Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 7 – These are some vending machines from our local shopping plaza. They have an interesting mixture of items available: drinks, snacks (raisins, nuts, seaweed, cookies, etc.), gum, ginger candy, dried fruit, tissue packs, and cigarettes! www.myownchinesebrocade.com
Banana Flowers
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 6 – Today, I thought I’d share a picture of bananas growing. I’ve been reading about how bananas grow and did a little further research today. Bananas do not actually grow on trees, they are actually large herb plants! And, the fruit we eat, by botanical definition, should be classified as berries! Banana flowers, the large maroon/purple buds, also called blossoms or hearts, are also eaten; We have seen them in the fresh markets here and in the Philippines. They can be eaten raw or cooked, and are considered a vegetable when eaten. One of the routes that I walk along the lake has some banana trees that I’ve been watching, but today when I went by, one of the blossoms I just photographed a couple of days ago was missing. I guess someone decided it was a free meal. There’s much more about these plants that I won’t attempt to explain here, but, the “petals” of the bud are called bracts, which lift up one by one, uncovering the delicate white flowers beneath, which eventually become the bananas. In my picture, you can see all the wasps enjoying the nectar in these! The flowers eventually dry and fall off and the black “bottom” of the banana is formed. I’m going to watch for a banana flower to buy and cook, I’ll keep you posted! Back on July 31, I posted a picture of the local banana farms. https://linda-walsh-n6tp.squarespace.com/config/pages/568757bdd8af102bf3da0525
App Based Food Delivery
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, October 4 – Mobile app food delivery services are a big business in China. Rain or shine, fast food restaurants like KFC, McDonald’s (and Pizza Hut) even deliver! One of the biggest services is called “Eleme” which broken down into Chinese pinyin “E le me?” basically means “Are you hungry?” The other biggest ones are Baidu and Meituan. You can also often get discounts with these apps. Many restaurants also have their own delivery service instead of or in addition to through one of these larger companies. For many smaller Chinese restaurants, they just have a plastic crate attached to the back of the bicycle or electric bike for their deliveries. The larger companies have insulated boxes, and some places have insulated backpacks.
Quoted from a January 2016 article: “Founded in May 2014, Baidu's restaurant delivery service, waimai.baidu.com, has developed into a leading Internet take-out delivery platform with over 30 million registered users. The quantity of food delivered by these "knights" (their nickname) each day amounts to some 480 tonnes of grains, 400 tonnes of vegetables and 640 heads of cattle. Each delivery man travels about 14,000 kilometers per year on average, about the distance from Shanghai to New York.” http://www.chinadailyasia.com/chinafocus/2016-01/04/content_15367329.html
Pictured are food delivery drivers from: top - McDonald’s, lower left – Baidu, lower right – Meituan.
Fruit Tea
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 27 – Fruit “tea” isn’t really tea as Westerners think of tea, but it is fruit water. It is popular with either dried or fresh fruit, or a mixture. I like to make it for something slightly sweet, and it’s good hot or cold. Today I put in honey dates, red dates, longans and orange peel. I’d say it’s best to leave it sit at least 20 minutes after adding hot water. You can add water once or twice more, and depending how long you’ve left it sit, sometimes the fruit is still yummy to eat :-) www.myownchinesebrocade.com
Persimmons
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 23 – The persimmon season has started J I like to eat them fresh by either taking off the top and scooping the insides out, or, if they are too soft, just peeling the skin off and putting the insides in a bowl to eat. Last week, we made a puree from the fruit and made persimmon muffins (which were yummy!). We also like to buy them dried as a handy snack when we are out and about. There are numerous kinds of persimmons, and they can be sweet or astringent, so you have to know what you have before biting into it! The ones we get here look almost like tomatoes and are really sweet, but I can’t name which variety they are, in Chinese they were just called “red persimmons.” They are usually so soft when you buy them that you have to be really careful not to squish them when taking them home. I had never had a persimmon before coming to China and I remember when someone first gave me one I had no idea what it was! They supposedly have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for thousands of years, for a wide variety of things ranging from curing hiccoughs to hangovers! The dried ones we buy come 2 in a package for 2 rmb or about 30 cents usd, 2 fresh ones were 3.30 rmb or about 50 cents.
