JTravel

Yangzhou Fried Rice is famous, named after the city which is several hours outside of Shanghai. The city of Yangzhou is supposed to be famous for its food...the emperor came here on the Grand Canal to enjoy it. The rice is one of its specialities. We were surprised at its "whiteness" and that it was served in several cities we visited. No soy sauce on any FR if I remember correctly. You can find recipes on line, and in cookbooks. Basically it is only seasoned with salt and white pepper and contains some egg sheet, tiny cubes of carrot, peas, tiny cubes of ham and perhaps shrimp. At least that was the most common version. Where we are in western NYS the rice is always yellow, or darker.

I just cooked Aldi's brand (Millville?) this week. It said at least a 6 cup bowl and mine was bigger. 1/2 cup oats, 3 cups water. 5 minutes, stirred, after that (2md 5 minutes) they boiled up and went over and all down the side of bowl. What a mess. But what was left I cooked in pot on stove and they were wonderful. Think I will stick to stovetop, perhaps with prepping night before. I'll be doing them again...and excuse to eat plump raisins.

Just was watching the Staple Foods episode.....all those rice buns and noodles. I want to try making simple noodle wrappers....I think Asian Dumplings might have a recipe. We tried to make them in Vietnam....where they steam them on a piece of fine cloth (voile?) over a pot of water. Harder than it looks. Thanks for letting us know about this series...it is SO good.

http://english.cntv.cn/special/a_bite_of_china/homepage/index.shtml Thanks to China Odyssey Travel....that we went to China with....for the heads up on the English narrated version. Can't wait to watch it again...and to understand it. Now to get hands on the book.

While others are suggesting nicer places, I would suggest a Milk Bar. I learned about them in this Rick Steves article:http://www.ricksteves.com/news/tribune/milkbar.htm. I only got to one (we were on a tour and got most of our meals included) in Poland but that one was located just outside of Warsaw old town, near the battlements. What I had was tasty, but the experience was priceless. I think the address is in Rick's book.

SOUP.....we had a very basic meal, so what's left is turkey, stuffing (made with sausage....baked in a pan), gravy, and I made a good pot of soup base from the carcass. The liquid went into a "mexican style" soup with corn, a roasted poblano, onion, chopped turkey , some chile powder. Topped with a lightly fried corn tortilla. Excellent if I do say so. Second soup is "asian" with soy sauce, ginger, dry mushrooms, turkey, bok choi, rice vinegar. It may get some rice noodles. Not "real" asian....but I think it will be good.....I'll keep tweaking till it suits me. We'll keep eating on the meat and stuffing and gravy and I've made up little meals for the freezer. Sometimes that is the best leftover, a reminder meal for a busy night.

I want shrimp, by the water, on an arepa> I love this. Amazed at the quality and variety of the food....and it's interesting about the dishes. Would an "only English" speaker be able to find and buy such things....following your rules of course?

We were in China for Sept. Whenever I got a chance to talk to Chinese (who spoke English) I asked them if they were familiar with the series. They were, and were so proud that an American had seen it. Wish I could have found a pirated DVD...obviously I was not shopping in the right places. Now I have to watch them all again.

As of yesterday Rochester, NY has a new TJs....can't wait to take my list and make an expedition to the east side of town. It's very near the flagship Wegmans store....the one everyone takes their visitors to. Never thought we'd get a TJ because Wegmans has such a strong presense. Expect to love them both.

http://www.fingerlakeswine.com/article/20120727/FLAVORS/307270022/A-day-Public-Market-300-vendors-25-000-customers?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|p Hope this fits here.....Rochester loves its Public Market as this article shows. Look at the slide show for a taste of the market life.

In Asian markets you can buy little individual sticky rice steaming baskets....which I then put in the bamboo steamer. It was served that way in N. Thailand. We traveled to Thailand on one of Kasma's trips...I think her recommendations are right on. For regular rice I use her method that I found here on eG....Rinse, soak and put in a bowl on a rack. Perfect. Lots of info on her site. NOW back to the book in discussion.

That is SO great. Going to China, going to look for it. Coming home and trying it. I like that I can only make a small batch. Thanks so much.

When we toured Thailand a few years ago it seemed like we had pomelo for every meal. Not my favorite, but in that climate it is very refreshing. I do own that book and I'll have to get it out and follow along. I think I did the spicy grilled beef recipe, but it's been a long time. Time to fire up the grill.

Thank you so much...I too love these food and culture lessons. Hope I'm not off topic, but I am wondering about eating street food in Ambato. I know you are a local now, but did you have any issues with food when you first arrived? These seem like a pretty safe sort of thing ...always assuming hands are clean. I will work on making some of these...always on the lookout for food lessons for the grandkids. Jaymes: when I was a kid my mother always "used up" the leftover chilled mashed potatoes in a similar way. No microwave to easily reheat them so they were packed into patties and fried in butter. Loved them....haven't had them in years.

Thank you so much to leading me to this. We're going to China in the fall and I will watch every show....and have lots of behind the scenes info. Those guys digging for the lotus roots....just one of the amazing things they showed. They are a must for anyone who in interested in Chinese ingredients and food.

