Soothes with Pears

Am in a mood for sharing tonight. So here goes my third entry for the day.

Ever found yourself preparing a nice Chinese dinner for the family or grilling that herbs marinated chicken for a candle light dinner for two, and yet you run out of ideas for a simple and yet great dessert?

Search no more. I have two suggestions! One, refer to my watermelon piece. Or, two, do something with pears.
This is a very versatile recipe, you can either double boil, slowcook it, or simmer in a pot.

Ingredients:
1. Pears. One pear serves two, split in half. Core or remove seeds. My favourite is to use Bosc Pears (the brown and slightly thick skinned pears). Or any other pears of your choice. However, Bosc  pears when cooked has  a beautiful aroma that is yummy in itself.
2. Winter melon sugar or rock sugar, or both. Sweetness to taste. I find that a medium sized piece of rock sugar (about 3" in diameter) and some 6 to 8 pieces of wintermelon sugar cooked in three bowls of water is just nice for my sweet bud.
3. a small pinch of tea leaves - you can use any good Chinese tea leaves, be it Oolong orTit Kuan Yin, and even Earl Grey.

Let's look at simmering this in a pot. Melt the rock sugar in a pot of water enough for two if you are cooking two half-pears. Stir in the winter melon sugar.  Put in a small pinch of the tea leaves of your choice. Let this cook for a while or until the rock sugar is melted.

Add the half-pears into the sugar and tea water. Add another smaller pinch of tea leaves on top of the pears. Simmer at low for at least 45 mins.

You can serve this hot or cold. For a cold serving, simply remove from the fire and let it cool, before putting it   into the fridge. But my preference is to serve warm. As with any food of medicinal/healing values, serving it warm is the best.

For double-boiling or slow-cooking, simple put in hot water and all the ingredients together. Cook for 1 and half to two hours if double boiling it. Whilst you can leave it longer if you choose to slow cook it. My favourite is to have it slowly cooked in a slow cooker for half a day, whilst I go about preparing the other dishes. Or take a nap.

You may alternatively add about half a dozen pieces of dried longan for the extra sweetness and taste. But i prefer it plain.

The pears cooked this way contributes yin energy, enhance complexion and regulate sputum in our body. This helps in dry and hot weather like now to move the phlegm from the lungs. Longans, if you use them, is tonic for the spleen and heart.

I have had this in a restaurant too, at a pretty expensive price per bowl. So I know this must be good stuff! Hehehe!

Well, enjoy and stay healthy.

wonder watermelon

Back to foodstuffs tonight. Don't you just wanna sink your teeth into this juciy thing?! Especially on a hot day like today!

This pink or sometimes yellow fleshed fruit is simply marvelous. It, not only, gives us the sweet juicy thirst-quencher of a fruit, but it also has many great uses.

The fruit is fully consumed in my family, not even the peel with its whitish juicy parts nor the seeds are wasted.

My mum make delicious 'leong sui' (cooling soup) by cutting out the whitish juicy parts and boiling them with wintermelon sugar. Sometimes with the green peel/skin too. Try it - it's really yummy. My old and wise neighbourhood aunty poh-poh (grandma) would dry the skin together with it's whitish flesh and pulverised them into powder that is great for relief of sore throats and mouth ulcers.

Other uses?

*To counteract summer heat, reduces fever in the body and promotes urination:
 - eat the fruit!

*Clear lungs, lubricate intestines, quench thirts and aid digestion:
- eat the seeds! Chew them instead of spitting them all over.

*Treat diarrhea, dysentery, hypertension, toothaches:
- boil the roots and leaves for soup!

*Cure edema in the heart and kidney diseases:
- boil 60gm of fresh watermelon peel, or 30g of dried peel, in water and drink like tea!

*Quench thirst, and to cure cloudy urine in diabetics:
- boil 30gm of watermelon peel and wax gourd peel. Take as tea.

*Why is it so effective in combating heaty issues?
- watermelon induce heat in the pericardium (the membranous sac that covers the heart and the roots of major blood vessels) to travel to the stomach and small intestine, then to the bladder where the heat is excreted/expelled!

Oh, we forgot the seeds. Removed hygienically from the flesh with knife and spoon, rinse and dry, then toast it! It is kuachi! Without the chemical additives nor salt! Personally, I just like to chew on them with the flesh... a bit of crunch and a little nutty in flavour - yum!


* source: The Art of Long Life - Chinese Foods for Longevity by Henry C. Lu.

Tiger Trivia

• A tiger can only usually expect a one in twenty success rate when bringing down prey.
• On average a tiger can eat up to 60 pounds of meat at one time.
• After a feed, a tiger will usually bury the remaining animal carcass in an attempt to hide it from scavengers, and then exhume it for its next meal.
• All tigers have a similar marking on their forehead, which resembles the Chinese symbol Wang, (King)
• A tiger can go two to three days without eating.
• A tiger can spend up to eighteen hours sleeping.
• Tigers reach maturity and are ready for mating at the age of three. 
• Tiger cubs are blind at birth.
• A tiger cub can gain 100 grams in weight per day.
• Tiger cubs play fight with their siblings, which enables them to gain strength and speed. 
• The tail gives the tiger extra balance when running and is also used to communicate to other tigers.
• The tendons in a tiger's leg are so strong that it has been known to remain standing after it has been shot dead.

• tigers almost always attack from behind, a double sided mask had been shown to be effective in preventing attacks.
• There were 8 subspecies of Tiger at the beginning of the 20th century. 3 are now extinct, leaving 5 existing subspecies.
• tigers evolved in Asia. 
• It is estimated that they have roamed the earth for over 6 million years.
• earliest fossil of tigers date back to between 1.5 to 2 million years ago.
• Tiger are protected under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora) treaty. 158 countries have signed the treaty and agreed to abide by its terms, including those in which most tigers live. 
• They have been on the Endangered Species list since 1970.
• We could lose the wild tiger in as little as five years time.
• The tiger has only one predator...MAN!

Source: 
1. http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0313003/Tigers/Tigers/Trivia.html
2. http://www.elvidge.com/users/jimbo/tigers/facts.htm
Picture:
- http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/print/2008/10/tiger_desert.jpg