liuzhou

Lunch today morphed its way into dinner so is documented here in the Dinner 2024 topic.

You may think at first, that I have somehow lost my mind (again) and posted this in the wrong topic. Not so. As will become clear should you read on. Lunch today required a certain diplomacy. I was invited to lunch by the British Consulate-General in Guangzhou along with one of her junior consular colleagues, a young man from Wales; and the C-G’s assistant who was a beautiful young Chinese woman who spoke perfect English. The hardships I endure! This lunch took place in the local Hyatt hotel, in which they were staying and which I can see from my sitting room window. After a few pleasantries we settled into a private dining room and soon settled into a long and very pleasant conversation, as food arrived. The C-G and I did most of the conversing, but everyone was included. I had checked out the C-G on the consulate’s website and learned she had studied just around the corner from my London apartment, which made for a nice ice-breaker. We then moved on to how I ended up here, why here and why I have stayed so long. The food was local fare, but I didn’t think it an appropriate venue for practising my food photography, much as it needs it. However, as we were chatting so much, I don't actually remember eating so much. But there was a memorable dish of Hunan style smoked anchovies, which we all enjoyed, then leapt into a discussion about real Hunan food, that province being an important part of the story of my life in China and also covered by her remit (beside the Embassy, which is obviously in Beijing, there are three British consulates in China, located in Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou each covering different parts. Guangzhou covers my part). Inevitably, time came for us to go our separate ways as my new found friends had a train to catch to Guangxi’s capital, Nanning for much more important meetings there. They insisted (in true Chinese style) that I take the uneaten food home to save it from going to waste and so that I didn’t need to cook dinner. So here we have some of what didn’t get eaten, but I am now eating for dinner. Duck with peppers Shrimp Some sort of Braised Beef. Rather good! Fruit There were several other dishes which apparantly were eaten whilst I was distracted. Apart from the smoked anchovies which I do remember us eating, there was an excellent mushroom soup, a dish of okra, another of unidentifiable greenery and a steamed fish. Like most hotel restaurants here, especially the international names, their restaurant leans heavily to the Cantonese side - another reason I rarely eat in hotel restaurants. Still an interesting and unexpected day. I had half expected a rather more formal, perhaps stuffy lunch and it turned out to be exactly the opposite.

Thai style red curry shrimp, sadly made with a store-bought curry paste but augmented by fresh Thai basil, lemongrass, cilantro, culantro, chilli, garlic, Thai fish sauce and coconut cream. The shrimp were wild and live until I cleaned and peeled them. Rice. Shrimp shells have joined the collection of such in the freezer.

This information will be of no use to anyone here other than me but this cropped up today. 1kg / 2.2 lbs of live wild oysters (20-30 molluscs) for ￥12.80. That is the equivalent of $1.76 USD.

I've mentioned tilapia more than once before in this topic but never red tilapia (红罗非鱼 -hóng luó fēi yú). These are not, as some food websites which should know better claim, a different species but simply regular tilapia which have been selectively bred to be red skinned and with pinkish red flesh. Image: sohucs.com They are also widely regarded as being more healthy eating as well as better flavoured than the regular colour. Given the blandness of regular tilapia that would not be surprising. They are, in addition, almost scentless, so ideal for those who find 'fishy' smells off-putting (although that usually indicates lack of freshness rather than any inherent quality of the fish itself). They are becoming increasingly popular, but are relatively expensive. I buy them as fillets at around ￥50 / $6.88 USD each, which is expensive here. Regular tilapia are around half of that at most, often much cheaper.

驴肉手工水饺 (lǘ ròu shǒu gōng shuǐ jiǎo) Boiled hand-made donkey meat dumplings. With a chilli oil dip.

That's normal. Fishing is a highly unpredictable food supply - always has been. Weather at sea is volatile (especially now); catches are often a matter of chance. That (and other factors) have their effect on prices. Ain't gonna change.

