All Entries Tagged With: "Gathering"
Dim Sum at HKYK Seafood Hotpot Restaurant in Richmond
The Richmond Community Kitchen gathered for a Chinese New Year celebration at HKYK Seafood Hotpot Restaurant which serves dim sum in the morning.
One of the reason we picked HKYK is it’s wheel chair. There is a parking lot adjacent to this building and there are lots allocated for HKYK but you must register your license plate number in a register book at the reception.
There were fourteen members (old and new) from various kitchens who attended this event.
Another reason we picked HKYK is their prices are really cheap; $1.99 for most of the regular dim sum items. Click on the order sheets above for the enlarge view. HKYK uses a computerized order sheet where you shade the required quantity. It reminds of the multiple choices test in schools.
HKYK has been in Richmond for a long time. I remembered we had dim sum here way back in 2002. It is a big restaurant with many seating. I’ve seen reviews that service is not that good here but for the price that you pay, you cant expect much. We are quite ok with the slow service as that gives us more time to chit chat and catch up with one another.
We ordered a total of 21 different items to try. The Steamed Glutinous Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf was the only Special item we ordered. This huge dumpling costs $5.50. It came with sugar and soy sauce for dipping.
Other than the above special, we ordered pretty regular dim sum items for those who are not familiar with this Cantonese cuisine to be on the safe side. Moreover, we do have one member who is gluten intolerant.
Pork Dumplings, Shrimp Dumplings, Steamed Dumpling Chiu Chou Style and Steamed BBQ Buns are very common items in dim sum place.
Wonton in Chili Oil and Peanut Sauce, Steamed Pork Ribs in Black Bean Sauce, Steamed Beef Ribs in Black Pepper Sauce and Steamed Pork Liver Rice Rolls with Ginger are more for the … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Journey Through Eight Great Traditions of Chinese Cuisine
Hi All:
Suanne and I wants to embark on an exploration in learning about the Eight Great Traditions of Chinese Cuisine. We are just intrigued by the differences between these distinct regional cuisines — we want do a series on them over a period of time.
Song Dynasty Party | Credit: wikipedia.org
The Eight Great Traditions of Chinese Cuisine are defined as follows (with the 4 major ones marked with ***):
- Anhui
- Cantonese ***
- Fujian
- Hunan
- Jiangsu (Huaiyang) ***
- Shandong ***
- Sichuan ***
- Zhejiang
We would love to engage chowtimes readers in this journey with us. As you know, the traditional way to enjoy Chinese food is to have it banquet style. We are thinking of organizing something along these lines:
- We meet once a month on a Saturday. Each month, we will focus on one of the eight regional cuisine
- I will organize a table or two (ten to a table) with a multi-course dinner
- I (or a volunteer) will research about the cuisine and share with everyone.
- We will learn about the region, the ingredients, the cooking techniques, famous dishes, the people, etc.
After all, I am of the opinion that Vancouver is home to the best authentic Chinese restaurants in North America. I think we can even go as far as saying Vancouver is home to the best authentic Chinese restaurants outside of China.
It will be a great time to learn, meet fellow foodies and most important of all, enjoy the best each of the regional cuisines has to offer. Depending on the responses, I am already thinking of going on to another series on “ancient cuisines” — but that’s for another time. One step at a time.
Is there anyone who will be interested to join Suanne and I?
If you are, just send me an email (ben@chowtimes.com) and we will take it from there.
Ben
Office Potluck — October 2009
At work we have a social committee which is pretty active. They organizes various events to build relationships at work. Some of the events that they organizes very well is the hockey pool and the office potluck.
We do this once every quarter and it is always a success no matter how many times we do it. This is one event that has the most participation of all events.
The way we do it is to randomly split the office into two groups. Each of the two groups will be contributing to one potluck. So there are two potlucks held on different dates and everyone contributes on one of the potluck but gets to eat on both potlucks.
Everyone can contribute to the potluck by bringing a homemade dish. For anyone who doesn’t want to bring a homemade dish, they can buy them or pay $20 so that the committee can use the money to buy on their part.
At the end of the potluck, the Social Committee will put up an online poll to gather votes for the best of categories.
My contribution this time is Baked Char Siu Bau. Actually, it was Suanne who made it. You guys know I don’t cook. Suanne makes really moist Char Siu Bau and am glad to say it was one of the favourites. This is not gonna win any prizes this time — that much I can tell you though.
If you want the recipe to this, you can find it here:
After the buns are made, let rest for 30 minutes and brush with beaten egg (egg wash). Bake in a preheated 325F oven for 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown.
