So in keeping with the culinary theme, today we went to Chinatown to purchase the items for pigs feet. Pigs feet, for those that are utterly confused by this topic, is a traditional dish that preggy women eat after birth.

It consists of:

– 1/2 bottle of Black rice vinegar sauce
– 2-3lbs Ginger. keep them whole, but take a knife to put a few slices in to increase surface area.
– big jug ($32 worth) Sweet vinegar (rice wine vinegar, sugar, cloves, cinnamon, rice, ginger, and orange peel)
– 7lbs ($9) of pig’s feet (boiled first to cleanse, then rinse with cold water)
– 24 peeled hard boiled eggs. Yes 24!

Using a clay pot over medium heat, put ginger in with the vinegar to cover all the ginger. Bring to boil. Dump in the pre-boiled and most importantly, cleaned pig’s feet. Let simmer over low heat hours and hours until it’s softened… but not over cooked (like it’s falling apart)

Then you toss in the eggs and let it sit in the big pot. Then you can enjoy weeks of pickled eggs, ginger, and feet. The vinegar is a base that keeps for a long time, so you can keep adding boiled eggs, ginger, and pig’s feet…

I think this stuff is high in calcium and protein, which is much needed by the new mother. Ginger is good for digestion.

Segue- for those who are sensitive to the plight of animals, read no further….

ok, this reminds me of a story Jed told when he was in China. Basically he led a group of BC teenagers through rural China. In a certain part there was a certain market where you can buy all sorts of animals and seafood- all live and fresh. Needless to say, there’s no such thing as SPCA in China… so these kids came across this pig in a cage lying traumatized on its back. Why was it on its back? Because apparently if you want Pig’s feet in China, you don’t necessarily have to take the rest of it. So here’s this poor traumatized pig with 4 bandaged stumps being stared at by a group of traumatized teens. Jed tells this story with a lot more detail… ugh, I think I lost my appetite for pig’s feet.