new coat for brunnhilde

I have been considering buying a cover for Brunnhilde ever since summer. The thought of manhandling such a large cover on the 11 feet high vehicle have been the cause of my indecision.

From my research the class B RV cover sold on eBay by elitecarcovers that claims to fit Airstream Westfalia looks most promising. Reading between the lines I suspected it is a generic class B RV cover. It was $225.52 with $20 shipping.

Seeing the vendor's name I thought I would see if it has a website outside of eBay. Sure enough it does. Trouble is they only have one type of class B RV cover, and there is no mention it is the same one sold on eBay. There are 4 sizes with identical width, height, but different length. I suspected that the shortest one must be the same one on eBay. It is $20 cheaper and with free shipping - a net $40 saving it is the same cover.

Months passed and now it is rainy seasons here. I decided to give them a call. A Hispanic sounding lady answered the call and I immediately cut to the chase on my question. She acknowledged it is the same cover. I expressed some reservation on it fitting the 11 feet tall camper. She checked her purchase history of the Airstream Westfalia and said she did not see any reported problem. Knowing with only 250 in the US I would be wasting my time expecting they have actually outfitted one on it.

While the cover's 117" height is much shy of 132" actual height of the vehicle I was counting the camper's narrower width than the cover's 84" width would allow the cover to drape down a few more inches to make up on the apparent dimension deficit. The other main concern is the protruded bump of the high top front. However I figure the 20 feet length of the cover for the actual 18.5 feet vehicle length would give extra slop to accommodate the bump. I ordered the cover online.

minced beef fried rice 生炒牛肉飯

This is a very common and popular dish in a restaurant that serves Cantonese cuisine in Hong Kong. In the old days in these restaurant there is only a few dishes of fried rice. This minced beef fried rice 生炒牛肉飯 and Yangzhou fried rice 楊州炒飯 are always on the menu.

kimchi and pork lian gao 炒年糕

Sticky rice cake is eaten in many Asian cultures. It is called lian gao (or lin go in Cantonese) 年糕 in Mandarin. It is made with flour of glutenous rice (sticky rice). Here in Oregon I found the best quality ones are from Korean stores. While they are exactly like the Chinese one, the Korean ones always have a slanted cut instead of straight cut.

paella

I had long wanted to learn to make paella. Watching how it is made in travel shows intimidated me as they always show you some Spanish chefs prepared it in an open fire with only twigs as fuel. Also I discovered that an online purveyor of Spanish food is more than happy to sell you everything you would need to make paella.

Like many cooking it is best to just do it and learn from your mistake. I decided to plunge in with both feet. Paella is remarkably similar to Chinese clay pot rice though the ingredients and technique in preparing them are different.

deep fried taro biscuit 炸芋頭餅

One of my passion on food is to recreate a number of memorable street snacks I loved in my youth, or those I encountered during my overseas travel.

Taro is eaten in most if not all Asian cultures. Taro 芋頭 comes in different sizes from tiny ones smaller than chicken egg to big ones weighting in a few pounds. They are not always good to eat and picking the delicious one may be a challenge. The good eating one should not be too powdery that tastes dry. It should have some glue like consistency but yet a bit powdery.

steamed big head vegetable with beef 大頭菜篜午肉

One of my recent passion in cooking of Chinese cuisine is to visit dishes that have very little exposure outside of Asia. Many of these are popular regional dishes ate by families at home. While you may find them in some restaurants they are more like home cooking.

Recently I was shopping at my Asian seafood store. The shop lady has this salted vegetable that caught my eye each time I shop there. Problem is each package are bigger than I want to keep at home. It is a preserved root vegetable called dai tao choy 大頭菜 - translates as big head vegetable. It is really just a kind of big turnip called kohlrabi preserved in a lot of salt. The thought of using it to make a very savory dish nudged me to buy a 2.25 lb package.

this is a half of salted kohlrabi weight in at 2.25 lb

steamed monkfish

I at times see this fish and for the longest time curious how it taste. I think it is a small monkfish. The Asian grocery stores rarely have them. They are fresh but not live. I decide to give one a try.
i brought it home and clean it myself - it is now ready to go into a steamer

steel coatrack

I have been wanting an upright coatrack a very long time. To my amazement it is impossible to find an acceptable one that looks good and functional here in the US.

I decided to make my own. I want one that can hold many jackets or coats. It must be stable. I set out to design a simple one that has the form follows function attributes.

takoyaki たこ焼き

I have been digging my food photographs. I found these from 2 years ago making takoyaki たこ焼きfor the first time. It all started from my shopping at the local Korean supermarket H-Mart. I came across this very inexpensive cast iron takoyaki mold. I snapped it up, and bought the needed ingredients to give it a try.