Cooking

I've been meaning to post about learning to cook forever. So here it is!

During October holiday one of my students, Danielle, taught me to cook. She called around 10 and we went to the market to buy the needed food.

Here is a photo of buying eggs. It's so different than in the States, don't you think? Every week the price is different and you can buy as many as you want.

We (well, mostly Danielle) decided we would have four dishes: eggs & tomato, winter melon soup, thousand year old eggs, and potatoes.

The very first thing we did was to render pork fat to make lard. I never ever want to do that again. I admit lard makes food taste good. But I'm much, much happier using canola oil, and I'm sure my arteries are too!

For each dish I'll write the recipe and show a photo.

Eggs & Tomato
-put some lard in the pan on medium heat
-crack eggs into a bowl
-add some salt and scramble (with chopsticks)
-cook the eggs in the pan, take them out
-put sliced tomatoes, garlic shoots, a little water and some salt
-cook for a few minutes
-put the eggs back in


Winter Melon Soup
-put some lard in the pan on medium heat
-add 1/2" water, bring to a boil
-add winter melon and sliced ginger
-put some meat tenderizer on sliced pork
-add pork and salt, cook for five minutes
-add bean sprouts, chicken bullion and sliced tomatoes
-cook until melon is tender, add green onions


Thousand Year Old Eggs
(you must know that I really don't like these at all. They are eggs that are buried in cement for two weeks and then eaten. Ewwww)
-peel the eggs, chop
-mix cilantro, green onions and garlic
-put the eggs in the cilantro mixture

Potatoes
-put oil & lard in hot pan
-add sliced garlic, sliced green peppers
-sautee one minute
-add sliced (tenderized) pork, sautee one minute
-add shoestring potatoes, cook 4-5 minutes
-salt, cook until potatoes are tender

Shopping!

Grocery shopping in China is crazy! I actually love it. I go once or twice a week. I can't buy as much as I could in the states, because once I buy things I have to carry them to the bus stop, on the bus, off the bus, back to my apartment and up six flights of stairs.

There are no carts at the grocery store - only baskets. It's a good thing, because if there were carts I'd buy way too much stuff!

Anyway, I do all my shopping in two legs. The first leg is at the grocery store. The closest thing to it in America is Walmart: it has household items and non-perishable food items. There is a very small produce section, and I think you can also buy meat there.

The name of our grocery store is Wong Ke Long. I think it is a brand name like "Walmart" or "Wegmans", not a generic name for "grocery store". It's funny, one of the American teachers here who has lived in China for eight years and is fluent in Chinese calls it the "Wonka", for short. "Wong Ke" usually comes out "wonka". So we call it the wonka long!

We take the bus into town and walk three blocks to the wonka. I sometimes buy bleach or shampoo from the second floor. Then we go downstairs and buy non-perishable food. For some of the other teachers this means cookies and crackers. For me it usually means oatmeal, canola oil, brown sugar, or rice. I generally spend about 30 kuai (kuai = reminbi = yuan; it's the unit of money here, and there are 8 kuai in 1 dollar).

Then I put my purchases into my backpack and walk three blocks back to the bus stop for the second leg. I overshoot the bus stop by maybe 10 feet and arrive at the outdoor market. It is essentially a wide alley that has fruit, vegetable and meat vendors on both sides for 1/4 to 1/2 mile. We generally only shop in the first half since the second half just repeats.

Some vendors just sell what is in season. Peas are out of season, but squash is in season.

My pattern is to walk up to a vendor, point to something and ask "duoshao qian yi jin", which means "how much does this cost for one pound". (A jin is half a kilogram, which is 1.1 pound). If the price is too high I say "tai gui le" which means "that's too expensive!" and move on. If the price is reasonable I say "hao" ("good") and put as many as I want into a bag. Then they weigh the bag and I pay for my vegetables.

