liuzhou

This kind of amused me in the supermarket this morning. Sea salt pineapple mints sugar? "Sugar" here is a common mistranslation for "candy". The two words are the same In Chinese. No. I didn't buy them!

Spicy turmeric chicken with shiitake mushrooms over orzo. The chicken thighs were rubbed with turmeric, cayenne, sea salt and olive oil and left for about half an hour, then braised for about 3-40 minutes. Shiitake were added for the last four minutes. Finished with Chinese chives and coriander leaf.

Tea is seldom drunk with food in China. Before or after eating, maybe, but tea drinking is generally an activity requiring full, undistracted concentration on the tea. One exception is 饮茶 (Mandarin: yǐn chá; Cantonese: yum cha), the breakfast meal where one eats 点心 (Mand: diǎn xīn; Cantonese: dim sum), but despite 饮茶 literally meaning 'drink tea', not everyone does even then.

Buttery scrambled (chicken) eggs with flying fish roe and chives. On flatbread.

Beer, apple juice and rice wine were all served.

Rice noodles in broth with shrimp, garlic, chili, ginger, white pepper, mustard greens and century egg. Shrimp and century egg is sometimes used in congee, but I decided to combine them with noodles. It worked for me.

He was, but noisy!

Of course yeast is a food tool. You mean it is not only a food tool. Yeast doesn't exist for fermentation the same way food doesn't exist for eating. Goodbye.

I don't even know what that is meant to mean. It's nonsensical.

Yes, too much hectoring going on.

Round here, when the temperatures drop, everyone fires up their hotpots. I do too, but also make more stews and soups. Heavier breakfasts and lunches, too.

Pork and shiitake jiaozi. Chopped chilli dip.

As iverywun sensubul noes, the word c*rn should only ever be used as a verb and even then, only in the sense below. Today, I picked these up. Salt preserved quail eggs. Despite the Japanese on the packaging, the small print indicates they are processed in Hunan, China. The company selling them is Japanese, though. Spicy hot, but delicious. ETA: Despite being fully aware of the meaning intended, I did check the list of ingredients carefully, to make sure they hadn't sneaked some c*rn in. They often do! It's a communist plot!

Just a variant wonton wrapping style especially designed for the extremely lazy - i.e. me.

Maybe, but they should have hung them at the village gate, not the back of the village. Anyway, I would have read them as a welcome to a No C*rn Zone!

Anyone who remembers my previous post about Miao people may notice these ones look different. The 'Miao' designation is one imposed by the Chinese government and there is great disagreement among the people themselves. They believe they are not just one ethnic group - and indeed, have different languages and cultures. It is estimated there may be as many as 100 different sub-groups. The people here self-identify as 白苗 (bái miáo), meaning 'white Miao'. One thing I did notice to my delight was how they very sensibly treat the dreaded c@rn. They hang it by the neck until it is dead!

Today, I was honoured to be invited to lunch in a relatively nearby Miao village, where they were celebrating their good harvest. Before we could eat we were entertained by the some of the villagers. These women sang to us. Some men played their traditional Lusheng instruments. Then they had a tug-of war between the men and the women. The women won (but there were twice as many women as men!) Most people just hung around looking good in their best leisure wear. Finally, we were seated at a table, but before we could eat, we had to toast each other. These were some of my table companions. Old friends. Each table was furnished with two dips. On the left chilli, coriander/cilantro, Chinese chives in soy and sesame oil. On the right, duck's blood with chilli. Kou Rou - Roasted, then steamed pork belly and taro. Chicken If not this chap I had met earlier, then one of his relations. Chicken and duck giblets stir-fried with vegetables. Duck - Note beak on left so you are sure what you are eating. Deep fried carp Steamed Shrimp Water Spinach People watching people eating! Neighbouring Table All very amusing

Not again!

青椒肉片 (qīng jiāo ròu piàn) Sliced pork with green chillies. Pork tenderloin, large green chillies, garlic, ginger, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce and Chinese chives. A staple in every small restaurant, canteen and home.

Interesting article on the history of okra / gumbo in the southern USA.

三鲜馄饨 (sān xiān hún tún ; Three Flavour Wontons). These would normally be served in a soup, but I just had them with a soy and black vinegar dip.

Gratuitous picture of durians in the market this morning.

Indeed. Spam was used to feed starving refugees and others after WW2 in Japan, Guam and other places around Asia. Eater has a reasonable short history of Spam here .

With this dish, the chillies are not eaten. The idea is to pick out the chicken meat buried within the pile of red chilli and Sichuan peppercorns. It is still spicy, though. The dish is from Chongqing, but found all over Sichuan and in almost every Sichuan restaurant elsewhere.

Sichuan 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) Chicken with Chilies. Served with rice and stir fried greens.