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 Alien Invasion Descends
Updated:View Post: The Alien Invasion DescendsMy life here in the suburbs has been mostly quiet and peaceful so far. That is, until the aliens landed. Some of you may have heard that this year is a big year for cicadas. Ya’ll here in the northeast…
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HUANGSHAN: SO. MANY. STAIRS.
Updated:View Post: HUANGSHAN: SO. MANY. STAIRS.Around the same time that we went to see the Yungang Grottoes and the Hanging Temple, we visited Huangshan (translated as: Yellow Mountain). Huangshan is a large mountain range in Anhui Province. It’s often featured in Chinese artwork and poetry…
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The Art of Haggling, Chinese-Style
Updated:View Post: The Art of Haggling, Chinese-StyleWhen shopping with local vendors in China, every transaction calls for haggling. If you ever come to Beijing, you will most likely end up at a large clothing market like the Silk Market, or the one that’s closest to us:…
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Chinese Lesson: Going to the Store
Updated:View Post: Chinese Lesson: Going to the StoreThis picture was taken in one of the little hutongs, or old alleyways of Beijing, where they have little storefronts and cool shops selling knick knacks and souvenirs. The last two characters on the sign above the shop in this photo are：…
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Braised Oxtails
Updated:View Post: Braised OxtailsBraised oxtails is one of Judy’s specialties, which she likes to whip out on special occasions. It’s an incredibly simple, flavorful dish, made with some really strong, pungent spices like star anise, bay leaf, and cloves. One particular ingredient is…
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The Dragon Boat Festival
Updated:View Post: The Dragon Boat FestivalDragon Boat Festival is a 2000-year-old holiday in China. Better known in Chinese as the Duan Wu Festival or Duānwǔ Jié (端午节), the 3 day festival falls in May or June. I’d never really heard of it before coming to Beijing,…
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Tea Eggs
Updated:View Post: Tea EggsTea eggs are basically hard-boiled eggs infused with the flavors of Chinese tea, spices like star anise and cloves, and soy sauce. They’re sold all over China by street vendors, especially at breakfast time. In fact, there’s a vendor just…
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Roast Pork with Five-Spice
Updated:View Post: Roast Pork with Five-SpiceThis is a knockout recipe. You may have seen a similar kind of roast pork before. In most Cantonese places, they have the meat hanging in the window for all to see. Better to draw customers in, of course. This is…
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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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We’re Sarah, Kaitlin, Judy, and Bill– a family of four cooks sharing our home-cooked and restaurant-style recipes.
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