liuzhou

aahh! There is a little green pepper in there. That wouldn't be traditional, no. However, I know the restaurant and it is Sichuan owned. I won't go so far as to call it a "regional" variation outside the region that is that restaurant! 😂

I suspect what you are seeing as pepper is actually carrot and I've certainly seen that in Sichuan.

宫保鸡丁 (gōng bǎo jī dīng) with rice. This is what you may call Kung-po Chicken but no one in China does. On the side, a couple of century eggs in chilli sauce.

Adding eggplant to mapo tofu? Unheard of. Sacrilege I beseech you to make yuxiang eggplant instead! Are you using the long thin Asian eggplants? They need no preparation other than cutting to size.

Do you deliver?

Of course, the near-univeral tobacco advertising ban wiped out smoking entirely, didn't it?

I'd never thought about it either, until the last couple of days. Now I'm thinking about ordering a whole roasted camel to see how they cope.

Yes please!

Good question. There are very strict COVID restrictions (although having a very high-ranking in the city's medical hierarchy friend has allowed a couple of my visitors in who wouldn't have been otherwise). Food deliveries are dropped at a specific station somewhere and each relevant ward notified. Someone (a nursing assistant) collects my dinner from there and brings it to my bedside.

Not a drop of sarcasm. It really was excellent. Deeply flavoured and perfectly seasoned. Chicken based but with a good ham in there, I'm sure. Vegetables were perfectly tender without being overdone. Vegetable soup but certainly not vegetarian soup.

Having cooked meals and ingredients etc delivered to your office or home is hugely popular here in China. The biggest supplier is Meituan and you see dozens of their electric scooters dashing around every day. There isn't much you can't buy (anything from a raw egg to flock of live ostriches) and delivery is usually within 30 minutes. I have eaten from this source before but today was my first time to order for myself. This issue is due to my being confined to bed in a hospital with a more than usually dysfunctional kitchen. Anyway, here is my introductory dish. Spicy cumin beef fried rice with a vegetable soup from heaven The broth was indescribable. These dishes are from Lanzhou in NW China. Those who know the China Food Myths topic will note the lack of egg in the fried rice Cost me 26 cents US / 22 pence UK. This includes a huge welcome discount. The regular price is about 12 times that.

They are gaslighting me! I left the hospital the ad hoc supply of breakfast as they had never screwed that up. Every morning they brought rather good 肉包 - pork buns. This morning they were running late and the doctors were getting impatient as they like us to have eaten before taking medication. Finally someone rushed in with my Bao breakfast. Sadly this had metamorphosed into jiaozi dumplings. Then came the evidence of gaslighting. The damn things were full of c@rn!!! Twenty minutes later, the buns turned up. They didn't have the nerve to charge me!

Birds for my mother. I am sure the same tin supplied about ten years worth of Christmases. I haven't had a trifle since I left for university 51 years ago.

My mother's 'recipe' for trifle was largely canned mixed fruit in syrup and powdered custard. She never made a real custard in her 92 years.

I won't be posting any more food from this hospital. I've fired them and the 'caterer' who turned out not to be what was claimed. All my food is now ordered in from outside and is not therefore 'hospital food. However, I was contractually obliged to have one last meal from them. Ironically, it turned out to be the best* It was beef with mixed vegetables (including egg plant, Chinese celery, cucumber and hot green and red peppers peppers.) With stir fried greens and rice. Completed by a giant pork jiaozi. * after screwing up one last time and attempting to serve me yet another dog food hockey puck. This was witnessed by a nurse who told me they have been campaigning for years to have the things banned. She even used the English word, 'inedible', possibly the only English she knows. All the pics here are low resolution. I will upgrade when or if I ever get out of here. For now, I'm completely bed bound.

Not like trifle.

My late mother was enormously proud of her trifle, the only dish she was ever proud of. She only ever made it for Christmas dinner. We all ate it politely. I guess the French don't really do trifle.

I may have related this before, but can't locate it. Many years ago I was incarcerated in hospital in London for some ailment that was so serious I can't remember what it was. The food was bland mush. In the next bed was an early middle aged man. I formed the opinion that he had never married and had recently lost his aged mother. One day he remarked on how good the hospital food was. Obviously, I thought he was being sarcastic but it turned out he absolutely meant it. I asked what he usually ate and the reply still haunts me. 'Monday to Saturday, I have fish and chips but on Sundays, I have chicken and chips. Of course!' Of course!

Same. Just a finer chop. Almost every day, I pass the largest, most popular dumpling shop in the city and see the prep chefs two cleaver chopping mountains of meat.

Bamboo tubes are used as cooking vessels throughout SE Asia

After my pleasant meal, I received my first visitors. Visiting is severely restricted due to the pandemic. However, one of my best and oldest friends in the city is director of the CDC. She called the hospital director and had him call off the dogs long enough for her and another friend to get in. Very pleasant.

Unsurprisingly, that didn't go as planned. it seems the meal I ordered for tonight is actually for tomorrow. Quite how that happened remains a mystery, but I am full of drugs and stress. Anyway, one lovely young nurse took pity on the old fool and personally ordered me a meal from China's leading delivery app. Not only that but she downloaded and installed the app in my phone and patiently taught me how to use it. After reimbursing her I enjoyed Hot Pepper Beef Rice with Pickles and Sesame Seeds There was also a thin soup of chicken broth and cabbage. Happy mouth.

Reviving this to say that all the people saying they use ground pork in Chinese cooking are doing it wrong. 😁. Pork in China is seldom ground but almost always chopped using two cleavers at a time. More akin to a French haché.

Surprisingly little.

When I'm hungry. I'm not slave to the clock.