oregonknl Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 cqhk, In my opinion, your post is one of the great cultural posts on this web site... We had another several weeks ago about the old south, by RobertS... and it geneated some thoughtful responses.... But you touch on the subject of food culture, that is not always widely appreciated by many Americans, but which I think has a good shot with this group.. You were raised the way I am TRYING to raise my Han daughters --- don't turn down food! .... Even if you are unfamiliar with it --- give it a try... I am lucky, because they both have "food memories" from China, so they are inclined to like many traditional Chinese dishes, even some with strong tastes by western standards... But there is another aspect as well, in that I hunt, and always eat what I kill, so they do too, and they have grown to look forward to those times that I bring home a bird (chukar) --- which is a bird originally from China... About dog.... I wouldn't serve it knowingly, but I would eat it (in China) if it involved saving the "Face" of the host serving it... Hope you write more on the Candle... ---Kim Link to comment
oregonknl Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Hey cqhk, I forgot to ask, So how do you eat poi? I have bought it in Hawaii, (mashed) but never known what to do with it, so have been disappointed.. --Kim Link to comment
cqhk Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 oregonknl Posted on Jun 4 2004, 01:49 AM ...In my opinion, your post is one of the great cultural posts on this web site...Hope you write more on the Candle...Thanks for the nice compliments, but I've stuck my foot in my mouth a couple of times in the past. So how do you eat poi? With our fingers. Hawaiians rate poi by fingers. 2 finger poi is the ono(delicious) stuff and the rest is 1 finger poi. It's 2 finger poi because it taste so good, gotta use two fingers to scoop it up. It's ok to use utensils to scoop it. Sometimes I cut off one of the corners on a bag, and just squeeze it out like a pastry funnel into my mouth. People eat poi in different ways, and with a variety of foods. I like to eat poi with dry fish, dry squid, or cuttle fish. My favorite is eating poi with laulau, lomilomi salmon, and rice. Most of the time when you buy poi, it resembles a purple paste. Fresh poi is the best. Generally most people will mix water into the poi, until they get the taste they like or the consistency they like. Some people like to add sugar or molasses. I like mine plain and as fresh as possible. My fiancee is like me, she'll eat out of respect for the person serving the food. But I don't expect her to eat everything we eat, and I wouldn't ask her to. We've discussed it already, I'll be learning to cook chinese food to her taste. I should have paid more attention to when my grandfather cooked. He was a great cook and he knew some great chinese dishes. I'll have to learn as I go, once she gets here. She laughed when I told her the first thing I learned to cook as a kid was rice. She was surprised to see me use chopsticks when we first met, her family was surprised when I met them too. Asian cultures have a strong presence in Hawaii. Yeah, polynesians have acquired tastes. I'll just leave it at that. best wishes, Link to comment
oregonknl Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 So cqhk, My impression is that the poi turns darker (purple) as a reflection of age? I have never seen it actually white, but have seen variations of purple, and the slightly darker seems to have a later "pull date" ... Guess I'll have to try it again next time I'm in Hawaii, (maybe many times! ha, ha!) -- as you say, probably a Polynesian "aquired taste" When you mix it with the dried fish and rice --- are they cooked together or served cold? ---aquired taste? --- thats ok, tofu never moved me until I met my daughters, and now have some understanding about it and like it a lot, in all its various forms, as long as it is prepared in the right context (we have a company here in Oregon that makes "Foturkey" --- tofu substitute for turkey for vegans at Thanksgiving.... awful in my opinion).. You know cqhk, you have chukars in Hawaii .. lots of em' ! I have seen big coveys on the slopes of Haleakala, and also from about Honokahua north and around to the east... Also saw some on Molokai (east end) -- plus golden pheasants! a beautiful (and plump!) bird that we don't have in Oregon (least I don't think so..) --- cqhk --- you know if anyone hunts these birds? ---Kim Link to comment
oregonknl Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 OOPPS ~ cqhk, what I meant to say, is that the poi that is darker has been in the cooler longer.... Link to comment
Jeikun Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Foturkey? I guess that's kind of a play on "Faux Turkey"? Here I've heard it called "Tofurkey"... lol I like tofu... I like turkey... but a tofu turkey?? No thanks!!! From Virginia... the home of PETA Link to comment
oregonknl Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Yeah, Jason, Maybe you're right .. it might BE "Tofurkey" So PETA (USA) is based in the Old Dominion!!! .... let me make a wild guess: bet it isn't Roanoke... Link to comment
Jeikun Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Yeah, Jason, Maybe you're right .. it might BE "Tofurkey" So PETA (USA) is based in the Old Dominion!!! .... let me make a wild guess: bet it isn't Roanoke...No it's not! The fact that I'm not writing this email from prison should be one indicator Aah, PETA... animal nazis funded by daddy's credit card... Actually PETA had a rally downtown here not too long ago. One of the local radio station guys tried to get a girl dressed up as a tiger to eat one of the free hot dogs they were handing out (yeah, looking for trouble) when she refused, they countered... "Humph! Well, a REAL tiger would eat it..." oops, sounds like a topic for the rumpus room Link to comment
