conversations.from: human
conversations.value: What could be a title for a book about Chinese, Dummies, Ton with the genre: Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Regional & International?
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: A title for this book could be 'Chinese Cooking for Dummies'
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the first five paragraphs for this book
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Chinese Cooking for Dummies
  Perhaps the best place to start is at your local farmers market. Always ask what's in season. Fruits and vegetables that are in season are abundant and at their peak of flavor, color, and texture, while those out of season are few, and their quality can be questionable. Go with the numbers, and you have a better chance at getting high-quality ingredients.
  Don't see what you want in your local market? Check out the seed store, and you may turn your backyard into a healthy Asian vegetable garden. You can rather effortlessly grow many vegetables that are common in Chinese dishes in small backyard plots or gardens. I know this because I consider myself a gentleman farmer on a small scale. Over the years, I've grown fresh chile peppers, Asian herbs and greens, and even a number of different cucumbers and squashes 15 feet from my bedroom window.
  Granted, raising poultry and hogs in midtown Manhattan or catching live river shrimp in Nebraska may not be practical. Nevertheless, you should still think "fresh, fresh, fresh" when seeking these and other ingredients at your local market or your favorite butcher's counter.
  Many substitutes are available for the traditional ingredients and cooking tools used in Chinese cuisine. But there is no substitute for freshness. None.
  Chinese chefs are experts in developing endless alternatives in ingredients and cooking methods in the face of scarcity and hardship. If you want to cook like the Chinese, you, too, should adopt a flexible approach when it comes to the availability of ingredients.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: five more paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Honey's smoothness mellows the intense flavor of 12 cloves of garlic in this simple stir-fry. Pairing the two may not seem like an obvious combination at first, but after trying this honey of a sauce, I bet you'll be sweet on it yourself.
  Remember: If the thought of peeling 12 cloves of garlic drives you out of your own skin, just remember that a good smash with the flat of your knife's blade makes quick work of slipping off those papery peels.
  Another Cantonese classic, this citrusy treatment of chicken combines sweet and sour flavors with savory meats. No wonder you find versions of it on almost every Chinese restaurant menu in the West.
  Tip: The breast, with its tenderness and mild flavor, works best for lemon chicken, as does a simple garnish of lemon slices and cilantro. The lemon echoes the citrusy sauce, while the cilantro brings its own bright colors and flavor notes to the dish.
  Westerners get a kick out of this dish's name. It sounds kind of funny even to me! But in Cantonese, it actually makes perfect sense: "Moo goo" refers to Chinese mushrooms, "gai" is Cantonese for "chicken," and "pan" means "slices." Put them together, and you have sliced chicken with mushrooms.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: the last two paragraphs
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: However, distinctions among the way that tea leaves are treated after picking allow us to break down the basic types of Chinese teas into categories. The following list should help make sense of things:
  Wine and food buffs have learned to predict how certain wines behave with certain foods. They've turned these predictions into matching principles that can improve anyone's wining and dining success rate. Here's a rundown of the most important: