The Best Dim Sum Place in Boston: Hei La Moon

Chinese restaurants are everywhere in the U.S.. For most of us, however, most of them taste like the U.S. rather than taste like home. People always say that I'm lucky to study in the building right across the street of Chinatown because of the instant availability of authentic Chinese foods. Yet, first, not all the restaurants there are Chinese restaurants; second, not every restaurants have authentic foods.

Hei La Moon

Luckily, I found the best place for dim sum in town. On 88 Beach St(between I-93 & Kingston St), right across the street of China Town's memorial gateway, Hei La Moon is my absolute favorite dim sum place in Boston. You know it is undisputed best dim sum place because it is always very busy inside and outside. If arrive around noon during weekends to get sitted, you often have to wait in line. (So the trick is to get there before 10 on weekends for brunch!)

Hei La Moon is a pretty spacious two-floor restaurant with a classic sim sum place setting: round tables with dim sum serving carts cruising around. The variety of dim sum there just can't be beat, and you can always find all of your favorites just like I found mine there.

Sesame Balls

Chicken Feet (Fung Zao)

Stewed Tripe

  Shrimp Dumplings (Har gow)



  Shrimp Rice Noodle
Nice and giggly, lots of shrimp. The flavor is absolutely authentic!



Baked BBQ Pork Bun Fluffy and chewy bun with juicy BBQ pork baked inside. The fragrant of the filling and the bun is enhanced by the thin glaze of honey on top.

Fried Pork Dumplings (Ham Soi Gok)
Fresh and hot out of the fryer. Crunchy. Delicious pork filling with perfect texture, not too dry but still chewy.

 Crispy Durian Cake
The filling is made of durian fruit. Classic Cantonese pastry, and my all-time favorite. Some people love it while somebody find it extremely disgusting. If you like to try new things and not afraid of the possibility of getting burned by the adventure, you should definitely try it!

The list can go on and on and on but nothing is more convincing than going to the place and try yourself. The dim sum there is decently priced, and is much more affordable than comparable restaurants like China Pearl.

The restaurant opens Monday through Sunday from 8:30 am to 11 pm, and unlike most Chinese restaurants, it accept credit cards! Call (617) 338-8813 to make a reservation now, and you'll love it!

Red Bean Veggie Porridge: The Perfect Breakfast for Both Child & Adult

I've been having cereals for breakfast for such a long time that I finally reached the point where I just can't continue to let it be on my table anymore. Ever since I'm tired of my former beloved breakfast choice, I switched from peanut butter to scrambled egg, from pancake to pineapple bun, and never settled down with any of them. I suddenly realized, for the first time, how hard it is to come up with a healthy breakfast idea that will fully satisfy a compulsive nutrition student like me, without the long list of vitamin and mineral fortification on the side of a cereal box. 

However, it is even harder to stop a compulsive nutrition student from continuous searching for a healthy breakfast idea until she gets one. Therefore, I finally came up with the red been veggie porridge idea that is making me feeling even better than cereals loaded with all kinds of fortified nutrients. 



For people who needs a refresher on the rich nutrient content and health benefits of red bean, here you go:

1. Protein 
Like most beans, red bean is a good source of high quality protein, and is naturally low in fat and cholesterol-free. 

2. Iron

In the theory of Chinese Medicine, red bean can "supplement the blood". This actually makes good sense after I got to know how much iron it contains. One cup of cooked red bean contains over 15 mg of iron, close to 30 percent of your daily requirement!

3. Fiber

Like other beans, red bean is also famous for it's fiber content, and a cup of cooked red bean contains almost half of your daily fiber needs. The soluble fiber found in red beans also helps lower your blood cholesterol levels by pushing cholesterol through your digestive track before your body can absorb it.

4. Folate

In China, there's a tradition for pregnant /postpartum women to consume red bean soup, for it is believed to not only "supplement the blood" but also be "good for the baby". This also makes sense because red bean carries such a high content of folate, which is famous for its preventative effect of neural tube birth defects.

5. Antioxidants 

Small red bean also has higher content of antioxidants even compared with cultivated blueberries, cranberries and cherries. 

