chef4u
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Got married to wife number two in Vegas. We got married in the Strastoshpere(sp) Hotel. Many, many nice packages available that the different resort have if that is the way you want to go. You go into a room filled with chairs,(for possible guest), flowers and alll the fixins. You are up front with the preacher when the doors in the back open and the music starts to play the wedding march. Your soon to be wife is at the door and she walks down the aisle with a flower bouquet in her hand that the hotel provides. She meets you up front. The preacher does the ceremony. Pronounces you man and wife. You kiss her and walk back up the aisle with the music playing again. Ceremony done. They even give you a video of the whole ceremony. Including close up shots of her crying and maybe you too. These packages even include the honeymoon suite and a romantic dinner if you wish. I suggest maybe going on line and do a search for the packages you may like. Oh, prior to that, you need to go to the Clark County's Clerk Office to get your license. Maybe a 30 minute wait. Good luck!!
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OK Joanne....I do not know if you ever heard of this saying about law school.
First year of law school....they, (the law school) will scare the student to the other D word
Second year of law school.....they will work you to the other D word
Third year of law school.....they will bore you to to the other D word
I need a lawyer to decipher which d-word you're talking about....
ahh...the beauty of the law.
However, in this case the other D word was my silly attempt at not spelling out the actual word that Dennis is speaking about in this thread.
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OK Joanne....I do not know if you ever heard of this saying about law school.
First year of law school....they, (the law school) will scare the student to the other D word
Second year of law school.....they will work you to the other D word
Third year of law school.....they will bore you to to the other D word
I need a lawyer to decipher which d-word you're talking about....
ahh...the beauty of the law.
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It seems I am the only bad Chinese woman here.
Last night when my hubby cames to sleep at 2am after finish his reading, (he is in law school, first year, in case you don't remember) I commented to him: if you keep doing this, you are going to be dead before you finish law school (or something to this effect, I don't remember the exact words). He replied, half jokingly, "Are you going to kill me?"
He told me, he has average 4hours of sleep each day during the past 4 months. This really worries me! Does that mean, with us being here, allowing half an hour longer on the road, and half an hour minimum for playing with our daughter and talking to me, he is left with only 3 hours per day to sleep?
OK Joanne....I do not know if you ever heard of this saying about law school.
First year of law school....they, (the law school) will scare the student to the other D word
Second year of law school.....they will work you to the other D word
Third year of law school.....they will bore you to to the other D word
So do not worry your comment to your husband as the above statements are view in humor...not serious. Therefore, you are a good Chinese wife
(maybe I should of stayed in law school...hehe)
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Jamin55...First and foremost welcome to CFL!! In reference to your question should I or should I not hire an attorney. I first hire an attorney and later found out that I was educating them. Examples statement from the attorney was, "We will file at the American Embassy in Beijing and you will be with your love one in about 4-6 months. If you spend any time on this site, you will learn thsat those are inaccurate statements. However, there are good lawyers and bad ones. So I suggest research very carefully the lawyer you hire. Be sure thay have done immigration work in China, - not Russia, South America, Thailand or any other country other than China experiences. What I did is I found a paralegal in Nanning, China who came highly recommended. He was hired by several American immigration lawyers to assist in their clients cases. These cases were for K-1 and K-3 with or with out children. Anyway, I think he has been on his own now for about five years helping westerners and Chinese womaen with the whole visa process from start to finish. We are going the K-1 route and he charges $300.00 for that visa and $100.00 for a child. A K-3 visa he charges $500.00 and the same for a minor. We like him because he is very honest, sincere and hard working. Most important he gets the job done. Finally, if my SO or I have any questions he is always available by email or phone. He is Chinese so he understands obviously the culture and most important putting your SO at ease. Although he lives in Nanning, he does work through out China for the same prices. If you or your SO are interested in him, his contact info is as follows: Mr. Roger Lin email: rogerchina@yahoo.com.cn PH# is in China 13788117988 or calling from the US 011-86-13788117988. Anyway, the other option of course is to do it yourself and as you have already read many members go either way. Good Luck and much happiness to both of you!!
