nakji

That's an awful lot of trash! I guess most people like the convenience of not having to worry that their kids won't bring their containers home or not having to wash anything up each night before making the lunch as well. The washing up is my least-favourite part of bento-making. I usually pack a wet-wipe to clean up the worst mess at work, but it's still grim to pick out of the bag in the evening before doing dishes.

The pomegranates here are yellow, rather than the more traditional red I'm used to seeing in Canada. Inside the seeds are pinkish rather than blood-red, but have pretty much the same sweet flavour, I find. We had the salad alongside a beef and potato stew from Dunlop's Revolutionary cuisine. A nice grouping; I'd make it again. Carrot salad and karaage sound excellent together.

I've never tried the Thai version, but I quite like the Chinese product stir-fried with green beans.

Bolding mine. While sandwiches in America are indeed fine exemplar of the art of bread and filling, I can't help but come to the defense of other nation's sandwiches. Many of the sandwiches on your list if not originated come wholly from countries that are not America. I know a lot of people in Hanoi who would be pissed off if America started claiming banh mi as an American sandwich, for starters. And the croque monsieur? Falafel? Shawarma? Clearly the richness of the sandwich culture in America comes from people bringing their fine native sandwiches along with them when they immigrate. I assume that American culture, which appreciates a fast portable lunch propagates (and perhaps refines?) these sandwiches to a larger audience of people always looking for something they can eat hunched over the car steering wheel. Sandwiches that are not widely popular yet in America but should be: The Korean potatowich - Three layers of bread; toasted. One layer spread with bacon-flecked mashed potato, the other with a fried egg omelette flecked with carrot and green pepper. Perfect hangover food. The UK Chip butty - french fries on a bap or bread. Brown sauce optional. The Cheese-n'chutney - also a UK favourite. Perhaps vestiges of this tradition have resulted in some people in America enjoying jam on a slice of American cheese? Best tried with good cheddar and small-bit Branston Pickle. That thing they do in France which is basically dark chocolate jammed in a decent baguette. Except - well, you'd need to find decent chocolate to pull it off on a broad scale. The Japanese tonkatsu-sando - Fried pork cutlet, kewpie mayo, brown sauce and soft, fluffy, cottony white bread. NOT a bun. Maybe a slice of lettuce. Cut in perfect squares. Followed by strawberry and whipped cream sandwiches for dessert. Note that two of these put potato on a sandwich, a sadly underused sandwich ingredient by my reckoning.

Kraft Dinner. Plain or spiral. It's supposed to be comfort food, but I no longer find the gritty powder and limp pasta comfortable.

Assuming the Russians and Koreans are trustworthy.... I like how they think it's one or the other but aren't quite sure which. Incidentally, I had this "taste switch" happen to me in Korea a few years ago, after eating Korean pine nuts. I tried googling it then, but all I came up with for "bitter taste in mouth" were pregnancy websites. Almost sent me to the drugstore for a pregnancy test!

Ha! No, I was under no illusions the kids worried about their lunch. It's just I thought somewhere earlier in the topic Steven mentioned that the lunches were collected, and I just assumed that it was then that they were jumbled about. I visited the Lock n'Lock shop, and while they had several bento boxes on display, only one was directly aimed at kids. It was called "Animal Kingdom", and it was a flat tray-style affair that had molded compartments on the bottom, covered by one continuous top. Looks like it would give you trouble with compartments mixing. There was a "Slim Box" series that had two smaller boxes, stacked on each other, with smaller individual containers in each that were covered by one top - they seemed a bit more like what you were looking for.

I don't anywhere near a Fedex office, but anytime I hop on a plane to anywhere one of my friends lives, they get an e-mail asking what they want brought from my current location. It's usually tea these days, but I did recently bring a litre of Chinese soy sauce to Korea for someone. If someone asked for an actual dish that I thought I could get through customs? Sure, why not? My mum regularly flies donairs up to my uncle in Labrador anytime someone from her family passes through Halifax. I've known teachers who've gotten Tim Hortons coffee and donuts brought back from Canada to Asia on a twelve hour flight, although I'm not sure why they bothered; surely the donuts were rock hard when they arrived.

Well, culturally, I can see how you're stuck. Let me see what I see at the Lock n' lock shop - what kind of volume were you looking for?

This is...disheartening. They can't even keep lunches upright? I guess they have other priorities, but still. I'm just thinking that in an average Asian bento lunch, the rice would absorb any excess liquid. But raspberries...well, have you got a paper liner option?