Some things are very reasonable: potatoes cost .8 kuai a pound, carrots and celery are generally 1.5 kuai a pound. Soybeans and tomatoes can be 4 kuai a pound, and peas (which are out of season) are upwards of 7 kuai a pound.

You can also buy meat at this market. There is one vendor which carries frozen chicken breasts (YAY!), or you can buy a whole chicken (whole as in head, feet, everyhing!). Most of the chickens in the market are alive. You can watch them pluck the chickens - I usually avoid that part of the market!! When I bought my [first] whole chicken yesterday I said "bu yao" (I don't want) and pointed to the head and the feet. They looked at me like I was crazy and I said (in English - good call, Liz) "I don't want the head or the feet". I was pointing to my own head and feet. Somehow, they understood me!

There is very little beef in this part of China. So we eat chicken and pork. Pretty much anywhere we use beef in the States, we use pork in China. The pork process is the same - "how much does it cost?", "I want one pound". They have machines right there (the market is outside!) that will grind your chosen cut of meat. Sometimes I buy ground pork, sometimes I buy it whole. They will also sell you pork fat, which you can render to make lard (I have successfully avoided that, so far!).

Oh, you can buy fish (which are alive) there. They sell it to you alive and you kill it, etc. at home. I am not nearly brave enough to do that!

Also at the market you can get good prices on spices (which you buy whole and are freshly ground for you), grains (I buy flour and cornmeal from one nice lady), and beans. You can even buy freshly cooked beans, which is very convenient. In fact, I bought a pound of cooked kidney beans for 1 kuai this morning!

Here is a list of all the vegetables I can think of that are available at the market:
Leafy greens, spinach, water spinach, eggplant, onions, tomatoes, green onions, garlic shoots, bean sprouts, potatoes, peas, soybeans, corn, carrots, celery, bamboo shoots, cauliflower, broccoli, cucumber, peppers, squash, and a bunch of native vegetables that I don't know what they are.

Fruits include apples, bananas, oranges (which are green), pomegranates, pummelos, grapefruit, grapes, and kiwi.

When I have purchased all that I want to I head to the bus stop and take the bus back to the university.

The other option is to go to the morning market which is close to the school. It's a smaller version of the outdoor market and is set about 1/2 mile from campus. Most of the people who run the restaurants on campus buy their vegetables and meat there. The only thing is that it is gone by 10am. So when I don't have early classes I try to walk to that market. I'd much rather walk 1/2 mile than take the bus for a half an hour.

Chicken take two

Well, the chicken was a success.

Much like Chinese people, Chinese chickens have very little meat on their bones. In fact, laying on its back, this chicken was taller than it was wide. I couldn't even fit it in the (toaster) oven. So I had to lay it on its side. Crazy, eh?

The roasted chicken was delicious! I also made mashed potatoes and sauteed baby spinach. I even made gravy (which will not be a surprise to my family). It was so yummy.

After dinner I picked all the meat off the bones. I'll use it in quesadillas or chicken salad or something.

And then I boiled the bones with some onions, garlic, celery and carrots for chicken stock. It made my house smell so wonderful! I strained out the solids. I froze 4 cups in 1/2 c. portions for future use.

Iam currently making chicken noodle soup out of the rest. I added penne, carrots, some shredded chicken (from last night) and oregano. It is the best chicken noodle soup I've ever had!

Mmmmmmmmm.

So, the answer is "yes". The chicken was a success!

Chicken!

So, I just bought a chicken.

Yesterday sometime, I was thinking about how much I love a good, roasted chicken. You know, you put onions in the cavity and the skin gets crispy. You can even make gravy!

Well, the only chicken I had was in the form of boneless/skinless, so I decided to brave the fresh meat market.

Sara came with me, as we also did some general grocery shopping. I told her that I was planning on buying a whole chicken. She looked at me with disbelief, but accompanied me, nevertheless.

