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Post by Clipper on Jan 15, 2021 17:45:50 GMT -5
Tried out the new stir fry pan from Aldi's.
Ingredients:
4 or 5 tbsp of oil ( used canola)
1lb medium shrimp
4 cups cooked basmati rice
a tsp of sesame oil
1 cup of frozen stir fry vegetables ( bean sprouts, sliced water chestnuts, shredded carrots, 1/4 cup of diced sweet onion
2 tblsp of thai fish sauce
1/2 tsp of grated garlic
tsp of sesame oil
LaChoy soy sauce to taste
1 egg scrambled
Cooking instructions:
Add 2 tbsp of the oil
Heat wok smoking hot
Add the peeled and deveined medium shrimp
Stir fry until pink
Remove to a dish
Add oil if necessary and add the vegetables, onion, and the garlic to the wok and quickly stir fry until thawed and tender.
stir in the fish sauce, sesame oil, and a bit of soy sauce
Add the shrimp back in and cook it long enough to be hot
Add the rice and toss until mixed
Sprinkle with the soy sauce to taste
I used basmati rice because it is less starchy than plain long grain white rice, and I rinse the rice in cold water before cooking to remove some of the starch. I rinse it again when it is cooked to remove as much more starch as possible, then drain it well before adding to the wok. Garnish with chopped scallions.
It wasn't restaurant quality but it was delicious. The restaurant uses a wok over a burner that probably heats to a ridiculous temperature and is so hot that it can maintain the temperature in the wok even as the ingredients are added.
I broke from oriental tradition and we had a nice green salad on the side. (probably because I don't know how to make egg rolls.) Kathy noted that I didn't give her a fortune cookie when we were finished eating. I told her "no cookie, but on the bright side I didn't put a guest check on the table, expecting a tip."
I
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Post by artsyone on Jan 15, 2021 18:36:55 GMT -5
When she asked for a fortune cookie, why did you say "No, Cookie." Did you eat them all yourself? (It's all just a matter of punctuation,,, LOl.) I had Dragon and Phoenix last week from Empire Wall. It's a dumpy , dark, dank, cold little place down on the corner of Lenox and Court, but the food is great...and cheap. That box was packed with big shrimp's and it lasts two days. Plus, my one dream is getting the fortune out of the cookie in one piece, without breaking the cookie. Ain't done it yet, but still working on it.
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Post by Clipper on Jan 15, 2021 22:06:12 GMT -5
We do Chinese take-out two or three times a month and before the pandemic my favorite place to go for Chinese buffet in Johnson City. One of the things that I used to love was their calamari. They fried calamari better than some of the Italian restaurants I have eaten at up there in NY.
We both love stir fried vegetables, pepper steak, and chicken with brocolli. We had a small stir fry pan but it was thin metal and didn't cook like the good, thick bottomed wok I bought the other day is twice the size and holds the heat very well. I was quite surprised to find that my $9.99 pan cooked as well as it does. Since I had my heart attack and started eating more veggies and less fat or carbs I am especially thrilled to be able to have my favorite oriental dishes without MSG and added oil and fat. I cooked supper with just the small amount of oil mentioned in the recipe. By the time I cooked things and they drained while waiting to go back in the wok, there was actually very little residual oil left in the final product.
I remember a little place that was our favorite Chinese joint in Utica before we left and I can't remember the name. It sat back away from Charlotte Street across from the court house. We always started with their poo poo platter. It was an appetizer served in a main course sized portion. I never left the place hungry. Does anyone remember the name of the place? It has been over 20 yrs since I was there last, and I can't recall the name to save my soul.
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Post by artsyone on Jan 16, 2021 8:27:25 GMT -5
Tiki Toy. They had a Chinese laundry upstairs. It's been closed for about 20 years. They had good food, but no great loss to the community as they ran prostitutes through there and later, drugs, as well as the owner being involved in all kinds of graft.