I want to ask: What are you putting into the bentos that's leaking? The thing is, the things that traditionally go into a bento are meant to be non-liquidy; people who use bentos everyday have the expectation that some effort must be made into making sure they stay relatively upright and that they don't get banged around much. Since this is particularly hard for young children to do, there's a lot of that that's resolved by the choice of food that goes into the box, rather than the box itself. So if you're choosing foods that are leaky because that's what PJ likes to eat, a rational choice, by the way, then you may be limited to the Lock n' lock containers by that. Some bento containers come with an inset lid, but it still doesn't make a Lock n' lock style seal. You can't put hit lunch in a proper bento-carrying bag, right? It's got to be a paper bag? Have you tried using paper cupcake liners to absorb some of the liquid coming off what's going in? Like melon cubes, for example - they're going to shed liquid, but if you put them in a paper cup, it's somewhat minimized. Otherwise, do you have a Lock n' lock shop near you? I'm going to one on Huaihai lu in Shanghai tomorrow. IIRC, they have a lunch box section. I'll take some pictures, if you like. I became a convert to Lock n' lock when I lived in Korea, and now my kitchen couldn't run without them.

Thanks for the tips, all. Looks like a bunch of friends have suddenly decided to join us, (Facing the long national holiday stuck at home with their DVD collections, coupled with a few C-Trip links sent their way greased things along) which means I'll have less control over where we get to eat dinner, although I will be charged with ordering once we turf up at a restaurant, small mercies. Da Dong is our duck choice, then, which we'll just tell everyone we're going to. Other places will probably be determined by likely-looking places located near wherever we end up each day. I have two more particular interests, however: I'm looking for a street/place where I can get ample samplings of dumplings/jiaozi/spring onion buns, particularly for breakfast. I'm also interested in the the omikase place that Fengyi mentions. It's my tenth anniversary, and my husband has requested that I not buy cufflinks or another watch; rather he'd prefer a really excellent meal. This or some other more high-end choice suitable for a romantic meal for two...any ideas?

Two more places to add to the list, neither Chinese. First, a very creditable bowl of pho can be found at Pho Real, at 166 Fumin lu. We've been there several times already this year - but it's no secret spot. We queued for 20 minutes today, although that could be in part due to the holiday. If you show up at lunch you can leave your number and they'll ring you when a table's available. Along with the pho, they use proper soft wrappers for their nem, import the limes from Vietnam for the proper lime flavour, and according to Fred, the proprietor, they're even looking at getting la lot leaves in from Hainan for bo la lot. The have a nice banh mi on the menu, either as part of a set or on its own. Fred also mentioned he's looking at opening up another location specializing in banh mi. Like I need another place to eat on my limited Shanghai trips. Apparently they'll do takeaways, which probably means lucky Shanghai residents will be able to get them Sherpa'd in. Grr. Argh. I also stopped in at the Bulgarian place in Tianzifang. My first crack at this cuisine; since the weather abruptly turned from 38 degrees with high humidity to low twenties, howling wind and waves of rain showers, something sturdy was definitely in order and this place fit the bill. We had an excellent bottle of Bulgarian cabernet, accompanied by a plate of smooth roasted pepper-eggplant-tomato spread, dilled roast potatoes; chicken casserole, and stuffed peppers with a yogurt sauce. A nice change.

We use chopsticks everyday, too. We have a set of Japanese lacquered ones - a husband and wife set given to us as a gift. They work fine for us. I also had a back up set of squared-off tapered wooden ones from Muji that I kept around for when guests are over, but they grew mold over the winter, like pretty much everything else in my kitchen. I need to replace them, and I'll probably just pick up a multi-pak at Wal-mart or whatever. We don't have a dishwasher, so they don't get a lot of abuse in our house, but I'll probably get bamboo ones, just because I like the feel. My husband retains a soft spot in his heart for Korean chopsticks, since those are the very first kind he learned how to use, but I have no great love for them, and wouldn't go out of my way to find a pair. Korean soup spoons, on the other hand, are perfectly design for gobbing up rice and dipping into jigae. Those I did bring a couple of along with me when I moved.

I have that recipe bookmarked, but I haven't tried it yet! How did you cut the carrots? Into slices by cutting rounds, then cutting the rounds into matchsticks? That's what I usually do when I have to prep a lot of matchsticks quickly. You'd think that thinner carrots would absorb/carry the dressing better than thicker ones. I'm also thinking that if that was prepared for a restaurant, it would probably spend all day marinating as well. Did the recipe call for any wait time before eating it? I made the pomegranate with cilantro and red onion salad last week, since pomegranates have come into season. It was good, but I thought it could have benefited from a little oil in the dressing to cut the sharpness. If I had to do it again, I'd probably add sesame or peanut oil to it.

It's still too hot out for soup, but I don't care. I'm pushing into soup territory early. I had a big bag of vegetables from my CSA that I didn't want to waste, so I ran the particulars through my EYB index and came out with a Marcella Hazan recipe for Vegetable Soup - now I'm reaping the rewards for lunch this week. Who would have thought that cooking carrots and cabbage for two hours would leave you with a sublimely rich, flavourful soup, rather than just a bowl of mush?

Ok, we may be completely mad, but my husband just C-Tripped a flight to Beijing over the National Day holiday. If we managed to get a hotel booked, this trip might actually happen. The hot pot and Dongbei place mentioned above are on now on my list - can I get addresses/neighbourhoods? Pretty please? And no doubt, we'll get to the Summer Palace this time round, so the Bai family restaurant can be done. But......duck? I need a winner.

