Kwong Sai (GuangXi) Stuffed Tofu 广西酿豆腐 - Heritage Week # 2

My mother's parents came from GuangXi, China. If you've heard of the beautiful mountains of GuiLin, that is located in GuangXi. But my maternal grandparents are not from GuiLin, but from Rongxian 容县, which is located in the South of Guangxi. So that makes me half Cantonese half Guangxi. Can I speak the Guangxi dialect? My mom refused to teach us, saying that this dialect is of no use here. No one speaks it, so there's no need to learn. My mom speaks Guangxi, Cantonese, Hakka, Teochew and Hokkien. But her kids can only speak Cantonese. Pathetic.... I may not know how to speak the dialect, but once I hear someone saying "Ngo Eew Lei " (I'm calling you) I know that person is of Kwong Sai origin as they speak "call" as "Eew", unlike Cantonese it's  "gew", or Hokkien is "giu", or Hakka it's "gew" as well. KwongSais will 'Eew" you.

When the KwongSai Chinese came to the then Federation of Malay States, they settled in areas where there are mines and rubber estates, doing 'dirty jobs' that is not done by the other dialects (Hokkien-businesses like  grocery shops, Hainanese-food, Hakka and Cantonese -Mining, Teochew-rice and liquor) Most of those in Perak settled along Perak river, mostly from mid Perak up to the north. Towns like Lenggong, Manong, and Kuala Kangsar and all small villages nearby these towns is where you find the most KwongSai Chinese. Other places with lots of Kwong Sais are in Pahang-- Bentong and Mentakab. If anyone that knows the whereabout of other Kwong Sais, please tell me. I'd love to know.There is one facial trait among the KwongSai, and that is the forehead 广西额头 which is typically wide and flat, with a high hairline. My friends who are KwongSais especially the men, they do possess this typical forehead (I won't say all, but just those that I happen to know). Even my mom has it, so does my brother.

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Puppy Duck 狗仔鸭 - Heritage Week # 1

Puppy Duck isn’t cooked with dog meat. Relieved?
It’s duck cooked like how one will cook dog meat.
Why cook duck like one would cook dog? Frankly, they do taste similar
So that when one craves for dog meat, just cook duck to ease the craving.
You may want to ask, “Wendy, how do you know they taste similar?”
Don’t ask. You don’t want to know.

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Steamed Flax Seed Milk Flower Rolls 亚麻子花卷 - Steamed Buns # 3

Flax seeds are nutritious. According to Wikipedia, besides being high in fibre and omega-3 fatty acids, it also helps to lower cholesterol and benefits those who are having breast and prostrate cancer. If you're diabetic, it's also good for you because it helps by stabilizing your blood sugar. But take this with caution if you are on oral medication. It's high fibre content may interrupt with the medication and you must drink lots of water whenever you take flax seeds, if not you may end up with intestinal blockage.

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Purple Sweet Potato Rose Mantou - Steamed Buns # 2

I've been looking for new ways to form my steamed buns or mantou and this is one of them.

If you want to make a heartfelt low cost present for your loved one, try making this and form it into a bouquet. Every bite of it sure comes full with sincerity and bliss :p

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Steamed Banana Buns - Steamed Buns # 1

I love these buns. When they were steaming, they smelled so good. But Mike hated it. Mike only likes Sweet Potato Buns. He even hates my kids’ favourite glorious pumpkin buns. He said this smell like our kids’ s***

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Plum Oatmeal Madeira Cake - Stone Fruits # 3

A cake that I can pass around making people think it's healthy. LOL. I just said, this cake has oats in it and they replied, "It's healthy, yumz" LOL.

So, if you want to make yourself 'feel' better when devouring a cake, try this out. LOL. Reasons, whether valid or not, just eat.

One regret with this cake. I shouldn't have used fortuna plums, instead go for black plums. Black plums when baked are very very pretty. It stains the cake pink, bright pink instead of being pale pink. I'll never bake with fortuna plums again.

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Peach Sorbet Vanilla Ice Cream Cake - Stone Fruits # 2

Gosh, I wasted so many peaches when I planned on making this. I bought some, didn't have time as it was CNY. Some grew mould before I had the chance to use it. And I bought more and more peaches, each time telling myself ,"get ur butt moving!!". I finally made it in April this year.

Australian peaches were selling for RM4.99 per fruit that time. Recently I saw in Jusco, American peaches are at RM3.99 per fruit. But you can use canned ones for this, but the taste will be somewhat stronger. But if you like the taste of canned peaches, I don't see why not.

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Maria's Cherry Cake - Stone Fruits #1

This is the cake that I've been wanting to make for the longest of time.

I recieved this cookbook from Aunt Grace for Christmas when I was 15. I was totally taken by the look of the cherry cake featured in the book. During that time, fresh cherries are unheard of.  I had my first taste of fresh cherries when my friend Yoke Waie gave me some after his parents returned from a holiday in Australia. That was when I was 18. My 2nd time eating this was when I was 21, buying 100gm for RM15 at Petaling Street with my then boyfriend. Expensive right? But it's so hard to come by that I didn't care much for its price. That ex-boyfriend paid for my cherries :p

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Red Bean Coconut Chiffon Cake - Bean # 3

Just made this cake last week, so it's a 'fresh' post. LOL. FYI, I'm still posting a lot of back logs due to the theme thingy. If it's a cake week, I didn't bake all the cakes that week, they were collected over time. So, LOL, please be informed I didn't eat pancakes for one week nor cook noodles 3 times a week.

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Stir Fried Baby Green Beans with Olive Vegetable - Beans # 2 榄菜炒鬼豆苗

I first tried baby green beans fried this way in a vegetarian shop in Damansara Uptown. I went to dinner with my friend and his father who is a vegetarian. That was my first time eating olive vegetable.

After that I went searching for it and found some in Carrefour. I took the cheapest one, Singlong brand and I can tell you, it was nothing like what I tasted at the restaurant. It was very oily and the the taste was quite yucks. I didn’t buy another jar until lately.

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Okra with Spicy Caramelized Onions - Beans # 1

First and foremost, okra is not a bean.  Botanically it's a fruit, being in the same family as Hibiscus.
But generally, here, culinary wise,  it's called a bean due to it's longish shape. Just like pine nuts are not real nuts, but are called nuts. Same goes to macadamia which is a kernel and not a real nut. If you watched Masterchef Australia 2 you would've remembered the day Marion, Jonathan and Aaron were tested their 'nut' knowledge.

A dish that I made up out of nowhere since many years ago.

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