liuzhou

A bit of both, I suppose. I am not a big melon seed eater, but many of my friends are so it will probably be useful. I can also see some alternative kitchen uses which the manufacturer possibly never imagined. And if all else fails, I may use it as a bed pan in my looming dotage.

No need for sorry. The bed pan idea also crossed my mind. The actual use is not strange at all here in China. Well, it is slightly strange. People eat melon and sunflower seeds etc all the time. There are shelves of the things in every store. But they usually just drop the shells on the floor. Here we have a dispenser and receptacle for waste. And it props your cell phone. What more could you need? About 20 years ago I was on a train somewhere in China and opposite me was a family which ate non-stop for about 16 hours. Seeds, fruit, snack foods etc. They very carefully put all the shells, paper, garbage etc into plastic bags. I was impressed. Most unusual. Then when the garbage bag was full, they tipped it out onto the floor and proceeded to eat enough to refill it, while the carriage attendant swept up their debris and tossed it out the train window! I am happy to say that standards have improved since then.

I think I've met her!

@BonVivant $5! I paid the equivalent of $1.23. I guess I'm in the wrong line of business!

You can if you insist. I wouldn't recommend it, though!

"Fried" noodles with pork and vegetables on a domestic flight from Shanghai to Nanning, yesterday. Not bad at all, although I didn't really need a meal on a two hour flight.

Here's one for you, which I bought today. It is designed for a very specific gastronomic (dual) function, but on the table rather than in the kitchen. It's approximately 8 inches in diameter and 4½ in height.

Dinner with 4 friend/colleagues in Laibin, Guangxi, China. Cantonese Style White Cut Chicken Steamed Fish Spicy Beef with Garlic Scapes Scrambled Egg with Scallions Stir Fried Lotus Root Greenery Of course, with rice.

This might not look like the most exciting breakfast you've ever seen, but it's what the locals queue up for and I partake of two or three times a week. Steamed bun with pork filling. 肉包 ròu bāo. Approx 6 inches diameter. Served with that ancient Chinese staple. A mug of industrial strength black coffee.

It seems like just weeks ago, but must have been months, that I was complaining to a good friend that I couldn't find 苦瓜 kǔ guā - bitter melons - which were bitter like they were in the good, old days. She gave me withering look and said that weren't in season, so "what do you expect?" I still don't know exactly when the things are in season, but I bought one today and it looked like all the others I've bought over the years, but when I cooked it it lived up to its name. Well, the first part of its name. That bitterness revolted me at first, but I've grown to like it. (Stubbornness played a large part in me trying it the third or eighth time). Now I actively seek it out. So tonight, I had bitter melon with beef (苦瓜牛肉 kǔ guā niú ròu) or perhaps beef with bitter melon (牛肉苦瓜 niú ròu kǔ guā) . I haven't decided yet. Restaurant menus often list both - If beef comes first it is predominantly beef; if bitter melon comes first it is predominantly - you've guessed it. Anyway beef was sliced into slivers and marinated with garlic, ginger, chilli and Shaoxing wine. Stir fried for a bit, then the de-pithed melon added along with some soy sauce. Finished with green onions and served with rice. Spicy and bitter. ( I had a wife like that once!)

Well, given that bananas are native to S.E. Asia (which, to me, includes where I live In China), I'm a lot more surprised they showed up in Mexico! We get many varieties here. Once they are in season. I'll try to post em. But thanks for the "sprouts" name.

Yes, they are not the only small bananas I've seen and more "rotund" as you say. They do tend to be sweeter, too. I've eaten the red skin ones, too. In Laos or Cambodia. I forget which..

Today, I picked up a small bunch of these. As you can see they are small bananas. I'm wondering if they have a standard or common name in English. I know the local Chinese name, but Mr.Google is not helping. I bought some ripe ones to eat now and some green ones which will hopefully be ready when I get back from a two or three day trip I'm setting out on in the morning.

I too am sure that velveting is not at all appropriate or even possible in this instance. Soy sauce chicken is made from the whole bird, intact. You can't velvet a whole bird. I've never heard of anyone making just a soy sauce breast, either. Nor have I ever heard of this repetitive in-and-out, reboiling, and re-inserting method. Can you link to any such recipe? But whatever, such a method is unrelated to anything sous-vide.

Linguine with a spicy pork ragu (pork, tomatoes, onions, chilli, anchovies, Chinese chives, black pepper). Seconds and thirds were had.

I have a zero click butter cutter. . . . . . . . . . . It's called a knife. Works every time.

Indeed. Dishwashers are all but unknown in China. My friends think it's a great joke when I try to tell them such things exist. Not that I'd want one anyway.

Around 20 terry towelling, regular size but I almost never use them for drying dishes, though. Also have about 12 small (8"-10" square) ones for minor spills and occasional hot pot lid picker-uppers. Always one of each hanging from the handles of the cupboards below the main prep counter.

Tonight's dinner was a blatant, but ultimately failed attempt to pretend it's still summer. It tasted fine, though. Pork in a lemon, coriander, garlic and olive oil marinade/sauce. Rice and spinach salad.

This morning, I had my wontons in a more conventional manner. In a spicy broth with spinach. THe wontons contained pork and shiitake.

Indeed. The best pizza I ever ate outside Italy was right here in town. The place was operated by a local who had lived in S. Korea for many years. S. Korea knows its pizzas. He had come home to semi-retire and made stunning pizzas (without corn or Kewpie). No one bit. The place was near empty every time I went and, inevitably, after about a year it closed down. Three months later, Pizza Hut opened and there were long lines down the block to eat garbage. I wept.

Another winter warmer - steak and kidney (-pie) with carrots, onion and a chilli pepper which happened to be lying on the counter. Boiled spuds and cabbage. With a drop of fermented Italian grape juice.

Yeah! Corn on everything. I hate corn! I've given up eating any kind of pizza in China. They have no idea what it is. Even when I insist on no corn. I get corn! I lied and said, "I am allergic to corn and I will probably die from analectic shock if you serve me even one tiny fragment, then my family will sue you for everything you will ever earn in your miserable life," I claimed "Oh, you mean you only want a little corn." No! I want zero corn. Less than zero" "Maybe you prefer a durian pizza slathered with ridiculous amounts of sweet Japanese mayonnaise, instead" At that point, Yum Foods! and I parted company. I mean "Yum Foods!"? Apart from being a blatant lie, does anyone over 11 years-old use"yum" as a real word?

Generally, I prefer the smaller ones, given the choice. Sweeter without being sweet, if you know what I mean. MY neighbours won't forgive me though. They are all convinced that clams may only be eaten with mustard greens in soup or they well spend eternities in hell, if they are lucky!