liuzhou

I suppose it doesn't smell SO bad, but I don't find the smell SO bad in the first place. I think it's one of those things that some people are more sensitive to than others. I'll eat it fresh or frozen.

I haven't been posting many of my meals recently. The weather has been so hot I have no appetite. Also, when I have eaten something more substantial, it's been a dish I've posted here a hundred times before, so not so interesting. Such was the case with dinner last night, but I did finish off the meal with some of my favourite ice cream. Durian ice cream. Food of the gods!

I have some cans of paint and some engine oil. Will that work?

Common in the UK, too. It started in the 1970s and was confined to 'do lunch', 'do dinner' etc. From there it spread to menu items. Quite what they were going to do to the meal remains unclear. The restaurant does the chicken; not the diner! The one that gets my goat is "I'll go for the [menu item]". I want to tell them "We're going nowhere. We are eating here We've already come here, idiot!"

Yes. There's a huge taboo about knives at table. They remain strictly in the kitchen. I've seen people visibly uncomfortable in western restaurants in China and elsewhere.

Nearly all Chinese families never use knives at the dinner table. I seldom do.

Here is a typical set for a Chnese place setting. We have a cup, a rice bowl, chopsticks and a spoon. The small plate is mainly used for discarded bones* etc. Incidentally, this set is made from bio-degradable rice husks and is used for food deliveries (although most still use plastic). The chopsticks are bamboo. In restaurants, you are more likely to be given porcelain spoons and plates etc. The chopsticks will be wooden. Restaurants tend to 'rent' their tableware from a service whitch takes them away each night, and cleans and stabilises them, wraps each set in plastic and redelivers in the morning. * Most foods come on the bone in China.

So? Many food names use geographical names to indicate a type; not an origin. Do English muffins come from England? English Peas? No. I can buy American bacon made here in China. Anyway, Calabria is right next door to Sicily. Nothing unusual.

I am inordinately fond of these spoons. They're a bit bigger than teaspoons size and sold as watermelon spoons. I use them for ice cream.

A couple of hours isn't that long. It probably takes some people that long to get back from the store.

I'd eat it.

I'm not usually ambidextrous but can use chopsticks in either hand. My party trick is to use two pairs of chopsticks simultaneously.

A couple of 肉包 (ròu bāo), minced pork steamed buns.

`How is the pack wrapped?

I've never seen knowingly seen anyone with arthritis in the hands, but I'm sure there must be. We all get the same ailments. I can't remember learning to use chopsticks but it was at a very early age. Chinese (and other chopstick using nationals) learn as infants. I certainly prefer them for Chinese food.

Thinking about this a bit more, I remembered that all food deliveries here come with a set of chopsticks, spoon, napkin and two toothpicks, no matter what you order.

@blue_dolphin Good question. I'll start with the name. They are 匙 (chí) or 勺 (sháo), literally just 'spoons'. If you really must specify (not usually necessary) you can add 汤 (tāng), meaning 'soup' to get 汤匙 or 汤勺. In most restaurants, you will be given both chopsticks and a spoon whether you are having soup or not. They are used in pairs to eat many things. For example, if a particular food item is slippery and difficult to pick up with the chopsticks alone, then it is polite to use the chopsticks to push the item into the spoon then carry that to your bowl or mouth. Stabbing food with the point of a chopstick is a big faux pas. No one will blink if you use it to eat your soup, but most people don't. I don't recall ever seeing a western style soup spoon in China.

No. Most XLB aren't. Soup filled are more correctly called "汤包 (tāng bāo, literally 'soup buns').“ I wrote more about this here.

Home made 小笼包 (xiǎo lóng bāo), Xiaolongbao. Served with a soy sauce and Zhenjiang black vinegar dip. Usually served in eights, that being Chinese culture's luckiest number.

I often miss Anna. I looked at the Saving Thyme menu and saw the first item Breakfast Sandwich • 9.5 soft poached, bacon, aged white cheddar, cayenne aioli • add avocado 3.5 My old eyes missed the comma after 'poached' and I thought for a moment they were offering 'soft poached bacon'! I was just about to ask what the hell that is when the fog cleared and it clicked. The joys of decrepitude!

For some reason, a lot of the dried pasta here comes from Turkey. Not bad; not great. I do look for Italian but it's not always clear.

That's interesting. I've never had phở served that way in a restaurant in Vietnam, but for delivery or take away it certainly makes sense. Perhaps, it's because in Vietnam phở is always made to order.

I eat my soup with chopsticks! Seriously. The local way is to pick out any solids with your chopsticks, then pick the bowl up and drink the liquid part. I haven't seen a soup spoon in 30 years. 🥢

I can get a lot of different fish and seafood sausages here. Cod, cuttlefish, squid spring to mind. They all also contain pork and its fat. Cod Sausages I never buy them. I prefer my fish and seafood never to be sausaged!

Duh! It gets worse! I'm an idiot. The Chinese for 'fig' is 无花果 (wú huā guǒ) which literally means 'no flower fruit'. Reminder to self: Don't post before your second coffee of the morning.