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Chef's recipe looks good.
For some of you (like my hubby)who don't want fat pork can do the following to get juicy and tender filling:
Instead of add salt to the cabbage and squeeze out water, I put chopped cabbage directly into the meat. I usually first add ginger and green onion and soysauce (sometimes finely chopped dried shrimp, soak shrimp to tender before use)to the ground pork and mixing them up. Then add finely chopped napa cabbage directly to the pork (Prior to adding salt!!), add vegetable oil or sesame oil and mixing them together. Then add other ingredients and salt. This way, the natural moisture in the veges will be retained.
The trick is having the vegetable pieces coated with oil or fat, then the filling batch would not become too watery to wrap up. Of course, if you are using too much watery veges, this trick would not work. Also, it is better to use the inner part of the cabbage, and use more leaf than stalk to avoid excessive water.
If you are using lean ground pork, you can add a little Tofu (soybean bean curd), to ensure the tenderness.
My two fen worth.
Joanne...Wow, great suggestions above. In addition, when buying ground pork, (as you mentioned above), you may want to pick out a piece of pork at your market and have the meat guy ground it for you. This way you can actually determine the amount of fat content or what particular cut you are getting ground. In obtaining flavor, I prefer no less than a 20% fat in the ground pork. However, this may be a little high for your family requirements. Therefore, you may have your butcher gind a combination of pork loin with a little pork butt to give flavor that you are after. Hope these suggestions help. Just my "two cents" worth...hehe.
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Nah...no big deal. I just wanted you to see that you can even make the dumplings by hand in lieu of buying the skins at your local asian market.
oh...sorry Bill. Do not use pizza dough!! Second thought maybe, it would be an Italian fusion. Try both ways...why not!!!
I would expect pizza or bread doughs to be problematic due to the rising agent for dumplings but ya never know.... It's a dumpling, no, it's a pork bun, no, it's a dumpling it's a "dumpbun" B)
Fusion: Is that like using Mexican flour tortilla wrappers for five spice crispy skin oven baked American chicken as a substitute for the Peking Duck Skin with wrappers???
Don't forget to garnish it with some avocado's and sour cream. Also, swap out the Spicy Dipping Sauce for some Hot Salsa. OK, it is getting late.
Actually, how about making a Ginger and Pork Stromboli...oh, please forgive me. Bill try the stromboli bit with the actual Chinese dumpling recipe and the spicy dipping sauce. Now that is fusion/confusion at its best...
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we ate dumplings 3 times while i was in china this time. i think i will admit moms dumplings are my favorite chinese food. i tried to get her to give me a recipe as she said something in chinese i repeated back to Chunyan a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
i helped fold them up and rolled the dough preparing the incredible little pockets of mouth watering goodness, i think i am ready to try it on my own.
does anyone know a good recipe for them?
i think mom puts ground pork, scallions, celery....
not sure what else....oh i wont be able to add the amount of love she adds but ill have to do with it for now
ok Bill...if you feel ambitious, (making home made dumplings), here is a dumpling recipe that I have used at numerous "Asian Theme" type parties that we have catered. They are always a big hit:
PORK AND GINGER FILLING:
2 cups chopped napa cabbage
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 pound ground pork (Don't get lean pork, the fat is good for juicy and flavorful dumplings)
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 egg
1 to 2 cups chicken stock or water
Sprinkle cabbage with the 1/2 tablespoon of salt and let stand for 30 minutes. Place the cabbage on a clean dishtowel or cheesecloth and squeeze out any water. The dryer the cabbage the better. In a large bowl thoroughly mix the cabbage with all of the other ingredients, except the chicken stock. Cook a tester to check the seasoning.
