use real butter

Recipe: braised napa cabbage with mushrooms

This morning I was working on a blogging event project and thought making meringues would be a nice component to my creation. It would also be a good way to use up some egg whites leftover from making (far too much) ice cream. Color is as important here as texture, and my intention was to have a white topper. Well… damn it, Donna. I love Donna Hay’s books because the pictures are beautiful and white and – and why the hell doesn’t that meringue recipe of hers ever come out white? I suppose I should reduce the heat? Or maybe try a different recipe (hers includes vinegar and cornstarch – probably for stability)?

Recipe: roasted brussels sprouts

Generally, when I don’t feel so hot, I find comfort in spicy or acidic food. I know that seems counterintuitive to many people. Jeremy is the opposite – he says dairy settles his stomach. Good lord, dairy would have a disastrous effect on me, seeing as I’m lactose intolerant. I didn’t figure out I was lactose intolerant until I got into college, believe it or not. That probably explains a lot of evenings spent lying on my side, unable to move. Like my father, I treated my stomach like it was made of iron. Unlike my father, I couldn’t stomach everything I put down my gullet. I could stomach most things, just not *everything*, like the time I was six years old and mixed vanilla frosting in 7up and wound up with a stomach ache that lasted for two days. Crazy kids, huh? I know!

I’m all for food safety, really. Just that, growing up in the 70s and 80s, my family didn’t practice that whole food safety thing too closely… or at all come to think of it. When I began to cook, I was the one who urged my mom to take care when handling raw poultry and raw pork. She was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing for a looooong time. I definitely have a strong constitution when it comes to salt, spice, and sour. No problem. Iron stomach! There have only been a couple of occasions when I was laid out in serious stomach pain and I think they both involved Jimmy Dean sausage, a trip to the ER, and drugs that knocked me out for several hours (probably to shut me up from moaning). So yesterday… yesterday I scarfed down three Chinese dumplings that had been sitting out for a few hours. I mean, I’ve done this for decades with no ill-effects. And yet, my tummy felt progressively worse and worse until I was lying on the couch all yesterday afternoon, staring at the dog trying to telepathically convince her to let herself out to potty.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: hot and sour soup

I have a tiny, old recipe book that my mom’s house mother (in grad school) printed in 1974. Several years later, Mrs. Li sent a couple of copies to my mom who in turn passed them along to me and Kris. I love this book. The binding is half-missing and the pages are stained, but it contains 100 authentic Chinese recipes. I tend to be a visual person and I am a total whore for cookbooks plastered with glossy pictures, but this modest book is a simple black and white with a few line drawings to illustrate the more complex steps. Next to my parents and my grandma, this book has taught me how to cook some traditional Chinese favorites. Imagine my delight the first time I tried the hot and sour soup recipe. The kind you get in Chinese restaurants is typically heavy on the cornstarch and very light on the goodies – not so with this version.

**Jump for more butter**