Corn Juice
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 17 – Corn Juice is a fairly common drink in China. I’ve had the basic kind, which is just sweetened corn juice, like the picture on the right, which is from our Pizza Hut menu. This one is served hot and is actually pretty good :-) The other day we saw the sign on the left in a little food court area in Dongguan, unfortunately after we had just had some tea, or I would have tried something new! It was for freshly squeezed corn juice, mixed with other ingredients: red bean, mung bean, black bean, banana, papaya and black sesame, as well as just plain corn. The advertising promotes it as fresh, healthy and natural, saying it is good for the stomach, spleen, protects against cancer, prevents aging and improves memory! Quite a list, if it’s true, I’ll try it just for the last two! You can also buy corn candy and corn ice cream bars here :-) (Thanks again to Leah for the help with translation)
Mooncakes
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 15 – Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, also called Moon Festival. It is the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar and celebrates the official start of fall. It is a holiday spent with family and/or friends, As with all holidays, having dinner together is important, then the evening (if possible) is spent gazing at the full moon, lighting lanterns, and eating mooncakes! Traditional mooncakes are a rich pastry, with sweet fillings of lotus seeds, red beans, nuts, or fruit, and a salted egg yolk in the very center. They are usually round to symbolize the moon. Because of their richness, they are not eaten whole, but cut into smaller wedges when served. There are many different types today, including snowskin mooncakes, which are made with a glutinous rice dough and are usually white or colored, and even frozen ice cream mooncakes! They are served with Chinese tea or fruit wines. Giving mooncakes as gifts is a tradition, so there are many, many options available to buy! Large, fancy, expensive packages, to smaller, single packaged individual ones. The majority come in pretty metal tins, I’m always tempted to buy them just for the tin! although I didn't get pictures of them this year!) I have a variety of mooncakes in the pictures:
Top: These are our homemade mooncakes :-) Middle left: These were ones we bought that we could eat because they had rice flour and bean starches instead of wheat flour, inside is egg yolk and black sesame. Middle center: This is a Starbucks snowskin mooncake. Middle right: Tins with snowskin and more traditional mooncakes. Bottom: Lots of gift packages to choose from at the supermarkets!
Chinglish on Candy Package
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 9 – I think I’ve said before how much I enjoy the sayings that are often found on packaging or actual products, especially food :-) Sometimes, the English isn’t quite right, it’s Chinglish!), but, I’m always thankful for these entertaining little sayings because they make shopping more fun! This is peanut ginger candy and the package says “May the breeze bring you thetenderness and warmth from me. Yet still you are here. At the bottom of my heat (heart?).” :-)
Red Amaranth Greens
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 7 – We are still working on our goal of trying all of the different greens available here, so, today we bought some red amaranth greens, called “hong xian cai.” There are also plain green ones (bai xian cai), but the red are so much prettier :-) Many people today know amaranth as a healthy gluten free grain. These are the nutritional leaves of the same plant, commonly available in Asia, but probably only in specialty stores in Western locations. The young leaves can be used in salads and I’m thinking may come in the mixed assortments you can buy in the USA (?) The leaves you buy in China are more mature and are best cooked. Fix it like you would spinach: stir fry, steam or put it in soup. The stems can be eaten if you want or you can just use the leaves. The reddish-purple color will bleed into any liquid you use. We just stir-fried ours, stems and leaves, with some garlic and a little seasoning. We probably could’ve used a little more seasoning than we did, but it was good, and considering its list of nutritional benefits, and low cost (less than 40 cents usd for the bunch!) I’ll eat it again :-)
Preserved Eggs
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 4 – Preserved eggs are commonly eaten in China, and have been for probably hundreds of years! They have many names; century eggs is probably one of the most common and supposedly “Songhua dan,” or pine-flower egg, is the proper name. The names are all somewhat misleading, as they are nowhere near a hundred years old and have nothing to do with pine, except that the designs of a peeled egg are said to resemble pine needles. They are usually made from duck eggs, but can also be made from quail or chicken eggs. For the ones we bought, the actual ingredients are duck eggs, water, salt and black tea. The carton also specifically states “no lead.” There are a couple methods of preparation today, but they are commonly soaked in a saline solution for a few weeks to a few months. Ours were wrapped individually in little plastic bags holding on the coating, which from research, seems to probably be clay, ash, salt and rice hulls. I know one thing, if you go by the smell alone, I don’t see why anyone would eat these! They have a VERY strong ammonia type smell! And I wasn’t crazy about the taste, but I ate it, the brownish, translucent “whites” were much better than the yolk!! The Chinese will often sprinkle soy sauce on the eggs or cut them up and add them to rice porridge. I guess the big selling point is that they don’t go bad????? We have 7 eggs left, so I guess we’ll try them in some recipes! What do others think of these? Feel free to comment! pr
Pizza Hut
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, September 2 – One of the chain restaurants we have at the plaza near our home is Pizza Hut. Known in China as 必胜客 Bì Shèng Kè, Pizza Huts can be found in most of the busier areas where we live in China. In all honesty, I can’t even tell you the last time I was in a Pizza Hut in the USA, but, I still know they are different here! They are much more of a nicer sit down restaurant than just a pizza joint. You can get anything from a pizza, called bi sa (pronounced bee sah) to a steak dinner. Being gluten intolerant, I can’t eat the pizza, so usually have a baked rice dish, typically something with sauce, meat, and cheese. Pizzas can be a little different also, in the summer, they had pizza with durian (actually fairly common), now they have one with Beijing duck and cucumber!
