liuzhou

I had a craving for fish and chips, so...

I've never believed that so many Han Chinese are lactose intolerant. I have many Han Chinese friends and most, if not all, consume milk in one form or other. Also, the supermarkets and corner shops wouldn't stock so much of it, if no one was buying it. I suspect that many people SAY they are intolerant, but actually just don't particularly like it. Just like so many people claiming to be gluten intolerant all of a sudden - few of them actually are. Chinese people have some strange notions about food and health, though. Just yesterday, a friend who is coming for dinner next week called me to say that she can't eat bean products, fish or chillies. Having cooked all three for her before without any objections, I asked her "why not?" "Oh! I've had my ears pierced" I thought that this was some kind of non-sequitor but no; she truly believed that such foods are somehow detrimental post ear piercing. This is not the first time I've come across such nonsense.

馄饨 (hún tún) Wontons (pork and shiitake) in a spicy, garlicky chicken broth with wilted spinach.

For years I've argued against the notion that China doesn't have milk products, which so many books and websites claim. In all my local supermarkets, the dairy aisles have more space than anything else. Finally here is a lucid explanation by someone more knowledgeable than me.

Mine sits in direct tropical sunlight for 10 months of the year! Thanks for checking, though!

Have you seen this topic?

It is a Vietnamese lime, so small with seeds. I may be wrong about its fruit bearing ability - I'm no expert.

Tenderloin

I think it's about 5 or 6 years old. I grew it from a pip I almost swallowed in a gin and tonic one day. It sits on the ledge outside my balcony year round. Never had any root rot issues. Neither has the tree! 😄 My only real regret is that it probably won't grow any larger being in that bucket, but I have no outdoor place to plant it. Also, it will never fruit here as its only potential mate is miles away in Vietnam! 😢

I was awoken at 5 am this morning by the most amazing noise. In my just-awake state it took me a while to work out what it was. We were being battered by the tail of a tropical storm or typhoon. I immediately leapt up to try to rescue the two plants outside my balcony window. My baby lime tree was standing up well to the lashing, so was OK. and my mint was sheltered enough to escape damage. So, no real damage except to my sleep. Some of my neighbours were less lucky. My immediate neighbour lost all the clothing she had hung outside her window to dry. We calculate it's probably flying somewhere over Korea by now!

Fried noodles: Fresh hand-pulled noodles; pork strips marinated in Shaoxing and soy sauce with red chilli, garlic and ginger; sliced carrot, daikon and green chilli.

Yes, I know how to take a spore print. Unattached gills, single strands, dry cap. The taste wasn't particularly distinctive - just generally mushroomy. Mild and not unpleasant, but not thrilling.This was my first time to cook them on their own. I usually do them with a mix of wild mushrooms, including the morels.

Chicken, "some kind of mushroom", olives, chilli, scallion in a lemon sauce. Rice.

Well, I went back to the market this morning and bought some more of these to check them. As you can see I have been forced to change my diagnosis. Obviously not boletes, but I'm stumped as to what they may be. I have a friend visiting from Shanghai next week (it's a 5 day national holiday here) . She may know more about these. I'll let you know if I have any info. If you or anyway cares to hazard an identification I'd be delighted. In the meantime, I'll clean them and have them for dinner.

Thank you! I've been buying my mushrooms from the same woman or 20 years and she hasn't killed me yet! Nor have I given her reason to to so, I think!

I may be wrong, but I seem to remember that in the UK fish for shashimi has, by law, to be frozen to kill potential parasites. It is in many places.

I'm familiar with blewits from England and I'm fairly sure that those aren't such. They are much darker in colour - maybe it's my photo, but they aren't at all blue. They are black. Whether blewits grow here or not, I just don't know. I can't even remember what the vendor called them in Chinese, but she was speaking the local dialect - there may well be a more standard name. I'll ask again. They definitely aren't matsutake. Or I've stumbled on the cheapest matsutake ever! But they were more expensive than most mushrooms - but not matsutake levels. The morels were more expensive. And no, they don't have that cinnamon whiff. We do get matsutake here, but usually dried and I'd have to re-mortgage my house and myself to afford them regularly. Most are shipped to Japan where the inhabitants are happy to pay silly money. I am guessing they are some kind of Boletes. The mushrooms; not the Japanese!

Same in China. In fact, I think Japan inherited the idea from Chinese culture. There are several Chinese sayings which refer to 'every grain of rice...'.

小笼包 (xiǎo lóng bāo) with chilli dip.

That is something I've been trying to find out for a long time. The vendor told me the Chinese name which doesn't help. I've been using Google and his Chinese counterparts but can't come up with any Latin or English name. I need a mycologist!

Breakfast part 1: Shrimp wontons or ravioli (What's the difference?) with red vinegar dip. Breakfast part 2: Repeat the above.

Squid and shrimp stir fried with snow peas, ginger, garlic, chilli, Shaoxing wine and oyster sauce. Served with rice, of course.

Actually I quite liked the look of the chairs. What confused me was that it is fully booked until September, but there are vacancies in the summer. If there are vacancies, it isn't fully booked, surely?

Where is the best place for a seafood restaurant? Under thewater, of course.

Round here they are usually mildly pickled. I've also seen them candied. They are also one of the very few things Chinese people eat raw.