Red bean is one of the best ingredients to make veggie porridge, because it's natural sweetness and aromatic flavor can improve the taste of veggies for people who are no big fan of veggies. The strong color of the porridge can also hide some of the veggies children commonly hates, such as carrots and celeries, when they are finely minced. 

For those who decided to give my new generation of healthy breakfast a try, here are some tips:

1. Soaking

Soaking is an essential step in bean preparation. The purpose of soaking is to begin rehydration before cooking, thereby reducing cooking time. Unsoaked beans take longer to cook and require more attention so they won’t cook dry. During soaking, beans make up their lost water, increasing up to twice their dried size. Add 3 cups of water for one cup of beans and soak overnight is desirable. Once rehydrated, beans cook in 1 to 3 hours, and small red beans takes less time.

As you may remember, red bean is a good source of folate, a water-soluble B vitamin. Long time of soaking will leach folate out of the beans into the water. Therefore, a desirable method is to rinse the beans, soak them overnight and do not discard the water but cook the beans with it. 

2. Adding ingredients

Remember to finely mince the veggies using a food processor especially preparing porridge for children. You can also add brown rice to the porridge to make it even healthier and more tasty as well. The "coarse" texture of brown rice is desirable in this porridge because it makes the soup more "chewy". 

3. Improve tastes

To improve tastes or make the porridge more flavorful, you can add rock sugar or coconut milk to taste. Although there's barely any researches done on it, rock sugar is believed in many culture to be healthier than white sugar. In the theory of Chinese medicine, rock sugar is characterized as "yin", therefore "calms your organs down"; while white sugar is characterized as "yang", hence "irritates your organs". 

Red Bean Cake

 

         Other than porridge, you can also play with red beans and create a variety of fun snacks for yourself or your kids. For example you may want to add green tea powder, fruits/veggie juice, and jello powder to make a healthy red bean veggie jello to snack on; or you may want to add veggie minces, eggs, and flour or sticky rice to cooked red bean paste to make small cupcakes, which serve as a perfect dessert on Valentines Day if made heart shaped.

The Warm Season Is Coming: Shape Up with a Few Modifications!

You are what you eat. It doesn't mean that you are going to be skinny if you eat a skinny person, of course. However, getting your plate in shape is definitely going to help with your own shape. That, leads to our topic today: March, the national nutrition month is coming! The theme this year is "Get Your Plate in Shape."

        Boston is always like this: before you realize that spring is coming, summer would be around the corner waiting for you to put on your shorts and dresses. I know that most of us have piled up a few pounds during the cold winter to keep us warm, nothing to be shame about, but it's time to let them go. So why not take national nutrition month as an opportunity to shape us up before the show time comes?

The following tips might help you get back on track with just a few modification of what you might have been doing:

More fruits and veggies

• Try adding a variety of fruits and vegetables as pizza topping (broccoli, spinach, green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, zucchini, and pineapples, just to name a few).
• Try crunchy vegetables instead of chips with your favorite lowfat salad dressing for dipping.
• Instead of having two cups of icecream which makes you feel guilty, have one cup of frozen fruits mixed with one cup of icecream to make it as satisfied but a lot healthier.

More whole grains!

• Try replacing your white rice with brown rice or even black, purple, red rice.
• Try whole wheat bread instead of white bread.
• Choose cereals with a whole wheat stamp on it, and a lot of them are tasty.

Switch to fat-free or low-fat dairy products

• Fatfree milk is more desirable, but 1% is still better than 2%.
• Lowfat version of frozen desserts could be as enjoyable as icecream, don't say no before you try it.

Be physically active your own way

• You know how precious a bright sunny day is in Boston, grasp every opportunity to walk, jog, hike, or just simply play under the sun!
• Clean your house, apartment, or your dorm room often. House work burns calories as well.
• If you gotta do something during your favorite drama, stretch rather than eat.

Finally, remember to give yourself a break once in a while if you ever get tired about "behaving well". Treat yourself with foods you really wanted without feeling guilty for a day and then you will find yourself ready to go again!