All Posts
by date
Below, view all our posts in chronological order, starting with the most recent. To browse recipes by category, course, or collection, visit our Recipe Index. Also be sure to check out our How-To section and Chinese Ingredients Glossary.
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The Joys of Drinking Rancid Bark Juice
Updated:View Post: The Joys of Drinking Rancid Bark JuiceWhile my sister and I were staying in Beijing with our parents last summer, we were introduced to the weirdness that is Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). So yeah. Here’s that story. Our mom booked us appointments at the local hospital,…
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Chinese Banquet Fried Rice
Updated:View Post: Chinese Banquet Fried RiceA Chinese banquet is a long, extravagant affair. Usually reserved for special occasions like weddings, Chinese New Year, and big birthdays (like, your great grandmother turns 90…that kind of big), there’s a certain procedure that gets followed. You go to…
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YUNGANG GROTTOES AND THE HANGING TEMPLE
Updated:View Post: YUNGANG GROTTOES AND THE HANGING TEMPLEWe recently took a weekend trip to see the Yungang Grottoes in Shanxi province, outside the city of Datong. We’d never heard of this place before moving to China, as it’s not quite as famous or widely known as, say,…
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The Jian Bing Breakfast Experience
Updated:View Post: The Jian Bing Breakfast ExperienceIn 2007, we went on a family vacation to Shanghai. We had been there before, but only as young kids in 1997—I was in kindergarten and my sister was in second grade. Needless to say, I only have a few…
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Chinese Lesson: China’s Favorite Animal
Updated:View Post: Chinese Lesson: China’s Favorite AnimalThey’re cute. They’re cuddly. They sneeze and over 160 million people flock to YouTube to watch it happen. They’re the most spoiled animals at every Chinese zoo. 熊猫 Pinyin (i.e. the transcription of the Chinese words into Latin script): xiong2…
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From Expat to Local: A Trip to the Market
Updated:View Post: From Expat to Local: A Trip to the MarketWhen we first came to Beijing, the idea of living in a city apartment (after years of weed-whackers, dog walking, and school buses) was exciting, to say the least. Our two girls were in college, Bill had gotten a job…
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The One Phrase You’ll Need When Shopping in China
Updated:View Post: The One Phrase You’ll Need When Shopping in ChinaSo here we are (Dad and Kaitlin) in Beijing last summer, perusing assorted dish ware balanced precariously on the back of a wooden bicycle wagon. Putting aside the feat of sheer luck that none of the merchandise was broken, it was time…
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Stir-Fried Snow Pea Leaves with Garlic
Updated:View Post: Stir-Fried Snow Pea Leaves with GarlicThis is always the go-to side dish for any meal. It’s dead easy, and you can use the same method for any dark leafy green. Snow pea leaves have an amazing flavor, so we’d highly recommend trying to get your…
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How Did I End Up In Beijing?
Updated:View Post: How Did I End Up In Beijing?Have you ever traveled and woken up in unfamiliar surroundings, experiencing that millisecond-long feeling of panic when you realize you’re not at home? That happened to me the first week I relocated to Beijing for my international job assignment. But…
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Chinese Cooking Tools
Updated:View Post: Chinese Cooking ToolsWe use these Chinese cooking tools in our kitchen every day. That said, you don’t absolutely need any of these items to cook from our blog. But if you’re interested in broadening your base of kitchen equipment, here are some…
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How to Eat With A Bunch of Chinese People
Updated:View Post: How to Eat With A Bunch of Chinese PeopleIf you’ve seen the movie The Joy Luck Club (the dinner scene anyone?), you understand that Chinese dining etiquette can be ambiguous to some. Now, the rules aren’t quite as strict as this list would have you believe. Let us…
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Cooking Methods Used in Chinese Cuisine
Updated:View Post: Cooking Methods Used in Chinese CuisineHi everyone, Some of our followers have requested we expand information on exactly how to cook our recipes and we thought it would be good to start with some basic techniques and add more to the collection as we think…
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Navigating a Chinese Grocery Store
Updated:View Post: Navigating a Chinese Grocery StoreHi everyone, Kaitlin here. I’m here to introduce the Asian or Chinese grocery store, and hopefully demystify a few things if you’ve never shopped in one. Here we go: When I was younger, the power and allure of the Chinese…
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Chinese Hot Pot How-to at Home
Updated:View Post: Chinese Hot Pot How-to at HomeIt’s a cold night in the middle of winter, and we just don’t feel like washing, chopping and dropping things into the wok. Instead, we inspect the fridge and freezer. The question, “Should we have Chinese hot pot tonight!?” is…
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THE CHINESE TOUR BUS: TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS
Updated:View Post: THE CHINESE TOUR BUS: TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTSWhen planning a trip to China, you may very well be tempted to sign up for a local bus tour. We understand. It’s convenient. Everything is paid for and taken care of: meals, “five-star hotels,” transportation, and tickets to all…
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Harbin Ice Festival and Freezing our Butts Off!
Updated:View Post: Harbin Ice Festival and Freezing our Butts Off!If you’re looking to stack on more layers than you’ve ever worn at one time and STILL be cold and maybe watch a very large, well-fed Siberian tiger tear into a chicken at close range, then Harbin is for you.…
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INTRODUCTIONS
Updated:View Post: INTRODUCTIONSHello Internet, This is Sarah, the life-confused recent college graduate who’s become the driving force behind this whole blog endeavor. As you may already know from our About page, we’re a pretty close-knit family of four who haven’t been seeing…
Welcome!
We’re Sarah, Kaitlin, Judy, and Bill– a family of four cooks sharing our home-cooked and restaurant-style recipes.
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