liuzhou

Hairy Crabs, aka Chinese Mitten Crabs (大闸蟹 dà zhá xiè or 毛蟹 máo xiè) - an autumnal treat. Served with a soy sauce and ginger dip. Here is one before I steamed them (to show size.) Two were full of roe. Lucky me.

No, it isn't snake either, unfortunately. I love snake.

Nope!

Last weekend I received a phone call from an old friend I hadn't seen for a couple of years. She informed me that she has married and has given birth to twin girls and wished to meet me to give me this: It's an invitation to a baby's 100 day celebration, an important tradition in China. Family and friends will gather together, meet the child , drink to its health and wish for its longevity (100 days become 100 years is the thinking behind it) and then eat. On this occasion there were two babies, both of whom slept through most of the proceedings. There were around 150 people in attendance. Here is the grub. Cantonese Style White Cut Chicken (广式白切鸡 guǎng shì bái qiē jī) 扣肉 kòu ròu - Deep-fried Pork Belly is sliced and placed in alternative layers with sliced taro, placed in a bowl and steamed. The bowl is then inverted onto a plate to serve. Kou means upside down bowl. Rou is meat. Braised Turtle Steamed Shrimp Squid with Chinese Celery and Chili. Mixed Chinese Charcuterie I'll let you guess what that is. Steamed Fish Spring Rolls and Pig Fat. Shanghai Bok Choy (上海白菜 shàng hǎi bái cài) with Tofu Water Melon I recall there was also roast duck, which I seem not to have photographed.白酒 bái jiǔ (Chinese white spirits), beer and mango juice were on offer, too. As usual the restaurant delivered several bottles of coldish beer to each table and we had to drink it as quickly as possible before it got warm. It was around 30ºC outside. They never learn. Also, the only beer they stock is Pabst Blue Ribbon, which in my view barely counts as beer. They think it is sophisticated to sell foreign beer irrespective of quality or taste.. Anyway a good time if not good beer was had by all.

Ah! Youtube, the fount of all knowledge and fact, You've seen one video on YT, so that's the way it's done.

Actually, 2 sisters have said next to nothing; their lawyers have. How do you know "organic" is any better? Most of the time it's just a marketing label. The UK isn't adopting anything. Food fraud was rampant in the UK long before the USA was even thought of. Chaucer complained about it in the 14th century,

I could be wrong, but I've never noticed any particular knife being used. Everywhere I know just uses a standard Chinese cleaver, as they do for almost everything..

Main article here. Here is the video evidence they have produced.

Well, of course, they can be used for lifting pots, too. However, most people here don't use pots, so... Be careful. Twice I have dropped dinner onto the floor when carrying plates to the dinner table using the three legged variety. The legs can twist and lose grip. I now also keep a towel covered hand under the plate to support it. I find the first one you pictured more stable, but it isn't suitable for every plate.

And I didn't say you did. For the last twenty years, I have made most of my living from writing and translating for a major Chinese wine magazine and event organiser. I don't need the lecture on wine districts in China. I've been to them all several times. I notice on the map you provide that the area near my home of which you did say "I know they grow a lot of grapes in your area" is marked by the smallest dot possible and I would contend that even that is an exaggeration. As I said before, grape production here is negligible. I have been to the town (more of a village) mentioned in the article you linked to many times. Don't believe everything you read, especially if it concerns China. I read nonsense about China every day in otherwise prestigious and respected media. All of which is irrelevant as I have ascertained that the knife I bought is made and sold as a general fruit knife. Yes, it could be used to cut grapes, too, but so could my machete.

The are both plate lifters. Everyone in China has them for lifting plates out of steamers. I have both those shown.

Thank you. Yes, a fruit knife was my first guess. I'm sorry, I have no real idea what your find might be. A menu card holder?

The greens are baby bok choy.

Despite that rather strange report, grape production is negligible here. I'm sorry but your information is bunk. The overwhelming majority of grapes in China come from Xinjiang in the far west of China which is nearer to Europe than to here. I visit the town mentioned in that link at least two or three times a month. Never seen grapes or heard anyone talking about them. I think someone has swallowed an over-optimistic press release. Your link is to a notorious government owned propaganda site full of happy smiling peasants. I would bet everything that it isn't a grape knife. Who is going to manufacture and sell a grape knife targeted at a place with next to no grapes?

Edible bamboo does come much larger than that knife would cope with. It is usually cut or peeled with a cleaver. In fact, most people of my acquaintance only have one type of knife - a cleaver.

I'll be interested too hear what he says, but I've been in hundreds of kitchen supply shops here in China and never seen anything like it.

You could be right, but it seems to be more curved than any bird's knife I can see on the interwebs.

My experience may be limited, but in my sixty plus years I've never seen a carpet knife come in a box marked TS Kitchenware. Also, people here don't have carpets, which limits the demand for carpet knives. It's a kitchen knife!

That one has the sharp edge on the outside (convex side) of the curve. Mine has the edge on the inside (concave side). Major difference, I think.

Except it's a kitchen knife.

In the course of my perambulations around the city centre today, I came across a small hardware store which is closing down. They mostly stocked kitchen gear of average quality. Of course, I had a look. Everything was the same price. ¥2.00 (30 cents USD). They had little I wanted , but I did pick up a pack of three self-adhesive hooks, then I saw this knife. It is sharper than I would have guessed but I have no idea what its intended use might be but at that price, I thought "why not?" The young girl who relieved me of two pictures of Chairman Mao had no idea either. She has been taken on temporarily by the liquidators. The blade is about three inches long. Here it is in my average size hand. Suggestions as to what it might have been designed for would be very welcome, thanks.

Tonight, an unphotogenic pork and veg curry which had been in the slow cooker at its lowest setting for almost 24 hours. Melted in the mouth.

Amusing, but certainly not new. Here is one by the artist Michelangelo (1475-1564) for his semi-literate servant.

I've always been interested in ancient cooking and in particular, in the Romans. So I was delighted to run into this today. I'm not saying I'm going to be dashing off to make and eat it, but maybe one day. Just reading it makes me smile.

Started off with a lentil soup. Chopped the usual onions, celery and carrot; sweated them off in olive oil; added some Sichuan Style Peasant Family Cured Pork (literal translation of the Chinese); added red lentils and boiled until ready. With home made bread for dunking. Lentils are a real rarity here. Few of my Chinese friends know what they are, but one supermarket recently decided to stock them.. Followed by something I like a lot, but haven't made for years. 啤酒鸭 (pí jiǔ yā) or Beer Duck. I bought an almost half duck - leg and breast (one of each), skinned, de-fatted and boned it then chopped the meat into bite size pieces. Braised in beer with onion, garlic, red chilli peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, soy sauce and Shaoxing wine. The dish originated in Sichuan, but is also popular in Hunan. Served with sweet potato shoots and rice. And more beer. I don't usually plate Chinese food this way, but I'm off early in the morning on yet another field trip and couldn't be bothered with too much washing up.