Jun Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 LMFAO Frank. OMG, I don;t exactly know how i would react. That was the first thing i told my wife on my first trip to China. I don't eat Dog, Cat, Donkey, Horses, Eels, Monkeys,or Snakes.LOL, I hope i got my point across! Patrickit reminds me the first dinner Jeikun had in Beijing, we went to Quanjude Restaurant , a famous Peking duck restaurant. Jeikun told me seriously he didn't eat guts, wings, claws....etc etc... but almost all the dishes in this restaurant are made of these. so my poor honey just had some fried dishes and ...of course... Peking duck Link to comment
Jeikun Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 Hey... I'll eat wings lol Link to comment
oregonknl Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 When my #1 daughter (Jet) was 3, one year after her adoption, we learned that the Oskar Meyer 'wiener-mobile" was going to visit Portland, and if she could sing the wiener song : "I wish I could be and Oskar Meyer Wiener...!! .... that is what I would really like to beeee"... etc.. she might win Big money for collage.... Naturally, we coached her a little, and took her down to the audition.... Also naturally, the PETA people were there to scare the holy beeeee - gebizzas out of all the children entering the event, so of course, Jet was very disturbed and distracted, and forgot the lines ... but it was very cute anyway.... Link to comment
Jun Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 forgot to mention it: I love watermelon too hey honey, hope it grows well in VA Link to comment
Jeikun Posted June 6, 2004 Report Share Posted June 6, 2004 When my #1 daughter (Jet) was 3, one year after her adoption, we learned that the Oskar Meyer 'wiener-mobile" was going to visit Portland, and if she could sing the wiener song : "I wish I could be and Oskar Meyer Wiener...!! .... that is what I would really like to beeee"... etc.. she might win Big money for collage.... Naturally, we coached her a little, and took her down to the audition.... Also naturally, the PETA people were there to scare the holy beeeee - gebizzas out of all the children entering the event, so of course, Jet was very disturbed and distracted, and forgot the lines ... but it was very cute anyway.... At least they wern't handing out the "Your mommy kills animals" comic book. Yep PETA... scarring our children is a small price to pay for anumal rights. forgot to mention it: I love watermelon too hey honey, hope it grows well in VA Some growing out back now... Link to comment
cqhk Posted June 10, 2004 Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 Kim,The only game birds I'm familiar with are pheasants and erkels (not sure how erkel is spelled). There are a lot of egrets too, and they are killed around the airports to protect from planes encountering them during landings and take offs. Been on a few pheasant hunts when I was a kid, in the cane fields. Pua'a season is yearlong. Goats and Deers are seasonal. My grandpa used to take my dad and my uncles hunting a lot when they were growing up. They did it to eat, not so much for sport. They also fished a lot. I've done my fair share of fishing, but I'm just average at it. My favorite type of fishing is spear fishing on reefs with Hawaiian slings, or up the river for opu and prawn. We used to go camping up the river back in the day with just two pots, a small bag of rice, Hawaiian slings, goggles, matches/flint&steel, and pocket knives. Oh yeah, can't forget the vinegar and soyu. We'd look for fallen trees to make a lean-to or a hut. When we were hungry we'd go diving for oopu or prawns, and sometimes at night we'd walk along the river and net for opai. The only time we left the valley was to go to football or to volleyball practise. Our longest trip was two weeks. Those were definitely the days. We drank the river water back then. I think they advise against that now days. One of my cousins is somewhat of a survivalist. He's very intellectual, and he likes the outdoors. His dad is a huge gung-ho survivalist. But that's their story to tell. By the way, I didn't mean to say the poi should be mixed with the other food. We don't mix poi with any other foods, some people do mix sugar or molasses into it, but poi is prepared alone. We eat it like people eat potatoes. I just enjoy eating it as a side dish to the other foods I mentioned. Gotta run. Thanks for bringing back memories of the good days in Hawaii. Link to comment
Mick Posted June 10, 2004 Report Share Posted June 10, 2004 Why don't the watermelons in China look like the ones in the US? In China they look like green basketballs, in the US they have the oval shape. Both taste the same. I bought one in China last week off the watermelon cart, dude used a knife to cut it open and show us there wasn't any bugs in it. If we could do that at the grocery stores in the US there would be a huge mess in produce. It's bad enough already people need to handle all the fruit in the bins and shake them around to make sure it's fresh. Imagine if we were allowed to cut them open to check the freshness.An interesting point about watermelons, oval in America, round in China. The eyes are just the opposite, oval in China, round in America. Fascinating! B) Link to comment
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