liuzhou

I was rather fond of the occasional chicken curry pie back in the day. Haven't had one for about 35 years, though.

It was always revolting. Sadly, it is available here in China.

HP Fruity Sauce

Yes. Saw that a while back. Will watch again.

No. Green bell peppers are merely an insidious distraction invented by alien corn pushers to divert your attention!

Not at all what I planned. It was meant to have fermented black beans, but the bag of such things which I 'definitely' bought last week has mysteriously disappeared. There is a monsoon outside, so I wasn't about to go out to get any. So, this is pork in black bean sauce without black beans. The pork was marinated with garlic, ginger, chilli, Shaoxing and soy sauce. Finished with garlic scapes. There was also asparagus and, of course, rice.

I may have eaten Ainu food. I'm not sure. Long story. The short version is that back in the 1980s one of my friends who was Irish (and still is) was working in Hokkaido and decided to marry his equally Irish girlfriend there. Somehow they got hold of a genuine Irish priest in Japan to do the deed. They also got hold of all the Guinness in the country. I flew to Toyko, then took a bullet train to the appropriate venue, then spent three days in Ireland in Japan. The food I ate was Irish; the beer I drank was Irish; everything was Irish. Except for the last night, when I ate my only Japanese meal in Hokkaido. I can't remember a lot (all that Guinness), but it was like no Japanese food I've eaten anywhere else. I've been back to Japan many times, but never made it back to Hokkaido. I planned a trip this year, but we all know what happened to our travel plans this year.

It may may be a UK/USA language difference. To me, 'wet' in this context means never dried / fresh. As in 'wet fish shop' or 'wet market'. If some were rehydrated that is how I would describe it.

Look again. I labelled them.

The first time my daughter visited me in China, some twenty years ago, we were in the local market and she wandered off while I was negotiating with the bean sprout lady over her outrageous prices. Daughter rushed back and said: "Dad! Dad! There is a man over there selling dog turds! Why????" I knew immedaitely what she had seen. Dried Wet

Pretty normal. A useful tip: if you can't source the sea cucumbers (海参 - hǎi shēn), take a kid's party balloon and stuff it with play-doh. I'm not sure the play-doh or the balloon manufactures do the correct color, but hey, it's all about taste, not color. You won't notice the difference.

Beer! It's appreciated as a beverage, but less so as an ingredient. Most casseroles and stews benefit from being done in beer. Also, of course, it is great used in batter. Two favourites round here are beer fish and beer duck.

I can't actually think of a vegetable I actively dislike* but on the other hand very few excite me. They are just sort of there. Obviously, c#rn is not a vegetable but an alien life form sent by evil forces to destroy humanity.

Duck egg and flatbread.

More about the Aini people, their history and culture here.

Persimmons! Yuck!

Hmmmmm.

70C is 158F！ Has your phone melted!

Cod with black garlic and capers. Orzo. Tomato and basil salad.

Amusing, but highly unlikely, given that the word existed in English at least 200 years before America was colonised. It is much more likely to come from a word of unknown origin, but which exists in many northern European languages and meant "the thickest part". Yes, this is also where we get 'butt' or 'buttock' which has been in use since the 13th century.

Home made wontons (or are they tortellini?). With sriracha sauce from Sriracha.

Perhaps these people can help, but with literally thousands of cutlery manufacturers in China, maybe not. Worth a try, though.

Round here it's known as 空心菜 (kōng xīn cài, literally 'hollow heart vegetable') and yes, when cooked it is usually dark green.

Yeah, I guessed they were probably dried. I guess fresh ones aren't easy to find outside their native habitat. I'll try my dried ones later.

and me