This dish above looks set to be the winner this time. This is called Russian Sushi!
I don’t know if this is a made-up name or what. But it sure looked the prettiest.
This is another pretty unique dish. I wanted so much to try it but when it got to my turn, they were all gone. This is … More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Chowtimes Readers Dinner: Anyone Interested?
You know what Suanne and I would like to do?
We would like to organize a dinner among Chow Times readers again. The last (and only) time we organized one was back in January 2008 when we managed to fill a table of 10. We went to the Tong Kung Chiu Chow Restaurant in Richmond to try Chiu Chow cuisine (that restaurant had since closed, sad to say). Suanne and I had a great time — we were so glad to get to know real names and faces behind commenter handles.
Since that dinner in Tong Kung, there are a lot more people who had been following Chow Times. For some of you, I felt like I know you already — but not quite. However, all of us have one in common. We are foodies. Foodies do one thing — we seek out good food. What better way to enjoy food than to mix good food with good company.
So, can Suanne and I have the honour of your company for dinner? I have an idea in mind and I think it will be a culinary experience, not too expensive (like less than $30) and will be wmewhere you probably had not been to before. I will see if I could work out a deal (using the good name of Chow Times, he he he). That much I can tell you … just a teaser! LOL!
Suanne and I are thinking of doing it on a Saturday for dinner sometime in mid-June (13th or 20th). If you are interested, just shoot me an email at ben@chowtimes.com. We really look forward to meeting all of you who had been following Chow Times.
Foodies Unite!
Ben and Suanne
9-Course Chinese Dinner in Richmond Mandarin Restaurant
Some of you know me very well as an organizer of events. It’s just me … it’s just who I am. I simply enjoy putting together ideas, make a plan and see to it the plans work. Nothing gives me greater joy than to see people enjoying themselves.
When I was in my early twenties, I remember vividly that one camp that I had been part of organizing. It was a national camp of over 800 participants and I had played a huge part of organizing a city tour … 20 buses in all. Logistically it was a nightmare but I had such a kick seeing everyone single boys and girls coming back to camp happy, tired and late … no one missing and everyone had a great 10 hours away. Ah … those were the days … I’ll talk about those some other time.
For the past few years, I had also enjoyed organizing gatherings among friends … the biggest of which was a picnic the past summer which was attended by a whopping 50 people in all. Just two weeks ago, I initiated another idea for a gathering of my “lah speaking” friends (mainly ex-Singaporeans and ex-Malaysians). Since it is colder and wetter these days, outdoor events are out of the question. So, I initiated a Chinese Dinner for the same group of friends. Well, I said I initiated it because I did not organize it this time … WB offered to do it and she did it so marvelously well. I think WB will make an excellent project manager! [No, seriously WB.]
After narrowing it down from three restaurants, WB finally settled down on the Richmond Mandarin Restaurant which is located in the same building as T&T on Cambie. WB, with the help from Polly, did a great job in haggling a 9-course menu for just $168 (for a table of 10). This is amazing considering that Richmond Mandarin has a “Menu A” which costs $928 and their cheapest “Menu D” which costs $298. Moreover, WB managed to get the use of their VIP Room … for free!
We had a total of 30 people who came to the Richmond Mandarin Restaurant that night, about 20 adults and 10 kids. WB decided to create a separate cheaper menu for the kids while the adults go for the whole-shebang. Anyway, she figured that the kids would not care much for Peking Duck … the kids will actually be happier with fried rice and noodles … and the parent happier too because we don’t have to pay the full $168 for them.
Let’s start with the kids’ menu … first off … Fried Rice Noodles with Beef.
Then the kids had Deep Fried Chicken Wings. The kids started eating first … we wanted to make sure that the kids are all eaten and finished before we start our feast. But I was sooo hungry looking at the chicken wings. You see, I hardly had anything to eat that day in anticipation of this meal.
And the kids’ favourites … Fried Rice!! They looked so good and smell so good. They were all gone in no time. After the kids were done, they were let to run riot in the VIP room. He he he … my Nanzaro were tasked with keeping order. He did a great job. Nanzaro had perhaps something like 25 Bionicles which he does not play anymore. He divided his all-jumbled up Bionicle parts and gave it to the kids. I think the kids love that.
Here is the 9-course dinner we had … we started off with Peking Duck. This came in two course … starting first with the Peking Duck Skin. Yiup … that’s right … Duck Skin.