The Empanada FINALE! Thanks to a crust recipe from Prasantrin I was able to make mini empanadas for a dnner. I did the crust VERY thin though for the bigger ones I would make it a bit thicker. They were tender but crisped up nicely and tasted great. I might bake them a minute or two longer, they were done but a bit white. The secret of course is lard. They may have been a bit full so I wasn't able to braid the edges but they looked OK. I grated 2 kinds of mozz, the soft "homemade" kind and regular store stuff. I would not bother again, cubes would have worked better. I added tiny cubes of ham. There was a bit of (crispy/toasty) leakage. The other filling I sort of made up. It was chopped fried baby bella mushrooms, onion, a bit of tomato and some leftover black beans which were mashed. Genius if I do say so.

I finally remembered to take the mini-tab along and managed to snap a couple of pictures of Wegmans vinegar section. Note the Flora brand I think they were my introduction to "finer" vinegars (not plain white) . I bought the pint bottle of Wegmans' red wine vinegar, seemed a bargain at $.99. Wegmans has a lot of their brand of products which seem to be popular and meet the national standard. I am always on the prowl at the discount stores for what appear to be quality food products , at a discount.

OK....this if the big ending of 32 days in South America. A very good trip with wonderful sights, especially Bariloche and Iguazu Falls. Good food all along the way, never a meal we didn't enjoy. The whole trip I had heard about "Tablas" and we'd seen these great looking plates of meats and cheeses. So, next to the last night we went to the (sort of ) nearby square, picked out a sidewalk table and enjoyed outdoor Friday night in BA. Had the special drink of the night and ordered the Tabla (or Picada) for 2. Now service tends to be a bit slow, but I think the waiter took a vacation after he took our order. Finally a waitress took pity on us , took our order again and eventually it came. To say we were overwhelmed is an understatement. Two Huge wooden cutting boards arrived...one with all kinds of meat, the other with cheeses. There were caramelized onions, and giant green olives. A basket of rolls came with it. SO much meat and cheese at one time. WOW. Everything was of great quality and was delicious but we could hardly make a dent in it. Afraid that our now re-appeared waiter did not understand that we wanted to take the leftovers, I followed him to the counter where with translation from the chef boxes appeared and all was saved. There was so much left over that we had meat and cheese with our breakfast the next two mornings, a sandwich to eat while wandering, and dinner in the B&B living room with our bottle of Malbec. I had set aside the hard cheeses and they went to the airport with us for snacking. I have not talked about prices for food, we did not find "bargains" unless it was decent wine from the supermarket. Most meals started around $10-12., it was hard to get a small meal or snack. Not expensive but after day after day of big meals you sometimes would like just a little something. For this feast it was around $40. with 2 drinks, a bargain considering the quality. I end with two "cutest" empanadas....in Puerto Iguazu. One time when I actually did only order a little thing. Thanks to those of you who have followed along , it's been fun.

Thank you for putting all the work into doing a blog. It is always wonderful fo see what day to day life is like in other places. I love the "duck...because it's easy"....part. Sad to say I never even cooked a duck breast. That's why travel (with food) is such fun. And reading about other places (with food) is such fun too.

I think it is just like our "Landmark" status in the U.S. The look of the building must stay the same; I can't be sure of the menu itself but now that they are special why would they want to change it. They are local favorites AND some are listed in guidebooks. Once we started looking for them we found several. A nice article in NYTimes: http://travel.nytime...12journeys.html

One of the great things about BA is the Cafe Notables...which are a group of protected cafes which are not allowed to change. We visited Bar Federal which was one of my very favorite meals of the trip. I would have liked to had several more visits to it. There were lots of choices I would have liked to try. Opened in 1864 it is not only fascinating to sit in, but the food was delicious. Just a very interesting way to spend time. DH had a Chicken Supreme which was just a pounded, breaded and fried chicken breast. But I liked how they left the little wing on...maybe to show you it was a real breast. That came with toasty hot (homemade?) waffle potato chips. I had the most "eat every bite and lick the plate" tasty Sorrentions. Excellent pasta, lovely ham and cheese filling, wonderful sauce. What we needed was more places like this to eat.

My Omission....It was Malbec sauce. Rather sweet but good...I might even try it at home. Color was surprising.

OK, I promised Beef with purple sauce...but first an example of a different beef place...this time in San Telmo. And in case you don't know the cuts, a chart is provided at another place. At Lo de Jesus in Palermo we ate outside and shared a Steak with Malbec Sauce, roasted potatoes and a salad with lettuce and tomatoes. A nice meal, not fabulous but it made for a pleasant dining experience. The purple sauce was a bit odd looking, but we liked it.

Nothing like a homemade ice cream on a hot day in Buenos Aires. We were lucky in San Telmo to have found "Nonna's Helado". There were LOTS of choices: Then sit on the rickety old bench out in front and enjoy. Read about BA Ice Cream...Dulce de Leche appears again: BA ice cream.pdf

Now, for a bit of miscellaneous food, and drink shopping. With large provided breakfasts in our B&Bs we really had no need for snacks. But despite being told we could drink the water we stuck to bottled water to keep the tummies content. Plus DH likes a cold beer at the end of the day and we both enjoyed a glass of Marbec on the patio. Besides, what's more interesting than a foreign supermarket. One sort of interesting thing is that all the city Supermercadoes seem to be run by Chinese people. Each market, has the same layout and organization with some variation in fresh things. A couple kinds of liquid refreshment: There is also an old traditional market in San Telmo. Not busy when we were there. On Saturdays there was a neighborhood market on Armenia Square. Interesting in that you waited in line for a clerk and then that clerk helped you choose all the things you wanted from the fruit and veggie part. Nothing like an ice cold Iguana at the end of a hot day.