liuzhou

Many years ago, I flew Bangkok, Thailand to London and back again on the Bangladeshi national airline with a stopover in Dhaka each way. Dhaka has probably the worst airport in existence. It was the only flight I could get at short notice. Long story. On the flights, I was served lentil curry and rice for breakfast, lentil curry and rice for lunch and lentil curry and rice for dinner. In both directions. That was in their attempt at 'first class'. I don't even want to think about what they served in 'cattle class'.

Well, yes I'm aware that the terminology varies from place to place which is precisely why I was looking for an unambiguous expression. My friend has run with the 'spicy hot' suggestion.

@Norm Matthews said I imagine it would be really difficult to recreate a 1300 old recipe from a photograph. There were lots of things to wonder about in his reconstruction but something you said added a concern. You said savory wheaten foods outnumber sweet wheat foods by a lot. If the original report mentioned the morsels found in the tomb were described as biscuits, ( presumed to be savory in the USA) but it is quite possible that someone from the United Kingdom read biscuits as meaning cookies, (sweet) When English and Australians refer to biscuits it means cookies to lots or people everywhere elsewhere. Technically, neither American biscuits or British biscuits are etymologically 'biscuits'. Bis cuit (modern French) means twice cooked, which, so far as I can make out, neither are. The term entered British English (BrE) from Old French bescoit in the early 12th century at the latest and originally referred to double cooked hard ship's biscuits. The American usage is 19th century, in language terms relatively recent. Cookie is probably from the Dutch koekje, early 18th century referring to a baker's soft bun, both sweet or savory. It entered American usage in the late 19th century, referring to a hard, brittle sweet cake. Scotland and northern England retain the original meaning of cookies as soft buns while all of Britain uses biscuit for the hard items. American English (AmE) does the opposite.

I don't often follow the book, but regularly do "inspired by" dishes, especially duck and/or chicken hearts. In fact, they're on the menu for later today. You just reminded me to take them out of the freezer. Fortunately, I live in a very N-to-T culture, so can get most things easily.

Wow! That's the second person mentioned on eG today that I have actually met. I knew Nicholas quite well back in London must be 50 years ago. He was influential in many ways, not just on food. Unfortunately, I can't open the Gruaniad at the moment. (The other was Tao Huabi, the Laoganma lady, whom I've met a couple of times.)

Interesting. I knew her company do different versions in different territories but hadn't come across that one. Further research suggests the peanut version is also available in Singapore. I also searched in Chinese but drew a blank in China (but did get Singapore again). I have seen mention of Laoganma peanuts in Chilli kill but I'm thinking that's something different again. At least the Chinese suggests so. I'll ask Ms Tao next time I see her!

More Brokeback cooking. Keeping it simple. Pan fried pork tenderloin. I was happy with the sear from my Japanese cast iron pan. Simple boiled potatoes and okra.

Do you mean the sauce comes with peanuts already in the jar, or you added them yourself? I've never seen laoganma with peanuts nor is that listed on the American website. By the way, laoganma means 'old godmother', not 'old mother'. The gan means 'dry' so, literally 'old dry mother', dry indicating non-lactating.

Jiangxi fried mixed noodles.

Wheat is the main staple in northern China; rice in the south. Wheat is extensively grown, not only in Xinjiang, China's westernmost province where Turpan is located, but even more further east. All Chinese wheat is relatively low in gluten compared to North American or European wheats. Northern China is where staples such as 包子 - steamed filled buns, 馒头 - unfilled steamed bread, 饺子 - jiaozi dumplings, 煎饼 - savoury wheat pancakes etc originated and these are still a main part of the diet. Noodles here are also wheaten whereas in southern China, noodles are predominantly rice. Xinjiang is indeed noted for its dried fruits, especially grapes. While some cakes are made, they are vastly outnumbered by and the north better known for its savoury wheaten foods.

I agree it could be browser related but I've tried it in two common browsers with the same results. It's fine on my PC and lap top using the same browsers. Odd. It's nothing critical as I rarely cook from recipes anyway. I wanted to use it more as a reference resource.

I gave up on it because the cell phone version, which was what I most needed it for was simply dysfunctional. I just retried after more than a year and it's just the same.

Smoked sturgeon and its caviar.

Do you have a picture of what you are referring to as white potatoes and also of the streak. Your description sounds different from the white potatoes I buy here. They are starchy and so my preference and good for mashing, boiling and making chips in the British sense. Fries for lack of a better word.

The question in the UK is usually "spicy hot or heat hot?"

Thanks. You have all answered my main concern, the acceptability of 'spicy hot' in other varieties of English.

I have a lot more condiments. Those are the basics, used every day. The others are in cupboards or fridge as appropriate. The rest of your questions I have answered elsewhere.

I can't agree spicy is preferable. Many, perhaps most, spices are not 'hot'. What about cinnamon or fennel seeds, to pick two at random.

It's just an appalling mistranslation by the software. It should just be 'chat'.

I had a conversation today with a friend. She is the Director of the city's CDC and was translating a paper from Chinese to English. She also an excellent qualified medical translator. Her medical English is better than mine. She was confused as she knows people often use 'spicy' when they mean 'hot' referring to the capcaisin content of chillies, and wasn't sure which word to use. In Chinese, the two are very distinct. Spice is 香 and chilli hot is 辣. Heat hot is a completely different word - 热. As she rightly pointed out, not all spices are hot. I explained that many people do use the two terms interchangeably and suggested that to be absolutely clear she could use the term 'spicy hot', which is certainly used in the UK. However, I'm not sure how widespread that is in other Englishes. So, my question is how would you distinguish the two meanings? It is for medical purposes, but not for medical professionals, so needs to be unambiguous. Thanks.

Answered elsewhere.

I was sent this by a friend who works in local government in Sanjiang Dong Autonomous county of Liuzhou prefecture. She has given me permission to share. In fact, she has asked me to share. The Dong are one of China's 55 ethnic minorities and most live here. This is a computer translation from my cell phone. I'm feeling lazy this morning. The Banquet of Hundred Families of the Dong Nationality is a banquet for the Dong family to entertain guests collectively, and it is the highest etiquette for the Dong people to entertain guests, including eight processes: blocking the road to welcome guests, tasting oil tea, singing and dancing, explaining money, eating a hundred family meals, toasting, celebrating and seeing off guests. There is a saying that "eating a hundred family dinners, accepting a hundred family blessings, doing hundreds of things, and enjoying a hundred years of life." When night fell, the lights were on, the bridge was bright, and the guests from different places tasted hundreds of dishes and drank hundreds of wines, showing a warm and harmonious festive atmosphere. I've been to a few of these banquets. Always a joy. I wrote at length about one such in this topic. Note: 'Nationality' is a mistranslation of 'ethnic group'.

Those tend to sit counter top next to or near the stove. Mine are, for the moment, on the window sill to the right of the stove. Left to right; dark soy, ponzu, rice bran oil (decanted from a 5-litre bottle in the cupboard below), regular soy (ditto) and Shaoxing wine. The condiment box contains MSG, fine sea salt and what you probably call kosher salt. They'll probably stay there.

Need a load more chillies to be truly Hunan! 😀

花生酥餅 translates as 'peanut shortcake' and 豆沙窩餅 as 'red bean nest cake', if that helps.