Cold Breakfast Cereal?
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, August 11 – See those 4 boxes of cereal on the bottom shelf? That is the cold breakfast cereal section at our local supermarket! Quite a difference from the USA where it fills an entire aisle! I sure am glad I don’t eat cereal for breakfast anymore! The Chinese people do like a hot “cereal” called rice congee or porridge for breakfast, and it often has some meat or preserved vegetables added in it. There is also oatmeal available at the supermarket. Where we used to live, the import stores did carry breakfast cereals but it cost about $10usd a box!
Double Seventh Festival
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, August 9 – Today is Chinese Valentine’s Day, called 七夕节“Qixijie” or “Double Seventh Festival.” It is always celebrated on the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar, and has been for about 2000 years! In modern times, it is celebrated much like the Western Valentine’s Day, which is also celebrated in China. Quoted from www.chinahighlights.com , here is the quick version of the legend behind the holiday:
“An oxherd, Niulang, with the help of his ox (the demoted cattle god) married a fairy, Zhinü, who became a weaver girl. Zhinü's mother, a goddess, returned Zhinü to heaven. Niulang pursued using the ox's hide. The goddess separated them by a river of stars (the Milky Way), but magpies were allowed to form a bridge for them to meet once a year (Qixi).”
So, how does the picture tie in? This morning, I saw an elderly lady walking, then she stopped and chose a long piece of bamboo from a pile of scaffolding on the ground and proceeded to carry it across the street. Then she started beating the branches of a tree with it! I HAD to find out what she was doing so walked over to her. I could see something reddish-orange, with black centers in the tree. She came over and showed me, talking the whole time, but all I understood as she pointed at the black centers, was that they were good to eat! So, I sent a picture to our young friend in the nearby town and she didn’t know, but found out from her grandmother what they were. They are “Ping Po” or “Chinese chestnuts! Also called “seven sister’s fruit” because it turns out that they are a traditional food of the qixijie or Chinese Valentine’s Day! When the black husk is broken open, the fruit/nut inside is a yellowish color (see upper right picture where she opened one) and can be eaten raw or cooked. They are different from the chestnuts roasted in winter time though, these ones are “Sterculia monosperma,” a tree native in this area. Quite a lot of information for one day! www.myownchinesebrocade.com
Gongfu Tea
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, August 8 – As a little girl, I loved tea parties and I collected small teacups…. And here I am now, 50 years later, still doing the same thing! One of the biggest challenges for me in China is resisting buying tea sets! Especially here in Guangdong province, where Gongfu style (or “kung fu” in Cantonese) tea sets are common. These are small sized teapots and cups, and they are either beautiful or super cute! There is also a definite art to drinking tea Gongfu style! The tea set and experience are as important as the taste of the tea!
A basic tea set consists of: the tea tray, filter and filter shelf, the gaiwan (used to brew the tea), the tea pitcher or “fair cup,” cups, the tea pot, tongs and a towel. You can have many additional pieces, including a tea pet! I remember the first time I was served tea this way at someone’s home in China, I was going by the American custom of finishing what you are served, and the hostess just kept refilling my cup! I had way too much tea that day, but learned that you should leave some tea in your cup and they won’t serve you more! And, be sure to smell your tea before drinking it! This picture is my “cute” Gongfu style teapots and cups :-) If you are interested in seeing how Gongfu style tea is prepared and served, here’s a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtWVkv_dw_c
Packing and Calendar Dates
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, August 6 – I just realized when I needed to name my picture that I wrote about “dates” yesterday as a food, and today I’m going to write about “dates” again! (I really didn’t plan this ahead!) Can you read the dates on the packages in the picture? I took these all today August 6, 2016. I remember when I first went to a supermarket in China, after looking at the first couple of food packages, I wondered why the items were expired, then after a few more, I decided that they must be packing dates on packages NOT expiration dates like we were used to in the USA! The dates are also written differently than we were used to: year, month, date. I still mix this up! Who knows how many times I’ve written my birth date wrong! Friends from other countries, what does the rest of the world do with dates ??? Packing vs expiration, and how to write a date?