You don’t eat the Duck Skin just like that. We had Chinese Pancakes … warm and freshly made …
… together with Hoisin (Seafood?) Sauce with Green Onion “Flower” …
… assemble it together and wrap it up. This is certainly the favourite with everyone. For those who had tried this before … it’s the potpourri of simple flavours that makes this great. It’s the crispiness of the duck skin, the crunch of the green onion, the intensity of the Hoisin sauce and the supple softness of the warm pancake. We each had at least two … and everyone being so polite tried their darnest best pretending they don’t want more! Come on guys … next time don’t pretend! Go for it and finish it off!
The meat of the duck is then used for the second follow-on dish … the Duck Meat Stir-fry Lettuce Wrap. If WB did not tell me it’s duck meat, I would not have guessed. It had no semblance of meat at all. They are all chopped up finely.
We eat this as a wrap too … this time wrapped in lettuce leaf. There were so much duck meat that we asked for more lettuce leaf. I simply love the fresh, cold lettuce leaf. When we asked for more lettuce leaf, I actually cringed a bit because after WB had squeezed the restaurant out of so much, I was kind of fearful that service will suffer. But no … they were more than happy to give us more.
The next dish is the Crab Meat with Fish Maw Soup. Well, we would have loved Sharks Fin but at this price, obviously it was out of the question. The Crab Meat with Fish Maw was excellent. Know what fish maw is … it’s the gas bladder of a fish. Some say it is the stomach.
Anyway, I only know that the soup was great and can’t tell the maw from the rest of the stuff in the soup. There were more than enough for ten bowls … that’s good … because I know everyone want second helpings.
Next came the Hong Kong style crab. There are two large crabs for each table. The best way to eat this is to put down the chopstick and just use the hands. I noticed everyone turned quiet when we had this dish … he he he … everyone was too busy picking out the flesh from the shell. It was quite a bit of work. Yummy though.
Next came the Braised Rock Cod. It came with a lot of bean curd stick. I was too busy finishing off my crab that by the time I got down to this, all the fish flesh was gone! Oh yeah … you guys did not leave me any … but there were a lot of bean curd stick left though. Thanks a lot!
Since I did not get to taste the fish, I don’t really know how it was. But then judging by the bean curd sticks that everyone left for me, it must have been good.
Next came the something I have not come across in Chinese cuisine — it’s something made out of pumpkins. It’s called the Spare ribs with Japanese Pumpkin. Seems like it’s some stir fry ribs with mushrooms and served on top of some steamed (I think) pumpkin.
It’s just me … I just don’t like pumpkins. The pumpkin tasted like sweet potatoes if you ask me. The spare ribs? Well, they went so fast that I only got two crummy pieces. :-) The spare ribs were great but the pumpkin, that I don’t like.
The Beef Tenderloin was not particularly exciting … so … ho-hum. I like the sauce but since this is a 9-course dinner, steamed rice is not served.
The Whole Deep Fried Crispy Chicken came next with a heap of prawn crackers. The moment this dish hit the table, all the kids swarmed the table and before we knew it, they prawn crackers were gone. Good thing, they knew that Uncle Ben wanted to take a picture first.
I like these type of chicken dish. To me it’s like two separate dish in one … the crispy chicken skin and the thick white chicken meat. I always eat this in that order … first, all the skin … and then the meat. And the wing tips are the best too.
The rice (or noodles) dish normally come towards the tail end of a multi-course dinner. We had the Fook Chow Braised Rice. It was flavorful but by now, I had enough for the night.
Just then the battery in my camera died and I left my spare battery at home. Fortunately there were lots of cameras for that night. We ended with cookies …
… Green Beans Dessert Soup.
I had such an enjoyable evening — perfect in every sense. I know it was a lot of work in planning and communicating on the part of WB. I also know sometimes people think it’s an oft thankless job but wanted to let WB know that we’re appreciative of all the work. He he he … I know it is stressful at time, trying to meet everyone’s expectations. Good job!
And … yesterday, I asked if anyone would be interested to make it to a dinner at Shanghai Wonderful. I have so far three responses and if I get at least 1 or 2 more responses, we’ll be able to make 1 table. So, any more takers?
Picnic at Riverfront Park
I organized a picnic among friends on Saturday last weekend at the Riverfront Park in south Vancouver. Seeing that it was the last weekend before the start of another school year, I wanted to make this picnic to end the summer with a bit of a bang. There were about 9 families in all.
The Riverfront Park is a little known park located on E Kent Ave S, just south of SE Marine Drive at the turn off in Jellicoe. The park had a great view of the Fraser River and is very well maintained. It’s a great place for a quiet picnic.
As usual, the picnic is centered around food. Janice brought her peanut satay sauce marinated chicken wings. Bernie did all the barbequeing. The wings were very well grilled — and very juicy. He kept the supplies going for quite sometime.
