Chinese Cuisine

 Large filled dumplings.  We never know what the filling will be until that first bite.

 The lavender “roll” has a dark purple filling.  It is most likely a purple sweet potato filling.   They use a lot of red bean paste to fill rolls, bread and dumplings.  However, the purple product has a flavor that is unidentifiable to my palette.

 My teeth discovered this star-shaped seasoning item.  It was as hard as a rock.  I don’t even know what it is.   Note the twisted, steamed roll.  Most of their bread is steamed not baked.

 Meat on a stick and a bowl of rice and veggies

 Spinner dinner!!  This is a common restaurant scene, especially when busloads of tourists approach a restaurant.  All the dishes are placed on the “spinner” (I prefer that term to Lazy Susan) and everyone uses chopsticks to serve themselves on the small plates provided.  The spinner dinner always includes rice and soup.

 Dumpling dinner.  Notice the different shapes of dumplings.  The orange color has a duck filling and they are twisted into the shape of a duck.  The purple potato filling was my favorite.

 The cooked balls with sweet potato filling were my delicious.  We are enjoying dinner with the Gordons and Lily.  She is a great supporter of BYU teachers who uses her taxi friends to take us to the airport when we travel. 

 The soup bowls are HUGE.  It is difficult to eat all the wonderful, slippery noodles with chopsticks.  The soup spoons are also very large and awkward to manage.  Soup is a common meal and some varieties are the highlight of the meal.

 Yay!!  I’m the winner!!  I have the chicken’s head.  (No, I did not eat it.)  This prize was passed around the table so everyone could talk a picture holding it.

 Potatoes are cooked differently in China.  Our favorite style is this thinly cut piece which is sautéed briefly with a few veggies and too many hot peppers.  We will try to duplicate this dish at home, without the MSG.

 Choose the type and cut of meat you like.

 Fresh poultry?  In the open market you choose the actual live chicken.

 Pheasant under glass?  Peking duck?  You choose the delicacy you prefer.  We have not eaten a lot of meat in China.  I can’t explain why.  Do the pictures help?

 These unique delicacies are shrimp flavored rice puffs.  They were part of the meal package – much like potato chips in the US.  There is not much taste and the texture is annoying. 

 We have sampled delicious melons.  These small treats are tasty.

 This bright yellow melon is sweet and similar to honey dew.

 Sam treated Rachel (another English teacher) and us to an authentic Korean dinner, in Jinan.  Rick especially likes the rice noodles with veggies.  The pumpkin soup was exquisite.

 Making dumplings with the help of Chinese students

 They demanded that we make the dough just right.  Working it into a perfect circle was a challenge.

 The carefully prepared meat filling then goes inside.

 Dumplings are folded in a particular fashion.  The folds and dimples take a lot of practice.

 They are ready to be boiled and eaten.  Truthfully, they turned out great!

Our final dinner with Wade, Mia and Thome.  These students have become our family.  Mia ordered a fabulous dinner of famous Shandong cuisine.  Note the whole fish on the platter.  Actually, it was delicious.  The sweet and sour shrimp was the best we’ve ever tasted.  Mia taught us how to eat the shrimp with chopsticks.  Remember, the shrimp are served with heads, large beady eyes, tails, and everything else.