Most of the chickens at the market are still alive. As I've never purchased a whole chicken before, I was unsure as to whether you chose your favorite live chicken and they cleaned it for you, or what.

But luckily there were two and a half whole, dead, plucked chickens laying on a board. I walked to the people and said "bu yao" (I don't want) and pointed to the head and the feet. They looked at me like I was crazy and I said (in English - good call, Liz) "I don't want the head or the feet". I was pointing to my own head and feet.

Somehow, they understood me. The guy picked up the chicken and put his knife on the neck. I nodded my head, and Sara and I both closed our eyes (I don't want to see a chicken decapitated!). He also cut the feet off for me. I said to Sara, "hey, it looks like a chicken!".

They weighed it and I paid 13 kuai and got myself a chicken!

I'm about to go put it in the oven. I'll let you know if it's as delicious as I had hoped!

Palmolive Tomatoes

There is an episode of "Friends" that goes like this:


CHANDLER: I'm serious, let me do something, just not the turkey or the stuffing, nothing "high profile".

MONICA: Ok, let's see... Oh, the cranberry sauce, it is easy to make and no-one really cares about it.

CHANDLER: Tell me more.

MONICA: Okay, I'm gonna go check on something across the hall. You start by washing these (she gives Chandler a bowl with cranberries. Then, while she's going outside, she sees him with a bottle of soap in his hands) Not with soap!! (she leaves)

CHANDLER: You obviously haven't tasted my Palmolive potatoes!

That's funny because you would never think of washing vegetables with soap....

....unless you live in China.



This is a photo of my dishwashing soap. There is a picture of dishes AND of vegetables! There is some spinach, a lemon and a red pepper. This is because here people use the same soap to wash vegetables & fruits and dishes.










They say "boil it, peel it, or forget it!" I was so prepared for a year without fresh fruits or vegetables. But washing with this soap seems to be sufficient. I've eaten (washed) raw carrots, celery, cucumber, apples, tomatoes...and I haven't been sick yet!

I think that the picture of the tomatoes in the sink and the dish rack is hilarious. By the way - did you know that tomatoes float?



Well, that's all I have, I'll write more later!!

Homemade, Homemade, Homemade Ravioli

Tuesday was my night to cook dinner and I decided to make Ravioli. I looked online at "recipes" - which in my opinion can barely call themselves recipes - whose ingredients were: 1 pound frozen ravioli, jarred tomato sauce. I mean really! That's not a recipe!

Anyway, certain ingredients hare hard to find here (like frozen ravioli, or jarred tomato sauce...), but I was pretty sure I could make it myself. I made pasta a dozen times or so in college. It's an easy process, but it's time consuming. The only ready made ingredients I had were cheese, and a jar of tomato paste.

So I made "three-times-over homemade ravioli".

Homemade #1: I made ricotta cheese
Actually, I made fresh cheese a couple of weeks ago and put it in the freezer. I had read some recipes online and was sure that I could do it myself. You heat milk to almost boiling, add vinegar, let it curdle and separate the curds from the whey (a la Little Miss Muffet). It was pretty easy, but very messy. I don't think I would eat it with a spoon or anything, but it worked in the ravioli.

Homemade #2: I made tomato sauce
This was actually my favorite part of the process. I found a good recipe for roasted tomato sauce that's essentially tomatoes and garlic, roasted for like 45 minutes and mushed up with some spices. I mixed it with my jar of tomato paste for a pretty good tomato sauce.

Homemade #3: I made pasta
Yes, I actually made pasta. The recipe is 1 c. flour, 1 egg, 1 T water, 1 T oil. You put the flour in a bowl and make a little well in the middle. You put the egg, water and oil in the middle and begin to mix together with your fingers. Incorporate more flour until it is one big paste-y mess. Then you knead it for a while, roll it out, and either fill it (for ravioli) or cut and dry it (for spaghetti).

