First, the important fact is that 90% of the composition in kidney stone is calcium oxalate. Oxalate is a type of organic compound found in certain foods (such as spinach and beets), and can have chemical reactions with calcium to form the insoluble calcium oxalate. So to a certain degree, kidney stones are the result of abnormal metabolism of calcium, not because of its high intake. A broad studies have shown that sufficient daily intake of calcium may significantly reduce the risk of kidney stones. The calcium sold on market contains pretty much 100% calcium carbonate which is not a natural form of calcium, it alone is very difficult to be absorbed by human body. Without assistance of the vitamin D, taking this form of calcium basically is useless. Calcium left out without being absorbed during metabolic process is what may cause constipation and formation of stones. Although calcium utilization and absorption are equal in calcium carbonate and calcium citrate with the presence of vitamin D, calcium carbonate may cause constipation in some individuals. So put it bluntly, kidney stones and constipation are caused by taking "bad" calcium, not because of high calcium consumption!

• Calcium Carbonate - Most easily synthesized, lowest cost, yet not easily absorbed


• Calcium Lactate - Calcium in milk exists mostly in this form. It is still controversial as of how well calcium can be absorbed by human body when existed in the form of calcium lactate. Some believe it has similar absorption as calcium carbonate, but is more expensive. Calcium lactate and calcium gluconate are less concentrated forms of calcium and are not practical oral supplements


• Calcium Phosphate - Exists in milk in the form of colloidal calcium phosphate. It costs in between calcium carbonate and calcium citrate. It is easily absorbed and is less likely to cause constipation and gas than either.


• Coral Calcium - This calcium was once bragged as being capable of treating all sorts of diseases, including cancer. But it really is just a salt of calcium derived from fossilized coral reefs and is composed of calcium carbonate and trace minerals. Living coral reefs are endangered species. People are only allowed to collect coral reefs on the exposed surfaces, it would be unlawful otherwise. But study shows it no better than other forms of calcium, so be careful not to be fooled by those marketing schemes.

Then what calcium vitamins should we choose?

Below are some basic guidelines when pick and choose your calcium:

1. Calcium must first dissolve in the stomach before it can be absorbed in the small intestine. Please refer to consumerlab.com's advise on testing vitamins for proper disintegration


2. Calcium citrate is more easily digested and absorbed than calcium carbonate if taken on an empty stomach and less likely to cause constipation and gas than calcium carbonate. it also has a lower risk of contributing to the formation of kidney stones. Calcium citrate is about 21% elemental calcium. 1000 mg will provide 210 mg of calcium. It is more expensive than calcium carbonate and more of it must be taken to get the same amount of calcium. It would be more appropriate to take calcium citrate if you are currently taking anti-acid medicine, but you may want to consider getting a calcium product with both calcium citrate and calcium carbonate combined. With the help of proper amount of vitamin D, plus taking with meal, the absorption of calcium carbonate will not be affected. The coexistence of calcium citrate helps disintegration of calcium carbonate, but it cannot completely offset the impact on its disintegration caused by decrease in gastric acid, the absorption may still be affected as the result. Therefore, calcium citrate is still your first choice.


3. Check out amount of the elemental calcium. More often, the amount on the label refers to the amount of calcium compounds, not elemental calcium. This should be clear at the first place. Daily optimized intake should be 800mg.


4. Make sure vitamin D is added. First, calcium can only be digested and absorbed by human body when accompanied by other trace elements. Calcium is digested in the small intestine, and vitamin D helps in this process, it also contributes to calcium's utilization during the formation of our bones. Vitamin D also affects the use of phosphorus in our body. Phosphorus is another very important mineral for the bone health


5. High quality calcium vitamins should also contain magnesium and several other minerals. Magnesium is an important element in making strong healthy bones. Magnesium and calcium work together can generate new bone mass. The ideal ratio of calcium and magnesium is 2:1. Calcium products containing magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin K, and small amount of boron and silicon are excellent active calcium specifically designed to supplement calcium needed for healthy bone growth and development. The conjunction of these elements is excellent combination for healthy bones.

