into the trash can.  He read it, started laughing hysterically, and waved it at me.  It read "Big Tasty brand frozen dumplings."

Oh, man.  He and I still laugh about it, the Big Testes Dumplings.

Oops, I Did It Again

The guy who inflicted Rebecca Black's gobsmackingly horrendous "Friday" song on the world has done it again.  This time it's even worse.  It's an unbelievably awful song about Chinese food.  Nope, if you want a song about Chinese food that's actually good and charming and not racially insulting, go here instead. 

MM in the Kitchen: Sri Lankan Shrimp Curry

It doesn't do to talk about foreign policy headaches on an empty stomach, my darlings. Serve this over jasmine rice.

Sushinomics

That yummy sushi is going to cost more, and it's going to cost more in NY than LA.  

MM in the Kitchen: Chinese Green Onion Pancakes

Yummy!

News You Can Use: Yummiest Instant Ramen Bowls

Because students would starve without these things.

Glorious Gluttony: the Best Dim Sum in Hong Kong

I'm envious.  And now absolutely, raveningly starving and on the verge of taking a bite out of my laptop screen.    You think I'm kidding?

MM in the Kitchen: Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

For La Parisienne, who's under the weather: eat this!

Awesome: A Foodie's Vacation Video

Check out this video compilation of some gorgeous food photography from South Korea and Japan. Warning: music alert!

MM in the Kitchen: Bibimbap

A delicious Korean recipe.

The World's 50 Most Delicious Foods

Let the debate begin!

Food Tech: Inside a Japanese Ramen Factory

Three cheers for ramen!  Ain't technology grand?

Breakfast Around the World!

Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!  Here's a gorgeous photo essay of 50 different delicious breakfasts from around the world.  Add a big steaming cup of coffee or tea, and we are all set.

California Bans Shark's Fin Soup

Here comes the food police.  Oh, and apparently it makes no never mind that it's got a ton of cultural and culinary significance to the Chinese and Taiwanese communities!  (In case you're wondering: Yes, I've had shark's fin soup.  Yes, I like it.  Yes, I eat it whenever I get the chance.  I like bird's-nest soup too, but I like shark's fin more.  Yes, I'm eeeeeeeeeeeevil.  No, I haven't had that soup in a few years.  It's expensive, and I'm just a penniless nerd!)  Here's a bit from the news story:

Shark fin soup is a Chinese delicacy; walk into certain restaurants in San Francisco's Chinatown, and you're guaranteed to find it--but not for much longer. Last week, California governor Jerry Brown signed a law banning the sale of shark fins. It's a move that is being celebrated by environmentalists, but some Chinese Americans are complaining that the law is an attack on their culture.

Apparently 85% of U.S. shark fin consumption occurs in California.  You know what's bound to happen, though, right?  A black market trade in shark fins and that soup.  Do you honestly think you can stop a food-loving culture from getting what it really wants?  GET REAL.  Hasn't Prohibition taught us anything?  More here, plus this: raaaaaaaaaacist?