Monday, January 09, 2006

morsel

On a fortune cookie from my favorite northern Chinese restaurant (crispy ginger beef, garlic stems with pork, bbq chicken with ginger, rice, green tea):
Words must be weighed and not counted.

7 comments:

Gillian said...

what are garlic stems?

Ariel Gordon said...

The following is from: http://www.innvista.com/health/foods/vegetables/garlic.htm

Chinese garlic stems, garlic flower stems, green garlic suan tai (Chinese), shen sum (Korean)
(Allium sativum)

Chinese garlic has a symmetrical bulb in thin purple or silver skin, but has little flavour. Its stems should not be confused with the inedible fibrous tops of curled garlic often found at Farmer's Markets and specialty markets. These greens are about a foot long and not hollow like the green onions. They are solid and about the width of a pencil. If snapped or cut, the aroma is unmistakably garlic. In China, garlic flower stems are a side product of the garlic bulb of strains known to produce them. The bulbs are cultivated in the usual way, but the flower stems are cut in early summer when they are green and harvested very carefully so that the bulb will not be damaged and can be left to mature. The stems are usually twelve to eighteen inches in length and sold in bundles. They are too strong for most people to use raw; but, if quickly cooked, they are an excellent addition to dishes requiring a hint or two of garlic.

(Unlike words, garlic stems can be both weighed and counted...)

Tracy Hamon said...

Weight should always be something that doesn't count--unless we're writing by the pound?

Brenda Schmidt said...

Weight is a four letter word...

Ariel Gordon said...

Word is a four letter word.

Anita Daher said...
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Anita Daher said...
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