Friday, January 30, 2015

MY home town Xi An

Lots of people first met and ask me where am I from, when I say Xi An, they all tell me the don't know this city. And when I say Terra-Cotta Warriors in my hometown, someone knows, but someone still don't know. They only know China about our capital city Beijing or our economy capital Shang Hai. So in this blog I will introduce my hometown Xi An, a historical city!
Xi'an, formerly read as Sian, is the capital of Shaanxi province, located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China, in the center of the Guanzhong Plain. One of the oldest cities in China, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming dynasty. Xi'an is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, having held the position under several of the most important dynasties in Chinese history, including Zhou, Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang. Xi'an is the starting point of the Silk Road and home to the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

The travel information I think all covered by the hyperlink. So I want show you the street food about Xi An.I admit it, I ate every single item featured on this page, and it's a very long page. If you hate street food, give up now and go make yourself a piece of pritikin toast. If you love it, read on and be prepared to feel very, very hungry by the end. All of this incredible food comes from Xi'an's fabled Muslim Quarter, home to a sizeable population of Hui Chinese muslims. To find it, just head north from the Drum Tower in the old city, and follow your nose down the small streets.
     Chao Liang Fen Stir Fried Bean Jelly. We started with a meal of this gelatinous mixture, scooped into our bowls from a gigantic steaming griddle. Fried flatbreads stuffed with a mildly spiced lamb mixture were offered alongside. The crispness of the flatbreads was a great contrast to the soft cubes of bean starch, gently fried with a fragrant and heavy mutton stock, bean sprouts and chili.

Grilled quail eggs, served five in a row on a stick, and brushed with sesame paste Impossibly delicious.

I will add more in my next blog. Hope you like it.













General Tso's Chicken


     Everyone knows a famous dish named General Tso's Chicken, lots of Americans like this Chinese dish.When I arrived America and someone recommendation the General Tso's Chicken for me, that make me a big shock. Because I never hear this dish in my hometown. Then the waiter tell me another name about this dish: Zuozong chicken. The name is well know in China. So I think the food has been associated with the name of Zuo Zongtang. However, it is no relate wit Zuo Zongtang.



     Now, I want talk about Zuo ZongTang. He was born in Xiangyin County, north of Changsha in Hunan province. He served in China's northwestern regions. He served with distinction during the Qing Empire's civil war against the Taiping Rebellion, in which it is estimaited 20 million people died. 

     
In fact, Chef Peng Changgui invented this dish in 1950。

Now, let's make the  General Tso's Chicken.
                    (The link is video show you how to make it.)
1.For the Marinade: Beat egg whites in a large bowl until broken down and lightly foamy. Add soy sauce, wine, and vodka and whisk to combine. Set aside half of marinade in a small bowl. Add baking soda and corn starch to the large bowl and whisk to combine. Add chicken tp large bowl and turn with fingers to coat thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.


2.For the Dry Coat: Combine flour, corn starch, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl. Whisk until homegenous.Add reserved marinade and whisk until mixture has coarse, mealy clumps. Set aside.


3.For the Sauce: Combine soy sauce, wine, vinegar, chicken stock, sugar, sesame seed oil, and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir with a fork until cornstarch is dissolved and no lumps remain. Set aside.

4.Combine oil, garlic, ginger, minced scallions, and red chilies in a large skillet and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until vegetables are aromatic and soft, but not browned, about 3 minutes. Stir sauce mixture and add to skillet, making sure to scrape out and sugar or starch that has sunk to the bottom. Cook, stirring, until sauce boils and thickens, about 1 minute. Add scallion segments. Transfer sauce to a bowl to stop cooking, but don't wipe out skillet.


5.To Finish: Heat 1 1/2 quarts peanut, vegetable, or canola oil in a large wok or Dutch oven to 350°F and adjust flame to maintain temperature.



6.Working one piece at a time, transfer chicken from marinade to dry coat mixture, tossing in between each addition to coat chicken. When all chicken is added to dry coat, toss with hands, pressing dry mixture onto chicken so it adheres, and making sure that every piece is coated thoroughly.

7.Lift chicken one piece at a time, shake off excess coating, and carefully lower into hot oil (do not drop it). Once all chicken is added, cook, agitating with long chopsticks or a metal spider, and adjusting flame to maintain a temperature of 325 to 375°F, until chicken is cooked through and very crispy, about 4 minutes. Transfer chicken to a paper towel-lined bowl to drain.



8.Add chicken to empty skillet and return sauce to skillet. Toss chicken, folding it with a rubber spatula until all pieces are thoroughly coated. Serve immediately with white rice.

