This is where I live.
Hello, Internet. Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been getting acclimated to my (sweaty) surroundings here, where the humidity soars to 80-90% and the temperatures have been nearly hitting the triple digit mark in recent days. I only recently figured out AC, and this has meant that I’ve spent a lot of time waking up with my long head of hair soaked in sweat.
I have many more interesting conversations and experiences which I should really write down (conversations with taxicab drivers, mostly) but here’s some food I’ve been eating. There’s a lot more where this came from – check back tomorrow for more!
A better quality photograph of those strange little crayfish creatures - look for a GoodEater.org blog post soon!
One of my new Chinese friends who cooks at the restaurant which serves the crayfish above. He's from Henan, along with the rest of the staff. Here, he's holding a steamed Chinese bread called "mantou." We're about to eat our tasty dinner of stewed lamb bone soup, see below.
A soup made from boiled leftover lamb bones for many hours, combined with tofu and some other vegetables. This was the dinner that the employees of the small restaurant ate. I mix it with some extra chili and soak up the excess with mantou.
A Chinese table after a meal, littered with liquid and bony debris.
They serve fantastic mutton kebabs - smoky and crackling with fat.
A fish that has "squirrel" in the dishname because of the hatchback pattern the body is cut in, then deep fried. It was covered in a ketchupy sauce and sprinkled in pine nuts. Not very fresh and pretty underwhelming, but fun to look at.
The owner (center) was hilarious. He also had me serve as a translator for some Americans that came in who wanted to eat pork fried rice and fried pork ribs. I tried to steer them away from that option (because I had it, and it sucked) but hey, if you're determined...
I ordered a duck's head, and this is what arrived.
... and this is what was on the inside. I ate the brain (waxy) and kind of gave up on the rest. Not much meat here.
I can't ever get enough of chili-laced oil.
Lay's puts out interesting potato chip flavors here like "cucumber" "italian red meat" "mexican tomato chicken" and yes, "lychee." Which is a sweet Chinese fruit. It is basically a potato chip with this sweet aroma that wafts off of it. The plain flavor is called "American flavor."
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OMG
I know about lychees!!… they are sweet … I like the starfruits too!
I grew up near a chinatown and I would often steal one or two… on my way to playing soccer. I know all about Chinese food, don’t worry… keep it coming!
The food looks nice. My mouth is watering.
no the picture where the table is all messed up though.. omg that is a mess!
and all of the bones all over the place.. omg .. priceless!
cool though, ver real.
Pretty cool post. I just came by your site and wanted to say
that I have really liked reading your blog posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you post again soon!
That jian bing is so much worse-looking than the beijing kind. It’s hard and crispy, not soft and doughy. And the stand vendor uses his dirty hands. Ew.
Quit your whining, Jimmy. And it’s China, sanitation is a moot point.
this is the real deal folk, you will never be as close to china…unless you are in china town.
yeah i had duck head too, although it was more of the beak. the texture of the tongue really threw me off.
LYCHEE POTATOES!