liuzhou

I have no problems with eating solo. I do much of my travelling alone and have eaten solo in many countries. It's when I'm home in China that I have problems. Chinese food is usually served family style and the better restaurants are only equipped with tables sitting large groups. This means that I often feel restricted to smaller, more simple places, not that I mind them, but sometimes I want something a bit more elevated. Fortunately my friends are hungry people so I get to go to better places sometimes. A couple of days ago, I posted a lunch served in a restaurant I had wanted to visit for a long time, but no one else wanted to go with me to that particular restaurant. It made no sense for me to go by myself as the smallest dish they do is for four people. Luckily this week, I finally found some companions who were happy to eat there. I have found southeast Asian countries better for solo eating. Especially Vietnam.

I've had surprisingly good fish dishes on international flights with Emirates Air.

Gonads Sea urchin or its roe. Japanese name.

Me too. Mainly because it is only vaguely related to broccoli, being one of the many brassicas. I've always thought the name Chinese broccoli to be somewhat misleading. Incidentally gai lan is the Cantonese name. I know it as 芥兰 (jiè làn), the Mandarin name. It literally means "mustard orchid".

1-10-10 Chicken

I'm not usually a fan either, but since I discovered the 1-10-10 method I'm more tolerant in certain applications.

Chicken with butter, lemon, caper sauce. Hen-of-the-woods mushrooms with garlic. Rice. Chicken breast had a 12 hour brining before being cooked 1-10-10.

Yes. The whole body is eaten.

Some is farmed; some wild. They live in the paddy fields here in the south. But there are also huge farms in the non-rice-growing areas.

Lunch today with a couple of young lady friends. The venue was chosen due to a conversation I had with one of them a couple of weeks ago. She mentioned that she had been in a certain restaurant in another city and I said they have a branch here, too, but I've never been as it's not suitable for solo dining and none of my friends here want to go as they have an aversion to the place's specialty - frog. She promised we would go on her next visit, which turned out to be today. Basically, they only have one dish, but that dish is tweakable. Spicy Frog Hotpot. You're having this no matter what. Then to this huge platter you add extras as desired. Enoki Mushrooms Lettuce Tofu Preserved eggs. The eggs were fake and not at all pleasant. To make up the ladies ordered some fuit salad, of which I did not partake. Apple, melon, banana, ragon fruit and cherry tomatoes slathered in sweet Kewpie "mayonaisse". Yuck! The frog dish was easily enough for the three of us and would have easily coped with a fourth - this is why I say it's not for solo dining. 190 元 = $27 USD

Pork and shiitake baozi with chilli dip.

灰树花 (huī shù huā), maitake ( Japanese: 舞茸 or マイタケ), hen-of-the-woods, ram's head or sheep's head, Grifola frondosa. Whatever you call them, they turned up in dried form in one of my stores, yesterday. and after rehydration

Felt lazy. Went out. Rou Jia Mo This is the more traditional version - with long stewed pork. More than one were consumed.

Yangrou Paomo. The 'mo' described here are not always steamed but dry fried on a griddle and very like pita, but denser. Classic Xi'an dish, could eat for any meal.

Squid and snow peas. A classic Chinese pairing. Garlic, ginger, chilli, Shaoxing wine. Served with orzo - not Chinese at all but, hey ho! It worked.

Home made liver and mushroom pâté with chia seed crackers.

You may be interested in this.

Never found goose eggs to be oily. I use them regularly for omelettes.

I didn't say you said anything about global warming or rainforests. I merely said that one food choice can have effects beyond the immediate. Whether or not you buy shrimp, is irrelevant; I only gave that as an example. My choices? I always buy live, wild shrimp caught locally (in south-east Asia where I live!) I nearly always eat the smaller shrimp/prawns because they are what I can get most easily live and from known sources, but also because they taste better. Most of the "beef" I buy is actually water buffalo and I buy very little of that. I don't eat avocados for the very reasons given in the article - deforestation and water diversion. Like you, I don't eat endangered species, but am aware that my food choices, even involving non-endangered species, have indirect consequences. I never eat what are usually called processed foods (although all foods are processed), so any palm oil consumption is low to negligible. I don't eat chocolate, because I don't particularly like it. My only real point is that this is a very complicated issue.

Well, cattle are not an endangered species, but the amount being raised and the space that takes up involves deforestation etc could be endangering other lifeforms - including us! By the way when you buy shrimp, for example, how do you know that slave labor wasn't involved it getting it to you. I've never seen a product in any supermarket labelled "Processed by Slaves". Doesn't mean the product hasn't been. The problem is not simple as you seem to paint it.

To eat or not to eat: 10 of the world's most controversial foods Guardian article. Although the focus is mainly on the UK, the issues raised are global. There are a few foods I'd add, but that is another story. Thoughts?

Thanks. Yes, I've been to Yung Kee, too. Also, good.

Would that be Yat Lok? Their goose is awesome (and deserving of the Michelin star) but to be honest, I've never had a bad roast goose in HK or Guangdong. The preferred breed is 狮头鹅 (Simplified Chinese ) / 獅頭鵝 (Traditional Chinese) shī tóu é, meaning lion's head goose. I don't know how available this breed is outside Guangdong where they are reared, though. Gratuitous Roast Goose Picture There is a rather good article on roast goose in China here.

Simple economics. Supply and demand. Few people want it, so the price goes up making even fewer people want it.

Made me some rou jia mo. Normally this variant is made with beef, but I didn't have any beef so used pork. Pork, freshly toasted and ground cumin seed, red and green chillies, garlic, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce. One of the trio.