liuzhou

Coincidentally, this link popped up on Twitter, this moning. Plant of the Month: The Pawpaw

Chicken with the usual garlic and ginger, along with white wine, capers and olive oil. Balcony rosemary and garlic boiled potatoes. Stir fried iceplant with oyster sauce.

it's multi-functiomal.

You might not consider this fun stuff, but I've been looking for these for a long time and I'm going to have fun using them. Yes, I had similar implements back in London, but just found them here in China. All I need now is some crustaceans to torture.

三鲜馄饨 (sān xiān hún tun) - three flavour wontons (pork, shrimp, shiitake) in chicken broth with garlic, ginger, chilli flakes and lettuce.

London Restaurant Ad - World War II.

Yes, I got that, but it still seems funny the way they worded it.

Ah. Sorry. I didn't look that far back. My bad.

@Kim Shook I'm confused, I think. The fried rice above was mine. Weinoo did a pilaf.

This is a dear friend's daughter in a seafood restaurant for the first time for a celebratory Mid-Autumn Festival dinner with her family. She chooses the food from the tanks then examines her selction with obvious delight! She really is a bright spark. Bi-lingual in Chinese and English. Her mother is an English teacher; her father a police officer. She plays piano and paints way beyond her years. And endlessly curious about the world she finds herself in. She isn't 5 years old, yet.

Fridge clean-up. Goose liver fried rice. The liver was braised in soy sauce. Tonight I used the leftovers. Also included, garlic onion, chilli, coriander leaf/cilantro and, of course, leftover rice from yesterday's lunch.

Ssssh!! Don't tell anyone.

Here are the ganoderma this morning. Same log; different sides.

Yeah. I was surprised, too. Observing them develop over the last few days, it seems they are dormant in daylight, but grow overnight in darkness. Every morning I see a difference.

Here are the "log" and a translation of the instructions (supplied by my cell phone translation app).

Tending the ganoderma consists of topping up the water in the pot to keep the log of wood fibre in a moist atmosphere. Take about 30 seconds every second day. Initial set up took maybe 5 minutes.

Same here Yes, oyster mushrooms leave me cold. The place I got my ganoderma starter kit also has about ten different oyster mushrooms, all in different colours. Pretty but tasteless. I have ordered some 'king oyster 'shrooms' / 'eringii' and some black woodear starter kits. They do also have shimeji as well as shiitake. Haven't seen maitake kits though. To be honest, I'm growing these more for the fun of it, rather than to obtain the results, which it would be less trouble to pick up from the supermarket.

As I posted on the Food Funnies topic earlier in the week. This one I have eaten more than once. Although it's mainly used medicinally as a cancer preventative, if not cure*, it is often cooked with chicken (灵芝鸡汤 - líng zhī jī tāng, literally 'ganoderma chicken soup'). * I guess some people know I am very sceptical about Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM), but western medical research organisations and cancer research charities are taking this one seriously and investigating its properties scientifically.

I've set up a ganoderma lucidum farm to the right of my desk. They are beginning to emerge. There are more on the other side.

That was a shock to wake up to. It seems like only yesterday he "liked" one of my posts and reposted it on Facebook. Looking back, I see it was on the 8th. The cook-offs have always been inspiring. He will be missed by many people who only 'knew' him online; my thoughts go out to his family and friends. Gone too young.

Potatoes are not China's strong point. All I have ever seen are two types: the most common is red-skinned waxy (above) and then occasionally we get a white-skinned waxy (below). Most people don't know there are any other varieties! Chains such as McD's and KFC have their own farms here to get the 'correct' potatoes for their fries. I am unable to suggest any equivalents as I don't know many American varieties. The potatoes we have in the UK are different again. I know what I'd use there - Maris Piper. But I would say any good boiling potato that doesn't turn to mush would work well in this dish. You want a slight bite to the potato.