Me and My Pies

Every year, on Thanksgiving or Christmas, I get to use the kitchen to make something no other person in my family seem to know how to make.

A Memorable Lunch

I love to cook. If you ask me why, I would probably tell you it’s the same reason I love to garden or I love to crochet. I love making things for myself. I love the extraordinary because ordinary is just so…boring.

Unlikely Food Pairs

“There is no such thing as too much.” My step-dad told me long ago when I apologized for putting too much blueberry in my muffins. It might be true in this case but it may not be for other scenarios. Sometimes, too much of one thing over another might just form an unlikely pair.

Interesting yet confusing Chinese food ingredient names

Whenever my mother has the opportunity to go to Los Angeles, San Francisco, or even Washington, D.C. whether on vacation or business trips, she often would come home with plentiful of traditional Chinese Food Ingredients that she may or may not use.  

On her last trip to Washington, D.C., she bought home five pounds of Chinese goose liver sausage! Or was it duck liver? I know most of you are probably feeling slightly nauseated just hearing the name but I tell you, they are delicious.

You see, once in a while, my mother would get these cravings where she suddenly wants to cook traditional Chinese specialties that she missed from her childhood years.  She would go to the nearby Asian grocery store and get all kinds of special Chinese ingredients and stock them in the pantry and then, oh maybe a year or two later, when she would realized it was time to reorganize the pantry, she would go on a rampage and throwing out anything that had gone bad.  Those ingredients that were lucky to survive, she would use them on special occasions like Chinese New Year or 春节 (Chūn jié), Dragon Boat Festival or 端午节 (Duān wǔ jié), and maybe, just maybe, Mid-Autumn Moon Festival or 中秋节 (Zhōng qiū jié).

Sometimes, when my mother’s not here and I have a craving for a nice bowl of clear broth or soup, I would raid the pantry and go through some of these ingredients.  Oftentimes, some of these ingredients would get me scratching my head wondering why did they named that.  I would often wonder “Why do they call it that in Chinese?” Another question I ask myself when looking at these names is “Now, I know technically I spent less than half of my life in China but I am not at the point where I don’t understand basic Chinese words.”  Well, below are three of the many ingredients that puzzle me just by looking at the name.

Dried Mussel or 淡菜(Dàn cài)

When my mother asked me to make her a traditional Chinese porridge or 稀饭 (Xī fàn) using a new ingredient I have never heard of called 淡菜 (Dàn cài). I scratched my head and wondered, what the heck is that? Is that anything like 菜干(Cài gān), dried vegetables? I asked my mother and she showed me the package. It turned out, it’s not even real vegetables. It’s dried mussels. Why can’t they just use the Chinese term for mussels (青口 (Qīng kǒu)) and then just add the Chinese term for dried (干 (gān)) at the end instead of calling it 淡菜, which mean light vegetable, by the way.

Dried Aniseed or 八角(Bā jiǎo)

The second ingredient she usually left lying around is dried Aniseed or 八角(Bā jiǎo).  The Chinese term for Aniseed means “eight sides or corners” although the last time I peeked at the package, most of it only has six or seven corners.  Maybe it had eight sides when it was first packed and some of it just fell off but it looked highly unlikely.  My mother bought it at an Asian supermarket about a year ago and she never opened it.  So I have no idea what it’s for, probably for a soup or something.  At least that’s what I heard.

Rice Cakes or 年糕 (Nián gāo)

The third and final ingredient is Rice Cakes or 年糕 (Nián gāo). In Chinese, this mean “Annual Cake” and it is actually true, we only eat this on Chinese New Year (春节(Chūn jié)).  The English translation is mainly based on its ingredients, rice and water.  The reason I am puzzled with this ingredient is that it looks nothing like the rice cakes I’ve had for Chinese New Year even though my mother has never even opened the package.  I am pretty positive that it won’t turn out like this.

Traditional Chinese New Year Rice Cake or 年糕

When the package looks like this…

I have no idea, maybe I am just officially confused.  Sometimes the same thing can mean different things in Chinese.  All I know is after understanding exactly what it means in English, it still makes little sense.

Readers…

What are some of the most confusing yet interesting Chinese ingredient names you have ever heard? I’d love to hear it.

This was originally posted on This is Another Story on May 5, 2014.