liuzhou

酸菜鱼 (suān cài yú), literally sour vegetable fish, is a Sichuan classic. Fish stew (usually grass carp) in a spicy broth with pickled leaf mustard. Fuchsia Dunlop has a recipe in her The Food of Sichuan (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).

I'm booking my flight ticket for next year's Oscars!

It works fine for me. It doesn't automatically open, but downloads to my downloads folder and offers me the option to open it. Do you have a PDF reader on your browser?

A couple of days ago, I posted my Liuzhou Luosifen Lunch on the lunch topic. I alluded to there being a bit of a story behind it. I was, in fact, eating lunch for a movie. Well, a three minute video. A team of local medics and science types have been studying the health benefits of the city’s signature dish, now the top selling instant noodle in China. Not that I was eating the instant version, but the authentic 16 hour recipe. One of the team is one of the people I’ve known longest in Liuzhou – she is now the Director of the city CDC. She’s in the video wearing the white medical garb. No idea who the jerk in the yellow hat is! I have attached the English translation of their report for anyone interested. spicy-food-consumption-reduces-the-risk-of-ischaemic-stroke-a-prospective-study.pdf

Those "rapid egg boilers" were popular here about 10 years ago. Probably got used once or twice. No more rapid or convenient than a pan. The number of reviews is no indicator of anything useful.

I may have been a little too cynical in the post above. Today I tried the 'nduja' on some toast and it's excellent. Spicy and rich. I may become an 'ndujaholic! Planning something more substantial and pasta related now.

What do you mean by 'it preheats'? Are you referring to the eggs being from the fridge? Please be aware that refrigerating eggs is a peculiarly American habit. Also, only being able to do 'sunny side up' is a big limitation. Not everyone wants their fried eggs that way.

Here’s a bit of an oddity. The Chinese name 马面鱼 (mǎ miàn yú) literally means ‘horse face fish’. You can take this in two ways. The fish’s face may resemble, in some imaginitive way, that of the equine animal. However, 马面 (mǎ miàn), 'horse face', may be referencing one of the two guardians of the underworld in Chinese mythology Take your pick. Image: oceanprofoods.com It is Thamnaconus modestus or, in English, Black Scraper. It is native to the north-west Pacific, so found in Japan, China and down to Korea. In Japanese, ウマヅラハギ. Korean: 말쥐치. It is fished commercially off the coasts of those countries but also by aquaculture in both Japan and China that I know off. AquaMaps (2019, October). Computer generated distribution maps for Thamnaconus modestus, with modelled year 2050 native range map based on IPCC RCP8.5 emissions scenario. Retrieved from https://www.aquamaps.org. I seldom see it on the fish counters of supermarkets here and never in wet markets. Most of it seems to go to food processing companies for their nefarious activities and some ends up in jarred products such as this. Made with the fish, white kidney beans, soy oil, and sugar, salt and spices. Here, this may be served alongside rice porridge / congee as a condiment or to top a simple rice dish. No thanks.

Sorry, but no. I agree with @Tropicalsenior Also, I've seen so many things along these lines come and go, from cups that automatically stir your coffee to automated stir fry woks. They never succeed. There was even a trend here for automatic 'chefs' a couple of years back. None of the restaurants using them here lasted more than a few months. Amusing ideas but ultimately just gimmicky.

My lazy days go to. Seafood fried rice.

Liuzhou Luosifen There is a bit of story behind this particular meal, but it's still ongoing. I'll report when it reaches its conclusion.

About an hour ago, I took delivery of a nominally 500g 'nduja sausage. (Actually, it was a tickle over 553g.) That may not seem much fun to many of you, but after many years searching, I tracked down what seems to be the only stockist in China. It was described as 'mildly spicy' but they are in Sichuan where 'mildly' translates as 'very'. I'll soon find out. Actually it is Beretta brand* - not the greatest but I haven't had it in any form since 1997, the last time I was in that Italy. * I hope not the gun people.

Yes. They taste the same. You can use them in the same way as other eggs like chicken or duck. One goose egg is the equivalent of two chicken eggs.

I can believe it. I'm currently in dispute with the British Government's Pensions office, because they point-blank refuse to accept any communication from me In China by any means other than mail. Mail is almost extinct here and none of their letters have ever arrived. So, they stopped paying my pension because I didn't reply to a letter that never arrived. Fortunately, it's not my only income but they don't know that. I get the impression they hope I've died to save them a quid or two. I must say the staff I have managed to communicate with by expensive phone calls seem to agree with me how ridiculous it is but are powerless. Most post offices here have closed or converted to post office banks, only offering banking services. Everything is delivered by private courier companies. Must be that communism! /endrant

I would think so. As @KennethTsaid the seeds are bitter as is the pith. Definitely needs removing.