Chinese food

Even with all the horror stories about the food in China (e.g. scorpions on a stick!), there really are some tasty dishes offered. We were treated to a traditional Chinese meal during our trip to Qingdao. Our host explained that the dishes we were having were a mix of both Cantonese and Sichuan.

On the middle of the table is a large glass lazy susan on which various dishes are served in what we would call family style. You spin the dish you want in front of you (or your host spins it over to you) and you dish out onto your plate the amount you want. If you are squimish about sharing your food, you'd probably cringe that everyone takes what they want with the chopsticks with which they are eating. About halfway through the meal, our hosts asked for spoons to be put on each dish so we wouldn't have to "double dip" with our own chopsticks.

During the cultural immersion class we had the first full day we were in Beijing, we had a chopstick contest. Each table had a plate in the middle with some dried beans on it. There were about 5 or 6 of us at a table and we had to see how many beans we could pick up off the plate in 2 minutes. It was really fun and beans were flying everywhere!

Back to the food. . .
Although the fish may look a little intimidating with the head still on, it was actually quite tasty! The ribs were pretty spicy, but went down quite well with my Tsingtao beer (a beer locally produced in Qingdao). We also were served Peking Duck, which I've explained in a previous post (April, Peking Duck). I don't care for the skin, but the duck meat itself dipped into the sauce is really good.

Also offered at this meal was a soup that I can't remember the name of. It was basically a congee with Peking Duck meat in it. Congee is a type of rice porridge. Rice is cooked down in lots of water until the rice breaks apart and becomes a viscous mixture. The texture is comparable to runny oatmeal or overcooked cream of wheat. There are many variations of congee and is quite popular as a breakfast dish. It is usually eaten with savory items such as wheat gluten, various pastes, and some type of fermented egg.

I don't know if these pumpkin dumplings were served because it was Halloween or for the fall season, but I loved them and ate them everytime they were offered. Dumplings are balls of dough stuffed with different ingredients, in this case it was pumpkin. I've seen dumplings offered for breakfast and at the evening meal and stuffed with an assortment of meats. I think they can be pan fried, but I like them steamed as the ones in the picture are.

All in all, we weren't gonna starve in China. I certainly didn't lose any weight anyway! For team leaders, coaches, and staff, it's OK to be adventurous in these trips with the food, but during the Olympics is another story! Although we found several unfamilar foods to our liking, during competition is not the time for athletes to be experimenting with unfamiliar foods. And that fact is the reason I continue to go to Beijing prior to the 2008 Olympic Games.

I'm not scheduled for anymore travel until the week after Thanksgiving (San Diego, CA). Knowing my life, something will happen between now and then to post about, so please keep checking the blog and I'll try to keep you entertained!!