liuzhou

I went out this evening to buy something and passed by the trash disposal area of my apartment building. People, including me usually leave boxes and cardboard to one side for recycling. I spotted this, which immediately reminded me of this topic. Sadly, I have no idea what was in it. There is nothing there to indicate the contents. But I was amused, so ...

While these Fast Food joints do occasionally localise their food offerings, they rarely make any effort to fit the restaurants in with their surroundings. I was living in Moscow when McDonald’s opened their first outlet in the USSR on January 31st 1990. The locals were somewhat bemused as the store, on beautiful, historical Pushkinskaya Square (Пу́шкинская пло́щадь), not only featured McD's usual the garish colour scheme but sported the famous ‘golden arches’ which people complained were reminiscent of the Moscow Metro sign, albeit the latter was, of course, red! KFC have done a little better, least in one restaurant. This one is in Fuzhou, capital of China’s Fujian Province. Meanwhile, McDonald’s are getting even more local! In fact, up close and personal! They, or more likely someone else, are offering McDonald’s perfume! This comes in three carefully blended scents. 1. Original French Fries 2. Garlic and Black Pepper 3. Seaweed and Plum They have obviously spared no expense on the formulation as they are selling these for the equivalent of $4 USD per millilitre. Which do you fancy?

(Con)fusion food perhaps. Pork tenderloin (Chinese) marinated with garlic (Chinese), chilli (ditto), non-pareilles capers (French), black olives (Spanish) miso (Japanese) and coriander leaf (Chinese), white wine (Chilean). Served with rice (Thai).

I guess it would be dishonest of me to omit this. It is a Chinese ingredient and some eat it, although very few. For home cooking, it is usually only available in 'farmer's markets' but there are restaurants serving dishes containing it, especially hotpots. In fact, many of those restaurants sell little else. I’ve never seen it in any supermarket. You won't easily find the restaurants selling it any of the popular tourist places but they can be found, particularly in Jilin Province in NE China by the North Korean border and here in Guangxi where I live. I have seen them in Beijing, although those there were ordered to temporarily close during the Beijing Olympics in 2008. There are such restaurants within fewer than five minutes walk from my home. They never closed despite the Olympics’ historic link with Liuzhou*. Today, I was perusing my grocery delivery app for some meat for dinner when, to my surprise, I saw a listing and photograph for 香肉 (xiāng ròu). 肉 (ròu) means meat, while 香 (xiāng) means ‘fragrant’ or ‘aromatic’. Together they are a dialectal euphemism for dog meat, more standardly 狗肉 (gǒu ròu). I’ve never seen it advertised in this way before. Don’t worry! I didn’t buy it. Not out of any ethical concerns or sentiment, but simply because I don’t consider it to be good meat. Carnivorous mammals seldom, if ever are. Anyway, it’s ¥38 / $5.33 USD for 500g / 1.1 lbs. * 李宁 (lǐ níng), Li Ning, is a gymnast who was the People’s Republic of China’s first Olympic champion when he won three gold, two silver and one bronze in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. This was also the first Olympics in which the PRC participated. After retiring from gymnastics he founded what is now one of China’s largest sports’ goods companies. He also lit the Olympic torch at the 2008 Games in Beijing. He is a native Liuzhou citizen and returns often. The local sports’ stadium, the building of which he mainly sponsored, is named after him. I have met him several times. We didn't eat 'fragrant meat'. This is the image from the online listing. Why it's coloured like this, I don't know.

I find they are slightly sweet but with a bitterish *but not unpleasant note. Also slightly nutty. I have seen reports of a subtle gingery 'warming effect', only found in good quality beans. It is hard for me to comment on that as I only see these cooked and I find them to be over-cooked for my liking. That may have muted those gingery notes. I've only had them a couple of times; they're OK but not a favourite. If I ever see the uncooked beans, I'll get some and re-evaluate.

I have a few Different pots; different functions.

Often

A childhood memory. Beanz meanz Heinz Heinz Baked beans (British recipe) (imported via Hong Kong) with buttered toast.

