liuzhou

One of my neighbours (I don't know which) has lopped off a lump of banana tree and is leaving them in the communal area of our apartment blocks to ripen in the lovely sunshine we are experiencing. I took this photograph about an hour ago. They were there yesterday, too. She or he takes them in at night.

Restaurant woks are. And red hot, so you want a long handle to prevent roasted chef syndrome.

All my local supermarkets sell olive oil. It is a new thing though. 20 years ago, I couldn't find it at all. Still, most of it used as a skin conditioner. It is seldom used in Chinese cooking, yet strangely she uses it in many of the recipes on her site. As well as avocado oil, which I've never seen in China. We only recently started getting avocados . (Does anyone agree with me that that is a hideous looking website with way too much advertising and sponsorship?)

Not unknown, but certainly unusual. Near my home is a small kitchen equipment store, selling mostly domestic non-electric stuff (apart from a few rice cookers. Recently, it announced a closing down sale. Yesterday I popped in to have a look. I wasn't intending buying anything; I'm well-equipped. Among the items on offer were two pro bits of kit that surprised me. They were the equivalent of $11.50 USD for the two, so more out of amusement than anything else, I bit. I'll probably never use them, but they make an interesting ornament for the kitchen. Professional wok scoop. Regular, domestic size at top for comparison. Professional wok ladle. Ditto. The scoop is 74 cm / 2 feet, 5 inches long and the ladle 62 cm / 2 foot.

Thanks. Not bad for 7.00 in the morning!

I know I may have to skip lunch today (work related), so a hearty breakfast. Sausage, egg and chips.

Whatever next? I have seen Spam in China, but only in specialist shops selling imported foods, That "Sichuan" type is a new one on me. I can't see it going down well in Sichuan, though. At least, they got the Chinese Pinyin tone diacritics right.

Tonight. An hour ago. Chicken with garlic, chilli, ginger, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce and 雪菜 (xuě cài) which literally means 'snow vegetable' but is salty ferment leaf mustard. Mushrooms with coriander leaf/cilantro Rice.

Good ideas, but no. It makes a perfect tool for folding omelettes. Prior to buying this I had to use two spatulas when I wanted my omelettes to be particularly presentable. That said, I did buy it for fish flipping/serving.

Yes, it's sold as a fish spatula - mainly used for flipping whole fried fish or for lifting the same to a serving plate. But can you guess what I used it for first? No deep frying involved.

As your wiki link mentions China also has this dish or something so near as to be identical. 锅饭(guō fàn). Yes, the rice is the best bit and highly prized. Available in Chinese fast-food joints everywhere.

I bought this a couple of days ago, on a whim. I've used it once so far, but not for the advertised purpose*, although I will certainly do that in the future. From hanging hole end to end of 'blade' it is 36.5cm / 14.5 inches and the "blade" is 18cm / 7 inches wide at its maximum. * But for culinary purposes, I hasten to add. Behave yourselves!

My cheese choices are extremely limited. Locally made mozzarella is easy to find in specialist bakery supply stores as there has been a bit of a pizza fashion in recent years. The pizzas are inedible, but I can get the cheese. Cream cheese is also available in bakery shops. Cheddar cheese is available in one supermarket at the moment, but that can change at any time. They have imported cheddar from Ireland, both regular and extra sharp. The also have "Dubliner" cheese - an Irish cross between Cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Not from Dublin, despite the name - it's from Cork. Gouda and "Swiss Cheese" are even less frequently available. We used to get Danish Brie and Camembert until some clown in government misread a report, decided we were all going to die and banned all soft cheeses. It was reported shortly after that the ban had been rescinded, but the cheese has yet to return.

I picked up a can of Guinness this morning, intending to make beef and Guinness pie later. I was amused to see flag on the price ticket sign. It's enough to restart a war. Ireland hasn't been a part of the UK since 1922 and gained full independence as the Republic of Ireland in 1949, the same year Mao formed the People's Republic of China. Maybe the Guinness is well aged?

A few pages further on is an explanation of the celery's presence.

There are only three vegetables in Ireland. Potatoes, cabbage and bacon!

Long cooked fresh tomato sauce with onion, chilli (green and red) and Vietnamese fish sauce for umami. Beef and chickpeas. Randomly decorated with basil leaves as I needed to thin out my balcony plants. Rice.

It's a bit late in the season, but I saw this today. Artemisia vulgaris. 艾草 (Mand: ài cǎo; Cant: ngaai6 cou2) Mugwort or Common Wormwood This is used extensively in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), where it is usually identified as Artemisia argyi. It is used as yet another green to be stir-fried and is also used in "teas", but the most common usage round here are these little cakes which turn up in mid- to late-summer. Called 艾叶粑 (Mand: ài yè bā) or "mugwort leaf cakes" in the local dialect of Mandarin, they are made from a mixture of mugwort, which supplies the colour and flavour, and rice flour which supplies the bulk. The manufacturing process is complicated but involves washing then boiling the mugwort leaves. These are processed with lye to remove bitterness and soften them. Then they are sweetened with sugar and mixed with a 50-50 mixture of rice flour and sticky rice flour to make a dough. The dough is formed into little cakes two to three inches in diameter, then steamed for around 30 minutes. They are nearly always sold as street food, although I have come across a couple of noodle places which have them. Despite their visual resemblance to miniature versions of something a passing cow might have left behind, they taste pleasantly vegetal or herbal but are very sticky. Not for the loose of tooth. The plant is also used to make mosquito repellent incense sticks and in foot baths; not at the same time.

Pan-fried cod with blood sausage and spinach, dressed with lemon/olive oil. Rice.

Poached egg and sausages.

I called it blood sausage as a direct translation of the Chinese. It is more like the the black pudding I grew up with last century in Scotland than say a French boudin noir, but I love them all. On my rare visits back to the UK, my beautiful daughter always makes sure to stock up for me. Stornoway Black Pudding - the food of the Gods.

As I've mentioned here more than once, eating raw food, including vegetables, is extremely rare in China, even recently. You have to remember that "night soil"* is still used as a fertiliser. Vegetables are washed thoroughly (to extreme) and then cooked. And before people get freaked out about night soil, remember it was common in the US until relatively recently. *Human and other excrement.

I had a plan for lunch, but a chance find in a small store changed everything. Over a year ago my regular supplier disappeared and there has been none to be found. Until today. I had just left the bakery where I purchase baguettes and took an unusual route. Outside a small store was a pile of these. Blood sausage. Pig's blood and rice. Half lengthwise, fry, drop onto similarly sliced baguette. No butter or other lubricant required. Cover. Put in mouth, chew and swallow. Make another one. Repeat until sated. Accompany with beer or builder's tea. I never drink builder's tea, so it was a beer.

I think I have now documented pretty much everything in the markets and supermarkets at present along with some things which I can't get now, but had photographs of. More will turn up as time passes, but with this being the start of winter there isn't going to be much. Come spring, I'll be busy here again. (I bet, having said that, two new items will turn up tomorrow. @Anna N - I haven't forgotten your red bean question and will continue to check for supplies. I have asked friends, but none admit to ever having cooked them, so don't know.) In the meantime, I have been going back to previous entries and adding information, clarifications or images and correcting some mistakes. This I will continue to do. So, in the unlikely event that anything fascinated you before, you may wish to go back for a second look. It may be different.