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Free Articles

When we realize we are lack of vitamin A, we usually just go out buy whatever we can find at lowest possible prices, or some may go for a particular brand they believe with so called good reputation (mostly influenced by their ads, honestly). But do most of us really know what we are buying into?

Vitamin A has three functions, most notably the protection of eyesight. Vitamin A is one of the major components of rhodopsin (mostly formed by protein) in the eye retina. Rhodopsin absorbs lights and stimulates biochemical reactions, eventually causes nerves' sensitivity. Second, vitamin A can also initiate gene expressions and ultimately control cell mutation. Vitamin A also affects our immune system, taste, hearing, appetite, skin renewal and bone development. Vitamin A's another role is to control embryonic development. Retinoic acid can also regulate the expressions of certain genes, which results in dominating the muscle and organ development.

Vitamin A is actually a generic term for a large number of related compounds. Couple of major forms:

1. Retinol - Absorbed when eating food of animal origin, is a yellow, fat-soluble substance. The vitamin is found in tissues in a form of retinyl ester and gets converted into alcohol retinol in the small intestine. It is commercially produced and administered as esters such as retinyl acetate or palmitate.
2. Carotenoids (carotenes) - Found mainly in food of plant origin. Fruits and vegetables have about 50-60 species of carotene.

Vitamin A naturally exist in many of our foods：
* liver (beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish) (6500 μg 722%)
* carrot (835 μg 93%)
* broccoli leaf (800 μg 89%) - According to USDA database broccoli florets have
much less.
* sweet potato (709 μg 79%)
* butter (684 μg 76%)
* kale (681 μg 76%)
* spinach (469 μg 52%)
* pumpkin (400 μg 41%)
* collard greens (333 μg 37%)
* Cheddar cheese (265 μg 29%)
* cantaloupe melon (169 μg 19%)
* egg (140 μg 16%)
* apricot (96 μg 11%)
* papaya (55 μg 6%)
* mango (38 μg 4%)
* pea (38 μg 4%)
* broccoli (31 μg 3%)
* milk (28 μg 3%)

Since vitamin A from food of animal origin is fat-soluble, disposing of any excesses taken in through diet is much harder than with water-soluble vitamins B and C, thus vitamin A toxicity may occur, such as nausea, jaundice, irritability, loss of appetite, vomiting, blurred vision, headache, hair loss, muscle and abdominal pain and weakness, fatigue and mood swings (altered mental status). Usually when intake reaches doses as 25,000 IU / kg body weight,acute toxicity may occur. Liver toxicities can occur at levels as low as 15,000 IU per day to 1.4 million IU per day. In people with renal failure 4000 IU can cause substantial damage.

However, the carotenoid forms (such as beta-carotene as found in carrots), give no such symptoms. It is converted into vitamin A base on our body needs. But excessive dietary intake of beta-carotene can lead to carotenodermia, which causes orange-yellow discoloration of the skin. Once you stop taking or reduce the dosage of the vitamin, discoloration usually disappears. Those reports that relate large doses of vitamin A to brittle bones all refer to the preformed vitamin A, not carotenoid. β-carotene is known as the best among all. β-carotene in food does not increase toxins in blood or liver. So if you need vitamin A, the ones labeled with "Vitamin A (as β(beta)-Caratene)" is your best choice!

