OLD TOWN EVENING

Music night in the old town.

CHRISTMAS IN CHINA

Christmas is becoming more popular in China, and there is a feeling the Chinese feel they have been missing out on something, as one thing they love is a good party! Duck Banquet on Christmas Day.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the Chinese: here are some of my Christmas gifts:

Here are some of my students at work and my demo drawing: they are actually improving quite a lot!

When I go out this is how I look, owing to the bitter cold and polluted air!

This is one of the local rice wines, it can be served warm like sake.

MEETING PEOPLE

I have a few meals out with friends and colleagues, as Christmas approaches.

FOOD UPDATE

As I get more confident with my cooking I make more European food like seafood paella, soup and spaghetti bolognaise.

This lady on a street stall sells a local delicacy: donkey burger!

MORE HOME COOKING

A couple more homemade dishes, vegetable curry and squid rings with fried vegetables and pickles!

HOME COOKING

I find myself becoming a bit of a pancake nut: I often make pancakes and strawberries, and seafood crepes: I do miss being able to make dishes like moules mariniere, but am looking forward to making stew and curry. Despite having my non-stick pan to which things invariably stick. At least I can make chip butties, salad and egg mayonnaise as well!

FOOD

You get very generous portions: here are a few things I've had: stew and vegetables, seafood and hotpot!

EATING

Feeding myself in China can be something of a frustrating experience: you wouldn't think it would you in such a land with so rich a variety of natural resources? I do eat out a bit but since falling ill I trust my own cooking a bit more: even the locals are not altogether convinced about some of the restaurant food!  This weekend I stay in a small hotel in the city centre to sample a bit of night life: a few beers and pizza with friends. I also find a charming place to eat in the old quarter  so invite a few friends out: we'll see what it's like!

SHOPPING

Going out and buying food in China is something of a challenge like everything else. Even in the best supermarkets you don't have much choice except to wander around endlessly looking for things, if you can't speak the language. I look carefully at packages and scan for signs of what I'm looking for. Buying meat is OK, when I wanted beef recently I stuck my fingers out on top of my head and mooed, the lady pointed me in the right direction, and fish you can just point at.
Near where I work buying vegetables is less easy than you might think, there is a food market nearby, you'd think buying veggies is easy wouldn't you? Wrong. There are dozens of stalls and all they sell is fruit. Honest!  Row on row of fruit: not a veggie in sight! Does anyone eat that much of the stuff? There are even shops selling nothing but apples and bananas! And there are big supermarkets with entire sections selling nothing but yoghurt: skiploads, truckloads of the stuff. (Personally I have never seen the point of yoghurt: or why if you walk into a big supermarket about a quarter of the floor space is taken up with yoghurt. Ok I'm exaggerating a bit but I'm sure you know what I mean.)  So if you can live on fruit and yoghurt, you're sorted! But for a balanced diet you do have to shop around a bit.