May 2008

I promise... this will be the last FOOD posting :-))
(Hi Val :-) )

At a cheap-but-busy seafood restaurant in Shanghai, specialising in Hunan cuisine... no English menu here... we ordered blind & were surprised to be served with a metal 'basin' of still-boiling oil(!), with whole red chillies & peppercorns floating on top... and fillets of (fresh water) fish! Wow, delicious... the oil seems to retain flavour. A Hunan specialty I learn subsequently.

Postscript 1: A 2nd dish ordered was a bowl of small white dumpling balls with sesame paste filling, in sweet syrup... again, a very nice surprise... but the fish above was a hard act to follow.

Postcript 2: To outsiders, Hunan style cuisine often seems like just an excuse to eat quantities of whole red chillies & chilli oil!

The Big Ones here in this city are Tian An Men Square & the adjacent Forbidden City.

This pic only begins to convey the vastness of this 40 hectares (400,000 sq m) of open space. Police presence is everywhere in China...reassuring for visitors... but I'm not sure if it means the same to the Chinese, esp in light of the tragic events of 1989 which forever will be associated with the name of this public space.

But the Real Biggie here in China lies just 90km outside Beijing..... The Great Wall of China!

(Our 70yr old(est.) guide took us on foot on a 3hr trek over an original, unrestored section/s of the wall - he was incredible, we were half knackered. This trip is called the 'Secret Wall' tour.)

Beijing was formerly called Peking, right?
So... Peking Duck was uppermost on Lily's mind... as can be seen in this pic :-))

(Not a big Duck fan myself, but it was very fine, Lily was impressed & no complaints about price...RMB86 (NZD16) for this + mushrooms & vegetables + a large beer! The remainder of the (half) Duck arrives in a large tureen of soup.)

Here's evidence showing Lily biking around the City Wall of Xi'an.

Originally built in 7~10thC Tang Dynasty & enlarged by 14~17thC Ming Dynasty to it's present size. You can just see old rooftops on the inside.

4 sided, 13km in total length, 12m tall 12m wide at top.... biking takes 90mins, walking takes 2~3hrs to get around!

The Good News is that lots of restaurants have menus with lovely photos & English translations.
Not only that, the food that comes out usually resembles the photographs exactly!

The Bad News is that the English translations can be confusing..... although can be entertaining,...
eg. the best we've come across so far are.....

- The Flat Piece of Stone Burns the Fresh Juice Squid Tube
- Salamanders Unexploded Geese Post (any guesses???)
- Iced Glutinous Fice Wins (a refreshing cold drink resembling home brewed ginger beer)
- Mushroom Casserole is Brought Along (which we figured was a Mushroom casserole but with Broad, Long noodles :-) )

Our prize is presently awarded to this one...
- US Pole Despot Snake (yup, reptilian dish, this one)

And a close second...
- Ruthless Cook Abysmal Sea Lithopsporic Belly (I've NO idea!)

He he.