Chinese Red Dates
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, August 5 – 红枣, “Hong zao,” Chinese red dates, or jujube, whatever you call them, they are delicious! This is the season for fresh dates where we live. There are different varieties, some are larger and more rounded, some smaller and oblong. The texture reminds me of an apple, they are crunchy and sweet, not juicy, but not dry either. Year round, dried red dates are popular here for a variety of uses. My picture shows a couple different sizes of whole dried red dates, some that are sliced, and a drink packet where they have been combined with medlar (goji berries) and sugar. I love to just put a big handful of dried dates in a cup, cover it with hot water and let it sit for a while until I have a delicious “tea.” The dried dates are also often used in soups, porridge, dim sum style cakes, and desserts, and they can be bought candied as a snack. They are also popular in Traditional Chinese Medicine as they are packed with nutrition. Maybe the fresh aren’t available worldwide, but good chances you can buy the dried ones!
Taiwanese Dessert
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, August 3 – I’m really glad that the Chinese like Taiwanese desserts and have plenty available because I LOVE the kind called “bao bing.” It is finely shaved ice, sweetened and sometimes in a milky sauce, then with a variety of toppings. My favorites are the sweet potato, purple potato and taro balls, black pearls, red (adzuki) beans, and coconut jelly. You can also get peanuts, herbal jelly, mung beans, Job’s tears, lotus seeds, and fresh baked taro or sweet potato. Places vary and may have different options. Then, there is often fresh mango on top! Tonight, Jim had to stay at work, so we had a “Girl’s night out.” Japanese dinner, saw “Secret Life of Pets” at the local cinema (very cute!), then shared a huge bowl of bao bing (top picture) :-) The bottom picture is a dessert I had in Guangzhou last week, the base was coconut milk instead of shaved ice. The other picture was a cute ad for buying the sweet potato and purple potato balls to make your own desserts at home. This is the answer to a heavenly dessert for gluten intolerant people like us!
Banana Farms
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, July 31 – The longer we are in Dongguan, and I see more areas, I’m realizing how many banana farms there are in the area! We’ve also been exploring more areas around the lake on our electric scooters recently and have seen farms along the lakeside. This one is between the lake and the road so I was able to get some good pictures today. There were no fences, but there was a “No Trespassing” sign posted with warnings of fines and being turned in to the police for trespassing or stealing bananas. I stayed on the road to take my pictures!
Straw Mushrooms
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, July 30 – It’s interesting how many more varieties of mushrooms there are available here in south China compared to the USA. These are “cao gu” or straw mushrooms. They are named that because they grow on straw from rice paddies. We’ve had these before, and the other night we had them again at a Chinese restaurant, so I decided to look them up. They are interesting because when we buy them, they are like little oval balls with squishy tops. When we cut them open, then we see the more recognizable mushroom shape. In reading, I’ve learned that these are in what is called the “egg stage,” before full maturity, and are considered “unpeeled”. They supposedly have more amino acids in this state, so that is how they are preferred. Once they mature, the cap of the mushroom bursts through the “veil” and they look like other mushrooms, they are then considered “peeled” straw mushrooms. The unpeeled ones are supposed to have a much stronger taste also, and if cooked without being cut open, will retain the juices inside until you bite into them. Straw mushrooms are supposed to be available in the USA in Asian stores, either canned or dried, and the packages supposedly say if they are peeled or unpeeled, but as with most canned foods, they have a different taste. We have always mixed them with other foods and thought they were good, but they do supposedly have a unique “earthy” taste form the straw they grow in. Has anyone tried them?
Small Street Restaurant
Life in China 2016: A Picture A Day, July 27 – Today, we had lunch at a small street restaurant in Guangzhou. These are very common and where a large number of the local working class and students eat. They are small, crowded and cheap! Lunch for the three of us was 36rmb or $5.40 usd! During extra busy times, they also have folding tables and plastic chairs or stools set-up on the sidewalk. There is generally no air conditioning and they are open to the street. We managed to get good seats in front of a wall mounted fan :-) Also, if there are extra seats at your table, and it’s busy, someone will most likely join you. Facing the restaurant, we sat on the left side, in the center (outside) the menu was posted on the wall, all in Chinese (no pictures), and a lady sitting there to take your order, collect your money and give you a number. On the right side was the small kitchen. Leah and I had BBQ pork rice rolls, our friend had shrimp in hers, and we shared some fried greens. The menu also had some soups, noodles, congee, rice, some vegetables, and more. Chopsticks are in a big crock on your table along with some seasonings. There was one lady serving the food and cleaning up the tables. The food was delicious!