liuzhou

@Suzie Q By coincidence, my Cantonese friend called me and so, I asked her to record herself saying wontons in her language. Here it is. The link expires in 30 days but if you or anyone else still wants it after that, just ask. If the download is too slow you can PM me with an email address and I can send it.

Liuzhou and the rest of northern Guangxi is heavily influenced by Hunan cuisine. The south much more by Cantonese. As to the connection between Sichuan-Guizhou-Hunan, I'd say you are correct. There is sort of continuum between them, but Hunan is still very different from Sichuan. Many 'Sichuan' ingredients are actually grown in Guizhou, although I'd say Guizhou cuisine is closer to Hunan, at least in the parts of Guizhou I've been to. I think that it is mainly the influence of the ethnic minority populations' cuisines. Hunan and Guizhou (and Guangxi) are much more influenced by that than Sichuan is. The overall flavours of Hunan and Guizhou are generally heavier, more vinegary etc than Sichuan's, although there are exceptions. That's my quick off-the-cuff answer but I'll think more and maybe elaborate later.

Good question, but maybe I should answer in the Guangxi Gastronomy topic rather than weigh this one down.

Tonight's delivery brought me some cheer-up food from Sichuan. I mean the food is from a local Sichuan restaurant, not your actual Sichuan which is hours away. 花椒鸡 (huā jiāo jī), Sichuan pepper chicken with 扬州炒饭 (yáng zhōu chǎo fàn), Yangzhou fried rice. OK. Yangzhou is nowhere near Sichuan and Yangzhou rice is a dish in itself, not usually as an accompaniment, but this wasn't what anyone Yangzhou would consider authentic. And what I felt like ordering. The chicken dish included fresh green Sichuan peppercorns which is what attracted me. Love them. $5.44 USD P.S. The lighting in my prison cell is shit for taking decent pictures. Apologies.

In Cantonese, it is usually transliterated as wan4 tan1, the numbers referring to tones. I'll try to get a Cantonese friend (from Canton (Guangzhou) to record herself saying it, but, in my present state of immobility, it may take a bit of time. There are samples on the internet, but Cantonese has various accents, too, so they vary.

鲜肉大馄饨 (xiān ròu dà hún tun), large pork wontons (in broth). The menu on my app offered a choice of adding chilli oil (or not), the same with scallions and four different wonton fillings: pork, pork and shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris), pork and shiitake, or pork and some atrocity consisting of yellow kernels of misery. I chose chilli oil, scallions and shepherd's purse. Apologies for the dreadful image, but I had a bad night, it was early and I was starving. Same excuse for eating them straight from the delivery container rather than putting them in a nicer bowl. P.S. In 95% of China wontons are known as 馄饨 (hún tún) or, less often, 云吞 (yún tūn) with the letter u pronounced 'oo' in both names - hoon toon and yoon toon. Wonton is from the Cantonese, only spoken by about 5% of people in China, mainly in Guangdong province and neighbouring Hong Kong.

I've never even thought of using it in a dessert. Interesting. Thanks.

The way I feel at the moment, my first meal might also be my last! 🤣

A combination of pain and the result of spending most of my time in bed has severely disrupted my sleep patterns, meaning meal times are being judged by my defective inner clock. So tonight's dinner was more like a lunch at dinnertime. I'll probably have dinner for tomorrow's breakfast. 遇难三明治 (yù nàn sān míng zhì), bánh mì and 金瓯碳烤鸡肉串 (jīn ōu tàn kǎo jī ròu chuàn), Golden Vietnamese charcoal grilled chicken skewers from a local Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon. The chicken was spectacular. Should have ordered two more.

Yes, I much prefer to cook but for the last several months I have been in bad health following an accident which left me unable to stand up for more than a couple of minutes. Walking any distance is out of the question, although I can stagger to the door to get my deliveries but not much more, so grocery shopping is impossible, too. Fortunately, the range of choice and the delivery service for everything is very developed here and overall the quality very good in the main. I am recovering, but slowly, and looking forward to cooking again soon. Meantime, I lie in bed planning what the first meal will be. The delivery service also includes fresh groceries and produce, so I should be able to cook again before turning to 100% normality.

海鲜炒饭 (hǎi xiān chǎo fàn), Seafood Fried Rice Shrimp, squid, scallops, mussels. This is my recent fall back when I can't decide what to order. It gets here quick and I like it, so....

Soaking young nettles removes the stinging chemicals, as does cooking. To my palate, they taste much like young spinach. Once the nettles flower, the stinging chemicals can only be eliminated by using acid in the cooking process. Most people only eat the young ones, I think.

Flicking through the delivery app again, I spotted something of a surprise. 惠灵顿牛 排 (huì líng dùn niú pái), Beef Wellington! I’m tempted to try it, just to see if it’s up to Mr. Ramsay’s standard, but it is twice the price of my usual dinners even before adding any sides and I just know it won’t be anything like that picture. So, I passed for now, finally settling on 黄咖喱牛腩套饭 (huáng gā lí niú nǎn tào fàn), yellow curry beef brisket set meal. It was adequate but not great. The beef was somewhat tough and the potato predominated. Back to the drawing board.

豆奶 (dòu nǎi) - Soya Milk.

In order to show some of the food available in local restaurants, this video is nine minutes of ads on the main food delivery app in China, Meituan's version covering Liuzhou, Guangxi. For obvious reasons, it's all in Chinese, but you get to see the food.

Champ made with nettle tops is good, too.

尖椒葱爆要花 (jiān jiāo cōng bào yāo huā), quick fried pig’s kidney ‘flowers’ with scallions and chillies. Also contained onion, vinegar and soy sauce. The ‘flowers’ refers to the cut on the kidney, which wasn’t done well in my dish. The second picture is from listing on the app I use to order food and shows how the kidney should be cut. What I received was just cut into plain strips. Didn't have any effect on the taste, though. My meal (served with rice). Same dish as shown on the app.

The Grauniad has an article today.... A different kind of pothead: the Le Creuset cookware supercollectors A cocotte in every color, a $38,000 collection or seasonal pots: meet the enthusiasts of the French enamel cookware brand

If anyone missed the broadcasts, they are all available here.

I'm not sure you come to that conclusion. There are a number of vocal bean haters and bean agnostics here.

Pretty much what I do. I just wondered because I've seen it being sold on Amazon US. I can source here, too but it's usually imported from Thailand. I can only see one brand on Taobao, China's main shopping portal. Expensive. I doubt I'd ever buy a commercial version, though. So easy to make, cheaper and fresher.