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Post by Clipper on Jan 16, 2021 11:25:38 GMT -5
Oh my! Are you saying that back in the day you could purchase a piece of ass with your shrimp lo mein? What a novel idea. He was a rather enterprising old goat to say the least, haha. He probably heard about the past history of Uncle Henry's Pancake house and the upstairs activity.  Sounds like a very efficient operation. Have your Chinese dinner, retire to the upstairs and while you are disrobed for the illegal activity, you could have your pants cleaned and pressed just down the hall and returned fresh and ready to don when your are ready to leave. |
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Post by artsyone on Jan 16, 2021 16:02:42 GMT -5
hmhahah. Right you are. I think the owner was Henry's cousin!! I am going to look it up and see if there is anything out there! Just for the halibut, I have a story about that place. So, back in he late 70's this guy and myself went there for dinner. Everything was going great until the waiter, who was Oriental ( and possibly pretending to speak no English and also quite possibly was in on the scam) made us an offer we couldn't refuse: he came to our table and said, in somewhat bungled English: "would we like a plate of baked mushrooms." Well, hell, yeah. So I asked him, how much are they and he said '"Free. No cost." so we said "hell yeah." So after the meal, bada bing, bada boom theyre's a $5.00 charge on our tab for the mushrooms. So, I called the waiter and he nodded and smiled and he called the owner and I said " These were supposed to be free.!" and the owner, scumbag that he was looked at me and said " I ain't in the business of giving food away, sweetheart. You just didn't understand him. He speaks poor English. He said "Low cost, not no cost". Now, I don't like to be called Sweetheart by some scumbag Jamolk who I know is running girl's from upstairs behind the laundry and number's and craps games in the basement. So I said "Ok. You owe me $5.00 and I'm not leaving until I get it." Therefore I sat my bony Irish a** down to wait for my $5.00. and therefore the date became upset and demanded we leave and therefore I broke down in tears and therefore we left. But it ain't over till it's over. The next day I went back at lunch time, exactly 12 noon when I knew the place would be packed with folks from the County and I strolled up to the counter, where the owner was sitting on a stool, casually drinking a cup of coffee and I got right in his face and said, loudly enough for everyone at the counter to hear: "Hey, remember me? I was here last night and I want that $5.00 dollars back for those mushrooms you ripped me off on and I want it now.!!!" I think he turned about 15 shades of red. He got up and went to the register and calmly too out $5.00 and threw it on the counter, where I retrieved it. On my way out the door I yelled back" Yeah and they gave me the Chinese shits too!" I could hear everyone laughing. I never went back there. Whatever his game was, he was one of the biggest loosers in town.
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Post by artsyone on Jan 16, 2021 16:39:49 GMT -5
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Post by Clipper on Jan 16, 2021 16:51:07 GMT -5
The place seems to have gone downhill since I was there last, haha. Did you say it no longer exists? What is it now, a parking lot?
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Post by artsyone on Jan 16, 2021 17:07:48 GMT -5
no, the building is still there, but empty.
