DRIED SEAFOOD, FRAGRANT THINGS, AND LUNAR NEW YEAR

Something which always fascinates me is what people read on this blog. Not everybody cruising the internet is looking for naked colour pictures of celebrities or fancy consumer products. Quite a few are doing research into their favourite subjects, such as history, langages, religion, coffee and tea, or good things to stick in their mouths.

[Fancy consumer products: Pikolino, Franco Sarto, Isabel Marant, Michelle D., Delman, Pantofola D'Oro, Liz Claiborne, Louis Vuitton, Caparros, Sam Edelman, Charlotte Russe, Michael Kors, Appepaza, Guess Rexy, Via Spiga Janice Nude Patent, Fendi, Ciao Bella, Hello Kitty, Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin, Cynthia Vincent, Bottega Veneta, Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Choo, Ferragamo, Prada, Miu Miu, Zanotti, Gucci, Pour La Victoire, Dolce & Gabbana, Brian Atwood, Chloe, Charles Jourdan, Roger Vivier, Gianmarco Lorenzi, etcetera.
None of those are described in any useful detail here.]


Today, no one is interested in at all nasty people parts, shoes & handbags, or celebrities. They're reading up on two of my favourite subjects: tobacco and food.

The posts which show up as recently viewed in the blog stats allow me to revisit previous thought-processes and read along with strangers who share similar interests. Maybe they are drooling as they scan the texts, or they have ideas and insights which are brand new -- in either case, I wish they would leave comments -- or perhaps they too are temporarily dreaming.


TOBACCO AND FOOD

Here are the present most popular posts.


TEENAGE PIPE SMOKERS
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/03/teenage-pipe-smokers.html
In which the question "is my son homosexual" is answered.


BALKAN SOBRANIE - POSTSCRIPT
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/08/balkan-sobranie-postscript.html
Much about a famous tobacco blend. Exceptionally uninteresting for people who do not smoke a pipe.
Possibly even boring for most of those people too. Especially if they are stocky men with hairy chests, gold chains, and a fruity aromatic thing going on. In which case they would probably prefer Clan pipe tobacco, which is the best product to have come out of Holland. Or Ennerdale Flake, for which Kendall, in Cumbria, England, is justly famous. Or other stellar mixtures of a fragrant type.


SIU NGAAP – ROAST DUCK, CANTONESE STYLE
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2005/11/siu-ngaap-roast-duck-cantonese-style.html
My own version of Cantonese roast duck (燒鴨), which I haven't made since Savage Kitten and I broke up. But the truly traditional way of doing a bird is the same as presented in this post: 燒鵝 SIU NGOH - ROAST GOOSE.
Which I haven't done in several years either.

The key to both recipes is using soy sauce and a sweetener (sugar, honey, or maltose), plus subsequent cooking at high heat.

You could also just head into Chinatown and buy it.
There are two take-out places that I recommend.


HO SI FAT CHOI 好事發財 DRIED OYSTERS WITH BLACK MOSS
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2011/02/ho-si-fat-choi-dried-oysters-with-black.html
This tasty preparation is probably one of the most traditional of Cantonese celebration foods, particularly for new year (in 2014, the new year falls on January 31).

For many people the custom is that all family members return home on New Years Eve for a festive dinner. The house will have been cleaned and prepared in advance (no cleaning can be done for several days immediately after New Year), appropriate decorations put up, citrus fruits and flowers brought into the house, and outstanding debts taken care of. The idea is that one starts the year with a clean slate, and the next twelve months will fall into that pattern.
At the very least, one is ready for good fortune and happiness.

Traditional propitious phrases and associated foods are presented in LUCKY WISHES, LUCKY FOODS, and you will find good luck fish salad and pok cheui crackers described in PLAYING WITH YOUR FISH.
At some point in the next week or two I'll probably write another pre-New Year post. There are a number of other good luck symbols and phrases which need to be mentioned.


AND COMPANY
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2012/03/and-company.html
This post includes a recipe for chicken and abalone rice porridge (鮑魚粥 'bau yu juk'), which is old-style Chinese American comfort food. Two of the ingredients -- canned abalone (鮑魚 'bau yu') and dried scallops (乾貝 'gon bui', or 乾瑤柱 'gon yiu ju') -- are available in Chinese stores.
Fortunately I live very close to San Francisco Chinatown, but maybe you do not. Put them on your list for the next time you head into the inner city. Along with various types of noodles, condiments, and a panoply of dried ingredients, they are useful things to have in your larder.



AFTER WORD

Unlike Christmas, the focus of which is materialism, and Western New Year, which is all about drunkenness, Chinese New year is a happy occasion, centered around the family and the home.

I do not have any relatives in Northern California. Being a bachelor, without nearby kin, my plans for Chinese New Year are not complex. I'll do a spot of haphazard and half-hearted cleaning, buy one or two special foods, and take a nice long bath on the evening of January 30.
Just before midnight, I'll draw water for tomorrow's hot beverages and sweep out the dust, then put the broom upside-down near the door.
Some snow pear incense (雪梨香 'suet lei heung'), and flowers in a vase.

On the thirty-first, I'll pop open a nice tin of aged tobacco.
Haven't decide which yet, I'll surprise myself.
It's a good way to start a year.




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