liuzhou

I got it. I've opened that one. The packaging is even more elaborate than first appears. The chocolate is dark in colour but milky in taste while remaining quite bitter. Probably Chinese alchemy! Or maybe the pinenuts are contributing to the bitterness.

I chose carefully. Perused ingredient lists. Examined photographs. Then ordered. Twenty minutes later I opened Pandora's box. Seafood fried rice. Oysters, squid, shrimp. And bloody c⊘rn! That was definitely not listed, photographed, necessary, required or wanted! The shock was so intense, I nearly didn't notice the stupid rings of bell pepper that had been lobbed on top. I carefully dug out every last speck of yellowness and hurled it into oblivion, then ate what I had actually asked for. After my careful yellowectomy, the dish was actually rather good. Lots of nicely cooked seafood buried in the now ritually purified depths of the rice. But points off for the massive trauma and offence inflicted on the frail!

Things you find in China #347 I haven't eaten these for around 60 years. Just fulfilled my sugar needs for the next 60. P.S. Just noticed my mouse pad is upside down.

Which part of the name are you querying? Pine nuts is what the Chinese lists in the ingredients list and the chocolate contains some milk. It's not the most bitter I've tasted but I know some people who would turn their noses up at it.

I have fond childhood memories of British beef olives stuffed with breadcrumbs, shallots, mushrooms and Stilton. I haven't had them in over half a century, a situation I should remedy. https://greatbritishrecipes.com/beef-olives/

Are you expressing some doubt there? Stir fried watercress is not unknown here, although it is more often added to soups or hotpots. Or is it some similar plant.

Expensive packaging, too, I'd wager.

This just arrived unexpectedly at my door. A bunch of chocolate made by a friend of a friend's new business. Chinese chocolate is usually sub-Hersheys (i.e. not chocolate at all) but I'm told this is the real deal. To my amusement, given a brief conversation on the Dinner topic a couple of days ago, the chocolate was accompanied by a jar of black goji berries.

This is by far the best of the delivered meals I've been living on for the last too many months. Staggeringly good. 海鲜虾蟹粥 (hǎi xiān xiā xiè zhōu), fresh seafood and crab congee. A huge serving of rice porridge stuffed with large shrimp, scallops and crab. The rice was cooked in a shellfish broth and flavoured with ginger, garlic and Chinese chives. Came with three dips / garnishes: chili paste, pickled daikon and pickled mustard leaf. Will definitely be revisiting. ¥24.80 CNY / $3.50 USD

These bowls are a mere 4.5 cm / a shade under 1¾" in diameter at the rim. Good for dips I suppose. They were sold in sets of three, one of each colour. However, there was a minimum order of 4 sets. So 12 miniature bowls turned up this morning. But I like them. I guess some will be passed on to friends in time.

Ginger is prescribed by the TCM wallahs for gut problems. I've found it effective in the past.

Thanks. That's pretty much what I expected. Same here. The only English menus locally are either my translations or in an English dialect incomprehensible to anyone. The tourist places are a bit better - sometimes.

She's right. I always eat my baozi with chilli sauce. BTW, do many Indnesian restaurants have Engish menus? I know you were often staying in touristy centres this trip, so wondered if it was just those or more general. Excluding the islandl I know it's tourist only.

Hmmm. Another "superfood" scam. There is no evidence.

I can see that working well. It is a wonderful green vegetable. I'm much less enthused about the berries though, either red or black.

There are street vendors with portable cane extraction machines all over town here. Now I think about it, I don't recall seeing that anywhere else. We don't have premise based cane vendors so much.

I've been looking foward to this. Pulling up a metaphorical easy chair and getting ready! Good start.

鲜马肉煮伊面 (xiān mǎ ròu zhǔ yī miàn). Fresh horsemeat with boiled e-fu noodles. The actual noodles (aka Yi Mian) are Cantonese egg noodles, but the broth and toppings are pure Liuzhou. Spicy with chilli, fresh Sichuan peppercorns and chili oil. Morning glory, garlic and peanuts. All in a rich horse bone broth. This lot cost me ¥16 or $2.22 USD and could easily have fed two (inc an unrequested can of lemon squash and delivery). Half is now in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.

I don't know where all this British cold toast business is coming from. I've been British all my long life and never been served cold toast. It may be a hangover from the 1950s' bad bed-and-breakfast places, which are now stock in trade from bad sit-com writers. Or alternatively the many motorway Services places which were always a joke. The worst toast I've eaten was in France. That was cold. Plain untoasted sliced sweet "bread" is often called "Toast" here in China. Of course that doesn't count as there is one thing for sure - it ain't toast.

In 2021, my 35 year old Black and Decker finally went off to toaster heaven. I replaced it with this. A no name Chinese number with top-up feature as well as defrost setting. I'm happy with it, especially at a cost of $14 USD equivalent. Won't suit those who demand non-Chinese goods, though. Any of you got iPhones?

红烧排骨 (hóng shāo pái gǔ), red-cooked pork ribs 烤鸭 (kǎo yā), roast duck The two proteins were served with stir-fried and shredded spicy napa cabbage. Plating looks like it was lobbed from a helicopter, i know. My doing entirely, but I am semi paralysed and I was hungry. 枸杞菜蛋汤 (gǒu qǐ cài dàn tāng) This was delicious. Basically, egg drop soup but with goji tops replacing the more usual seaweed. I'll be pinching that idea if I ever recover enough to cook. I dealt with this by treating it as another vegetable side dish, digging out the greens. Then finished by drinking the soup. Very Chinese. 米饭 (mǐ fàn)

One of my earliest memories is of sitting with my parents around an open fire toasting bread over the coals using a brass toasting fork. It was about 18 inches long with swivelling head like this. That was around 70 years ago. I have no idea what happened to the fork. Last time I was in my mother's kitchen (2019) there was a Morphy Richards electric job. The coal fire disappeared decades ago. I have an anonymous Chinese toaster which cost next to nothing. I don’t see the need to spend a lot. However, I'd buy the fork in the link if I were in the UK. They don't ship to China. And I don't have an open fire.

Queso Blanco just means 'white cheese', so can be many different cheeses. The cheese sold under that name in Mexico etc is just one, albeit popular type. What is "regular cheese"? That depends where you are.

It's rare for me to spatchcock chickens although I've dispatched a few. When I am called upon to do either, I use this.

红烧狮子头 (hóng shāo shī zǐ) - Red-Cooked Lion's Head Meatballs 香卤鹌鹑蛋 (xiāng lǔ ān chún dàn) - Stewed Salted Quail Eggs 香菇滑鸡 (xiāng gū huá jī) - Fried Chicken with Shiitake 米饭 (mǐ fàn) - Rice