liuzhou

It's the only garlic I use now. I have more than a few bulbs. I also recently found some fermented black single-headed garlic.

No. Facebook and Google troll your computer.

Chicken braised with single-headed garlic, chilli, green olives, lemon juice, coriander leaf/cilantro and apple wine - thickened with a little potato starch. Served with cordycep militaris mushrooms, asparagus and rice.

Whatever next? A Disgusting Food Museum is about to open in Sweden. This article explains why. What would you include? Obviously I'd go for corn.

Thinly sliced pork tenderloin salted and peppered both sides and left to sit for about 30 minutes, then pan fried. Lightly fried double-yolk chicken's egg (white set; yolk runny). There was some buttered bread for mopping up purposes.

Pork, shrimp and shiitake wontons in a spicy chicken broth. Dry Wet

The first was said by Gordon Ramsay on one of his shows, although I can't be sure he was being entirely original. The second seems to be a version of '' Knock off its horns, wipe its ass, and throw it on the plate" as in the Australian film Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974) , although again I can't be sure that is the original either. I doubt anyone can. There are so many variations and close counterparts.

But it isn't meant to be flavourful. Chinese cuisine uses rice (including congee) to be a neutral base on which the accompanying dishes or condiments can sit. That's why they don't ever season rice. Chinese friends were amazed when they saw me put salt into rice. They thought I was mad.

It was in a restaurant, but I have had meals that substantial in family homes, especially that family's home. Chinese New Year dinners can be like that, for example.

Tonight, I had the honour to be invited to a family reunion. A local family kind of "adopted" me many years ago. Their young daughter was just starting high school, when I met them. Later she went to university here in China and then to the UK to continue her education at master's level. On her return, she found work in Shanghai. This meant I haven't seen her in four years. Until tonight. This past week has been a national holiday and she came home for the duration with her new fiancé. Well, her only ever fiancé. The dinner was for her to introduce her intended to the family and I felt very moved to be included in that group. And delighted to meet him. They were so obviously in love. The only sad note was that her grandmother, now 95, couldn't remember me at all although she and I were great friends just a few years ago. Alzheimer's is so cruel. As her granddaughter told me, her body is strong but her mind has gone. Anyway 11 of us ate: Squid with celery and chillies Pork with Mushrooms Pork Ribs with, surprisingly CHIPS. Greenery This did not photograph well, but was delicious. Pork bone soup with cordycep militaris fungus. Fish in a spicy broth Mostly oddly, a second squid dish turned up. Different but equally good. With green and red chillies. Sweet corn buns. I don't mean buns made from sweetcorn. I mean buns made from from corn which are sweet. Of course, I can't be sure because, sensibly, I didn't eat any. Steamed pork with taro. Pork with mushrooms This is a Liuzhou speciality. Ducks feet and snails in a fiery sauce. Apologies for the photograph. Duck stew. Stir fried cabbage Shrimp or prawns.

While there is bland plain congee (白粥 ～ white congee) there are many varieties with other flavours. Here is the breakfast menu from a local small restaurant. Translation: Congee / Porridge: Frog congee Pig Offal Congee Fish congee Beef congee Chicken congee Preserved egg and lean pork congee Lean pork and leaf mustard congee Rice field eel congee (Pickles and chilli are served on the side for the savoury congees.)  Sweet congees Mung bean congee Eight treasure congee Peanut, silver ear fungus, jujube and mung bean congee

It can do, and probably most often does, but I have seen it with substitutes, too.

Lunch today was reheated doggy-bag from lunch yesterday. Goose liver fried rice, grilled pork and grilled shiitake.

Murshidabadi Chicken Moghlai is a speciality of Kolkata (Calcutta). Chicken cooked in cashew nut, saffron and rose water.

Looks great. What kind of mushrooms did you use? Here it would be shiitake. Vegetarian "mapo tofu" is a thing in Sichuan but is usually called mala tofu (麻辣豆腐 má là dòu fǔ) to differentiate. "Mapo" is usually reserved for the non-vegetarian version, which traditionally contains beef rather than pork.

I remember the same in Scotland, although we thought that Vesta curries were the height of sophistication.

Probably not what comes to your mind when you think of McDonald's. The two large characters, 粥王 zhōu wáng mean "Congee King". They offer three varieties. The large picture is Century egg and chicken congee with a potato fritter. At the bottom they show: Left - Pickled vegetable, crisp bamboo shoot and chicken, Centre - The large picture repeated Right - Salted egg yolk and chicken. All three come with a potato fritter.

Found hemp seed in a local store yesterday morning. ¥30/Kg ($4.37 USD; £3.33 GBP)

It was swimming in sweet mayonnaise. As usual here.

Just drop in next time you are passing. Turn north at Hong Kong.

Sadly, they think that's how fruit salad is decreed to be served. It always comes slathered in that white muck.

Today, I had lunch with a friend in a restaurant on the 73rd floor of a building near my home. It is the tallest building in the city and the restaurant allows for 360º views of the city. We ate: Pumpkin Soup - Good but could have been seasoned better. Seafood Fried Noodles Grilled Pork Grilled Shiitake Fried Rice with Goose Liver - Excellent Fruit Salad with Sweet Mayonnaise - I ignored this and prayed it would go away. The view from my table I am not one for heights, but the fruit salad scared me more than the view.

Simple breakfast this morning. Two boiled chicken eggs in a Chinese flatbread sandwich.

The name 'dried plums' was a marketing ploy introduced to get round the common association of prunes with their laxative properties.