Monday, November 16, 2009

Food Food the Glorious Food...















































































































So what did we love about China?...Well if you take one look at the photos you will find a central theme. FOOD! All of us Tomatoes love to eat...Cherries to Beefsteaks---We LOVE our food. I think one of my favorite things to do when traveling to another country is to check out the local markets and see what the offer in the grocery stores. I love trying new things and that love has been passed on to all of the Tomatoes.
I think back to the time when Linjit and I were at a Japanese grocery store and found that everyone around us was buying this interesting package of ??? something. We decided to by on and take it home only to discover it tasted like wax and was hard as a rock despite how long we cooked it. Only to find out from a Japanese friend that our special little item was not meant for consumption...it was an ornament for decoration. (I still cannot figure out why the instructions all in Japanese showed it boiling in water)
Once again in China we were thrilled with all of the magnificent food choices. We ate everything and everywhere from street vendors, to snack stations to smelly restaurants. Don't speak Chinese??? No problem just smile, point and say a prayer.
Not sure what we ate at times. We came home with a couple award winning dishes that we have been tinkering with here at home. My favorite right now is the cilantro and peanut salad.
Nanjing China Cilantro Salad
2 bunches of Cilantro chopped (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup of salted peanuts
1/3 cup of sesame soy vinigrete (3 T sesame oil, 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, 3T sugar, 2T soy sauce) add more vinegar to taste
Toss and eat.
Let me know if you like the salad. I LOVE it, but then I LOVE cilantro. I will be posting this salad over at TastyKitchen.
Oh...and did I mention that we also like to taste the local beverages? PeiJiu anyone?

2 comments:

Aus said...

Well glad that you enjoyed the local food while you guys were in country. We found a couple good restaurants - but for the most part were less than excited by the food. Ah well - I'm told that I have good taste in other things!

hugs - aus and co.

Shanna said...

Ahhhhh! I thought that I was the ONLY person that loved the food in China. I gained 7 lbs on our last trip. I found that sampling any new beer, any time of day, to be a nice experience as well. LOL!