HOT WATER DOUGH:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups boiling water
In a stainless steel bowl mix flour and salt. Slowly add hot water to flour in 1/4 cup increments. Mix with chopsticks until a ball is formed and the dough is not too hot to handle. On a floured surface, knead dough until it becomes a smooth, elastic ball. Place back in bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rest for at least 1 hour. Working on a floured surface with floured hands, roll out dough to form a long 'noodle', 1-inch in diameter. Cut 1/2-inch pieces and turn them over so the cut sides are facing up. Flatten with your palm and roll out thin using a rolling pin. The dumpling wrapper should end up about 3 inches in diameter.
MAKING THE DUMPLINGS: Place a small mound of filling in the middle of the wrapper. (Be very careful not to touch the edges with the filling as this will impede proper sealing of the dumplings. Nothing is worse than dumplings breaking during cooking.) Fold the wrapper in half to form a half moon shape. Starting on one end fold/pinch the wrapper tightly together. Proceed with this fold/pinch method until the dumpling is completely sealed. There will be approximately 10 to 14 folds per dumpling. Rest the dumplings with the folded edges straight up.
COOKING THE DUMPLINGS: In a hot saute pan coated well with oil, place pot stickers flat side down and cook until the bottom is browned. Have pan cover ready and add 1 cup of chicken stock, cover immediately. Be careful, the liquid will splatter! The stock will steam the pot stickers. Check them in 5 minutes as more stock may be needed. The trick here is that once the dumplings are firm and fully cooked the stock will evaporate and the bottoms will crisp-up again.
SPICY SOY DIPPING SAUCE:
1/3 cup thin soy sauce
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup sliced scallions
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sambal
Combine all and serve in a small bowl.
PLATING: Serve pot stickers on a large platter lined with lettuce with a bowl of dipping sauce on the side.
thats it!
thanks Richard exactly what i was after...
the ginger is what i forgot
now is it a big deal to make the dough or is it the same as pizza dough just rolled out thin?
man im ready to go
Nah...no big deal. I just wanted you to see that you can even make the dumplings by hand in lieu of buying the skins at your local asian market. By the way, the Sambal ingredient for the dipping sauce is also bought at your local asian market. So, if the sauce is not hot enough, add a little more of the sambal. If you do not want the sauce to be spicy, lay off on the sambal. But, it will take away the flavor of the sauce. Finally, I use this dipping sauce for any other dim sum type food.
oh...sorry Bill. Do not use pizza dough!! Second thought maybe, it would be an Italian fusion. Try both ways...why not!!! B)
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we ate dumplings 3 times while i was in china this time. i think i will admit moms dumplings are my favorite chinese food. i tried to get her to give me a recipe as she said something in chinese i repeated back to Chunyan a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
i helped fold them up and rolled the dough preparing the incredible little pockets of mouth watering goodness, i think i am ready to try it on my own.
does anyone know a good recipe for them?
i think mom puts ground pork, scallions, celery....
not sure what else....oh i wont be able to add the amount of love she adds but ill have to do with it for now
ok Bill...if you feel ambitious, (making home made dumplings), here is a dumpling recipe that I have used at numerous "Asian Theme" type parties that we have catered. They are always a big hit:
PORK AND GINGER FILLING:
2 cups chopped napa cabbage
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 pound ground pork (Don't get lean pork, the fat is good for juicy and flavorful dumplings)
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 egg
1 to 2 cups chicken stock or water
Sprinkle cabbage with the 1/2 tablespoon of salt and let stand for 30 minutes. Place the cabbage on a clean dishtowel or cheesecloth and squeeze out any water. The dryer the cabbage the better. In a large bowl thoroughly mix the cabbage with all of the other ingredients, except the chicken stock. Cook a tester to check the seasoning.
