smokin'
it was supposed to go up to about 24 degrees this weekend. since weather forecasts are never reliable, i didn't think much of the news.
sure enough, this morning on the way to church i breathed smokey air. it's one of the nicest things about cold countries for me, and i get a big kick from doing it. but my breath wasn't as smokey as when i first arrived in beijing, and by the time i came out from church it was actually warm and my breath wasn't smokey anymore, there weren't even little wisps of white. it wasn't 24 degrees, perhaps, but close enough.
the temperature's fallen again though, it's about 15 degrees now.
i cooked porridge yesterday, with carrots and french beans and garlic and ginger and minced meat seasoned with taucheo, seasame oil, pepper and cornflour. the flame was too big (chinese gas is powerful, really - not my fault (excuses!)) so the bottom layer of porridge burnt itself to the pot and it looked like many little black worms. however, the rest of it tasted pretty good - it had that smokey flavour you get when you cook things in claypots over a charcoal flame. which is a good thing, because jon is cantonese and they adore cooking things over a charcoal flame for that smokey flavour.
even if he doesn't like my porridge in the future, he hasn't got much choice, has he?
i searched online for quick and effective ways to remove the burnt porridge because filling the pot with water and bringing it to a boil didn't loosen any of it, and when we went grocery shopping later that evening i bought a bottle of white vinegar and tried to find baking powder, but to no avail.
probably because i had no idea what it was called, and when i finally found out, the supermarket had closed. for future reference, in case you need to get some in china or in a chinese provision shop in singapore, it's called 烘培粉 (hong1 pei4 fen3), which is a quite a cute name, translating literally into nurture baking powder.
i did find 自发粉 (zi4 fa1 fen3), which i'd thought was baking powder, but no, it's self-raising flour.
i didn't think it would have been very effective so i didn't buy it, although i did contemplate doing so. after all, self-raising flour's just flour mixed with baking powder.
when we got home i poured about 250ml of white vinegar into the pot and brought it to a boil, and after adding cold water i scrubbed the pot with steel wool and most of the burnt porridge came off. xiaoyun managed to get off the littler bits later on with some soap.
baking powder and vinegar might have been more effective overall, but the white vinegar worked just as well i think. don't put your head over the pot while it's boiling though, your eyes will water and your nose will smart like anything.
it was supposed to go up to about 24 degrees this weekend. since weather forecasts are never reliable, i didn't think much of the news.
sure enough, this morning on the way to church i breathed smokey air. it's one of the nicest things about cold countries for me, and i get a big kick from doing it. but my breath wasn't as smokey as when i first arrived in beijing, and by the time i came out from church it was actually warm and my breath wasn't smokey anymore, there weren't even little wisps of white. it wasn't 24 degrees, perhaps, but close enough.
the temperature's fallen again though, it's about 15 degrees now.
i cooked porridge yesterday, with carrots and french beans and garlic and ginger and minced meat seasoned with taucheo, seasame oil, pepper and cornflour. the flame was too big (chinese gas is powerful, really - not my fault (excuses!)) so the bottom layer of porridge burnt itself to the pot and it looked like many little black worms. however, the rest of it tasted pretty good - it had that smokey flavour you get when you cook things in claypots over a charcoal flame. which is a good thing, because jon is cantonese and they adore cooking things over a charcoal flame for that smokey flavour.
even if he doesn't like my porridge in the future, he hasn't got much choice, has he?
i searched online for quick and effective ways to remove the burnt porridge because filling the pot with water and bringing it to a boil didn't loosen any of it, and when we went grocery shopping later that evening i bought a bottle of white vinegar and tried to find baking powder, but to no avail.
probably because i had no idea what it was called, and when i finally found out, the supermarket had closed. for future reference, in case you need to get some in china or in a chinese provision shop in singapore, it's called 烘培粉 (hong1 pei4 fen3), which is a quite a cute name, translating literally into nurture baking powder.
i did find 自发粉 (zi4 fa1 fen3), which i'd thought was baking powder, but no, it's self-raising flour.
i didn't think it would have been very effective so i didn't buy it, although i did contemplate doing so. after all, self-raising flour's just flour mixed with baking powder.
when we got home i poured about 250ml of white vinegar into the pot and brought it to a boil, and after adding cold water i scrubbed the pot with steel wool and most of the burnt porridge came off. xiaoyun managed to get off the littler bits later on with some soap.
baking powder and vinegar might have been more effective overall, but the white vinegar worked just as well i think. don't put your head over the pot while it's boiling though, your eyes will water and your nose will smart like anything.
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