Food Fight: Takin' it to the Streets

Our recent trip to Beijing included a stop at Wangfujing Snack Street so we could channel our inner Andrew Zimmern. As intimidating as some of the foods appeared, most of them really weren't that bad!

Wangfujing Snack Street

We were brave enough to sample 5 of the 10 bizzare snacks being offered. Can you name them all?

Here's a freebie...

This wasn't bad at all--rolled in spices, it was just really crunchy. I was just scared of the first bite!

The texture of this was awful enough to get the 'ole gag reflexes pumping

Was nervous about this one but it ended up being our favorite

We're not this brave yet....maybe next time!?

Food Fight!

By now, nearly a year in to our stint here in China, dinners hosted by the shipyard have changed from a study in the bizarre and unidentifiable, to a familiar medley of mildly edible dishes. Just when I thought we'd pretty much seen and tasted it all, they go and serve this at tonight's Spring Festival dinner. Bon appetit, and happy guessing!

A BYOO Christmas

So, after a wonderful month in the States and a busy month of Christmas cooking and covert elfing, I'm back to bring you up to date! I'm going to skip ahead to Christmas and fill in the blanks as time allows. 

Five other expats joined us for a Korean-Scottish-English-Canadian-American Christmas in China at our place. Naturally, it started with an adventure--after opening gifts I went to start the stuffing only to realize we didn't have gas or hot water. A few phone calls later and we luckily got the meter reset so we were back in business. Then we realized our turkey had yet to be cleaned. True, the intestines and stomach were gone but it still proved to be a treasure trove of surprises!

Brian's Christmas quote of the year: "It's as if it's giving birth to itself!"

Our Christmas was a BYOO affair. Bring Your Own Oven. Since our ovens are all tiny things that can only hold one dish at a time we needed three to pull this meal off! And thank goodness one of our friends has the biggest oven you can find here--it was just big enough for the turkey. It came with a roasting pan that slides in the oven in place of a rack. But here's where the fun begins. The roasting pan is only wide enough for a hair's width of overlap on the tracks. So when you add a 12lb turkey, the weight of it is enough to sag the pan and send it crashing straight down on top of the element. After repeating this comedy of errors multiple times we ended up putting a mixing bowl on the bottom of the oven between the elements and just set the pan on the bowl. Well, transferring the weight to the bowl made the bottom of the oven pop off, so then we had to shim that back into place as best we could. We were estimating 3 hours cooking time and it was looking pretty darn good around that time. So we took it out, but realized it wasn't ready yet. So back in it goes and we're checking it every 15 minutes or so. About 45 minutes in the internal temp still hasn't risen and we're commenting that we must have maxed out the oven, because it is now cold. Turns out we never turned it back on. Oops! So another 30 minutes more in an oven that's actually ON, and we had a juicy, delicious bird! Phew!

Sewing up the bird China-style, with a quilting needle and yarn.

How I spent my days the last 3 weeks

All in all, I couldn't have imagined a better Christmas in China.

Jiangyin in pictures

Just an assortment of recent photos around town....

Remaining tower and section of old city wall

The many uses of bicycle carts:

They're excellent for an afternoon nap.

They make an ideal FedEx truck.

And don't forget they are the perfect surface on which to dry your shop's fresh pasta out on a sidewalk!

Alternatively, you can also dry your pasta on a clothes rack with mops, shoes and rags for added flavor.

Just liked all the colors

More scenes from the grocery store:

Dried jellyfish. If only the selection wasn't so limited!

Squid & mussels.

petrified fish

More delectable dried fish options

Food Fight Returns!

Thanks to Amanda for reminding me I haven't posted a mystery food item in quite some time. I guess it is a sign we're getting used to most of the stranger food we're presented with here? Brian has actually had this "delicacy" while I've managed to avoid it. Use the comments section to guess not only what animal, but specifically what part of the animal, you think this is. This time the winner's prize is NOT having to eat it.

Bad Moon Rising

Here in China the Moon Festival celebrates the end of the fall harvest. This year it falls on September 12. We've been gifted a few boxes of the traditional mooncakes and have actually been brave enough to to try them. Traditionally the cakes are filled with a lotus seed paste with a salted egg yolk at the center to symbolize the moon. Doesn't that sound delish? In reality there are tons of different fillings, so it's usually a mystery when you take the first bite. I've had a sweet one with a yolk at the center that was tolerable. A co-worker told Brian this particular box should be a savory filling with whiskey so we opened it up for dessert last night and nervously took the first bite.

BIG mistake. It reeked of fish sauce gone bad. Brian compared it to cat food. Obviously, it went straight to the trash and we gargled with turpentine. Perhaps the instructions on the desiccant packet were also meant to apply to the cakes? We still have two family size mooncakes waiting to be opened, and I just don't know if we're brave enough.

Next year, I'm so putting in a request for these full mooncakes from Goods of Desire in Hong Kong!

Food Fight! or Make Brian Eat This!

Thanks to last weekend's visit to the local market, we have our next mystery food item. As usual, use the comment field below to make your best guess!

Hints:
1. It can be cooked to make a strong, water-resistant glue.
2. When dried, it produces an ingredient used in the clarification of beer and wine.
3. Is considered a delicacy in Asia, served braised or in stews

 

If someone correctly identifies it (Hint #4-I'm counting on Bri's NEAq and UNE friends to know!), I'll actually buy some, make a soup, and make Brian eat it.

A trip to the market

The hideously hot and muggy weather we've been having finally broke. This mercifully means that "I'm going to the grocery store" is no longer synonymous with "I'm only walking two blocks  to the grocery store because I love you and I realize we've been completely out of food for three days, so please have an ice bath waiting for me when I get back because I'm going to start sweating prolifically the moment I walk out the door."

In light of this miraculous meteorological shift, Brian, his co-worker Anne and I wandered the town Saturday afternoon. First we hit a park and the pedestrian shopping streets, where I showed them a  store selling clothes intended for export that didn't meet quality standards. This wasn't quite the success I'd hoped--apparently we're still giants by export standards. We bought the only two XXXL shirts in the entire store for Brian and I found three cute men's large t-shirts  for myself. I wonder if people think I look masculine wearing them--I know Brian would kill me if I was able to find them in his size!

Mahjong at the park. Quite the spectator sport!

Grandmas practicing Tai Chi

Chinese yoyo guru!

Later we found a farmer's market not too far from home.

Food Fight Redux!

This recently appeared in our grocery store in huge quantities, so for just $0.12 I was headed home with the mystery food of the week. Our teacher told me it was delicious stir fried with garlic (it was just okay).  After looking online, it's semi-available in the States, so it might not be much of a mystery for some of you to guess.

 

And a very popular snack here. 

Yes, we've had it.

It tastes fine, it just isn't worth all the gnawing for a tiny amount of food.

P.S. I've heard from some of you that you can't enter your guesses in the comment field without registering. What you do is choose name/URL and just leave the URL field blank. No registration needed. Let me know if that doesn't work.