Unexpected Food Gifts

[liamsaunt]

When I went out on my front steps today to grab my CSA delivery, I found that they had left me this huge box of mushrooms too!  This is a separate share that is an extra cost on top of the regular veggie box.  We have ordered it before, but not this week.  I'm not sure if it was a mistake or maybe a thank you (I send them my photos of food I make with their CSA ingredients and they use them in their email newsletters and I think on instagram...I have not logged in to instagram in at least five years but they asked me for permission to use them there)

 

 

 

Earlier today there was a wine storage box on the front steps that I had not ordered too!!  The outside box was very badly damaged, but the contents were fine.  I had actually ordered a bunch of them a few weeks ago because I am building my husband a garage band wine storage room in an unfinished room in our basement.  I think maybe the box had been marked as damaged by the shipper and replaced in the original shipment, but found its way to my house eventually anyway.  I'll take it!

[CantCookStillTry]

Sorry guys. I don't really know what Chokos are. But I assume @liuzhou is correct! Apparently they grow like weeds, and to be honest, where I work at least, noone was interested 😂😬. 

They found a tummy with my grandmother in law. 

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, CantCookStillTry said:

Sorry guys. I don't really know what Chokos are. But I assume @liuzhou is correct! Apparently they grow like weeds, and to be honest, where I work at least, noone was interested 😂😬. 

They found a tummy with my grandmother in law. 

 

If you can find the leafy tops, they are delicious. Very popular, they are sold seperately from the gourd here. Simply stir fried with garlic.

 

[Kim Shook]

These arrived yesterday:

I am a huge halva fan and Mr. Kim decided to treat me!  

[liuzhou]

Yesterday, for reasons I won't bore you with I was interviewed by the local newspaper then given a gift of some local green tea! The interview had nothing to do with tea!

I'm not a big tea drinker, at all, but I do sometimes cook with it. I need to think what to do with it.

 

三江绿茶 (sān jiāng lǜ chá) - Sanjiang Green Tea

 

Edited May 16, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

I'm curious to check this out:

 

 

Who knew Ornellaia made olive oil?  The packaging is ridiculously nice - the box it came in is heavy textured cardboard.

[TdeV]

@liuzhou, what did you make with the green tea? Idea thiefs want to know!

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, TdeV said:

@liuzhou, what did you make with the green tea? Idea thiefs want to know!

 

I haven't used it yet, but when I do, I'll probably do this again.

 

 

Spicy stir fried prawns (shell and skin on) with green tea.

Maybe use some to smoke some duck or whatever.

 

Edited May 30, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

I really should start a new topic for this. It was unexpected but also unwelcome and, in my view, not even food - at least not for humans.

 

I popped into the local mom 'n' pop store near my home for a six-pack of the local brew to lubricate the evening and the guy insisted on giving me this. I did decline, but that was taken to be typical Chinese etiquette. Gifts should always be refused several times before being accepted. Immediate acceptance is seen as pure greed!

So, of course the guy insisted. I almost said to him "No I really don't want the damned thing!" but remembered that would just be interpreted as extreme politness and he'd think I meant the opposite!

Result? I took the horrid thing home. I'm planning on giving it to the obnoxious, spoilt brat of a kid upstairs. I can't stand the little ....!

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I took the horrid thing home.

It is way too old to be good. I would find a way to refuse it! And I love corn. 

[heidih]

7 hours ago, Anna N said:

It is way too old to be good. I would find a way to refuse it! And I love corn. 

Does look like a very ancient ear. I'm wondering if the available corn in his part of the world is feed corn rather than sweet corn.

Edited June 6, 2022 by heidih (log)

[donk79]

Could it be that after years of the above,  @liuzhouhas simply what good corn tastes like?

Edited June 6, 2022 by donk79 (log)

[liuzhou]

16 minutes ago, donk79 said:

Could it be that after years of the above,  @liuzhouhas simply what good corn tastes like?

 

????

[liuzhou]

Here, for your voyeurism, is the atrocity undressed. Say goodbye. It will be vacating my home in minutes!

 

[Kerry Beal]

Looks better undressed than I expected!

