Asian and Southern traditions: Black-eyed Pea & Ramen Noodle Ham Soup

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 9th, 2010 | No Comments

Black-eyed Pea and Ramen Noodle  Ham Soup


Bone soup is very traditional and many Asian households keep a regular pot of bone soup simmering on the stove. At Thanksgiving, we look forward the most to getting not the breast or the leg or thigh, but the turkey bone to make soup! This soup can be made with any meat bone but ham hocks are best with the black-eyed peas! I have adapted a veggie-version of this by using miso or a vegetable bouillon base. It turns into a different dish but still tasty.


  • Put enough water to cover ham hocks in a soup pot
  • Boil and simmer over low heat for 1-2 hrs
  • Put in fridge and skim off fat
  • Bring to a boil and taste for saltiness. Add ½ tsp black pepper and salt (if needed)
  • Heat oil in soup pot and stir-fry chopped collard greens, 2/3 of the green onions, garlic for 2 min (don’t over cook, still green)
  • Pour hot ham broth (about 6 cups) over collards, add ramen noodles and beans, bring to a boil, cook until noodles are soft (only a minute since these are instant noodles). Garnish with green onion, fresh cilantro and serve.


1 tbs vegetable oil

2-3 ham hocks

2 cups of chopped fresh (or frozen) collard greens (“collies”) or chard

1-2 cups cooked black-eyed peas

1-2 packages instant ramen noodles

2 chopped green onions

1 clove chopped garlic

Salt and pepper

Cilantro for garnish


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Article/Photos by Atlanta Ethnic Foods Examiner

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 8th, 2010 | No Comments


Nice article (with pics) on our Eat, Learn and Shop Series at Buford Highway Farmers Market by Beth Robinette, who came with smiles and her camera to all of our new classes. Great meeting you and thanks for your enthusiasm, Beth!  Thanks for the wonderful essays and beautiful slideshows!


Beth is the Atlanta Ethnic Foods Examiner, Atlanta Ethnic Restaurants Examiner and Atlanta Ethnic Foodies meet-up group.


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Eco-Friendly Gifts, Thai Twist Chili, Fast Asian Slaw

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 8th, 2010 | No Comments

Demo Handout featuring Asian Eco-cookware, gift ideas and Fusion Favorite recipes, including Thai Twist Chili and Fast Asian Cole Slaw!

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Asian Hot Pot Party – Handout/Shopping List

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 6th, 2010 | No Comments

We had a very fun Asian Hot Pot Party & Chinese New Year class with 20+ attendees, 6 simmering hot pots (1 vegetarian) and tables full of fresh vegetables, meats, fish balls, tofu, noodles and sauces to warm our tummies and spirits on a chilly evening. In celebration of Chinese New Year, we also enjoyed hot tea, candied fruit, longlife snacks, got good luck “red envelopes” and played Chinese Bingo and Chopsticks Races!


Thanks to Buford Highway Farmers Market (and Bill) for being a great host for the class.


Asian Hot Pot Party Handout/Shopping List

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Little India article: Fair and Ugly

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 4th, 2010 | No Comments

Good article, “Fair and Ugly” by Achal Mehra in Little India publication about the intersection and biases around skin tone, race, status, beauty and privilege. Also references fascinating study by Harvard University on biases, Project Implicit. More than 4.5 million visitors have take the confidential tests since 1998. Take the Implicit Association Test

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Cross-Cultural Bloopers!

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 3rd, 2010 | No Comments

Sister Fun(Smyrna, GA)


Some memorable cross-cultural bloopers and funnies heard in our family:


* Who’s at the door? “Look through the pee hole and check who it is.” (peep hole)

* Where’s Frank? “He’s downstairs getting ready. He takes a long time pimping himself!” (primping)

* “We used to have an old Volkswagon Beetle so I know how to drive a car with a stick and a crutch!” (clutch)

* While reading People magazine, “I can’t believe Angelini and the Pitts are trying to have another baby!” and “I think Bandino is very hot [Antonio Banderas]!” (Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt)

* As my sister was putting tokens in and ushering her kids through the subway turnstile, she waved quickly to her last little one to go through saying, “Hurry up, go, you’re free!” Reluctantly, the child slid under but not without protesting, “But mommy, I’m four!”

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Bubble Tea & Taiwanese Street Food: Bento Cafe

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 3rd, 2010 | No Comments

I love and miss the Taiwanese street food and fresh fruit/tea drinks! In Taipei, a line a block long will indicate the best fried pork chop vendor, even though there is another vendor right next to it, with no line. Folks will stick with the line and wait. The cart and location is a coveted spot that is often run by a family through multiple generations. Working long hours, the income may support several families and enable kids to go to college.


Bento Cafe is a colorful slice of Taipei in Norcross, 5495 Jimmy Carter Blvd. not far from 285/85 interchange. Sometimes I drive out to Bento just for the beverages. Few other places make fresh bubble tea anymore (mostly powders). I also recall that Bento is run/owned by a young female artist/designer. Good to support her efforts at entrepreneurship.


