Chinese Food - Tumblr Posts
These leather fortune cookies are unreasonably entertaining to me. The natural color of the leather, especially, is almost exactly the right tone to match actual fortune cookies.
In the future I will probably work out a template and actually print the fortunes, but for now they're just carefully hand-lettered. Also, I want to come up with different "flavors" of fortune, ranging from sincere to surreal.
As it turns out, leather was not quite my first idea for this. I initially thought of making them out of acrylic plastic. If you heat up acrylic to about 300°F, it softens, and you can shape it. It would end up with a clear (or colored) cookie shape, and you'd just have to be very firm in your conviction to break it open and get the fortune out. I may still do that, but in general I think leather is a more friendly material for this.
Oh, and by the way, this can serve as a menu for all the standard leather stain colors I have. (Though the gold was acrylic paint.)
Leather fortune cookies! A full batch of a dozen, fresh out of the oven! Stuffed with mildly perplexing pieces of paper!
I cut these when I’ve got a scrap of leather left from another project that’s too small to fit anything else on, and I’ll tend to dye them when I’ve got extra dye that I got out but didn’t need all of.
I’ve had them up on my Etsy store as singles for a while, finally put up a listing for a dozen.
Here’s a big batch of leather fortune cookies I made a couple months ago. These were destined for party favors for a kid’s birthday party, so they had some custom fortunes in them that were much less sarcastic than my regular fortunes.
The order coincided with when I got a couple bottles of a new brand of dye to try out (namely blue and purple). So this was a good chance to get some good comparisons between the options.
These are available on my etsy either singly or by the dozen!
Someone ordered 4 dozen of my leather fortune cookies. It used up my whole scrap pile! I like how you can see the range of shades the leather can be, depending on what hide it’s cut from.
I didn't hear back from this client, but usually orders this large are for wedding party favors. If you'd like a pile for your own mysterious reasons, you can find them on my Etsy here, or single ones here.
I was good and paid some of the electric bill off instead of buying Chinese food.... I know I will be thinking of what I could have had for the next two weeks 😫😫😫😫😫
General Tso's Tofu
Tofu in a very light General Tso's sauce. After my mom's successful battle with colon cancer, I have made a conscious effort to increase my consumption of soy and tofu. Studies say that it decreases colon cancer risk. So here's to good health
Beef and Onion Stir Fry
I always turn to stir fries when I am tired and still want a quick and flavorful meal.
Spicy Pork and Bok Choy
A delightful balance of spicy and savory. Pork dish that is flavorful and spicy at the same time. Heat does not overpower the taste buds, but instead stimulates the other tastes of salt, acid, fat and freshness.
*** Kitchen Tips ***
Laura Wolfgang, a home cook and breadmaker, confesses to purchasing this hot sauce at the airport on her way back from Mexico, despite the fact that it's commonly accessible in the US. Laura doesn't care if you judge her for not bringing home something more esoteric because she enjoys the modest heat and "beautiful flavor."
Szechuan Eggplant With Beef
A delightful balance of spicy and savory, the dish is one of my favorite ways of cooking eggplant. The whole purpose of the spices and ingredients that I use, like star anise, Shaoxing wine, and aromatics like ginger and scallion, is to enhance the inherent flavors of my chosen protein and vegetables. A friend described the food as fresh, vibrant, and aromatic. Mission accomplished, I suppose.
In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude. – Julia Child
Beef and Ginger Stir-Fry
Want to increase your kitchen productivity? Consider preparing all of your ingredients in advance by slicing and measuring them. In the same amount of time, it takes to prepare a pot of rice, you can go from raw components to a beautiful stir-fry.
“Food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.” – Alan D. Wolfelt
Moo Shu Beef Steak Bowl
Many people need to return to their jobs and schools. Stick to one-pan (or one-pot) dinners to give yourself a break when it comes to dinner. This classic Mandarin Chinese recipe is one that can be made with either ground beef or pork. I prefer utilizing thinly sliced beef steak. This dish which I commonly referred to as the Chinese version of a burrito The filling is encased in a thin pancake made of water and flour, or you may buy one of those Mexican flour tortillas, but for today's meal, I'm having this with steamed Japanese white rice.
“Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.” ― Craig Claiborne
Kung Pao Pork
The perfect blend of salt, sweetness, tang, and fire makes kung pao chicken a Chinese takeaway favorite. You can customize the recipe to your liking when you cook the dish at home. Adjust the amount of chiles to suit your family's tastes; you may also use cubed chicken thighs, breasts, or ground pork, as I have done here. You can even replace the peanuts with cashews or walnuts. For this kung pao pork, be sure to prepare some steam rice and any desired vegetables before heating up your wok. As with many stir-fries, it comes together quickly and is best enjoyed hot. Furthermore, remember to activate the exhaust fan on your stove because frying dried chilies can release smoke.
“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” – Luciano Pavarotti
Five Spice Pork On A Bed Of Vegetables
You may have wondered about the complex mixture known as the Chinese Five Spice. This is the rationale behind why you should keep it in your spice rack. In case you're craving Chinese food, Chinese Five Spice is a fantastic and versatile ingredient that you might not have on hand. In traditional cooking, this fragrant blend of spices is employed. Given that the combination is meant to include all five of the basic flavors, there should be something sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and savory in this dish. Oh my, how intricate! Both meat and veggies are treated with it.
“I’m obsessed with Chinese food and culture. It’s food that I adore above all others.” – Andrew Zimmern
Longan berries.
has maruchan ramen gotten worse or does everything i make with it taste bland as bland.
Life in China #8
A week of my chinese university's canteen lunches
