bay area again

i just love the bay area: fresh produce is always within reach; it's hard to resist the temptation of cooking when the food smiles and waves at you, and i can spend all day just thinking about food, cooking and baking.

my xmas shopping trip to stanford shopping mall ended up a grocery trip in only 2 stores: sigona's and andronico's. and as a result:

lettuce boat with bacon, white fungus, preserved duck egg, and olive.

home-made fettucine with saute garlic chanterelles, oyster and baby shittake.

black truffles. i think the one closest to the bottom looks like kogeban with sad eyes and "sausaged" lips, dont you think?

pasta with truffle shavings.

osso buco in tomato sauce.

not imaged is apple bread pudding. i have been obsessed with bread puddings since that night at john harvard's with PMY and eric; i had it at least 2 or 3 more times afterwards at various places. now that i've cooked it i finally got it out of my system.

a widely applicable technique

i just realize knowing how to cook is always a good thing. you become more popular among friends too. ben 'hired' me to make his 麻婆豆腐 (ma-por-tofu) last min at his party. he got the 李锦记麻婆豆腐酱 (lee kum kei ma-por tofu sauce), which is next to the worst thing you can use (the worst is lee kum kei garlic - a 'pleasant' discovery from harold's kitchen). the sauce is artificially sweetened, probably for the american taste, and it simply loses the spicy kick. luckily enough he has some hot pepper flakes and 沙茶酱 (satay sauce) in his fridge, and that were the saviors to the dish.

anyway, i am really upset now that i am stuck in the lab while i could have gone killington. i swear this is the last time i skip skiing b/c of work for a class!@

人非人， 鬼非鬼

ABC 真讨厌！

hihh.... 小孩子还是不能叫我讨厌， 所以，有天终归要回家。

这里的月亮大，但是月饼好吃才是最重要！