For more on Bento Cafe and what to order, see Creative Loafing review

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Sarah Palin, Beauty Pageants & Feminism

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 1st, 2010 | No Comments

Not a recent article, but a good piece by Courtney E. Martin in American Prospect online that sheds some light not only on the controversy and strong opinions over Sarah Palin but also, on how we see ourselves as women and the status of modern day feminism.  As the commentary points out, the debate seems less about her and more revealing about us as women, as a society and country on gender and equality issues. Like the “Who’s Laughing” workshops on race and humor that I organized a decade ago, we may learn a lot by asking a few hard questions, e.g. about our discomfort or pleasure with Palin and taking a closer look at why she evokes such strong responses and controversy. Politics, power and gender dynamics are complex, from internalized sexism to reverse stereotypes, with few simple answers. As one insightful professor pointed out to me in college, asking the hard questions and having the honest conversations may be more important than trying to find the one right answer.


On feminism and gender equity, I would like to focus efforts on alleviating barriers and challenges to success–poverty, healthcare, education, childcare–as well as constructively eliminating remaining bias or prejudice, among men and women. We all have some stereotypes and blindspots to work on.  Women remain grossly underrepresented in Congress (16%) and in top corporate leadership (3% are CEOs). The White House Project is one good organization that promotes and trains women for elective office and civic participation. We definitely need a more diverse and robust pipeline. Running my own campaign and serving in local public office was one of the most fulfilling and challenging experiences. Go Vote, Run, Lead!


As for beauty pageants, folks are surprised when they hear me point out the differences between the scholarship pageants and other bikini-fur coat-and-sports car pageants. Since I attended dozens of pageants to watch my sister compete (and win—she paid part of her college tuition with scholarship awards), I  know the difference between chiffon, gold lame and taffeta,  dyeing matching pumps and how to do Asian glamour make-up. I learned the Top 10 Interview Questions and have seen the best and the worst talent performances. Actually, I would probably be a pretty good American Idol judge!

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Chinese Southern Belle Ice Skater

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, March 1st, 2010 | No Comments

As I watched the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, it brought back my memories of taking ice skating lessons when I was a little girl in the 1970’s at Ice Land skating rink in Smyrna, GA. My jacket was adorned with dozens of skating patches and sometimes I walked around in my skates at our restaurant at Cumberland Mall!  I remember the smell of the ice arena, a mixture of exhaust fumes from the Zamboni rink machine, cork flooring and popcorn.


I liked the skating but dreaded the social atmosphere. Some of the girls were mean-spirited and snooty. They would call me names and poke fun of my clothes and gear. I wore pants instead of a skating dress and carried stuff in my dad’s old bowling ball bag. Perhaps hip now, but not cool then! I was also the last one in my group to move off of worn, brown suede rental skates. I dreamed about the day I would lace up white skates, of any brand, and I had my eye on a pair in the Sears Roebuck catalog. The skates in the skate shop were completely out of the question, costing ten times more.  The day came when Santa granted my wish on my birthday!


Years later at Vassar College, I had the opportunity to fulfill another dream – to skate like Hans Christian Andersen, outdoors on a frozen lake or river! It wasn’t smooth and I tripped on a few ice bumps and frozen branches, but it was exhilarating!



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Lost in Translation (a series)

Posted by Chinese Southern Belle, February 28th, 2010 | No Comments

Growing Up All (Asian)-American


Cuttlefish jerky. Blood cake. Grass jelly. Beef essence. Beancurd dregs. Love jade jello. I’ve eaten all of these products and while the translation may torture product marketers, they’re some of my favorite snacks and double as great band names!

Being a Chinese Southern Belle, we spoke “Chenglish” sometimes and I’ve heard my share of American idioms gone awry, non-translatable Chinese jokes, Mandarin with a southern twang and different variations of pidgin English. While traveling in Asia, I came across some funny messages: “Salute to the tourists who keep the public hygience;” “The civilized and tidy circumstance is a kind of enjoyment;” and “Heaven destroys CCP.” What we would have called smog, was referred to as “fog” by locals in Shanghai. Hmmm….

In the spirit of Reader’s Digest and Laughter is the Best Medicine, which I grew up reading, here are a couple amusing anecdotes from our family:

“GOU, not GO!”
My sisters came home looking worried and sullen. “We wrecked Mom’s car,” said Leigh. “It was your fault. You were driving!” blurted Pearl. Leigh glared and quickly defended, “But you told me to GO!” “No,” Pearl clarified. “I said ‘GOU’ in Chinese which means ‘enough’ because we were sitting in traffic, you were distracted and our car was sliding forward. I told you, ‘enough,’ because we’re about to slide into the car in front of us!” Well, they both got grounded and as mad as my parents were about a totaled car, they couldn’t help but shake their heads and chuckle in disbelief over the bilingual mishap.

The Pants Story
We hung out a lot at Cumberland Mall growing up since that’s where our family restaurant and jade store were located. My sisters and I worked at the restaurant and often went shopping on our breaks. One day, Pearl came back to the restaurant, out of breath, and asked my dad to loan her some money, fast. “What for?” replied my dad. In Chinese, she said, “I don’t have time to explain, they’re holding my pants!” My nai-nai (grandmother on the father’s side), who didn’t speak English, overheard this and laughed in puzzlement. Well, in Chinese, “they’re holding my pants” means…they’re holding your pants! Later, my dad explained the concept of “layaway” to granny!

Stay tuned for more “Lost in Translation” tales….

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