Starbucks has a presence in Vietnam but their shops are vastly outnumbered by local outlets. So far they haven't gone down the egg route, but who knows. Starbucks Coffee Company

Egg coffee is very popular in Asia, especially Vietnam where it is known as cà phê trứng, but also in Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Japan. An Introduction to Asian Egg Coffee | CultureReady

Keeping it simple. Boiled duck egg with hot buttered toast.

Related to this the Observer has an article today on "St John: 30 ways the ‘nose to tail’ restaurant changed the way we eat". This is to mark the 30th anniversary of Fergus "Nose to Tail" Henderson's opening St. John restaurant in London. Interesting read. Includes a passing mention of eGullet.

"small but attractive"

It's been a very long time since I posted here, mainly due to my being ovenless since my toaster oven died on me and then being incapacitated for a year. I still haven't replaced the oven due to my new kitchen being on the bijou side. So this isn't my bread; it was purchased online. I've mentioned before that China rarely does anything resembling what most of us call 'bread', instead preferring sweet, steamed, cake-like blotting paper. So I was searching my online shopping portal for something else when I spotted a bread in Beijing which looked promising. It was described as containing wheat flour, rye flour, edible salt, yeast and drinking water and specifying no sweeteners, so I bit. Normally, I would buy one as a tester, but they imposed a ¥23 / $3.21 USD delivery charge regardless of how many I ordered so I took a chance and ordered two. Each 610 gram loaf was ¥41.27 / $5.76 (expensive for here), so in all, I spent $14.73 for two loaves. They arrived two days later - Beijing is around 2000km / 1200 miles away - having been flown from BJ to Nanning near me. They apologised for a half day's delay due to a storm in BJ. So. The bread. When I opened the package I was hit by the smell of newly baked bread. It seems light on the rye, which is fine by me. Soft crumbed. Now I'm waiting for my butter to soften enough to spread. I'll probably use some tomorrow morning with breakfast. The bread is sold under the South German Bakery - Cafe Konstanz brand but that is no guarantee that there is any German involvement.

Mexico - Power Plugs & Sockets: Travel Adapter Needed? (power-plugs-sockets.com)

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Pork and straw mushrooms with herbs, Shaoxing, garlic, chilli, fermented black beans, soy sauce, hoisin sauce. Rice.

A defence of 'glugs'. Don’t give me precision in recipe quantities – I like a glug, a splash or a bunch

Yes, many do, but they tend to be among private or family groups. Until quite recently, most restaurant meals were business or, more often, government funded "official" functions where over ordering and extravagance were routine. Then asking for takeaway was very rare. A few years ago Xi Jinping, the current President, limited the number of courses to be served and banned the more expensive dishes favouted by the Party elite. Although that has had an effect, it still goes on to an extent, just less ostentatiously.

Mucuna pruriens, known in English by names such as monkey tamarind, velvet bean, Bengal velvet bean, Florida velvet bean, Mauritius velvet bean, Yokohama velvet bean, cowage, cowitch, lacuna bean, and Lyon bean. Here, for some reason unknown to me, they are 猫儿豆 (māo ér dòu), literally ‘kitten bean’ or 狗儿豆 (gǒu ér dòu), ‘puppy bean’. They are native to Africa, and tropical Asia including India, southern China and SE Asia. They are particularly popular in Indonesia, especially Java, where they are known as kara benguk. The plant is notorious for its young shoots and bean pods being covered in small hairs which cause extreme itchiness and red sores on contact. For this reason an alternative Chinese name 刺毛黧豆 (cī máo lí dòu), literally ‘itchy hair dark bean’ is sometimes used. Mature bean pods and shoots can be eaten. The legumes themselves are small and can be either white or black. I’ve only ever encountered the pre-cooked pods here. However according to one study, the plant contains relatively high (3–7% dry weight) levels of L-DOPA, which some people are sensitive to; it can cause nausea, vomiting, cramping, arrhythmias, and hypotension. Up to 88% of the L-DOPA can be extracted from M. pruriens by boiling and soaking for approximately 48 hours. The efficiency of the process can be slightly improved by using approximately 0.25–0.50% sodium bicarbonate. I've never had a problem with them. As ever, they are used in TCM, especially for treating snake bites. Also, the western wellness shamans have jumped on them, making all sorts of unsubstantiated claims.