liuzhou

The dish on the menu is listed as "Xi'an Oil Splashing Noodles" which is a near-literal translation of the Chinese shown 西安油泼面 (xī ān yóu pō miàn). although I'd translate it as 'splash'. Although similar, I wouldn't say it is necessarily the same as "biang biang mian". Certainly, I know restaurants in Xi'an which have both on their menus. In biang biang mian, the noodles are extremely long. Were yours? Whatever, I'm sure it was deicious. The famous biang character (below), is a bit of marketing tool rather than a real Chinese character. It is not listed in any dictionary and is only used in Xi'an.

Duck with cordycep militaris, coriander/cilantro, sashimi togarishi, shallots. Flamed with Armagnac. Rice. Con fusion food.

Not visually appealing perhaps, but this is packed with flavour. This is a form of congee or rice porridge known as 稀饭/稀飯 (Mandarin: xī fàn; Cantonese: hei1 faan6), which literally translates as 'watery rice'. It is thinner in consistence than regular congee - 粥 (Mand: zhōu; Cant: zuk1) This version has leeks, carrots and poached chicken lurking under the surface. The rice is cooked in a long cooked gelatinous chicken stock made from the carcase and trimmings (including feet and head) of the organic bird which I had for yesterday's dinner. Finished with dried chilli flakes.

From National Geographic some amazing ultra-close up microscope pictures of everyday herbs. See the microscopic wonders of herbs. A photographer reveals the intricacies of kitchen herbs. The result is otherworldly.

Chinese New Year's Day. Year of the Pig. Again. So dinner contained no pig. It's the Year of the Pig, not the year of Eating the Pig, but millions probably contributed to dinner. Not in Castle liuzhou. Bought myself a nice organic chicken and poached it. Served with chilli sauce, turmeric rice and wilted Shanghai bok choy. Rest of the bird meat is in the fridge for tomorrow and the bits, bobs and bones are in the stock pot. Happy New Year!

This morning, in a local supermarket, I found this pile of dirty little ball-shaped things. Eleocharis dulcis In Chinese, 马蹄/馬蹄 (Mand: mǎ tí; Cant: maa5 tai4), literally 'horse hoof' or 荸荠/荸薺 ( (Mand: bí qí; Cant: but6 cai4). Chinese water chestnuts. Cleaned up, they look like this. Despite their their nutty name, they are not nuts, but a root vegetable. More technically a corm. They are eaten in many ways. They can be ground to make a type of flour used in sweet dim sum cakes. They can be candied. They are used in hot pots and stews. They are not something I buy a lot and when I do I buy them from the farmers' market, where a couple of women sit peeling them all day long. They do it 100 times faster than I ever could. They have the benefit of staying slightly sweet and crisp even after cooking or canning. I don't recall seeing them canned here - only fresh.

Pizza Hut are now offering a special New Year choice of breakfasts. (Tuesday is Chinese New Year's Day.) Tuna Panini. French Toast Hmmm. Can't see the locals going for that much.

Apologies, I did check this out at the time, but forgot to post the answer. Yes. It's a bean.

Spicy chicken with olives, garlic, lemon zest, white wine and coriander leaf/cilantro. Served with "forbidden holy rice".

I'd bet on 'inevitable'.

Yeah. Apart from.the stars.

This is possibly as "authentic" as Icelandic curried kangaroo. Chinese linguine con vongole. The clams are cooked with garlic, ginger, chilli, salted black beans and Shaoxing wine. Finished with chopped garlic shoots. The linguine is Italian.

Maybe not indeed. Gastronomy is derived from the Greek γαστρ(ο)-, γαστήρ meaning "stomach', so it is 'stomach law'.

Tonight, I decided to throw caution to the wind and go full out haut cuisine. So. Bangers and mash. Italian style sausages (actually Chinese), buttery mash, shiitake mushrooms and Shanghai bok choy. Dijon mustard 'cos it's French n'est pas? Finished with Himalayan pink salt. OK, not the salt.

Pistachio Nuts. In Chinese these are 开心果 (kāi xīn guǒ ) literally 'open heart nut', but the first two characters together also mean smiling. So it's a smiling nut.

The School in China That Teaches Students How To Hand-Pull Noodles

Duck fried noodles. Duck breast meat marinated in Shaoxing with garlic. Fried with fresh ramen noodles,shiitake, cordyceps militaris, Shanghai bok choy. Finished with a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil.

As both a food and wine writer and a blogger (not mainly food related), I find this a little strange. 99% of both make very little money and most of them neither need, want or can afford an assistant. If you want to do a blog, just do it. Same with writing about food or anything else.

I don't know what this is. Well, I know what's in it and how it was cooked, because I cooked it, but I don't know what you would call it. It's a sort of pork ragu, but with Chinese running through it. I made a standard tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes and onions. Browned off roughly chopped pork and added it to the sauce. Deglazed the pork pan with Shaoxing wine and added that to the plot. Threw in a star anise and chopped chillies. Then cooked it for an hour. Chinese ragu? Finished with Chinese chives and served with rice.

Fresh rice noodles in chicken stock with garlic, chilli, ginger, white pepper and a splash of rice wine vinegar. Shanghai bok choy. Pan fried pork tenderloin with black pepper. Two bowls were had.

Here is mine. Never leave home without it.

That's the one. Or almost identical, but I paid the equivalent of $1.50!

For the opener, Japan. For the Guinness, Ireland. There are various similar devices on Amazon, but I'm not sure if they have Guinness. I've just noticed that there is an English translation of that Japanese on the packaging. They give it as "PET bottle and Pull-top opener". I am hoping that PET refers to Polyethylene terephthalate and not that the Japanese sell pets in bottles.

Might be English English. I'm referring to this type of thing. So-named because you pull the ring to open the can. I thought, @gfweb was referring to this type of bottle top which you pop off. So, it appears we do have terminology confusion. Apologies to all.