liuzhou

Shallots to me are more like this image from The Spruce Eats. More pointed than round. Image: The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga The Chinese name for those I posted above is 小红葱 (xiǎo hóng cōng), literally 'small red onion'. But sometimes the shallots I usually buy resemble these Spruce Eats examples and are described as 小葱 (xiǎo cōng), only missing the 'red'. I find the labelling of alliums is often confused and with multiple regional variations.

Supermarket frozen wontons (Mandarin: 馄饨 (hún tún) pretending to be ravioli, drizzled with EVOO and black pepper. Quick 2 minute lunch on a busy day.

I found small onions,

A few days ago, I was muttering on @Shel_B's How big is an onion? topic about only being able to find bowling ball sized onions. Someone in my local supermarket must have read that. Today, they were stocking these. Mini red onions (the default type here). i have had them before, but not regularly. I use them like shallots. ¥11.98 / $1.65 USD per kg.

I don't know, but the images are from a wholesaler's catalogue. There is a minimum order of 50 for some of them, so I suppose if someone wanted to buy / sell them internationally, it would be possible.

No They are not the same. Coconut vinegar is made from the flowers of the coconut palm. Coconut aminos is made from the sap of the tree mixed with salt.

Like here?

I didn't buy this one. Can't think why? Any of these would be OK

Here are my house keys.

Bags and other items like these have beeen around for years in China and Japan. Nothing new. Two images I happened to save. Can't remember why but I know it was about two years ago and they weren't new then.

What? I didn't make anything up. I haven't seen a direct reference to Xanthoxylon Clava-Herculis being what the OP is seeking. I merely suspect it could be, as I said. If not directly used, it may bean ingredient in whatever is or was used.

No. The chillies are not eaten at all. It does seem wasteful but, as you say, they are dried and therefore not very palatable. However, they give up a lot of flavour to the chicken and there is a certain pleasure in digging through the chillies to find the meat. It's a fun dish to serve to people, although I ate that one myself.

I rather suspect "Hercules" is Xanthoxylon Clava-Herculis, a relative of Sichuan peppercorn but native to North America, sometimes called hercules-club or the toothache tree, in reference to its mouth numbing effect. I've had Sichuan peppercorns in cocktails in Shanghai's legendary Peace Hotel cocktail bar, so not so unlikely. Don't quote me in court, though.

Too big is my problem. For some reason over the last two years or more, onions sold here have been getting bigger and bigger. They are now the size of bowling balls. I stopped buying them; living alone I never cooked anything that required that much onion and if I cut them up, I usually ended up throwing most away. Now I only use shallots, which I prefer anyway. Next time I decide to make a dopiaza for the entire neighbourhood, I may buy an onion.

Now that this topic has been revived can I just say that I wasn't talking about Chinese cheese. There is very little of that and the little there is doesn't use rennet. i'm told it remains by my sister who makes cheese in England.