liuzhou

Supermarket. I do have an oven. A broken oven, though. I decided to wait until I moved to replace it, but haven't got round to it yet.

Stir-fried hand-pulled noodles with 蜜汁鸭胸 (mì zhī yā xiōng), honey lacquered duck breast. Garlic, ginger, soy sauce, Chinese chives and coriander leaf.

I'm always amused by the people who decry canola oil but are OK with rapeseed oil!

You are in good company. Most people here use peanut oil. 90% of the oil in supermarkets is peanut.

I can smell and taste the peanuts in peanut oil. Fine with some dishes, but not all. A fried egg done in peanut oil is horrible. Obviously, I never use c@rn oil! Most of my cooking is done in rice bran oil*. Truly neutral in smell and taste. * I do use olive oil where called for; never in Asian dishes.

Shanghai’s upscale Da Vittorio brings back outdated ‘ladies’ menu’ I can't say this surprises me. China is very sexist despite Mao allegedly saying "Women hold up half the sky", so they maybe thought they would get away with it.

One long gone, unlamented legacy member once tried to convince me that mussels were vegetables, as I recall. But that oysters weren't. Or vice versa. Also, one website promoted the top 10 vegetarian Chinese dishes. Half of them contained meat or meat by-products.

I was long convinced I could taste the difference between red dragon fruit and regular dragon fruit. Then, with a friend's help, I did a blind tasting. I hadn't a clue. I'm convinced now that a large part of taste is decided by expectations - especially visual.

The world’s oldest unopened bottle of wine. Dated to AD 325, the so-called Speyer wine bottle is a sealed vessel, presumed to contain liquid wine. It was found in 1867 when archaeologists discovered a Roman tomb near Speyer. The bottle has handles shaped like dolphins. found via Twitter @carolemadge

I think it's a stretch for food!

Ah!, but did you then hedgehog cut the olives à la mangue?

Tonight, I made a shrimp risotto after buying some imported arborio rice online at an exorbitant price. Then managed to forget to take a photograph! Plenty of rice left, so next time!

I can't say I'd know the difference between a yellow and a regular in a blind taste test, to be honest. That's just maybe my poor palate. I've never encountered a seedless watermelon, so I prefer the ones with seeds!

Fish in a tomato broth with kelp (Japanese: 昆布 (konbu) often rendered as 'kombu' in the west; Chinese: 海带 (hǎi dài), literally 'sea belt'.

Jamaican tangelos aka Ugli Fruit. These have recently been introduced to China where they are known as 牙买加丑橘 (yá mǎi jiā chǒu jú), literally 'Jamaican ugly tangerine'.

If you can't aim the end of a chopstick into an olive at point blank, no tool is going to help you.

Quiche Lorraine always has cheese, no? Other quiches may not (but usually do.)

Daikon is commonly used in Vietnam, but not so much as a sub for cucumber, more in addition to. I've never seen celery in a bánh mì in Vietnam, that I recall.

Looking forward to reading (inactive) eG member @Carolyn Phillips's new memoir / cookbook, At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), due June 15, 2021 .

The first "one use" kitchen tool I ever bought was an olive pitter in a market in Desenzano del Garda, Italy in the eary 1970s. I still have it, but it's on the other side of the planet. Here, I use this one which came free with a box of cherries when I was hospitalised 4 years ago. Prior to acquiring this, I used the usual Chinese method of holding the olive ot cherry between the thumb and forefinger of the left hand and pushing a chopstick into the blunt end. Probably quicker than the dedicated tool and a chopstick is easier to clean!

Pork and mushrooms with soy sauce, oyster sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli, salted, fermented black beans, scallions. Pan roasted asparagus with sea salt and ponzu dressing. Rice.

They do seem to have tendency to serve carbs with carbs. Looking back, the last three meals had double carbs. Wouldn't do that myself but...

Yellow Watermelon

Is this funny or just cute? Or both? It made me smile, anyway. Some kids can't sleep without their favourite soft toy or Linus-like security blanket etc. My friend's daughter can't sleep without her bag of beef jerky! She doesn't know, but Mama replaces the bag with a new one every now and then.

Clam and mustard greens soup. Chicken and okra with a olive oil, lemon juice, gnger, garlic, chili and green onion dressing.