Chinese New Year Part III

Part III of Chinese New Year celebrations took place at Wien's uni lodging. Wow food wise it was by far the best potluck I've been to since coming to Edinburgh...Le's stir fry lettuce was unbelievable, I also liked the jellyfish and even just the plain rice! Been eating half a year of pan boiled or microwaved rice and today's steamed rice from a proper rice cooker was simply heaven.


Spoke to Wien's flatmate Rieko today in proper Japanese. Haven't practised for such a long time but came out better today...language is such a confidence thing. Today I felt more confident, and spoke and listened much much better!

I contributed by making Taiwanese fried chicken, which has become somewhat of a specialty now since I got those "secret" spices from cousin Josie. Unfortunately, I stuffed up again the first couple of pieces because the oil was too hot!! But later with Manish's help I could finally work out how to test for the right oil temperature. Simply sprinkle some batter or egg yoke into the oil and if it sizzles and doesn't fall to the bottom, it's hot enough. If it sizzles too quickly and get burnt it's obviously too hot. So logical isn't it!!!!!

Also, though putting in the oven takes away some of the oil, the crispiness of the fried chicken is lost so it's still better to serve straight after deep frying.

All that about fried chicken...