liuzhou

Irish Cheddar, English Digestive Biscuits, Spanish Gordal Olives, Chinese Plate.

I’d seen a few of these. Thanks for the reminder. For a parallel view of country life, with a heavy leaning to food matters, I suggest the Li Ziqi (李子柒) channel, the world’s most followed Chinese vlog according to Guinness Book of Records. (She currently has 22.3 million followers on YouTube and even more on Chinese equivalents.) Like the above, her videos are not language dependent, as she rarely speaks in her videos. Orphaned at a young age, she lives with her grandmother in the Sichuan countryside and what she can’t forage, raises or grows for herself. She is also adept at handcrafting any tools she requires. There is one video where she decides she needs an oven to cook something, so builds one from scratch. And I can't think of anyone else who could make a 20 minute video called "The Life of Cucumbers" enthralling and beautiful! She has very recently returned to YouTube after a three-year hiatus due to some legal problems regarding her intellectual rights. I had several excited people calling me and messaging me to say “Li Ziqi is back!” Of course, it doesn’t harm her that she is easy on the eye, to say the least! Li Ziqi on Wikipedia Her YouTube Channel Li Ziqi This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Apparently to be a civilised drinker, you need to be equipped with more than a mouth. Who knew? These are examples of such. Unfortunately, they didn't come with instructions (or anything to drink). Two shot glasses. Who shot them? A combination 15ml and 30 ml cup for measuring something. Can't be for alcohol. Who drinks only 15ml of alcohol? What is wrong with pints?

Returning to this. Today, I decided I would fancy some lamb over the next day or two. I can only get it in the winter. It's not a popular meat here in southern China; hugely popular in the north and west. Supermarkets here rarely stock it but I can buy it from the delivery people so went searching the delivery app. I was delighted to find this: Yes, for the equivalent of $343 USD / ₤272 GBP I can have a whole live lamb delivered in 30 minutes. It'll be great company for my pet ostrich! Less frolicsome cuts available are here.

Yeah, I suppose you could call it that. I'll try to take a photo next time I make them.

Somewhere in between. Kind of stir fried in deeper than usual oil.

A food scandal has gripped Liuzhou (not very much). On Christmas day, a normal day here among the heathens (of which I count myself a member), a blue tent appeared in a busy corner of the city, 5 minutes walk from my home, promoting a handful of new, small stores allegedly offering imported Russian products such as sausages, coffee, honey, chocolate, milk powder and beverages (both hard and soft). The nearest such outlet is in the mall beside the tent and sports the catchy slogan “You can taste authentic Russian food without going abroad.” No it doesn’t sound any catchier in Chinese! The goods on display sport Russian language and images of matryoshka dolls, St Basil's Cathedral etc. The local media heard about this tent and, scenting a human interest story, decided to visit. All was going well until some eagle eyed reporters noted that many of the goods had barcodes beginning with 69 which denotes Chinese production; few had 46 or 48 which would be on Russian goods. One product sported the Russian 46 barcode, but also said its origin is Inner Mongolia which is neither Russian or Mongolian but a Chinese province (technically an autonomous region, like Guangxi). Many of these goods are wrapped in ‘Russian’ packaging then overlaid with a label giving a ‘translation’ in Chinese. The staff admitted that the sausages were made in China, due to sausage importation being forbidden under quarantine regulations, as it is in many countries), but also claimed that they were made using Russian ingredients. From the labelling the reporters were able to trace the precise factory in Heilongjiang province making the sausages, where a spokesperson contradicted everything the shop people had said. In any case, we have had ‘foreign food’ shops pop up here before which closed down within weeks. The locals aren’t interested. However, it’s good to see such journalism – investigative reportage is rare here.

Yesterday's Christmas dinner(part). The centrepiece: Steamed Whole Seabass with Watercress and 虫草花 (chóng cǎo huā), Cordyceps militaris. Dessert No. 1: Hot Christmas Pudding with Cold Cream Dessert No 2 Frozen Grapes in Pernod The grapes I had were too large and very difficult to peel. Definitely works better with small grapes. But tasted OK.

18 hours in Dhaka airport, Bangladesh is a lot worse! That was a total nightmare and I had to do it twice!

1) Pierogis are basically the same as the Chinese 饺子 (jiǎo zi) 🥟 and are probably derived from them. 2) In summer 1997, I was in Beijing and visited a jiaozi restaurant near Beijing Zoo. This place boasted a menu of 50+ possible jiaozi. I forget exactly how many. There were the usual meat or fish or other seafood types, but also less common meats such as venison, horse, donkey, yak, camel etc. Then the vegetable jiaozi containing your choice from a list of every vegetable known to China, which is a lot. There was also a list of fruit jiaozi, again of most varieties you could think of. Most memorable was the ice cream jiaozi again n enough flavours to shame an Italian gelateria. So, if it's good enough for one culture, I vote it's good enough for all. I still prefer the more traditional Chinese types, though. Donkey Jiaozi

8:30 pm Christmas Eve, this arrives at my door clearly addressed to me. Now I'm trying to work out who sent it!

The market people will send it for you here, but they give you funny looks. Few people want fish already deadified, Freshness is paramount.

One of the few things I haven't done to my fingers.

Pork, flower shiitake, Zhangshugang Chilli (樟树港辣椒 - zhāng shù gǎng là jiāo), red chilli, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, Chinese chives, coriander leaf.

I was just about to ask what that is, but found it's what I know as cavolo nero and which I have used many times in minestrone soups. Good choice. I'll try that.

.,,, and another. This one is fun. For tough jobs. One edge of the blade is serrated and tears through most things! Takes no prisoners!

The centrepiece of my Christmas dinner is here. Got it a day early to give me time to send it to fishy heaven, scale and de-gut it in advance. Still have to decide how to cook it. Steam or Roast? I'll think about that later; the basic prep is the same.

I have both. I don't see them as competing. For me, they have different uses. The Y shape is good for large, smooth skinned vegetables such as daikon radish or large spuds; the stick version better for smaller knobbly-surfaced veg such as ginger and some potatoes.

Unless you forget to set the timer.

1) The Guardian exposé on Champagne grape malpractice. 2) The Great Guinness shortage.

All drinks are flavoured water.

Chinese cooking often involves marinating, either for half an hour or overnight. Where I live is very green and in summer we get a lot of insects (few flies, though I don't know what species they are) which like to investigate. Many marinades go in the fridge and don't get visited there, but some sit on the counter. View from my window Also, in the fridge, aromas can transfer to other items which I don't want them to. I found a solution! These are shower caps. But not in my shower. They live in the kitchen and nicely cover bowls containing stuff I don't want the nasties to intrude upon. The elastic collar fits tightly around my bowls, preventing ingress. The plastic doesn't touch the contents but I don't know if it would hurt if it did.

I worked that out! 🍾🍷

The restaurant used white (green) grapes but I suppose any type would work. I have green grapes in the freezer now in readiness for making it later in the week.

A mixture of malted barley, yeast and hops works well for me. 🍻