Characteristics of True Love

Since Valentine's day is just around the corner, I was thinking about what characteristics fosters a true love, and value came to my mind to which I believe is a must and should be documented, and that is:

"the ability to see happiness together thorough the same pair of eyes".

What do you believe is essential true love?

Jai - Vegetarian Monks Food

A popular Chinese dish eaten at Chinese New Year. There are several variations, in the following recipe (shown in the picture), my grandma opted out of bean curds, ginkgo, jujubes and cloud ears.





Ingredients:
2 cups of Fat Choy, aka Black Moss (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_choy)
~ 20 dried Shiitake mushrooms
1 cup of cloud ears
20 small dried jujubes (Chinese red dates)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons plus 1 Tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil
8 to 12 dried oysters, soaked overnight in water to cover
3/4 Cup shelled gingko nuts
2 ounces dried bean curd sticks (also called dried bean flour skins)
4 ounces snow peas, strings removed
8 fresh or canned water chestnuts, peeled and sliced
1 can of chicken stock
2 tablespoons of waterchestnut flour
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 - 2 tablespoons of soy sauce

1. Place the cloud ears, fat choy in separate bowls, hot water and soak for 45 minutes.
2.Rinse the cloud ears well, drain, cut and discard any hard parts.

3. Rinse the fat choy , then drain and gently squeeze out the water.


4. Mix a bit of oil with the fat choy and cook the fat choy in a wok or fry pan for about 1 minute, then set aside on a plate.
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5. Blanch the snow peas in boiling water for 30 seconds. Rinse them under cold water and drain.

6.Cook the mushrooms in 1 can of chicken stock for about 1 hour.






7. Combine the, cloud ears, fat choy, oysters, ginkgo nuts,, water chestnuts, and snowpeas in a large bowl. Combine the bean curd sticks in a separate bowl.

8. Rinse soaked oysters and then Steam the oysters in a small dish for 10 minutes over medium heat until soft.
9. Put the ginkgo nuts in a small saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer five minutes.

10. Break bean curd sticks into two- to three-inch pieces. Soak for 30 minutes in a small saucepan with water to cover, simmer about 10 minutes to soften, then drain.

10. Mix 2 tablespoons of waters chestnut flour in water, pour mixture of mushrooms. Add Scallions



11. Add oyster sauce and soy sauce

12. Add all of the ingredients (except for the Fat Choy) into the mushroom mixture and cook for about 2 minutes longer.

13. Pour all of the above ingredients over the plate of Fat Choy.