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Free Articles

a) For step 1-2:

• 600g (21oz.) shrimps


• 1 tablespoon cooking wine


• 1 tablespoon salt


• 100g (3.5oz.) pork fat


• 1 tablespoon cornstarch


• 1 egg white

• 1 slice ham (optional)


• parsley (optional)


• 50g (1.8 oz.) chicken fillet


• 1 tablespoon cornstarch


• 1 cup (200cc) soup stock


• 2 egg whites


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1 tablespoon cooking wine


• dash of monosodium glutamate


• 2 cups soup stock (for step 6)

1. Clean and shell shrimps. Remove black veins. Mince. Mince pork fat.


2. Mix and season. Add cornstarch and egg white. Mix well. Set aside.


3. Remove tendon from chicken fillet and grind.


4. Add cornstarch diluted with water and soup stock gradually to chicken


5. Beat egg whites. Blend with chicken


6. Form shrimp into balls and drops in boiling soup stock. Cook over medium heat. Remove scum.


7. Add seasons. Add chicken mixture.


8. Stir gently with wire whip. Remove from heat when color turns white.

Nutritional information:
Each serving provides:
Calories: 119
Protein: 18.5g

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

Of course, depending on your preference, you may replace the pork with other meats like shrimps, chicken, beef, etc., or cook it without any meat to make it a vegetable Mu Xu. But traditionally when we talk about Mu Xu Rou in China, pork is always the king.

a). For step 1:

• 120g (4oz.) pork


• 1 teaspoon soy sauce


• 1 teaspoon cooking wine


• 1 teaspoon cornstarch


• 1/2 stalk green onion


• 2 dried mushrooms (soaked)


• 6 cloud ears


• 1 slice ginger


• 1 bamboo shoot


• 1/3 bunch spinach

• 3 eggs


• dash of salt


• 3 tablespoons oil

• 3 tablespoons oil


• 1 tablespoon cooking wine


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce


• dash of monosodium glutamate

1. Shred meat, marinate and mix with cornstarch. Shred mushrooms and bamboo shoot. Cut spinach in 4cm (2") pieces. Slice green onion. Soak cloud ears in water.


2. Fry eggs - Beat eggs slightly, add salt. Heat oil until hot and quickly scramble eggs. Set aside.


3. Heat oil. Add and fry in order: green onion, ginger, meat, bamboo shoot, mushroom, cloud ears, and spinach. Blend in seasoning. Pour in scrambled eggs, mix quickly and serve hot.

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Nutritional information:
Each serving provides:
Calories: 301
Protein: 13.2g

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

Guangzhou's Luo Han Zhai is known by the "Eighteen Disciples of Buddha Zhai", or the "18 Luo Han Zhai". It wins the reputation from people being fastidious about the rich ingredients, but this dish is rarely seen today. It is too luxurious and does not carry on any spirit of Buddhism, and it simply cannot stand well with the intense competitions under the current Chinese market economic principles.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 turnip


• 1 carrot


• 1 bunch broccoli


• soup stock


• salt


• 3 bamboo shoots


• 2 dried mushrooms (soaked)


• 15 champignons


• 20 gingko nuts


• 4 tablespoons oil


• 1/2 cup (100cc) soup stock


• 1 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon sugar


• 1 tablespoon cooking wine


• dash of monosodium glutamate


• 1 teaspoon cornstarch

1. Cut turnip and carrot into 2.5cm (1") pieces and scoop into balls with baller. Boil in soup till tender. Drain.


2. Boil broccoli in soup with salt added till tender.


3. Drain and cut broccoli into pieces. Slice mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Shell gingko nuts and boil in salted water.


4. Heat oil. Add and sauté in this order: mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and champignons. Add soup, turnip, carrot and seasonings.


5. Sauté and mix well. Thicken with starch mixed with water.


6. Add broccoli. Server while hot.

Cooking Time: 50 minutes
Nutritional information:
Yield: 4 servings
Each serving provides:
Calories: 197
Protein: 7.3g

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

Cooking He Bao eggs requires solid skills. You may start from learning fried eggs first. The duration and degree of heating is the biggest test when cooking fried eggs. It gets burned easily when over heated, but the white part would be too soft if the fire is adjusted too low. You simply have to practice till you get it.

Once you feel comfortable with cooking fried eggs, you are ready to cook He Bao eggs.

