Most of the time we have breakfast at home. Andi's dad gets up at 6am every morning, goes out and brings home food before he heads off to work. It's different every day and always tasty. They don't eat cereal, toast or eggs and bacon here, instead it's bowls of noodles, dumplings, baozi and several different bread items. Above was a fried egg we made at home with pot stickers and a chinese pancake(just bread) that her dad bought.
In the office building where Andi's parents work is a restaurnt where they each get a card with $300 yuen on it so they can buy there meals there. In the picture above is beef with spicy peppers, shrimp with kidney beans and bitter melon, and a stir-fry of peppers and onions(just like the filling inside of a steak and cheese).
Usually dinner comes from the same restuarnt. At this point, I have tried everything they have on the menu! :p Here is a whole chicken(served cold) and spicy and sour soup with tofu.
Whole fish in a spicy sauce. Remember; Chinese love to pick at the bones so it's almost always served this way no matter where you are.
Also from the same restaurnt was winter melon with chinese ham. Winter melon is quite good and you can find it in the USA in any asian supermarket. Chinese ham here is super salty!! I'm not a big fan.
While we were in Hangzhou we went out for breakfast once. I ordered a steamed meat bun and spicy beef noodles. It was garnished with scallions and small dried shirmps.
Going out for lunch is always the same as dinner; lot's of dishes!! Here from left to right: Steamed Goose, one of the many versions of Twice Cooked Pork that I have tried(nothing has beaten Gourmet Dumpling House in Boston's Chinatown, however), steamed Kai-Lan, and on the bottom in the small dish is pickled green beans.
We also ordered a plate of egg dumplings. The egg is paper thin like a crepe and filled with pork. Andi's mom knows how to make these and is going to show me. Here they are served in a light chicken broth with leeks.
This here is the only time I have gone out to dinner and only gotten one dish. We met Andi's two friends and they ordered this mixed pot for all of us. Some of the things I recognized inside were seaweed noodles, pork intestine, red onion, cauliflower, broccoli, and rice noodles. There was also something very tasty that no one could translate for me. All I know was it came from the spine of an animal.
On another occasion, we went out with a friend of Andi's to a Sichuan restaruant here in Hefei. Above is beef with peppers.
I love this dish! A huge plate of fried chicken bites with chili and peanuts.
Husband and Wife Lung. Here is a story I found behind the origin
to the name of this dish:
In Chengdu during the 1920s and 1930s, Guo Chaohua opened, in the name of himself and his wife, a small restaurant serving sliced ox lungs. They took so much care in preparing the dish and used the tight degree of fire and spices, including chili, Chinese prickly ash and sesame oil, that people graced their restaurant very often. Since the husband and wife managed the place together, people gave a nickname to the house specialty: "Husband and Wife Lung Slices." The dish has since been improved again and again. Nowadays, beef, ox heart and tongue are used instead of ox lungs, and the change has made the dish all the more delicious. In fact, it has become a special Sichuan style cold dish.
Another version of Twice Cooked Pork. Here is was served with small buns that had been steamed and then seared on a flat top. You then make little sandwiches with the twice cooked pork. This is not the normal way to eat this dish, just this restaurants little touch.
Dan Dan Noodles. Another of my favorite dishes here in China.
I realized that I haven't really posted much on drinks here in China. Above is one that I've come to really love: Corn Juice. You would think this would be all over South America but I don't recall ever seeing it there. Here it is usually milk based, has a very light corn flavor, and can be quite sweet.
Another of my favorites is Peanut Milk(on the left). It is light on the peanut flavor and slightly creamy. I have also found a very refreshing tea drink(on the right). It doesn't have much tea flavor and it's really that sweet but for some reason I love it! :P
For some reason I look at chinese food and drinks and look at them as
ReplyDeleteBeing healthier than American food and drink. Do the Chinese use
The same additives and such in their food?
No, they don't use any additives. There food is really quite healthy. They love vegetables and they don't cook the piss out of them. They eat a lot of fish as well. That's why there all so thin!!! They also go shopping almost everyday unlike us where we go once or twice a week. They always use very fresh ingreidents.
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