liuzhou

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.

American Asia food and Asian Asian food are very different in many ways. Also, I haven't seen much, if any, praise for hospital food from either.

Minutes after I posted the above, she turned up with a professional caterer supplying hospital patients. The caterer nodded happily at my list of potential requests. Looking forward to dinner!

Perhaps bizarrely, I find myself in the local Traditional Chinese Medicine hospital. This Is not so desperate as it may seem. In fact, the hospital offers both TCM and western thought and diagnostics etc. They mix and match, usually leaving the choice up to me. The food situation has fallen apart. The first couple of meals were passable. The third inedible. The problem is that the person charged with bringing me meals is at least one dish short of a banquet. She asks me what I would like, then in response to my suggestions gives me a long list of 'don't have; don't have. I am requesting only the most common dishes. My request that instead of telling what they don't have, it might help if she told me what they DO have just baffled her. On Saturday evening, I suggested 青椒肉片 which is a simple pork and green chili stir fried staple. 'Don't have!' I said that they must have some kind of dish with pork and vegetables served with rice. Yes! She returned with this Well, I suppose it technically meets the description. A dry, bland puck of chopped pork. Some fried greens devoid of the usual garlic, ginger etc. Overcooked low quality rice. No sauce of any kind. Sunday evening after a long day of tests and pain, I didn't eat anything other than a bowl of soup. Monday evening, I gave up and said 'anything'. Big mistake. This arrived. I immediately lost it and asked the woman if she was crazy. 'I DON'T EAT THE SAME DOG FOOD EVERY DAY!' She scuttled off. God know what will happen today.

Nor do I have e-mail on my cell phone. By choice. I have a life.

Great story indeed! Thanks for linking.

While the food isn't going to win any stars, it is better than some university canteens I've eaten in, in the past. I planned to post a couple of photos but took them at a higher resolution and size than eG likes. I can't see any way to resize in my Android cellphone. How strange! So photos will have to wait until I return to the real world.

In America?

I'm just waiting for someone to pop up to tell me about their Authentic Traditional Chinese Willow Pattern Serving Dishes!

Good point.

Here's the only one I have. Except they aren't soup dumplings. Or steamed. They are food themed candles!

Serving soup dumplings is the situation I mostly see them in, but less and less often. Note "serving". They may not be steamed in bamboo baskets but just tranferred for serving. As I stressed in the China Fod Myths topic, I have never seen a bamboo basket in a domestic kichen in China or a kitchen supply store in China.

They are unhygienic and cost inefficient given their short lifespan. They were never seen as iconic in China. That is a western cliche.

I did actually complete it; just didn't get the chance to post my result before being whisked off by ambulance, sirens blaring.

Unfortunately, I'm in hospital again. Different one from last time. And better food, at least judging by the two meals I've had so far - breakfast and lunch. I'll elaborate later.

Ahh! The famous bamboo steamer baskets that everyone in China uses! Except almost no one does. Number 3 in the China Food Myths topic.

As promised, clarification. The Chinese name is slightly more helpful. 冰皮月饼 (bīng pí yuè bǐng）means íce skin mooncakes. Basically they are sweetened durian pulp wrapped in a sort of artificial cream and frozen. From my Chinese-English food dictionary: It is wrong about 'snow'. 冰 definitely means íce'. 'Snow is 雪 (xuě). Ingredients as listed are: Durian pulp, pure milk, ice skin powder [hydroxyendyl distarch phosphates, white sugar powder, non-dairy cream (glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, casein, diglycerol fatty acid ester, diacetyl tartaric mono and digyceride, dipotassium hydrogen phosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate, sugar, xanthan gum, salt) beta carotene]. Lovely! So 100% durian! They aren't even Malaysian. They are Cantonese. Yet, surprisingly moreish.

Yeah. And cloves of raw garlic in Vietnam. Xi'an restaurants also have raw garlic on the table.