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs


• 4 tablespoons oil


• 1 tablespoon soy sauce


• 1/2 tablespoon vinegar


• 1/2 tablespoon sugar


• dash of monosodium glutamate

1. Heat the 4 tablespoons oil. Fry eggs sunny side up.


2. Fold eggs in half. Fry until both sides are light brown. Remove to plate.


3. Fry remaining eggs one by one, adding more oil as needed. Add seasoning and simmer lightly before serving.

Nutritional information:
Yield: 3 servings
Each serving provides:
Calories: 184
Protein: 15.6 g

Article Source: Article Blog

In the past, Beijing was largely formed by tens of thousands of Siheyuan that were aligned back-to-back, face-to-face, and side by side. For the convenience of coming in and out, a walking passage must be kept between each row of Siheyuan, this is what we call Hutong.

Until 1949, there were 6074 well known streets and alleys in Beijing's city areas. Out of which were 1330 Hutongs, 274 streets, 111 alleys, 85 Dao (small streets), 71 lanes, 37 roads. Traditionally, people classify all the small streets and alleys as Hutongs.

In Beijing, crisscross networked large and small Hutongs weaved the capital city with distinguished people and exquisite objects. Deep in the Hutongs are innumerable warm families, this is why ordinary Beijingers have special sentimental feelings towards Hutongs.

The narrowest Hutong in Beijing is the Qianshi (money market) Hutong in the Dashalan area of outside Qianmen, the narrowest space is merely 40 centimeters. There are also some winding deep Hutongs assumed zigzag shapes, like the Jiudaowan (nine-zigzag) originally at Beixinqiao (north new bridge), it actually had more than 20 zigzags, it was later divided into 5 Hutongs; There is another Hutong also named Jiudaowan outside Qianmen, it in fact has 13 zigzag turns. The name of Hutongs in Beijing is like an encyclopedia, it reflected the historical evolution and demonstrated the social characters and styles, it has been discovered as a hard to come by traveling resources in recent years.

Presently, those big worn-out courtyards in Beijing are being replaced by the modern buildings, the old Hutongs are also losing the base they once relied on to exist. But, to maintain Beijing's ancient capital styles and features, many famous Hutongs have been reserved as the cultural relics, it preserved certain ancient colors for our emerging capital.

Now, Beijing's Hutong culture development has already opened up a new travel program - visiting Hutongs. Foreign travelers from all over the world take Beijing's old-fashioned pedicab as transportation, by pass the west line of Shuchangshahai, come to Gu Lou (the Drum Tower) through Yinding bridge, go up to Gu Lou to look down at Beijing's old city areas and Hutongs that extend in all directions. They then go to the Houhai area, visit the city's ancient Nanbeiguanfang Hutong, Daxiaojinshi (big and small golden lion), and Qianhoujing Hutong, walk in Siheyuan, chat with residents, get to know the life of ordinary Beijingers, go to the Gong Wang Fu (Mansion and Garden of Prince Gong in Qing Dynasty) to experience the living environment and Emperor's gardens in the old times.

Beijing's Hutong has a kind of eternal charm as a carrier of the ancient culture.

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

This section of the Great Wall is paved with three or four layers of regular shaped gigantic rocks, some of the slabs of rock reached 2 meters in length and weighed several hundred catties (catty is a weight unit used in China and it is half of the kilogram. The internal of the wall is filled up with soil and rocks, the ground is fully paved with square bricks and made extremely smooth. 1.7 meters high crenels were built externally, there are observation holes above and firing holes below, the internal wall was built with space walls. At strategic points along the Wall, square shaped beacon towers were constructed at different height. The higher one is called blockhouse, which was used for defense as well as the living space for the soldiers; The low one is called wall platform, it is about the same height as the wall itself but is sticking out of the wall, there are crenels all around it, and it was the place for patrolling and standing sentry. Blocks of woods were set up at all commanding points, hence the name beacon tower. Whenever the enemy was sighted, bonfires were lit on the towers to signal warning messages.