Friday, January 23, 2015

How to Cook Mapo Tofu

MaPo Tufo is a famous Chinese dish from Sichuan province. And it is my favorite Chinese tradition food. About this dish history, It is very interesting.
During the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1871-1908) of the Qing Dynasty (1644 -1911), a woman named Wen Qiaoqiao pitted from pock-marks in Chengdu City was married to an owner of an oil refinery. Unluckily, after 10 years of marriage her husband died in an accident while carrying oil. After her husband’s death, Qiaoqiao and her sister in-law were left poorly off. Her husband’s former laborers and her neighbors often took rice and vegetables to assist them. There happened to be a tofu shop and a beef shop on either side of their residence. One day, Qiaoqiao put the ground beef and the tofu together to be stewed into a dish and found it tasted delicious. Then, she asked the neighbors to taste it and almost all of them felt it nice to eat. After she died, people named the dish as ma po tofu (pock-marked grandmother) to remember her and the name has been used ever since.
This dish is very easy to cook. Ma po tofu is made of soft tofu, ground beef, chopped chili, prickly ash powder and broad bean paste. But today I did not add beef into this dish.
Step 1
We need prepared soft tofu (bean curd cake), broad bean paste, cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, surge and chopped green onion.
Note: the amount of the seasonings listed above can be appropriately measured according to one’s personal taste.
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Step 2
Cutting the tofu. Fill half wok water, turn on the heat and pour in the tofu cubes when the water is boiling. Boil the bean curd for 1 minute and then pick them out of the wok, and remove excess water through a colander.
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Step 3
Add in the chopped ginger to be stir-fried by high heat for about 1 minutes, add in the broad bean paste and stir-fry them together until smelling fragrant, about 3 minutes.
Step 4
Put tofu into the sauce and add in the salt and white sugar and stir-fried them for about 2 minutes on high heat until all are covered with the seasoning sauce.
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Step 5
Now, turn off the heat, add in the chopped green onion and the prickly ash powder.Then ladle it out of the wok and put it into a fine porcelain plate.
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When we finished this dish, it is done and indeed is an irresistible temptation.
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Wednesday, January 21, 2015

About Me

This is Boming Zhang, a exchange student from Nanjing University of The Arts to Troy University.



     In China, my major is Directing, but now I study Broadcast Journalism major. I am honored I can study in two different university when I am a student. I'm 22-year-old, my hobby is take photo, listen music, watch movie, and travel. This blog is my first time created a blog to share with everybody. Hope every reader can have fun and give me suggest to help me make the blog become better.



 Thanks for reading. I want you can pay attention to my blog, I will update my blog every week.




JRN 4440-SPRING 2015

The article is called 8 key takeways about social media and news. It is describe about the influence between the internet and what the news people focus on.
There are eight opinions about this topic.:
1.News has a place in social media – but on some sites more than others.
2.Getting “news” on Facebook is an incidental experience.
3.The range of news topics on Facebook is broad.
4.Engagement with the news plays a key role in the social media news experience.
5.On Twitter, groups of people come together around news events they feel passionately about. But opinions expressed on Twitter often differ from broad public opinion.
6.In the dynamic nature of conversations on Twitter, the sentiment expressed around an issue or event can change over time.
7.Audiences for news on each social platform differ.
8.Visitors who come to a news site through Facebook or search display have far lower engagement with that outlet than those who come to that news website directly.
There are also some data about these different opinions that show for us with bar chart, pie chart, and line chart. For today's daily life, more and more people prefer to use smart phone to get information and news. And lots of social media company create their own APP serves for people. People getting news though the internet accords with the fast-food culture a lot. Young people pay more attention to some entertainment and relaxed news. And the news about some serious topic and economy get few attention. Social network share news in mobile devices increasing every year. A new way people get news from others share in their social media APP. 
In my view, public a event is easy now, but people can not make sure which is the right one. And different ages people have different way to choice internet. For example, I like use Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. But my mom like use The New York Times APP and email to get news.
In fact, different people have different situation to choice the internet.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Boming Zhang's Introduction

  Hello, welocome to Boming Zhang's new blog, my theme in this blog is how to become a big foodie, where have the delicious food, how to cook some Chinese traditional food, and so on. Hope you can have fun when you read my bolg.  Actullay, this blog I created for my Advanced Tech in Journalism class. I will update my blog every week in the spring semester.
  I am a 2+2 program exchange student from Nanjing University of The Arts to Troy University. In China, my major is TV Editing and Directing, but now I study Broadcast Journalism major. I am honored I can study in two different university when I am a student. I'm 23-year-old, my hobby is taking photo, listening music, watching movie, and travel.
  This blog is my second time to created a blog to share some interesting things for everybody. During the time, I will post some delicious food in the picture, tell you what is it, which restaurant I find it, where is itgive you directing to help you order food. And I will make some food by myself then show you every step. If you are interested in how to make Chinese traditional food, for example: dumplings, meat ball, noodles, and so on...
       Is it interested you? If not, you can follow my step every weekend for travel. My best friend in China Huqi De came from Shang Hai to visit me in this semester, he arrived Troy on Wednesday night, and he will stay here for 3 months. We will drive around nearly city to have fine and shoot some interesting video to publish on the internet. We have to seats available for you, hope you can join us. We can go together for fine and looking for great food. Is it sounds good? If you want join us, please email me, my email address is: zhangboming1124@gmail.com.
       Tell you a secret: we will go Atlanta on Saturday morning to visit the Walking Dead shooting place, and we will go to the Asian plazza looking for food.
Come on!