liuzhou

Just squeezing into 2021, this is due to be published on the 28th December. It will be a late Christmas gift to myself.

Oyster mushrooms come in many colours ranging from white through brown to yellow, red and even blue. My local stores and markets always have at least three or four varieties. and here are the king mushrooms (aka eryngii) More information here.

This morning a German woman who lives here gave me these two boxes of cake and cookies she had baked. Big surprise. I hardly know her.

酒鬼花生 (jiǔ guǐ huā shēng) - Drunkard's Peanuts Salted roast peanuts to which I added some shichimi togarashi. Beer food.

Nice dressing of the pineapple. Here is my somewhat battered (well-used), dedicated pineapple shucking implement as used by every pineapple vendor in my local markets. Cost about next to nothing, back in 1997. Today they cost just over nothing. I never tire of watching those vendors peel, de-eye and spiral cut those babies in seconds, over and over every day.

Pan fried spiced up* pork steak with morels and button mushrooms, coriander leaf/cilantro and green onion. Chips. *Freshly ground cumin, coriander seed, fenugreek seed and Sichuan peppercorn.

It's doing OK, but seems to have entered a dormant phase. The existing fungi are fine, but no new growth. I know ganoderma is a slower type, so I'm not too concerned, yet.

炒拉面 (chǎo lā miàn ) - stir fried hand-pulled noodles with pork, shiitake and sliced snow peas. Pork was marinated in Shaoxing wine with garlic, ginger, chilli, Sichuan peppercorns and salt fermented black beans. Soy sauce added near the end.

Neither do I. There aren't any here!

Not something I've ever experienced, but then I've never been to the USA.

Is the look because they don't know what it means, though? Or just that they are surprised that you want to drink it that way? The latter seems a lot more likely to me.

I certainly order brandy / cognac / armagnac etc neat as well as good freezing vodka. Some whiskies. Never had a bartender not understand what I wanted, though.

My Chrismas cheese order arrived this morning. That's 2.6 kg / 5lb 11 oz (approx) of Cheddar and 500 grams / 1 lb of Manchego. I'll unwrap it nearer the day. In preparation, I preordered some waxed paper for storage of the Cheddar in smaller pieces. The paper is covered with this bizarre "recipe" for bread. Ingredients include 'bread'! That is fun. That's it. No instructions.

Agreed, but I guess that during the Depression, 'mouthwatering' was a rare luxury for many people. Basic sustenance would have been more important.

via Twitter

Pork lenderloin steak with frsh shiitake, coriander leaf/cilantro garlic and rice wine. Carb free. But, I've not been in good shape and I haven't really eaten for days and this is me easing back into foodland.

I'm not that strict! I have to accept limitations here, too. A lot of what you can easily find, I can't.

Yes. That sounds exactly like what I thought was 'Chinese' sweet and sour until I arrived in China. One of the very many misconceptions that soon got bust.

and... Shandong style Sweet and Sour Carp.

Here is my take on a Shanghai style sweet and sour spare ribs. The Chinese chives on top are wilting in the residual heat. No gloop or day-glo orange saucing.

Sweet and sour sauce as such, really doesn't exist here in China. Although many dishes do utilise sweet and sour tastes, they are nothing like sweet and sour sauces served internationally. In a quarter of a century living in China, I have never seen sweet and sour chicken. Kung-po chicken (宫保鸡丁 - gōng bǎo jī dīng) does have sweet and sour elements, but they are only a small part of that dish. (Incidentally, when sour is used, it is nearly always in the form of rice vinegar - white or black depending on the dish. Also, the protein is rarely battered, but when it is, it is a very light batter.) In my large collection of Chinese language cookbooks, there isn't a single recipe for a sweet and sour chicken dish and I've never seen it on a restaurant menu. The sweet and sour dishes I have seen have nearly all been fish, but none of them are called sweet and sour. The most common is 松鼠鳜鱼 (sōng shǔ guì yú), the so-called 'squirrel fish' mentioned before. One notable exception to fish is my favourite, that being 糖醋里脊 (táng cù lǐ jǐ, literally 'sugar vinegar (pork) tenderloin') from Sichuan, although it does not resemble western 'Chinese' sweet and sour in any way.

That quote above is from this review of a restaurant. It's one of the most polite sentences I could find in this scathing takedown.

Interesting podcast.

Well, I got round to it last night. Sorry saury, I won't be buying you again. Insipid.

French toast (eggy wholewheat bread) fried in butter. The first of two slices.