Since October 1st, 1995, within the distance of 1200 meters from south to north of Badaling Great Wall, 650 colorful floodlights get turned on simultaneously with enchanting light on every weekend. It's open to tourists between 6:30pm to 9:30pm at evening.

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

1. The echo from the Echo Wall - There is a circular wall around The Imperial Vault of Heaven, this is the famous Echo Wall. One person's mere whisper at any point close to the wall can be heard clearly on the other side if you draw your ear close to the wall, it is so clear that it is like talking on the phone. Do you want to know why? This is possible because the wall is round and hermetically constructed with smooth, solid bricks, so the sound wave can transmit to the other side via the extremely smooth inner circle.

2. The sound of the Dialogue Stone - If you speak while standing on the 18th stone in front of The Imperial Vault of Heaven, the sound can clearly pass to the northeast corner of the north side hall and the northwest of the west side hall that are both 36 meters away. The sound can be heard just as well on the stone when speaking from the corners of these two side halls, this is what we call the "Sound of the Dialogue Stone".

3. Repeating sounds of the Triple-Sound Stone - In front of the steps leading away from the hall is the Triple-Sound Stone. If you stand on the first stone and call out or clap your hands, the sound will echo once; on the second stone, the sound will be heard twice; and on the third stone, the sound will repeat three times. Hence it inherited the name. This is because the distances that the sound wave reflected from the round wall to the stone are different, the number of echo is also different. Take a guess which flagstone is at the center of the Echo Wall's? The third one. The echo actually gets repeated more than 3 times, it's just the sound is too weak to be heard after the 4th echo.

4. The hollow of the Heaven's Center Stone - There is a stone plate in the center of the Circular Mound Altar called the Heaven's Center Stone. Shouting aloud standing above, you will hear the reverberation of the echo. This is due to the refraction of the sound.

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

Where to go to kill time between 9pm to 5am? Sanlitun or Chaoyang park? The number of Beijing's bars, dancing ballrooms, and clubs is over thousands, needless to say there will be some difficulties if you want to check them all. It is wise to look for several entertainment centers that are of unique in styles. The happiest, the most mysterious, and the most romantic scenes will all be here for you to enjoy. But wait, there is one special rule to remind you: you have to be 18 or older in order to get in these adult recreation areas.

© Copyrighted: You may freely republish this article as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Jacklyn Chen - Webmaster of Article Blog. She is a full time mom who works very hard to make living with her web sites.

Entertainment spots: JuMa Paradise, Nine-Ferry Drifting, Eight-Ferry Boat Paddling, Six-Ferry Boat Paddling, and Qingjiang Nine-Dragon Deep Pond and so on. They provide extreme jumps, cliff parachuting, ropeway, crag climbing, sky gliding, drifting, boat pedaling, canoeing, vehicle surfing, motorboating, sand beach bathing, swimming, horse riding and many other programs.

Hotels: Including Shanguang Guesthouse, Buddha Gazing Mountain Villa, YanAn Training Center, Pen Holder Mountain Villa, the Bureau of Finance Training Center, and other middle scale or upscale guesthouses. There are also 11 travel focused villages such as Xizhuang Folk Custom village, Western River Fish Culture & Angling village and others that offer 5600 berths, provide coordinated services like travel, accommodations, food, shopping, and entertainment.

Riding route: 1. Go directly to Shi Du via bus 917 at Tian Qiao; 2. touring bus 10 is available during the official holidays and weekends at Qianmen, Fuchengmen, Xuanwumen; 3. Take train 7 from Beijing's South Station and get off at Shi Du; 4. There are mini buses and carriages inside the scenic area.

Contact phone: 61349871

Touring guides:
Spring:

• Time: April 15th - May 30th


• Activities: Sightseeing, living in the peasant families, eat local specialty foods, enjoy the natural beauty.