Eric is the master chef among all of us. He always try making something new for us each time we met. This time he made Briyani Chicken Rice. The Briyani Rice were flavourful and reeked with spices. It was awesome. Sabrina is such a lucky girl to have a husband who loves to cook!
Wai Bing brought her homemade Vietnamese Rolls. She told us she learnt this from her sister just before she came to Vancouver. It was very nice, especially when it goes with sweet chilli sauce.
Polly fried some noodles (I did not take any pictures of them). She also brought along some samples of instant noodles and instant coffee and tea. There’s one packet of instant noodles called the Singapore Style Nyonya Laksa Rice Noodle that were different from the normal ones.
The seasoning, including the laksa broth, is all packaged in a bag — no water needed! Polly just poured the contents into the pot, heat it up, throw in the rice noodles and it’s all ready. Convenient.
Jessica shared with us her Rojak — Malaysian Style Fruit Salad. She told me she made the dressing herself. The dressing is made up of water, belacan (shrimp paste), honey, chilli and lime juice (is that right Jess?). Belacan has a strong smell (sometimes repulsive to others). Jess told us that the belacan were toasted. I think her new home is gonna smell belacan for the rest of this summer.
Suanne made Nasi Lemak. It was my idea to be a bit authentic by serving it on banana leaf. We bought some leaves from the Great One Supermarket in Richmond. Each packet of banana leaves is sufficient to pack about 20 packets of nasi lemak.
The rice in Nasi Lemak is cooked with cocnut milk. The normal ingredients includes fried anchovies, fried peanuts, sliced cucumber, hard boiled egg, and most importantly the Sambal. We has earlier blogged about making nasi lemak … check this link.
The banana leaf does provide a bit of additional aroma to the nasi lemak. I think the people liked it … and that pleases Suanne … right? Well, I MUST say that I contributed to this — I was 100% in charge of the assembly of the nasi lemak. So, Suanne, next time don’t say I am of no use around the kitchen, OK? ;-)
Suanne also made something for dessert, Kuejadas (Portuguese Tart). Suanne had the recipe posted earlier too … check this link for the recipe.
I did not take pictures of the other food but they were equally delicious. Let’s see … Rachel brought fruits and salad. Allan brought popsicle which he forgot to tell everyone until half of them became soft drinks! Praba brought some sandwiches and I think he forgot to open it up — we did not know it was there, well, at least I did not know. Sue Hew brought some chips and dip. Oh yes, Xiao Qin made some Taiwanese sushi rolls with meat floss, carrot and cucumber.
Hey guys, Suanne and I had a great time. Thanks for making the time to meet up. Let’s do this again some time soon. Praba, you gonna be the next organizer, right?
Picnic in Whistler
Polly invited us to join them for a day trip to Whistler last weekend. Since we had nothing particularly planned for the weekend, we tagged along. We have actually never been to Whistler in summer before.
Whistler is world famous for snow skiing in winter having been voted many times as the premier ski destination in North America. Whistler will be hosting many of the events of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
We have always enjoyed the drive on Highway 99 (known as the Sea-to-Sky Highway) from Vancouver to Whistler. The scenery was spectacular to say to the least.
When we got to Whistler we headed straight for the Lost Lake and set ourselves up for a picnic. It was a perfect day for a picnic.
For once, we decided to bring along chinese style picnic stuff. Polly bought some siew yoke (roast pork) from Parker Place in Richmond. The roast pork from Parker Place seems to be the best around. There are people queueing up to buy them pretty much throughout the day. The roast pork were great.
Polly also brought along some instant noodles. The one below costs $1.79 per pack. I am surprised this costs so much. I wouldn’t pay $1.79 for instant noodles, no siree.
The noodles were pretty good. The texture is more chewy and very much like fresh made noodles. The seasons is, well, so-so only.
Teh Tarik is Malaysian Milk Tea. The Malaysian difference is the way they are prepared … they are “pulled” (i.e. poured over the head from one cup to another) to produce a frothy brew.
The milk tea were very delicious and a good change from the normal picnic fare. The weather were cooling and having a warm cuppa is just perfect.
There are two mountains developed for skiing, Whistler and Blackcomb, whose terrain is accessed by 24 major lifts. The vertical drop of 1609 metres (5,280 feet, or one mile) at Blackcomb is the most of any ski resort in North America. I was told that here one can ski for a full 45 minutes from top to bottom.
We took a walk around the Whistler Village before heading home. There were some performances at the square. Click on the link below for more pictures.
