I am quite glad to have an easy weekend.

Got up on 11:00 am, cooked a PIZZA for my self, and then sat on the floor of the living room besides the French window of the balcony. I wrote an essay named Tastes of Black Coffee, in English and Chinese. I enjoyed my work and felt quite proud on myself after finished it.

I once wanted to prepare my dinner after the shower. However, when I smell the rice fragrant from the rice cooker, I can not help rushing to the kitchen to make my big dinner! There is a Chinese saying:  The appetite is above all!

Listening to the songs of Christ De Burgh, I peeled the hard rim of sweet beans. The sky was still so blue and clean, so I draw up the blinds to let the evening light sprinkle my lovely kitchen.

I prepared a sumptuous dinner for myself: garlic Shang-Hai Qing, saute sweet beans and short ribs, bree of bones and babay radish, etc.

After a period aquaintance with canadian cooking stove kit, I can make my dinner with facility. Most Chinese said this kind of stove was not convenient for cooking Chinese food. But I don’t think so. Due to the smoke alarm in my room, there is only one point that I need to pay good attention on the temperature of oil. It seems nothing influences my cooking skill and taste.

Please think of that: the smoke of kitchen is come from a high-temperature cooking oil. Most Chinese courses need quick-fry techniques to stimulate the flavor of condiments as well as to ensure the tender taste of food with fine smell and nice color.

In fact, the good smell and delicate taste of seasoning is easy to obtain in the temperature about 100 degrees --- for most Chinese vegetable and condiments contain comparable moisture which keep the temperature always up to 100 degree. Consequently it is useless to hot up the oil to an excess temperature. We can control the stove setting on the temperature of 200 degrees, i.e. the smoke alarm will keep silent all the time! When the smell and tastes of condiments go out,  we shall put the material of a main course into the pan and cook it. However, the old Chinese coooking procedure shall be adjust to the new environment. For example, I had to put the vegetable and sweet beans into the boiling water for a second to get rid of the original unpalatable smell before I cooked them in the pan.

When I braised the short ribs, I took some delicious soup from this dish. The soup was remained for cooking the vegetable to bring lush scent and tastes. Only several minutes in pan, the vegetable was cook to a perfect state without alarming of overcook smoke. Look, this is the best course to satisfy your appetite while reaching your standard of keep-fit healthy intention!

When all courses were done, I picked china dishware decorated with fair patterns to hold the food, then found a roseal plate to hold the potato salad bought from Safeway. On the table, there were white cooked rice, verdant green vegetalbe, tangerine baby radish, short ribs colored dark redish brown, yellow potato salad with red peppers, and beautiful dishware on a green pad with butterfly patterns. Lightful kitchen, white laced table cloth, delicious food in fine appearance… this is my standard dinner!

I was still ungratified for the scene. During my standard dinner, how could I eat without an elegant tea set?

I made a cup of tea by a light cyen porcelain teapot for myself, appreciating the black and green classical patterns painted on the cup, smiled, and began my dinner with great satisfaction.

------ Chinese Version --------------

很高兴有一个轻闲的周末。

起床后，烤了个PIZZA饼吃，然后就坐在客厅靠阳台落地窗的地面上，为怀风藻笔记写了篇新作文，还把英文版都完成了。自我感觉写的不错，颇有成就感呢。

原想洗完澡再做饭的，可闻到电饭锅传出来的阵阵米香时，就控制不住了。民以食为天，赶紧把吃的先弄了吧！

不急不忙地慢慢剥着甜豆角的边，听着CHRIST DE BURGH的歌。我特意把百叶窗拉高，那外面的天空到了七八点还是那么的湛蓝明净，感觉真是好极了。

今晚的晚饭准备了蒜蓉炒上海青，排骨炒甜豆角（就是国内那种扁豆角/四季豆），和萝卜骨头汤。很丰盛是吧。

经过一段时间的熟悉，现对电炉的操作真是得心应手了。很多人说电炉炒菜不方便，其实还是很好用的。由于屋里装有烟雾报警器，又没有抽油烟机，对烟十分敏感，炒菜时还是很需要注重一下的，但不需要什么技巧。

想想看，食用油是要去到一定程度的高温才会挥发，从而形成油烟的。中国菜常有爆炒一项，其目的无非是两个：一是用高温将蒜头等作料的香气与特殊味道激发出来，二是要在短时间内煮熟菜肴、避免过老，以达到色香味俱全的口味要求。

事实上，佐料的香气与味道在100度左右就完全可以达到了（再高温也没用，含有水分的蔬菜调料等，不管锅的温度多高，最多都是100度），因此完全可以将食油用中小火缓热到两百来度时放进姜葱等，而不用担心引起油烟警报。在这样的温度下它们的气味充分散发出来时即可将预先准备好的主菜放进去。当然，在这里程序要稍作一些调整，例如今天我煮的青菜和四季豆，就预先放进滚水里焯过一道，才放到锅里过一遍油。

趁着水分未全干时，就将准备好的上汤（我炖排骨时特意多放了一些水，就有美味的汤汁用来煮菜了）淋下，盖上盖子几分钟，菜就熟了，而水分又刚刚挥发完，恰到好处。警报钟一点反应都没有呢。菜肴也一点没焦，煮的恰到好处，完全符合健康标准。

做完饭菜挑了个金黄色花纹的碟子盛菜，又拿了个IKEA买的玫瑰红沙拉碟盛了点土豆沙拉出来（SAFEWAY的沙拉很好吃喔）。—— 雪白的米饭，翠绿的青菜，桔红的小胡萝卜，酱色的排骨，淡黄色点缀着红椒的土豆沙拉，配着美丽的餐具，放在绿底蝴蝶花纹的隔热垫上，明亮的灯光下，餐具压着的白色蕾丝小桌布与咖啡色的筷子、白色的汤勺相互映衬和谐。瞧瞧，这才是符合我要求的晚餐！

不过我还不满意这个效果。晚饭怎么可以没有茶具配套呢？

拿起在一元店里新买的青瓷淡花茶壶泡茶，把带着黑色与绿色古典花纹的杯具摆出来，为自己冲了一杯热腾腾的花旗参茶，背靠着椅子，望着窗外的蓝天白云，这才心满意足地笑着开饭了。