liuzhou

Autumnal colours and flavours. Chicken with almond mushrooms and maitake, garlic, chilli, olives and coriander leaf.

No, it isn't. It is traditionally served with thin pancakes.

Wild caught shrimp with flying fish roe, garlic, ginger, chillli, coriander leaf/cilantro, white wine. Served over orzo.

Every market (and some supermarkets) round these parts cooks and sells hand-torn chicken. Delicious and the vendors do all the messy stuff for you!.

A rather special form of dumplings. 西湖肉燕 (xī hú ròu yàn) means "West Lake Meat Swallows*". 肉燕 (xī hú) or West Lake is a beautiful lake in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province in the east of China, near Shanghai. 肉燕 (ròu yàn) are best known as being from Fujian Province to the south of Zhejiang. But there is a crucial difference betweeen their rou yan and those of Hangzhou. The skin of the dumplings in both versions is called 肉皮 (ròupí), literally "Meat Skin". This is made by pounding meat to a paste and adding starch and glutinous rice flour to make something very similar to that known in Japan as すり身 or surimi, a term also now used in English. Basically it is the same stuff as used to make fake crabsticks etc. In Fujian, the roupi is made from pork, but in Hangzhou it is made from fish and other seafood. These are stuffed with a bizarre mix of meats and vegetables including chicken, duck, pork, seafood, water chestnus, bamboo shoots etc. They also have some spices and chilli. I'm sure you can imagine this a fairly labour intensive process, so most people buy them frozen, as did I. Oddly, the cooking instructions on the package recommended them being boiled for 5-10 minutes. Quite a range! I split the difference (nearly) and did them for 7 minutes and was pleased with the results. Served with a soy and chilli dipping sauce. 10 in the picture above, but I ate 20. They are normally served in soup, but I'm not normal. * "swallow" as in the bird.

It might surprise some that it's me who is posting this, but despite my loathing of c*rn, I am always happy to read stories like this. Whether it's c*rn or anything else, we need to preserve our crops and traditions. Not that I'd eat the wretched stuff, though! A once-famous, long-lost corn variety returns from the dead - from The Washington Post.

I am delighted to say that unmolested carrots have been located. Can't remember why I wanted them, though.

I don't think the only one American who lives here would ever get through the amount they had on offer until next Thanksgiving!

Good question. I'm not aware of any dish that uses both carrot and c*rn, but as you may have noticed, I eschew c*rn dishes, so am no expert. That said, this is the fìrst time I've seen that combination. Combination purchases are not unusual, but as you suggest are more usually based on tried and tested, popular combinations. Clams and mustard greens is a big one. Carrots and daikon radish. Gin and tonic.

I see it coming. They were right next to the green bell peppers!

The end is nigh! Prepare to meet your maker! Confess your sins and cash in your assets! Today I went to the supermarket in search of a carrot. Well, not just a carrot obviously. But when I got to the hitherto unsullied carrot section, I found all the carrots had been kidnapped and bound to alien lifeforms pretending to be food! I ran all the way home and had a good lie down. I'm still shaking in horror! I may never be able to face a supermarket again!

I can see Michelin's point. But it seems that being too good and desired is a higher award anyway.

I'm not sure where put this. My daughter's favourite!

Rice noodles in chicken broth with chicken, hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, Shanghai bok choy, garlic, chilli, Chinese chives, coriander leaf/cilantro. Leftovers really.

"Sushi Jiro" has lost all its three Michelin stars, but not because of the food. Story here.

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