• Time: June 1st - October 10th


• Activities: Juma river bathing tour that features water diving bathing, sun bathing, boat drifting, angling, sand beach volleyball; summer cultural square activities that features singing, bonfire party, national dances, folk performances, as well as barbecue event that features savoring delicacies of every kind.

Note: You may freely republish this article as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Jacklyn Chen - Webmaster of Article Blog. She is a full time mom who works very hard to make living with her web sites.

Characteristics of the dish: light yellow, tender with gloss, tastes hemp, spicy, fragrant, fresh, and hot. The surface of bean curd is covered with a layer of light red spicy oil, which keeps the heat inside the bean curd so it won't get quickly lost. It always tastes better when you eat it hot, the unique hemp smell comes from the Chinese prickly ash greets the nostrils and that enhances the overall flavor. It is considered the best delicacy for cold winter season.

• 2 cakes of bean curd
• 120g (4.2 oz) ground pork
• 1 tablespoon minced green onion
• 1 slice ginger
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 red peppers
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 cup (100cc) soup stock
• 1 teaspoon corn starch

1. Pour hot water over bean curd, drain and cut into bite sizes.
2. Chop green onion, ginger, garlic and red pepper. Heat oil, fry and add meat.
3. Add bean curd gradually into pan. Stir and pour in soup stock. Simmer over low heat.
4. Thicken with corn starch diluted with water and add to ingredients. Serve hot.

Cooking time: 10 minutes
Nutritional information:
Yield: 4 servings
Each serving provides:
Calories: 198.5
Protein: 13.6 g

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

Bean curd began in Xi (West) Han Dynasty, became widely spread in Bei (North) Song Dynasty, and it is one of the Chinese most popular traditional food. Bean curd has four main merits: 1. It is fine and of excellent quality. Bean curd contains lots of protein, the nutritional value is pretty high, specially it is rich in calcium which is the essential element during a child normal growth. 2. It is moderately priced. Bean curd costs less than fish, meat, and fresh vegetables. 3. It does not contain cholesterol. Generally animalistic foods that contain high protein also have high cholesterol, only bean curd contains one without the other. This indicates great advantages and is highly regarded by those who cannot eat much meat due to the high cholesterol in their body. 4. It is available all season long and it is easy to prepare and consume. There are many easy ways to make bean curd a delicacy. Bean curd was first passed on to Japan, it then spread to the European and American countries. Now the "bean curd fever", " soybean milk fever" is on the rise. Some people predict that the most successful product with the most market potential for the next ten years by no means will be automobile, television and electronic products, it will be China's bean curd.

a). For step 1 - 5:

• 3 tablespoons oil


• 2 cakes bean curd


• 2 dried mushrooms (soaked)


• 1 bamboo shoot


• 50g (2 oz) sweet peas


• 1 stalk green onion


• 3 red peppers


• 1 clove garlic


• 1 slice ginger

• 200g (7 oz) pork


• 1 teaspoon cooking wine


• 1 teaspoon soy sauce

• 1 tablespoon bean paste


• 4 tablespoons soy sauce


• 1 teaspoon sugar


• 1 tablespoon cooking wine


• dash of monosodium glutamate

1. Place cloth over sieve and drain bean curd


2. Cut bean curd into 1cm (1/2") pieces.


3. Heat 1 tablespoon oil and fry half of the cut bean curd until light brown. Add more oil and fry remaining bean curd.


4. Slice meat, marinate. Also slice mushroom, bamboo shoot, green onion and ginger. Cut red pepper and garlic into half. Parboil sweet peas


5. Heat 1 tablespoon oil. Add and fry in this order: green onion, garlic, ginger, red pepper, meat, bamboo shoot, mushroom and sweet peas. Add fried bean curd.


6. Mix seasoning together, add to pan and mix gently so as not to break bean curd. Serve.

Cooking time: 40 minutes

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

Sauces

Bean Curd Sauce (Dou Fu Ru):
Fermented bean curd, rish in proteins. May be kept for fairly long time. Comes in two types - red and white. Red is typically used to cook Braised Pork. White tastes spicy and is normally used as a side dish along with noodles, buns, or congee. Some like to serve with soy sauce and vinegar for meat dumplings, hot pot dishes, and others. Favored by north and west of China.