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Post by artsyone on Jan 16, 2021 17:10:50 GMT -5
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Post by BHU on Feb 7, 2021 10:19:51 GMT -5
We do Chinese take-out two or three times a month and before the pandemic my favorite place to go for Chinese buffet in Johnson City. One of the things that I used to love was their calamari. They fried calamari better than some of the Italian restaurants I have eaten at up there in NY. We both love stir fried vegetables, pepper steak, and chicken with brocolli. We had a small stir fry pan but it was thin metal and didn't cook like the good, thick bottomed wok I bought the other day is twice the size and holds the heat very well. I was quite surprised to find that my $9.99 pan cooked as well as it does. Since I had my heart attack and started eating more veggies and less fat or carbs I am especially thrilled to be able to have my favorite oriental dishes without MSG and added oil and fat. I cooked supper with just the small amount of oil mentioned in the recipe. By the time I cooked things and they drained while waiting to go back in the wok, there was actually very little residual oil left in the final product. I remember a little place that was our favorite Chinese joint in Utica before we left and I can't remember the name. It sat back away from Charlotte Street across from the court house. We always started with their poo poo platter. It was an appetizer served in a main course sized portion. I never left the place hungry. Does anyone remember the name of the place? It has been over 20 yrs since I was there last, and I can't recall the name to save my soul. We have a wok but rarely use it because it's too difficult to get it hot with this electric stove we have. It's one of those flat tops which has burners that cycle on & off constantly. It's a joke made by GE. Made a big mistake when we bought it. I had to go buy an electric burner to boil water for pasta because that other monstrosity takes a half hour to boil 4 quarts of water. Next stove will be NG. We order from China Wok on Genny occasionely. It's ok, but nothing to write home about. |
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Post by Clipper on Feb 7, 2021 10:41:26 GMT -5
hmhahah. Right you are. I think the owner was Henry's cousin!! I am going to look it up and see if there is anything out there! Just for the halibut, I have a story about that place. So, back in he late 70's this guy and myself went there for dinner. Everything was going great until the waiter, who was Oriental ( and possibly pretending to speak no English and also quite possibly was in on the scam) made us an offer we couldn't refuse: he came to our table and said, in somewhat bungled English: "would we like a plate of baked mushrooms." Well, hell, yeah. So I asked him, how much are they and he said '"Free. No cost." so we said "hell yeah." So after the meal, bada bing, bada boom theyre's a $5.00 charge on our tab for the mushrooms. So, I called the waiter and he nodded and smiled and he called the owner and I said " These were supposed to be free.!" and the owner, scumbag that he was looked at me and said " I ain't in the business of giving food away, sweetheart. You just didn't understand him. He speaks poor English. He said "Low cost, not no cost". Now, I don't like to be called Sweetheart by some scumbag Jamolk who I know is running girl's from upstairs behind the laundry and number's and craps games in the basement. So I said "Ok. You owe me $5.00 and I'm not leaving until I get it." Therefore I sat my bony Irish a** down to wait for my $5.00. and therefore the date became upset and demanded we leave and therefore I broke down in tears and therefore we left. But it ain't over till it's over. The next day I went back at lunch time, exactly 12 noon when I knew the place would be packed with folks from the County and I strolled up to the counter, where the owner was sitting on a stool, casually drinking a cup of coffee and I got right in his face and said, loudly enough for everyone at the counter to hear: "Hey, remember me? I was here last night and I want that $5.00 dollars back for those mushrooms you ripped me off on and I want it now.!!!" I think he turned about 15 shades of red. He got up and went to the register and calmly too out $5.00 and threw it on the counter, where I retrieved it. On my way out the door I yelled back" Yeah and they gave me the Chinese shits too!" I could hear everyone laughing. I never went back there. Whatever his game was, he was one of the biggest loosers in town. Henry Cittadino was the owner. At one time Mayor Hanna used to hold court there every morning. He and his staff and other local personalities would all sit at a round table. I remember Jerry Fiore as one of those that attended. |
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Post by artsyone on Feb 7, 2021 11:10:57 GMT -5
Are you saying that Henry Cittadino, the owner of Uncle Henry's pancakes, was also the owner of the Tiki Toi? I don't think so. The owner was Italian, but I don't recall his last name.
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Post by artsyone on Feb 7, 2021 11:14:13 GMT -5
Anybody remember the old China Inn on Genesee Street, next to the Stanley , but moved down to Bagg's Square in the 70's , I think, then burned down.
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Post by Clipper on Feb 7, 2021 13:46:46 GMT -5
Are you saying that Henry Cittadino, the owner of Uncle Henry's pancakes, was also the owner of the Tiki Toi? I don't think so. The owner was Italian, but I don't recall his last name. No. I guess I got confused bouncing around the forum and reading from several threads. I don't think Hop Sing was related to Hank the whore monger, haha. Maybe he just borrowed Henry Cittadino's business plans. |
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