liuzhou

Fresh from lychee picking, today I discovered these in my local supermarket on my way home. In local Chinese 释迦 (shì jiā) which means nothing at all. I've also seen them referred to as 番荔枝 (fān lì zhī). That lì zhī is the Chinese for lychee, but they do not resemble lychees in any way. In English, I'm told they are "sugar apples" or "sweetsops". For the technical, Annona squamosa.

I was going to call this "lazy man's dinner', but then remembered the reason I was being kitchen lazy is because I have been so busy otherwise and will be until the end of the month. Working on setting up a new project. Interesting but tiring. So I got home at 7:30 and quickly threw this together. Pork cutlets brined for about an hour while I had a shower and a beer. Not simultaneously. Fried them with black pepper. Boiled spuds and some nuked asparagus and baby king oyster mushrooms (Prince mushrooms?) Pleurotus Eryngii to its friends. Here are the mushrooms pre-cooking. They are usually three to four times that size.

I posted the same pictures on WeChat, a Chinese cross between Twitter and Facebook. Two Chinese friends immediately replied in concern, "You haven't cooked the rice!" They have now had a long lesson about orzo, something they've never experienced. I have, in the past, cooked the pork and made the salad for one of them, but served it with rice that time.

I've posted versions of this before but do so again without shame. It's one of my favourites. Actually, the only variation is in what carbohydrate I serve it with: rice, couscous or orzo. It works with each. Anyway, tonight orzo. I marinate 1 cm cubed pork tenderloin in plenty of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, crushed coriander seeds for at least an hour. Overnight is better. The mixture should be quite oily as no further oil will be used in the frying. Boil the orzo until cooked, then drain and keep warm. Assemble a tomato and onion salad with basil and a lemon vinaigrette. Heat a wok until smoking, then stir fry the pork with the marinade until cooked through. No extra oil needed. Serve and eat. Salad

There is nothing like a fresh lychee straight from the tree.

The setting is beautiful, but what a sad lunch. That salad is a disgrace. If I accidentally made that I'd never post it, even in the miserable failures topic!

Asparagus with poached egg yolk.

Minced pork stir fried with green beans, garlic, ginger, red chilli, Shaoxing wine and soy sauce. Served in wowotou (窝窝头 wō wō tóu) buns.

Definitely tomatoes. A bit under-ripe. But tomatoes. Tasty ones.

...and here it is. I hope he doesn't burn lunch while playing with his phone. Edited to add: Seems he managed to get off his phone long enough to cook successfully Here are is staff lunch. (Actually that is the next day, and a different member of staff cooked.)

Fresh 毛豆 (máo dòu) or edamame boiled in sea salted water for five minutes, drained, let cool and sprinkled with more sea salt (because they needed it).

Breakfast BLT

To cut a long story short, I had 20 minutes to prepare, cook and eat lunch. "Work is the curse of the drinking classes" © Oscar Wilde (maybe). Chopped some chicken, some oyster mushrooms, some white chillies, garlic. Doused in Shaoxing wine. Stir fried with fresh ramen noodles. Ate. Ran.

Please remember Red Corner is fiction with a capital F. I've never seen it and, having read the reviews, doubt I ever will. China is probably the safest country I've ever lived in. Or visited.

Yes. They are the fruit of the plant Ziziphus jujuba. Also known as red dates or Chinese dates. The ones we were served were lightly pickled. No connection to the American candy of the same name.

You could try some of the existing kitchen gadget threads we already have. What's New in Kitchen Gadgets ? (414 posts) Unusual & unknown kitchen gadgets (562 posts)

After last night's mega-dinner, I wanted something simple tonight. Marinated some diced chicken breast with S+P, garlic, white wine. Added some white chilli and threw in the slow cooker for an hour. Boiled some spuds and stir-fried some beans. At the last minute added chopped coriander leaf to the chicken and served.

There was one open air area, but no one was using it. I was a lot more than 32!

Here is a typical wok set-up in China. This is outside a small photographer's studio near my home. Mainly passport type photos from what I can see. I spotted it this noon. Rather than close the shop / studio for lunch the woman photographer makes lunch on the street outside her place. The shop next door is a hairdressing place and the staff there (about 4) take turns each day to make lunch on a similar set-up. As do many small businesses.

The dinner in question is now at over at the Filming Dinner topic.

Me too. You get used to it. The restaurant was air-conditioned though.

Yes. It was 37ºC/98.6F and very humid. It always is here.

I sat chatting with a young woman who spoke excellent English. During the conversation she mentioned she had studied in Beijing, but then did a master's degree in St. Andrews. I was so surprised. She is the only Chinese person I know who has even heard of the place. Then I surprised her by telling her that I was born in St. Andrews. Small world, indeed. Then we noticed that two tables had been set for dinner and food had appeared from the restaurant kitchen below. Cauliflower with bacon. Braised Tofu Skin Beef with baby lotus roots Stir fried green chilli with salted black beans. Poached chicken Chicken Soup Pickled vegetables and jujubes Garlic scapes with tiny river shrimp and of course snails. The television crew descended on our table and I was presented with a bowl of Luosifen and some stewed ducks feet. I was given strict instructions not to eat any until the director said the Chinese equivalent of "Camera! Action!" This took a while, although I was permitted to sample the other goodies on offer in the meantime. Finally I was Instructed to take a mouthful of luosifen and make suitably appreciative noises. I was given the go-ahead and dived in. Three second later the director shouted "Cut!" This went on three or four times until he was satisfied. Then he moved on to other people eating other dishes. Finally, he decided he was hungry and went off to join another table and we got on with enjoying our meal. I realise I was being the token foreigner again, but hey, a free dinner! Delicious and a lot of fun.

No. They are river snails.

Back upstairs, I found that a load of food ingredients had arrived and were spread out on various tables. One glance and I knew exactly what they were for. The yellowish stuff is dried tofu skin. This is formed when making tofu and the bean and water mix is heated then left to cool. This skin forms on top like skin on boiled milk, and is scooped out and dried. The box front left holds the unprocessed skin, while top right is another box of the same stuff fried. The red bag contains the other ingredient from the river. River Snails We also have: Dried rice noodles Garlic, ginger and chilli. The holy trinity of local food. Spices There were also chickens , pork and green vegetables on other tables. In a corner a large pot was bubbling away on a portable burner. It contained a bright red stock containing Meaty Pork Bones Chicken River Snails and the holy trinity, spices and pickled bamboo shoots. This is the stock for Liuzhou's signature dish - Luosifen (Snail noodles) 螺蛳粉 luó sī fěn. Dinner was almost ready.