Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, July 22 – Yesterday, Leah and I had lunch with a Chinese friend at a Hunan cuisine restaurant. There are actually 8 main types of Chinese regional cuisines. Hunan is known to be spicy, and I don’t eat spicy food, so, in a search for some dishes that weren’t spicy, one dish we ordered was the “鸡蛋挑石头,” “Jidan tiao shitou” or “Eggs Stirred with Stones.” I thought by the picture that it was steamed eggs, which are common here, so I was surprised when our dish arrived. The waiter set a hot stoneware pan with big black stones down, then poured the uncooked egg mixture in and started stirring! Amazing how fast the eggs cooked! Basically scrambled eggs cooked in a hot pot with stones! Then as they sat while we ate, the bottom browned a little more and was really good. The eggs WERE spicy! Too much for me to eat alone, so I mixed them with the fried rice we had also ordered and enjoyed it that way. We also had a cauliflower dish. If you’d like to read the basics of China’s 8 cuisines, this page is simple and informative : http://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-food/eight-cuisine.htm