liuzhou

Well yes, but I wouldn't / couldn't get a wok burner. No one in China uses them domestically. We do use stand-alone induction units like this for hot pots etc, but it deals with stir fries just fine when ocassionally needed. Otherwise, domestic gas cookers are used. More on this here.

The wok seems small to me for a family of four. I live alone and one of my woks is 32cm which is just big enought for me.

The 客家 (kè jiā) Hakka people are displaced Han Chinese from northern and central China who migrated south to escape social unrest in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, they mainly reside in Guangdong and Guangxi as well as in Taiwan where they are the largest ethnic group. The name means 'guest family'. The Hakka have their own language and customs, especially their cuisine. And tonight, that's what I ate. 客家香菇炒肉 (kè jiā xiāng gū chǎo ròu), 客家茄子酿 (kè jiā qié zi niàng), 娘豆腐包 (niáng dòu fu bāo), Hakka mushrooms stir fried with pork, Hakka stuffed eggplant, stuffed tofu balls. Rice. The mushroom dish featured fresh shiitake and two types of oyster mushroom. $3.50 USD

My first wife, mother of my children, during her first pregnancy, developed a craving for rhubarb, especially rhubarb crumble which I was commanded to make regularly. We provisionally dubbed the unknown-gender child 'Rhubarb'. One night, we were lying in bed when she woke me up, complaining I must have cooked the rhubarb incorrectly, as it was giving her stomach aches. But then it would be OK, then painful again. I was first to realise it was nothing to do with rhubarb, but to do with Rhubarb who was starting to sprout. In the middle of the night I ran downstairs to a public phone (this was 52 years ago) and called for an ambulance to the rhubarb extraction facility which they had cunningly disguised as a Maternity Hospital. Soon we were handed a baby girl whom we didn't name Rhubarb, although I sometimes still teasingly call her that. She now has two rhubarbs of her own and two grand-rhubarbs of her first rhubarb. My two great-grand-rhubarb twin boys.

I am really getting tired of delivery meals, but have no real choice. Tonight, I went with one I've had many times, but it arrived with a twist. 海鲜炒饭 (hǎi xiān chǎo fàn) seafood fried rice with extra shrimp to help out the squid, mussels and scallops. It came topped with an unordered or charged for 烤鸡腿 (kǎo jī tuǐ) grilled chicken thigh. Bonus.

1892 (Written by Beatrice Wilde Bryant.

Been there; done that.

I think he may not say so in those exact words! We all know he's shy of speaking his #*$*ing mind.

I don't know but half the ten restaurants to be featured are in New York State.

Gordon Ramsay must be getting desperate. After a lacklustre Masterchef US 13, he is relaunching Kitchen Nightmares. Ten episodes coming at the end of September are being hyped up by the opening of pop-up Kitchen Nightmare Rage Rooms across the USA. Scant details here. Why this information was sent to my cell phone in China is beyond me. The ten restaurants to be featured in the upcoming series are:

This is my faithful fish scaler which I've had for years. Very efficient. Recently a friend ordered one of these but was sent two so passed one on to me. It's cheap plastic which probably won't last long, but it has a sort of well to catch the scales. Good idea, but poor execution. I'll try it, but I strongly suspect I'll revert immediately to my old favourite.

You need 'his 'n her' ovens!

Still a delivery meal, but tonight I had the energy to plate it. Certainly looks better, I'd say. 香辣四季豆肉片 (xiāng là sì jì dòu ròu piàn), spicy pork with green beans. Another common pairing here. 'Twas very good, but I up the meat content slighty when I cook it.

A few months ago, the local gas supplier, shockingly called China Gas, decided to upgrade all the gas pipes in my apartment building (as well as all the other buildings around me). They did the outside piping first, then went door to door to change the piping inside the apartments and install new meters. When they were doing mine, a clumsy fitter managed to knock my kitchen clock off the wall, smashing it beyond repair. I was a bit annoyed but just decided to let it go and replace it. Alas, I coudn't find the same clock anywhere. That is until three days ago! I ordered it immediately and it turned up today! The universe is back in balance. ¥44.47/ $6.11 USD

My breakfast was ordered at 7 am and arrived at my door at 7:20. I was a bit confused at first as they have changed the packaging (and I hadn't had my wake-up coffee yet. Now they come in these cute panda boxes. Believe me oh you doubters. Pandas are not cute! They stink and are aggressive, as I would be if I only ate their preferred diet. The pork baozi (肉包 - ròu bāo) within are neither aggressive nor do they stink. With a little pot of chilli sauce to wake them (me) up. Bought 6; Ate 2. The remainder are in the freezer. ¥5.80 ($0.80 USD) each.

Yes, the article leaves me having to guess a lot. I don't know what's English about No. 7 either, for example. I don't recall any restaurant in England serving food on lazy Susans in this manner outside of Chinese restaurants.

I'm puzzled as to what is American about this. It's pretty much universal in formal and semi-formal restaurants in Europe and beyond.

荷兰豆炒鱿鱼 (hé lán dòu chǎo yóu yú), Snow Pea Stir-fried Squid. This the most common way to serve squid round here and a dish which I often cook for myself in healthier times. I'm always wary when ordering squid, eiter for deivery or in the restaurants,but I know it comes reasonably well from the restaurant I ordered this one. The side of unidentified greenery was a surprise, not advertised on the app. Came with rice, of course. I was given the choice of five spice levels ranging from not at all to damned HOT. I went with the second hottest. I was a bit disappointed to see that they used some kind of hot sauce instead of the usual fresh chillies. But not a deal breaker.

I was searching for something else and came across this ancient thread. Probably pointless now, but for the record here is the poem in Chinese and in Pinyin, the official transliteration system, then my translation. Be born in Suzhou Live in Hangzhou Eat in Guangzhou Die in Liuzhou. I don't necessarily agree with these instructions.

I like your plate.

苦瓜炒肉 (kǔ guā chǎo ròu), stir-fried bitter melon with pork. This is a bit unusual. Bitter melon (aka bitter gourd, balsam pear, balsam apple, leprosy gourd or bitter cucumber) is usually paired with beef, but this version used pork. It worked well. The melon was more than averagely bitter (a good thing in my book). Lately they seem to be selectively breeding the bitterness out of them. Why?

Last time I had this I was too lazy to remove it from the delivery container and rebowl them and also, took a crap photo. I hope I've done a bit better this time. 鲜肉大馄饨 (xiān ròu dà hún tun), large fresh pork wontons in a spicy broth.

Not many parrots here*, but dried seahorses are commonly used in TCM so I guess they went with something they were more famiiar with. These can be quite expensive with prices reaching up to $100 or more USD a pair. They always come in pairs, one male, one female. Image from Taobao online shopping site. * There are a couple of parrots living wild in a local park, but these are recently released or escaped pets.

Yesterday, I was given a new waiter's friend corkscrew. Nothing special or fun in that, you may think, but ... ... for the last 27 years, I've always smiled when I use one because, in Chinese, they are called 海马开瓶机 (hǎi mǎ kāi píng jī) or 海马刀 (hǎi mǎ dāo). The former means 'seahorse bottle opener'; the second means 'seahorse knife'. I can see why.