HOT WATER DOUGH:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups boiling water
In a stainless steel bowl mix flour and salt. Slowly add hot water to flour in 1/4 cup increments. Mix with chopsticks until a ball is formed and the dough is not too hot to handle. On a floured surface, knead dough until it becomes a smooth, elastic ball. Place back in bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rest for at least 1 hour. Working on a floured surface with floured hands, roll out dough to form a long 'noodle', 1-inch in diameter. Cut 1/2-inch pieces and turn them over so the cut sides are facing up. Flatten with your palm and roll out thin using a rolling pin. The dumpling wrapper should end up about 3 inches in diameter.
MAKING THE DUMPLINGS: Place a small mound of filling in the middle of the wrapper. (Be very careful not to touch the edges with the filling as this will impede proper sealing of the dumplings. Nothing is worse than dumplings breaking during cooking.) Fold the wrapper in half to form a half moon shape. Starting on one end fold/pinch the wrapper tightly together. Proceed with this fold/pinch method until the dumpling is completely sealed. There will be approximately 10 to 14 folds per dumpling. Rest the dumplings with the folded edges straight up.
COOKING THE DUMPLINGS: In a hot saute pan coated well with oil, place pot stickers flat side down and cook until the bottom is browned. Have pan cover ready and add 1 cup of chicken stock, cover immediately. Be careful, the liquid will splatter! The stock will steam the pot stickers. Check them in 5 minutes as more stock may be needed. The trick here is that once the dumplings are firm and fully cooked the stock will evaporate and the bottoms will crisp-up again.
SPICY SOY DIPPING SAUCE:
1/3 cup thin soy sauce
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup sliced scallions
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sambal
Combine all and serve in a small bowl.
PLATING: Serve pot stickers on a large platter lined with lettuce with a bowl of dipping sauce on the side.
thats it!
thanks Richard exactly what i was after...
the ginger is what i forgot
now is it a big deal to make the dough or is it the same as pizza dough just rolled out thin?
man im ready to go
Nah...no big deal. I just wanted you to see that you can even make the dumplings by hand in lieu of buying the skins at your local asian market. By the way, the Sambal ingredient for the dipping sauce is also bought at your local asian market. So, if the sauce is not hot enough, add a little more of the sambal. If you do not want the sauce to be spicy, lay off on the sambal. But, it will take away the flavor of the sauce. Finally, I use this dipping sauce for any other dim sum type food.
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we ate dumplings 3 times while i was in china this time. i think i will admit moms dumplings are my favorite chinese food. i tried to get her to give me a recipe as she said something in chinese i repeated back to Chunyan a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
i helped fold them up and rolled the dough preparing the incredible little pockets of mouth watering goodness, i think i am ready to try it on my own.
does anyone know a good recipe for them?
i think mom puts ground pork, scallions, celery....
not sure what else....oh i wont be able to add the amount of love she adds but ill have to do with it for now
ok Bill...if you feel ambitious, (making home made dumplings), here is a dumpling recipe that I have used at numerous "Asian Theme" type parties that we have catered. They are always a big hit:
PORK AND GINGER FILLING:
2 cups chopped napa cabbage
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 pound ground pork (Don't get lean pork, the fat is good for juicy and flavorful dumplings)
2 tablespoons minced ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 egg
1 to 2 cups chicken stock or water
Sprinkle cabbage with the 1/2 tablespoon of salt and let stand for 30 minutes. Place the cabbage on a clean dishtowel or cheesecloth and squeeze out any water. The dryer the cabbage the better. In a large bowl thoroughly mix the cabbage with all of the other ingredients, except the chicken stock. Cook a tester to check the seasoning.
HOT WATER DOUGH:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups boiling water
In a stainless steel bowl mix flour and salt. Slowly add hot water to flour in 1/4 cup increments. Mix with chopsticks until a ball is formed and the dough is not too hot to handle. On a floured surface, knead dough until it becomes a smooth, elastic ball. Place back in bowl and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rest for at least 1 hour. Working on a floured surface with floured hands, roll out dough to form a long 'noodle', 1-inch in diameter. Cut 1/2-inch pieces and turn them over so the cut sides are facing up. Flatten with your palm and roll out thin using a rolling pin. The dumpling wrapper should end up about 3 inches in diameter.