So, I took all of my ingredients (homemade and otherwise) and made ravioli. I rolled out the dough, put little spoonfuls of the cheese mixture (ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and egg) on the pasta, folded the pasta over to cover the cheese, used some water to keep the filling in. Then I boiled the ravioli for 3-5 minutes. I layered a baking dish with tomato sauce and ravioli and baked that for 30ish minutes and then topped it with some more mozzarella.

And it turned out pretty well :) I served it with garlic toast. Yummmmy.

I was telling someone that I can make pletny of things here, it's just not very convenient, you know? :)

The week with all the power outages

So around here they just turn the power off from time to time. It's not that there was a storm and the lines are down or anything - they choose to turn the power off. There is only so much electricity to go around, and they will turn it off on campus buildings to do construction or to check wires or something.

It happened twice this week - Tuesday and Thursday. They turn the power off around 8am, and it comes back on at 6pm. It makes for a quiet day. And it means no internet connection, hence few blog updates this week...

The week was good. Still no Literature book... Sara, Kris and I decided to do a rotating dinner schedule. I cook Tuesday dinner, Sara cooks Wednesday dinner and Kris cooks Friday lunch. It's nice to cook a big meal and to have company!

We started this week and it went pretty well. I made scalloped potatoes with green onions. The only "regular" onions I could find were red, and I didn't really want pink scalloped potatoes :) So I bought a pound of green onions (which is a lotof green onions!) and just used the white parts. It was reasonably successful. Sara made "coca cola chicken" which was good, and Kris made cream of chicken soup and biscuits. Mmmmm, I may get spoiled on this plan!

This weekend has been delightfully quiet. I have done very little. Yesterday my accomplishments included some grading, doing dishes and sweeping. And I spread that out over the whole day! Since yesterday I have watched the entire A&E Pride and Prejudice - three hours yesterday and three hours today.

I bought some yarn and am working on a blanket for my sofa. It's coming along pretty well!

I needed this weekend. I guess one of the biggest aspects of culture shock is just that it takes significantly more effort to do "everyday" things. Buying groceries in a different language, taking a bus into a new city, climbing 106 stairs to get to your apartment... they all take a physical toll, you know? So down time and rest are vital in maintaining sanity!

Well, I have a meeting with my group here tonight, but nothing else is on the agenda for today. Maybe I'll take a nap... :)

Banquet

Monday night the English department had a banquet.

We all took a bus to somewhere (I have no idea...a restaurant, maybe) and sat in a little room and had a banquet. Most of the faculty were there: five foreign teachers (three with ULS, my organization, two with Peace Corps) and maybe 12 Chinese English teachers. The head of the department, Jack, was there too.

We sat around for a little while. Some of the teachers played Mah Jong for money (Kris said that teachers can rack up a huge debt playing mah jong: 20,000 yuan in one night!!)

Then dinner was served. We sat at a round table that had a very large lazy susan in the middle of it. They put platters of food on the lazy susan, and you would just spin it so that what you wanted was in front of you. There was a spicy pork dish, a whole fish (including the eyes) that you would just pick some flesh from and eat it, several soups, some rice noodle dishes, some mashed potatoes, some vegetable dishes... it was crazy! And everyone uses their chopsticks to take a bite or two of what they want. We had rice in our bowls and just ate and ate for hours.

It was really spicy and the only drinks were beer and hot tea. As I'm not much of a beer drinker, I drank hot tea from a plastic cup. The food was very spicy and the tea was very hot...that's not the best combination!

At one point the other table was laughing a lot at one of the teachers. He was saying "let's go" in all of the different tones. It sounded like "Let's! Go!", "Let's Go?" "Let's Go!!" "Let's Go..." I mean, it was obviously the same phrase, but they think it's so funny that the same words said in different tones still mean the same thing in English. I'm still having such a hard time with tones that I didn't even get the joke-I had to ask Kris!

We got home very late 9:30 and I think I just fell into bed. But it was a good night!