As the discerning classes are aware, no table is fit for dining from lest it be properly dressed. Not overdone and garish as a peacock display, but elegantly sophisticated. Such decorum related features should, of course, not merely be appendages to the decoration of the table but must, of course, include suitable devices such as chopstick rests to make avail of during pauses in the guests' consumption in order that they may devote their full attention to their interlocutors. Such essential implements may include such as the following. These should be decided on to match the culinary delights which the servants have prepared. On occasion, one may provide high class trivia for the use of the juvenile family members, who will of course not be at main dining table, but served separately in the nursery or in the servants' dining area, whatever that is. These should not, of course be provided to the adult guests for fear it may lead them to question the provenance of the 'venison'. 'Sleeping dog' rests are sold by irreputable vendors but should not be used in any civilised home. Be sure to give clear instructions to the butler and house-keeper regarding this matter. The virtuous and noble only ever eat dog with spoons; silver of course.

Hmmm. Highly unlikely since they are mentioned in print earlier than the 1830s; they appeared in 1809 in A New Sytem of Domestic Cookery, meaning the name, at least, was in the spoken language much earlier. The only thing known for sure, though is that they aren't Scottish. I haven't made any for a couple of years, but used to like to do them with quail eggs and a pork and blood sausage casing or with minced duck leg meat. The struggle for me is consistently getting a soft yolk. I must persevere. I have attached a recipe I wrote a few years back for ome Chnese friends. Please excuse any perception of patronising language. It was written for people with little experience of eating western food and none of cooking it . Scotch Eggs Recipe.docx

Yes, they can be hard enough and certainly, sharp enough to hurt. Video here.

It's 榴莲 (liú lián) season. Durian*. They're still a bit pricey but they were promoting them today in Nanning, Guangxi's capital. * Both the English and Chinese names are derived from the Malay duri, meaning 'thorn'.

... and this one, also in Scotland. The cafe is located at the rear of an Aldi's supermarket. In the dialect, 'Back of Aldi's' is pronounced like the faux-Italian Bacchialdi's.

In Glasgow, Scotland there is (or was) a restaurant called Local Scran and Swally, Scots slang for Local Food and Drink.

There are several restaurants in English speaking countries called 'Graze'. I've been to two. A few called 'Moo' or 'Oink'. A chain of restaurants called 'Le Peep'.

I talked about tomatoes back in 2018 in this post. Today, I came across these for the first time. The Chinese describes them as 绿色千禧小番茄 (lǜ sè qiān xǐ xiǎo fān qié) which translates as 'green jubilee small tomatoes'. I call them 'green cherry tomatoes'. To my amusement they come with instructions! Because China thinks of cherry tomatoes as a table fruit and many use them in fruit salads, they have to be advised to stir fry these until they burst and use as a quick sauce with noodles as a sweet and sour sauce or, as it's known in Chinese, a 'sour and sweet sauce'.

Maybe sometimes. All the farms I've visited, two in Japan and three in China are in mountainous areas and use natural streams. The only 'modification' was some landscaping.

I'm sorry but in what way does a stream, 'modified' or not, become to be between a stream and a pond? Ponds contain still water; streams have running water. I've visited a number of wasabi farms; none were anything like ponds.

Today's haul in the Land That Doesn't Do Dairy: 1-year fermented Manchego and finally, spurred on by the notorious enabler, @Katie Meadow, here. 😂

I grated some today to use as a garnish on a homemade hamburger. Worked well. I'll do that again. (Can't see McDonald's taking it up, though.)

No. It grows in or on the banks of fresh running water, usually in mountainous areas.

Yes, that's it. Looking back at it now, perhaps I overreacted. However, at the time I did find many of the responses to be very negative and the whole experience depressing and largely unhelpful. Obviously there were exceptions which I noted at the time. Water. Bridge.

I did start such a topic or it may have been more about cooking for one. That was many years ago and all I got was a load of judgemental garbage questioning why I might be living alone and even more saying I should just eat frozen food and leftovers and think myself lucky, despite my having said that was precisely what I didn't want. As I said, it was long ago and most of the participants then are probably no longer still here, figuratively or literally. I forget what it was called and it's best to leave it to rot in peace. The site is, on the whole, a more friendly place today, so if someone were to start such a topic again, I'd willingly take part to the best of my ability.