MAKING THE DUMPLINGS: Place a small mound of filling in the middle of the wrapper. (Be very careful not to touch the edges with the filling as this will impede proper sealing of the dumplings. Nothing is worse than dumplings breaking during cooking.) Fold the wrapper in half to form a half moon shape. Starting on one end fold/pinch the wrapper tightly together. Proceed with this fold/pinch method until the dumpling is completely sealed. There will be approximately 10 to 14 folds per dumpling. Rest the dumplings with the folded edges straight up.
COOKING THE DUMPLINGS: In a hot saute pan coated well with oil, place pot stickers flat side down and cook until the bottom is browned. Have pan cover ready and add 1 cup of chicken stock, cover immediately. Be careful, the liquid will splatter! The stock will steam the pot stickers. Check them in 5 minutes as more stock may be needed. The trick here is that once the dumplings are firm and fully cooked the stock will evaporate and the bottoms will crisp-up again.
SPICY SOY DIPPING SAUCE:
1/3 cup thin soy sauce
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup sliced scallions
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sambal
Combine all and serve in a small bowl.
PLATING: Serve pot stickers on a large platter lined with lettuce with a bowl of dipping sauce on the side.
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I thought the whole trick was wearing, "Depends". Both trips this work wonders. But, they took up a lot of room in my suitcase. I thought this was good advise from another thread I read. Well, at least now, having obtain the above advise, I now can save a lot more room in my suitcase...whew!!
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!
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For my next visa I intend to write the Counsel General in LA, give a little background, tell him I've been to China X times already, and ask for a two year multi entry L visa with 90 day stays. These do exist.
What? What?
You are really ambitious! This is the first time I have ever ever heard of a two year multi-entry L visa.
YES - YES it is true!! I have a multi entry, one year visa as well. I was sitting next to a guy who showed me his visa that was good for two years. It was issued from LA. I beleive he said that there was no option on the app to request the two years. But, if you write on the form you request two years you will get it. Maybe somebody else out there knows a little bit more about the two years. But, I did see the two year visa with my own eyes. My visa is up in June. So I plan to apply for the two years as well.
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CONGRATULATIONS MIKE!!
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Bill I just want to say one word to you two:
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!
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CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!! KEEP THOSE WHEELS A TURNING!!
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Thanks for sharing the questions and the answers.
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Just my two cents when buying knives. The most important thing to keep in mind when purchasing a knife is that it feels good in your hand. Does it have a good balance. Do you feel comfortable holding it. Some people like a 12 inch or longer chef knife and some like a 10 inch chef knife or smaller. Remember it is what she feels most comfortable using. So if she is comfortable with a cleaver...then I would suggest letting her stay with that. I had a chef instructor back when I was in Culinary school. (thats when Washington cross the Delaware), who was Chinese and was from Shanghai. With a cleaver she could take a whole chicken, (without the feathers), and fabricate and debone the whole thing in less than two minutes. So here again, it is what one feels most comfortable with. Finally, I would suggest you look at the safety features of the knife or cleaver. Such as, can it hold a good edge and does the tang goes through the handle. Me personally, I enjoy a smaller and a lighter weight chef knife versus a longer or shorter heavier knife. I hope some of this can help you two decide what would be best.
Chefy dude--I in no way wish to usurp your expertise (although I have yet to taste your culinary magic) I agree 100% -if it feels good use it. Having said that lemme tell ya that I'm no novice when it comes to cutting, boning and chopping. I've butchered sheep (yes I said sheep), goats, deer, bore, buzzard, bear and wild turkey, even a couple ex CFler who pissed me off (oops, didn't mean to give that info away-please disregard, they'll show up eventually).
