liuzhou

Soft boiled eggs with raw asparagus "soldiers".

This is, perhaps, a bizarre mix. But a happy one. Pork tenderloin cubed and marinaded in garlic, chilli and a commercially bottled Thai ginger sauce and Vietnamese fish sauce, then fried. A very simple green salad of baby bok choy and scallions. Orzo and tomatoes. I didn't dress the salad other than applying some sea salt. Any dressing would have been overwhelmed by the umami rich marinade juices, which ended up on the salad anyway..

Good. Yes, they can be expensive here, too. Depends on grade which seems to be based on appearance as much as taste. The price of top grade dried, wild flower shiitake can be stratospheric.

Yes, very common.

Was just wondering. Were the shiitake your friend found fresh or dried. I like both, but they are different. The fresh are even more meaty.

Often. As a kid I would be packed off for the summer to live with cousins in Fife, where butteries are also eaten. Haven't had one in decades. As I recall, they taste...well, buttery. But savoury. Not sweet like kouign-amann.

Not so unusual. Here is one such pairing I spotted on my recent visit to Vietnam. There was also a vegan place here in town a few years back. It was sandwiched between a Sichuan and a Hunan restaurant. Both very carnivorous. It didn't last long.

Stir-fried chicken and black fermented beans, with "flower" shiitake and asparagus. Rice. The chicken was marinated with garlic, ginger, chilli and Shaoxing wine. "Flower" shiitake (花菇 huā gū)

Just a cheap plastic bowl, but I like it too. I have a purple one too. Can't remember where I bought them.

Soup noodles Rice noodles, pork, Tonkin jasmine, garlic, ginger, chilli, coriander leaf. In a broth made from Chicken and pork bones.

Not my style at all! Did consider some extra hot chilli sauce though.

Eggy bread (even my French mother calls it French toast despite it being neither French or toast). With leftover potato and carrot mash made into cakes and fried.

Didn't feel at all like Chinese, tonight. Pork medallions simply fried in OO with salt and lots of black pepper. Potato, carrot, garlic mash (rough - sometimes I like lumps). Nuked asparagus (first dressed in OO and sea salt).

Oh. They are very common in Chinese and SE Asian cooking. Umami bombs. If you have an Asian market or store near you, they would almost certainly have them. The combination of Tonkin jasmine, eggs and shrimp is well-loved in Vietnam.

Which part don't you think you would like?

Omelette with rehydrated dried shrimp and dried scallops and Tonkin jasmine flowers. Cooking Ready to eat. Getting used to a new induction cooker, so more brown than I prefer. But it was still moist inside.

Water

Then attaches itself to a fish.

Pan-fried duck breast with salad of lettuce, cabbage, hothouse chives, tomatoes and basil. Couscous. The duck was slightly overcooked by my preference, but the skin was beautifully crisp. I blame using a new induction cooker for the first time. I can't do pink duck on my regular Chinese wok cooker. Way too hot, even at low.

You are, of course, correct. Brain fart on my part. Have edited.

You might want to have a look at this. Six of the best aubergine recipes

This appeared on a wall near my home yesterday. Allegedly it is breaded chicken leg meat and salad in a football-shaped bun to celebrate the football world cup in Russia. 10元 is $1.60 USD

Marinaded cubes of pork with garlic, coriander seeds, olive oil, lemon juice. Dry-fried in wok and added Sriracha sauce (from Sriracha). Salad of lettuce, cabbage and hothouse chives in a lemon and rice vinegar dressing.. Served with smuggled - from - Vietnam - pitta - bread for self assembly. Well, there was only me. I don't fill the pitta until I'm ready to eat. The bread can get sodden while I'm eating the previous one. Seconds, as usual, were consumed.

I spent a couple of days out in the countryside at my second home. Here is my neighbour's garden. She is over 90 and still very independent. Don't ask me what things are. I am clueless, but I know they are all edible. That's the point. She doesn't do just pretty. and here she is, sorting out her firewood on which to cook her gardening bounty.

I'm sorry, but I have to object to Gen, Tso's anything being "classic Chinese'. It's American.