this and that - oregon jan 2015, part 3

When I go shopping at An Dong Market, I always walk through all the isles to see if there is anything new. Seldom there isn't as they always have some surprise in store for me.



they always have duck baluts but chicken baluts are new which I have never seen before - i am not a fan of either but my parents made us eat them in the dark in our childhood

haw candy was my childhood favorite - i can tell this one has way too much sugar and not enough haw

 i have a soft spot for plastic housewares from Asia - this wash basin has built in washboard

 baby bathtub with built in butt support - what more can a baby ask for?

being a store of modest size, An Dong never fails to amaze me of the scope of the merchandise; these are paper material goods for the departed

they have a whole isle of these stuff

 fried pig skins - they make delicious snacks by cooking them in a tasty borth

 i have never been able to find coconut sugar here in Portland so I grabbed a jar for just $1.99

 these are Chinese vegetarian mock meat products

another favorite childhood candy of mine - these are gummy chocolate gold coins typically bought for the Chinese New Year

 dried persimmon - the best quality are ones from Japan

i have been looking for frozen cuttlefish and the store just restock some; the supplier tends to add a lot of water to cheat for the actual weight

I also picked up a small frozen octopus. I have cooked octopus a number of times in the past with very poor result. I would later learnt that you have to tenderize the raw octopus by beating it before cooking. This technique is used in many cultures from East to West. I cannot wait to try this out.

Asian chicken with head and feet

 my jar of coconut sugar - thai cooks with coconut sugar and palm sugar

i am optimistically hopeful it is real coconut sugar as nowadays it is all too easy to cheat given the monetary gain (like fake honey and maple syrup)

 i literally stole this king crab

 i braised this pig stomach

while you can eat them at this point, i don't because i want to use them as cooking ingredient for a number of different dishes

the thick part is the most sort after cut - actually the point is most sort after and often the supplier already cut out the point to sell at higher price

 the lard (goodness) on top of the broth once the broth cooled

I am still undecided as what dish to prepare with the braised pig stomach. I might made a dish with dried pommelo skin.
pommelo and dried skin - the skin can be used in cooking of many Chinese dishes

if you have never try pommelo it taste similar to good grapefruit, not so sour and has a crunchy texture; the fruit emits an elegant perfume when left around in the house

i made some grilled oysters - not the best i made as they could use a lot more cheese and panko

i bought this Korean screen tent for drying food quite some time ago - finally i put it to use

 i try my hands on some salted cabbage

i made this Chinese stir fried dish with some dried ingredients - this is a kind of flower

 this is tea mushroom - due to the dark tea like solution when you re-hydrate them

 this is dried bamboo shoot

 all the ingredients ready for the wok

 the cabbage shrunk a lot so they are hard to see in the dish

an oyster sauce lo mein made with relative unusual braised pork butt

king crab and clam fettuccine

i have been eating my batch of seafood gumbo for two weeks now