Hi, I am Erica! Thanks for visiting my food blog with in-season recipes for the avid home cook.
In the United States, potatoes are usually served as a starchy side dish in place of rice or bread. Think mashed potatoes, baked potatoes and hash brown. They are the perfect foods to soak up the juices of any main dish.
In China, potatoes are eaten more like a vegetable either in a stir-fry or in a stew. Growing up, my grandmother used to saute thin slices of fatty pork with potatoes and red chile. That would be the only dish I needed to gulf down a couple bowl of rice. So delicious.
At first I thought something as simple as scrambled eggs don’t deserve a blog post. But it took me a while to figure out how to make them the right way. I hope you will be able to benefit from some of my experiences and make the most delicious scrambled eggs you can.
We are in Beijing! Sorry for not posting in the last week. It took us a few days to get over the jet-lag and settle into our new place. We’ve done quite a bit since we got here–learned how to use the subway, found the nearest farmer’s market and discovered the nicest foot massage parlor in our neck of the woods. (Those of you who have been to China probably know that you can get massages for about one-fifth of the price in the U.S.!)
We live in a very cosmopolitan part of town, where diplomats from the city’s many embassies reside. We have a Starbucks around the corner, a French bakery across the street, an Irish pub down the block. Our 2-story apartment is pretty big by city standard. But the kitchen, like most Chinese kitchens, is smaller than what I am used to. Between the microwave, the stove and the sink, there’s not much counter space for chopping and washing. It required some acrobatic moves to get our first meal on the table last night. I got better when I made these noodles for lunch today.
It wasn’t until I had a kitchen that’s big enough for a full-size oven that I discovered roasting vegetables. I learned that the heat caramelizes vegetables and intensifies their flavor. I love roasting carrots and can literally live off of roasted butternut squash.
We haven’t printed out the plane tickets. Our suitcases are empty. The house is a mess. In short, we are not ready to leave.
The cleanliness of our kitchen is a sign of how often we’ve been eating at home. The different spills and stains pretty much tell what we’ve been chowing down around here. The red splatter on the backsplash came from a spaghetti dinner. The bread crumbs on the counter came from a breakfast with scrambled eggs and toast.
These days, our kitchen has been spotless. In other words, we haven’t had many meals at home. With our 3-month trip to Beijing coming up in less than two weeks, we’ve been busy packing and getting the house in order. I find myself leaving the house in the early mornings and coming home after dark almost every day.
“I belong here!”
That’s what I said when Nick and I drove through St. Helena this weekend. This adorable town in the heart of Napa Valley has endless rows of grapevines that extend into green rolling hills. During the winter, when the grapevines are dormant, the vineyards are covered with mustard flowers that paint everything a sunny yellow.
