During these turbulent times, Dr. Livingston Bear is inspired to make joong/zongzi, a banana leaf wrapped rice meal-in-one created in honor of a patriotic 3rd-century BCE poet/bureaucrat who drowned himself after becoming disillusioned with his king. That got dark very fast… which makes it a good moment to mention that joong/zongzi incorporates low in fiber sticky rice, highly caloric salted egg yolk, and fatty pork; thus diabetics are cautioned that this recipe should be eaten sparingly. It should also be noted that Bear’s doctoral title is not medical. 

In 5 easy steps:

1. Salting the egg yolks. To begin the process, Dr. Livingston salts a batch of eggs for 6-8 weeks, then separates out the yolk and whites. 

2. Gathering ingredients. He completes his mis-en-place with rehydrated banana leaves (cleaned and soaked with boiling water for a few hours), sweet sticky rice (lightly salted and soaked for a few hours), shelled mung beans (soaked for a few hours), diced pork (marinated with soy sauce and rice wine), sliced rehydrated shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated mini shrimp, sliced Chinese sausage, and the salted egg yolks.

3. Wrapping. There are many regional variations on wrapping styles, and this humble bear without opposable thumbs will suffice with the simplest. He takes two banana leaves with the glossy side up (bumpy center vein down) and piles on a little of each of the ingredients, sandwiched between layers of mung beans and rice. Then he folds up the edges of the leaves and ties up the package with cooking twine. The triangle/pyramid method of wrapping is much the same, create a cone, fold over the end, and tie it off. He’s careful not to tie them too tightly, lest they explode. 

4. Cooking. Livingston piles the joong/zongzi into his Instant Pot, fills it with water, completely submerging the wrapped rice, and pressure cooks them for 1 hr.

5. Eating. He unwraps the banana leaf (which are not meant to be eaten), and dives right in.

P.S. Apologies to Dr. Livingston Bear’s vegetarian friends, the non-pork versions got all mixed up during the cooking process.

By: Lisa Tom and Amparo Ng

Since March, Dr. Livingston Bear has been sheltering in place with his high flying world traveling brother, Lindbergh Bear. For two brothers accustomed to seeing each other only twice a year, these have been interesting times as they learn unexpected things about each other, such as Lindbergh's unorthodox manner of cooking with Sword & Sorcery... 

One bright summer day, with a wave of his paw, Lindbergh summoned a 3lb platter of beef, 2 daikons,  green onions, garlic, a shallot, ginger, star anise, an orange peel, chu hou paste, soy sauce, oyster sauce, mirin (in substitute for chinese rice wine), hoisin sauce (in substitute for dark soy sauce). 

Livingston wonders, if his brother is so handy with the magical summoning, why can't he simply get the precise ingredients?

Ignoring the brotherly jibe, Lindbergh mixed the sauces together with the anise and set about chopping and dicing the rest of the ingredients with the Sword of El Gran Capitán, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba. Then he sears the chunks of beef with some olive oil and sets them aside. Next, he deglazes the bottom of the pan with some mirin cooking wine, sautées the diced garlic, ginger, shallot, and green onions, adds the beef back in, pours in a cup of beef broth, the sauce mixture, orange peel, and gives it all a good mix. Then he adds the daikon and sets the pressure cooker. The InstantPot is so quick, he need not even use the Eye of Agamotto to magically speed things along. 

Livingston is a bit confused, as he does not recall them including carrots. Lindbergh explains that he had a sudden hankering for beta carotene and simply magicked some carrots into the pressure cooker. Livingston is also sure there are a a few steps missing (removing the daikon after ten minutes, and then cooking the beef for another 15 minutes). Lindbergh waves his paw and tells his brother not to fuss over such details, and serves a tender chunk of beef to the good doctor's rice bowl.

By: Lisa Tom and Amparo Ng

As the Bear brothers enjoyed an afternoon of drama watching, Lindbergh Bear was struck by a hunger for lotus root and pork rib soup. The chill of fall weather had descended upon them, and according to this drama, lotus pork rib soup embodied sibling love. He proposed making the soup together with his brother, but Dr. Livingston Bear declined his assistance in the kitchen. Apparently, he had not quite forgiven him for the sword and sorcery cooking shenanigans from last time. Besides, the good doctor reasoned, the recipe is quite simple and needn't draw on unconventional means.

Lotus root & Pork rib soup in 4 easy steps:

1. Gather together a rack of pork ribs, a forearm's length of lotus root, a chunk of ginger, some carrots, a few handfuls of dried mushrooms, and goji berries for garnishing later. 

2. Boil the pork and skim off the oil and scuzz. 

3. Chopping the ginger, lotus root, and carrots. 

4. 30 minutes in the instantpot

Et voilà! Soup! Magical enough, in its own simplicity. 

By: Amparo Ng

The essence of fried rice is a study in relativity: How much leftover rice is there? What ratio of rice to ham to peas to corn to egg does one prefer? How hungry is bear?

He pulled out the bag of leftover rice from the refrigerator and set it aside to reach room temperature, as he diced a good portion of ham into small pieces. Next, he chopped some scallions, boiled some frozen peas and corn, and whisked together some eggs. 

Now to fry! Bear added some scallion to his olive oil to enhance its fragrance. Into the hot pan the rice goes, followed by a few swirls of soy sauce. Remember, it’s all relative. In went the egg, and stir, stir, stir!

Then went the ham, and then the scallions, and then the drained peas and corn, and stir, stir, stir. And then, all that was left was to plate and to eat!

3 easy steps: gather desired fried rice ingredients, throw in frying pan, and eat. The process is so simple, one hardly needs a recipe.

Congratulations Dr. Livingston, you’ve used 10% of your ham. 6.9 pounds of ham to go.

By: Lisa Tom