I need to get some new icons for this blog

[yaramaz]

 So we have internet at home at last.  I no longer have to run off to faraway cafes with wifi to load up a bunch of pages to read at my leisure at home (and then run out and have to actually read a book or sit quietly and stare at the walls or mark papers or something). Yesterday was a big utilitarian day full of necessary things.  We've got a

Comments

[streetsounds]

A long time ago, in the days of the test card, was off school sick. There was a rare educational program on TV. I learned that the Irish cook stew because they had an abundance of slow burning turf. The Chinese eat "chinese" because their traditional fuel was fast/hot burning dried dung.

I am pleased to see that you have big no-good-for-stew burners on your cooker. Thank you for the pictures.

[yaramaz]

The fast cooking thing is true- it's hard to get things to simmer on the stove here. When we make soup or pasta sauce, it tends to blorp up in a barely controlled boil. There are regional differences though, from what I understand. In the south (like Guangdong, Hong Kong) they have bigger flames and deeper woks because they do it super fast. In Shanghai, the flames are a bit smaller and the woks are shallower because they do a lot of braising and simmering in sauces.

I have, however, seen slow-stewing coal fire stoves out the in the countryside. Had a really good spicy tofu dish from that. See:http://www.ephemeraanddetritus.com/2010/05/17/on-food-and-kitchens-with-three-stoves/