Edit History

A young friend I know from elsewhere was visiting the city today and, purely by chance, I met her. She was lost. I was able to take her where she wanted to go (well-known park in the city and then to a Buddhist temple she had heard of) and then we went for an early meal before she had to catch her train home. I asked her what she wanted to eat and she requested "something I've never eaten before". She is very open in her thinking and attitude for a Chinese girl from the countryside. She likes all sorts of music that 99.99% of Chinese people have never heard, for example. Her favourite movie is Pulp Fiction. I've never met anyone else who even knows it.

 

Anyway, I took her for something she had never eaten. In a Chinese restaurant.  As I've mentioned here on eG before, Chinese cuisine is incredibly regional so she had never eaten food from Shaanxi province far to the north of here. The capital is Xi'an, home to the Terracotta Warriors and it has one of my favourite Chinese cuisines. Luckily, there are a couple of Xi'an restaurants in town, so that is where she found herself. She looked at the menu, didn't recognise anything and left the ordering to  me. I always find that amusing. Chinese people asking this foreigner from the other side of the planet to help them with their food!

 

Anyway, I ordered some of my old favourites.

 

 

手工凉皮 (shǒu gōng liáng pí - literally 'hand made cold skin') are rice noodles served cold in a sauce. More on them here.

 

 

肉夹馍 (ròu jiá mò - Chinese Hamburger). There is an eG topic here.  The picture above shows two; one on top of the other.

 

 

老虎菜 (lǎo hǔ cài - literally "tiger vegetables)  is one of China's rare salads. 

 

My friend enjoyed the noodles and "hamburger" but claimed to be less sure about the salad. Many (most) Chinese people are wary of anything uncooked. That said, I noticed she kept eating more and more of it after declaring her disinterest.

 

Being a bit of a rebel, she asked for a beer to wash it all down. Few Chinese women drink beer. Of course, I was happy to join her.

 

 

A pleasant, unexpected afternoon/early evening.

 

But now it's 8pm and I'm hungry again.

 

A young friend I know from elsewhere was visiting the city today and, purely by chance, I met her. She was lost. I was able to take her where she wanted to go (well-known park in the city and then to a Buddhist temple she had heard of) and then we went for an early meal before she had to catch her train home. I asked her what she wanted to eat and she requested "something I've never eaten before". She is very open in her thinking and attitude for a Chinese girl from the countryside. She likes all sorts of music that 99.99% of Chinese people have never heard, for example. Her favourite movie is Pulp Fiction. I've never met anyone else who even knows it.

 

Anyway, I took her for something she had never eaten. In a Chinese restaurant.  As I've mentioned here on eG before, Chinese cuisine is incredibly regional so she had never eaten food from Shaanxi province far to the north of here. The capital is Xi'an, home to the Terracotta Warriors and it has one of my favourite Chinese cuisines. Luckily, there are a couple of Xi'an restaurants in town, so that is where she found herself. She looked at the menu, didn't recognise anything and left the ordering to  me. I always find that amusing. Chinese people asking this foreigner from the other side of the planet to help them with their food!

 

Anyway, I ordered some of my old favourites.

 

手工凉皮 (shǒu gōng liáng pí - literally 'hand made cold skin') are rice noodles served cold in a sauce. More on them here.

 

 

肉夹馍 (ròu jiá mò - Chinese Hamburger). There is an eG topic here.  The picture above shows two; one on top of the other.

 

 

老虎菜 (lǎo hǔ cài - literally "tiger vegetables)  is one of China's rare salads. 

 

My friend enjoyed the noodles and "hamburger" but claimed to be less sure about the salad. Many (most) Chinese people are wary of anything uncooked. That said, I noticed she kept eating more and more of it after declaring her disinterest.

 

Being a bit of a rebel, she asked for a beer to wash it all down. Few Chinese women drink beer. Of course, I was happy to join her.

 

 

A pleasant, unexpected afternoon/early evening.

 

But now it's 8pm and I'm hungry again.