Any way, I had a large collection of skinning and boning and filleting knives until wifey took me clever shopping. Now do keep in mind that the old mop slingin' Chinese woman to whom I am currently wed, may be the cheapest human being (I use the term advisedly) that ever skinned a cat. Well ole cheapy Mop Ling herself would settle for no less than a mid sized cleaver that cost in the $100 dollar range. I knew something was up as she would renounce me and all she holds near and dear in order not to spend a C note.
I got that rascal home and removed it from the dreaded plastic sealed thingy--promptly got stitched up and set to usin' this oriental toothpick she 'had to have'. Long story short--I now use it to skin and butcher deer, fillet fish, chop veggies, chop meat for sausage, peal 'taters, shave my legs and chase away the neighbors goofy kids.
If i could only have one knife it would damned sure be that cleaver. I just wish i could get all my fingers back!
Trigg...I guess that was my point in what ever feels good in your hand. Now, please don't go there with that comment I just wrote or this will get moved to another place. But, I can not resist commenting on the use of the cleaver for the legs. I have been using a little pairing knife for those delicate usages
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Richard was that a tunnel debone (all parts intact) or cut up? Our boners at the poultry company must do at least 65#/hr of boneless breast. we use a 5 1/2 inch straight boning knife. I always used a 5 1/2 inch curved semiflex for pork lions. For steak cutting I liked a 12" narrow forschner.
At home I do everything with two knives. A 10" broad (use it like a cleaver) and a 5 1/2 inch boning knife. With these two I can make anything. The important thing is whatever you use keep it sharp.
yeah..it was all intact. The amazing thing about it was the skill she had using the cleaver. It was poetry in motion.
I use a 8" AF Dick chef knife that I had since my days at CIA (Culinary Institute of America) and a 5 1/2 boning knife as well. I do not use a serrated knife for any bread or veggies cuts. Like you the only two knives I use is a chef and boning knife.
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I agree! She already told you. Why are you asking us? Get with the program and prepare for training. It will be coming sooner than you think. Resistance is futile.
Or...NOT. I want you to just buy her the knife YOU think she should be using explain to her how much better it will be than a cleaver. While you're at it, let her know that since she's now in the USA, things will be done like they are in the USA from now on.
Please report back on your success.
good idea!!! maybe a plastic knife. they don't hurt as much as the mop hehe
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Welcome to Candle!!! We went the K-1 route and I bought a lot of cheetos
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Just my two cents when buying knives. The most important thing to keep in mind when purchasing a knife is that it feels good in your hand. Does it have a good balance. Do you feel comfortable holding it. Some people like a 12 inch or longer chef knife and some like a 10 inch chef knife or smaller. Remember it is what she feels most comfortable using. So if she is comfortable with a cleaver...then I would suggest letting her stay with that. I had a chef instructor back when I was in Culinary school. (thats when Washington cross the Delaware), who was Chinese and was from Shanghai. With a cleaver she could take a whole chicken, (without the feathers), and fabricate and debone the whole thing in less than two minutes. So here again, it is what one feels most comfortable with. Finally, I would suggest you look at the safety features of the knife or cleaver. Such as, can it hold a good edge and does the tang goes through the handle. Me personally, I enjoy a smaller and a lighter weight chef knife versus a longer or shorter heavier knife. I hope some of this can help you two decide what would be best.
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I am wondering if you can find some good old black carbon steel knives for the kitchen in stead of most of the junky S.S. ones we have here in the U.S. I did buy a few S.S. paring knives when I was there but down to one, guess some one liked them or threw out as most good chefs use the black carbon steel ones as they hold a better edge and stay sharper longer or maybe I can get some made over there?
Hi Kaige;
Just returned from Nanning yesterday. I was in a cutlerly store in Nanning and found it to be a chefs delight. It was near there Wal Mart. Do not know if this was your question. But, if you are near Nanning I will be happy to ask the SO for the store name....if she remembers
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Trust
in General Visa Discussion & First Steps
Posted
In order to have trust in others ...you must trust yourself first!! Take care of number one...you. Then your answers to your question and all the mistrust you are feeling now of others would subside......Trust me!
Good Luck B)