liuzhou

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.

Yes, it is certainly the case here in China. In fact, many people prepare too much food deliberately to avoid such a major loss of face, especially when entertaining guests. The wastage in restaurants is also notorious, mainly due to over ordering for the same reason.

Chicken, marinated with garlic, ginger, chilli and Shaoxing wine. Stir fried with fennel root, apple, culantro, coriander leaf and Chinese chives.

I've done them successfully with both Stornoway black pudding in Scotland and with Chinese blood sausage, the only kind I can source locally. They are very similar in texture, the only difference being that the Chinese type use rice as the cereal component rather than oats. Ive eaten morcilla, but never used it in Scotch eggs.

Takehiro Koshimoto is a Japanese chef and artist who seems to specialise in avocados. This has been dubbed Advocadart by social media. Here are but a couple of examples for review purposes. A search for his name on Facebook, Instagram, etc will reveal several more.