Thanks. I hadn't noticed that link on the bottom of the page before. I can't imagine the task of having to proof-read other people's indexing. Thinking about it makes my eyes cross.

That's how I feel about cold cereal and milk. I feel better hungry than I do with cold cereal in my belly! I'm the same way. Lemme splane. I'm very anti-grease for breakfast, but I'm also anti-cold for breakfast. You definitely need something warm, but you also need something light. My go-to's: rice porridge, veggie/mushroom risotto, toast, bagels, etc. I feel similarly. Whatever it is, I prefer it to be HOT. Cereal and yogurt is my least favourite breakfast, because it's cold. I eat it when time is of the essence. Otherwise, porridge or toast is what I need.

I got a box of Starbucks mooncakes this year from a student for Teacher's Day. Three flavours: plain, with espresso red-bean filling and a nugget of dark chocolate ganache in the centre; green tea, with tea-flavoured white bean paste and an espresso red bean centre, and chocolate, with more espresso red bean and a nugget of crunchy hazelnut chocolate ganache in the middle. I only have one left - I'm going to be as big as a moon by the time the festival hits. Last year we got a big bag of meat mooncakes from our principal- a local specialty. They had a lard-flaky crust and a puck of beautifully spiced pork in the middle, and they were made in one of those big dumpling makers that comes down and sears the cakes on either side. I ate half a bag of them before I could stop and couldn't eat again for the rest of the day.

I'm in a classroom from 7:30 in the morning, teaching until we break for lunch at 11:30 - if I don't eat something, whether I'm hungry or not, I can't make it through the morning. We don't get a break mid-morning, either. Some days, I don't even have time for a lunch that's more than a baozi and a Coke (like today.) If I didn't eat something in the morning, I'd probably be out of a job. More than any other eating time of the day for me, for breakfast, food is merely fuel. I get up at six and eat toast or a bowl of muesli and yogurt along with a cup of coffee. Since I usually don't eat after dinner at six (classes in the evening, although then, I'm the student), by the time 6 am rolls around I'm looking for something to eat. If I had the ability to snack later in the morning, perhaps I would, though. I just don't have the opportunity.

I took Revolutionary Cuisine into my work to photocopy a few recipes for a friend and my Principal saw it - flipping through it, she said, "Wow, this is true countryside cooking". When I cook the recipes in this book, they taste like things I can buy in the restaurants around my home. Neither of Grace Young's or Eileen Yin-fei Lo's books interest me, based the small glimpses of what I've seen in this topic and others on them. I think the regionality of Chinese cooking and Chinese cooks cannot be underestimated, though. My Jiangsu-nese coworkers speak contemptuously of Guangdong style dishes; others, from Shandong and Xinjiang, complain the local food here is too sweet. Local people claim the only true hairy crab is from Lake Yangcheng - but internationally we know Shanghai Hairy crab. Frankly, I'd love to see some more books that don't focus on common restaurant dishes, or dishes from Guangdong. "Beyond the Great Wall" and "Sichuan Cookery" are a good start, but I hope we'll see more options in the future.

One thing I find interesting is the results it's turned up for me when I used it this week. Because I have so few books, and because "How to Cook Everything" represents such a large percentage of my total number of recipes, every search I've run this week has turned up two or three recipes from that book that I had never noticed before. It's essentially a book I bought so I'd have some sort of resource for recipe basics like pancakes, roast chicken, legs of lamb, yogurt...now I'm taking a second look at it. Some pasta recipes came up that looked decent. It's not an exciting cookbook, but it works for a weeknight.

I think it depends on people's collections. Like I said, my books are kind of quirky, since I cook a lot of regional cuisine - so a couple of books I use quite regularly are not indexed, but a few others that I hardly ever use have already been indexed. Six out a total of twenty books in my collection haven't been indexed yet, but I'm taking a long view. Eventually they will be indexed, either by the site or myself, if they open that up to members. I've requested an index on all that are not yet indexed.

One more place that I end up in regularly is Yun Gei Cantonese Restaurant, on the corner of Feng Huang Lu and Shi Qian Jie next to the canal. Most Sunday mornings my husband and I go here for brunch. Apologies for the poor pictures - We usually get beef kweoy teow: Roast Pork (They also have duck and chicken for chicken rice), of course. These vegetable dumplings that have the lightest, thinnest skins, and are crammed full of water chestnut, garlic chives and carrot: Vinegary garlic cucumbers: As well as char siu bao that have a very nice filling heavy on cassia - probably my favourite ones so far in China - how lucky that they're right down the street from me. They also specialize in claypot baked rice, although if you order it, it takes a half hour to come. Very worth it - we've gotten the one topped with qing cai and roast pork before. They also have a pig lung soup that seriously seems to go out to every table, but I've never tried.