[liuzhou]

This turned up at my door about 30 minutes ago.

 

 

Inside I found this along with some frozen ice packs.

 

Durian Ice Zongzi.

 

Actually, the only resemblance they have to zongzi is the traditional shape. Zongzi are sticky rice and flavourings, wrapped in bamboo leaves and then steamed. The leaves, of course, hold the dumpling together while the are cooked, but also impart a delicate bamboo flavour and aroma to the contents.

These are a kind of iced jelly with a strong durian flavour - a good thing in my book.

 

 

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Durian Ice Zongzi.

You most certainly get some very interesting food gifts. 

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

You most certainly get some very interesting food gifts. 

 

Interesting friends!

 

The person who sent me these was one of my students in 1999. She was (still is) extraordinarily beautiful and very clever. On graduating, she quickly got a job on a Chinese wine magazine, by which I mean a magazine aimed at restaurants, wine dealers, and enthusiasts. European and New World wines. Over the years, I often helped her out with translations of the French or Italian info she was sent. She paid me by sending me the wines! Hundreds of bottles! She also introduced me into a sideline of writing for her magazine and others.

She worked her way up the ladder and is now the managing director / CEO of the publishing company.  Pre-covid, she also organised wine tours of vineyards in France, Italy and South America. I will never forget one day she called me from Paris and said she couldn't find her hotel. I guided her through the streets of Paris, a city which luckily I know well. She doesn't speak French.

She is now dipping toes into other publishing avenues - I'm looking forward to see where she goes next. She has never married. I still have a chance! 🤣

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by liuzhou (log)

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

She is now dipping toes into other publishing avenues - I'm looking forward to see where she goes next. She has never married. I still have a chance! 🤣

 

That is such a great story. You know what they say it takes a friend to make a friend!  But I won’t give you any marital advice. I know my limits. 

[liuzhou]

I was chatting online yesterday with my publisher friend, whom I mentioned a few posts back. I mentioned that I thought I may be developing a slight summer cold. This morning this arrived at my door.

 

 

Five  bags of Traditional Chinese Medicine soup ingredients to be mixed into a pigeon soup.

 

The contents are mainly dried fungi - morels, agaricus subrufescens (almond mushroom), pilose antler mushrooms, cordycep militaris, chanterelles, wild oyster mushrooms, wild shiitake. Alsos contains goji berries and jujubes.

Fortunately i had one pigeon in the freezer! I've three more on the way.

 

Lot of soup in my immediate future.

 

[KennethT]

5 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I was chatting online yesterday with my publisher friend, whom I mentioned a few posts back. I mentioned that I thought I may be developing a slight summer cold. This morning this arrived at my door.

 

 

Five  bags of Traditional Chinese Medicine soup ingredients to be mixed into a pigeon soup.

 

The contents are mainly dried fungi - morels, agaricus subrufescens (almond mushroom), pilose antler mushrooms, cordycep militaris, chanterelles, wild oyster mushrooms, wild shiitake. Alsos contains goji berries and jujubes.

Fortunately i had one pigeon in the freezer! I've three more on the way.

 

Lot of soup in my immediate future.

 

Feel better soon!  No ginseng in there?

[liuzhou]

3 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Feel better soon!  No ginseng in there?

 

Thanks. Actually, I feel OK.

I haven't used it yet, but no ginseng listed on the package. I do have one ginseng root in the freezer, though. I could supplement the medical!

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Fortunately i had one pigeon in the freezer!

As one does. 

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

As one does. 

 

Are you suggesting that you don't?

 

Nothing better than a Hong Kong style roast pigeon or a pigeon soup. Big thing round here. Well not big. Quite small actually. but popular.

 

 

I have restocked. Three in freezer now. Most markets have them.

 

[liuzhou]

This was a gift from me to myself. However, it wasn't planned in advance, so still 'unexpected'!

 

 

 

 

What we're looking at is premium grade, 3 year aged Pixian doubanjiang (broad bean chili paste) from Sichuan.

 

It cost over 3 times as much as the regular stuff, but I was in the mood for a treat. And why not?

Edited July 7, 2022 by liuzhou (log)