"chinese" news and stories

How cute is this: an online Chinese take-out party. Hong Kong-based blogger Mocochocolata Rita invited all her food blogging friends to contribute recipes and pictures for Chinese dishes, which she posted together, menu-style. What a feast!

There are several Hong Kong 'set meals' - a main with noodles and soup; a multi-course dinner for friends - potstickers, beef braised in chou hou sauce, pina colada milk pudding; sides of kimchee gyoza and baked tofu; several different takes on kung pao chicken; desserts of sweet peanut soup and homemade fortune cookies.

The recipes all look delicious - I'm particularly keen to try the pineapple sesame chicken recipe. It's also a great introduction to a lot of neat food blogs - Rita must have a lot of friends.

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I stumbled across this recipe on Epicurious for these decadent Chocolate Kumquat Egg Rolls, and the idea of the sweetness and creaminess of the chocolate/kumquat mixture layered against the delicate, flaky exterior made my mouth water.

This is food porn at its finest; the ultimate aphrodisiac. It is sticky and messy and unapologetically delicious. This is what you feed to your lover in bed, not caring that the chocolate oozes out and drips onto their chin and the crumbs fall into the sheets.

Though this combination sounds scrumptious, you could easily replace the kumquats with with pecans, coconut, rum-glazed bananas or any other deliciously evil combination. Or, just eschew the chocolate altogether and instead use Nutella or honey or...(fill in your ultimate sweet indulgence here).

...I'm off to take a cold shower.

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Perhaps tainted by years of average takeout, Chinese food can start to seem boring from time to time. This is a shame because Chinese food is some of the most interesting on earth. That being said, it doesn't mean you're going to be able to find it in your town. Instead, a book like Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration: New Approaches to Chinese Cuisine can offer some new takes on some favorite flavors to spice up your dinner options. Author Susanna Foo, a James Beard award winning chef, is known for her fusion cuisine and that is exactly the approach that she takes with this book, using Asian ingredients in western dishes and bringing western techniques to some Asian classics. The resulting dishes are, while not traditional for any established cuisine, fresh and fun. There is an emphasis on the use of seasonal ingredients and of bold but complex flavors, but the dishes are actually fairly simple and most of the ingredients should be easy to find if you have a well-stocked market in your area. Recipes include Beef Carpaccio with Vietnamese Vinaigrette, Chinese Steamed Artichoke Hearts, Mandarin Potato Salad with Cellophane Noodles, Orzo with Cilantro Pesto and Peanuts and Lychee and Lemon Thyme Sorbet .

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I always have rice leftover after getting Chinese takeout, no matter how little food I ordered or how many people are there to share it. It's almost as though the people on the phone have a sixth sense about how much rice will be consumed. Of course, I'm not really complaining because I really like rice and it's better to have a little extra than not enough. And rice pudding can always be made with the leftovers.

According to a report in the British Medical Journal, the number of people in China who are now officially classified as overweight and/or obese has risen and continues to rise at what they say is "an alarming rate," which is especially shocking since China was once seen as a "lean" country. For a population that accounts for one-fifth of the entire world's population, 14.7% were overweight, 2.6% were obese, and the prevalence of overweight and obesity in children has increased as well.

The reasons for the increased obesity are the same in China as they are here in the US: changes to traditional diet, reduced levels of physical activity, and a more sedentary lifestyle.

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