Shrimp Sauce:
Oil from salted baby shrimp dried and fermented. Use sparingly for sautéed dishes. Used heavily for dishes from south of China.

Sesame Sauce (Zhi Ma Jiang):
Ground sesame seed with strong flavor. Used for cold dishes.

Hot Pepper & Bean Sauce:
Hot sauce made from combination of hot spices and beans. Red or brown in color. Use sparingly in sauteed dishes or cold dishes. In north, people often mix this sauce to stir fried minced meat and serve with noodles (make it Noodles with Meat Sauce).

Hot Pepper Oil:
Made from sesame oil and red pepper. Serve with meat dumplings, buns, etc.

Sesame Oil:
Flavor is too strong for use in frying and sauteing. Use only for enhancing flavor of cooked and cold dishes, noodles, hot pot sauce, soups, etc.

JiangXi Vinegar:
A special vinegar produced in JiangXi province. Light amber in color with a distinctive fragrance. Use for meat dumplings and cold dishes.

Spices

Star Fennel:
Shaped like eight cornered star, brown in color. Use for cooking with chicken, meat, offal and fish.

Anise Pepper:
Dried brown round spice. Added sparingly in chicken and meat can remove the unpleasant smell (fishy smell). Can also be used for making pickles or even some deserts.

Five Flavored Powder:
A mixture of anise pepper, star fennel, clove, cinnamon, and dried tangerine peel. Sparingly used in cooking fish and meat.

Pepper Salt:
Mixture of anise pepper powder with salt. Serve with fried chicken, meat, and fish.

(c)Copyrighted. Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog

Chinese Wok
Deep pan with round bottom used in several ways. Comes in iron, stainless and stainless with layer of copper on the bottom. Iron heats most evenly, but should be seasoned before using or food will stick.

To season: Fill pan with water. Add soap and soda and bring to boil. Pour off water, wipe dry. Place pan over strong heat. Add oil and rotate till pan is coated. Pour off excess oil. Place pan over weak fire and wipe with dry cloth.

To clean: After using pan, wash while still hot. Wipe and place over heat to dry completely.

Iron Palette
Comes in square or round front. Rounded ones are easier to use with Chinese wok. Use for frying, sautéing and basting.

Iron Spoon
Use back side for mixing food with minimum breakage.

Steamer
Used for steaming buns, chicken, meat, fish. Place over Chinese wok filled with boiling water. Buy one size smaller than wok. There are new styles of steamers on the market made of different materials. But Chinese believe that the traditional steamer works the best.

Slotted Spoon
Used for deep frying and boiling to get rid of excess oil or water.

Wire Sieve
With handle. Used for boiling noodles, dumplings, etc.

Steamers for Pastries
Small in size - about 15cm (6") in diameter. Used in same method as large steamer. Serve hot pastries in steamers. Typical foods served are small meat buns (small steamer meat buns, or Xiao Long Bao Zi), steamed meat dumplings (Shao Mai), etc.

Moulds for cookies
Made from wood with various carved designs. No longer popular in the modern society since people tend to buy cookies off the shelf. Some may still use the moulds for major holidays, or just Chinese New Year.

Bamboo Brush
Used for washing hot wok. Guess only people in some rural areas still use this type of brush. More people use regular washing cloth found on market.

Rolling Pin
Used for preparing noodles, dumpling skins, Chinese pancakes, and more. With the busy daily life nowadays, most of time people choose to buy ready to cook fresh noodles and dumpling skins from the small vendors seen on the street to save us time. Choose ones made from sturdy wood.

Note: You may freely republish this recipe as long as author bio and active hyperlinks are kept intact. Thank you.

Article Source: Article Blog