food

Please note: I can post to this blog, but I cannot view the page with the actual entries on it, so if there's a lot of mistakes, I apologize, I cannot fix them.

Anyways, I should say something about my experiences with food thus far. I've tried some very good things, and some very 'not good' things. The first night we arrived here, TBC took us to dinner to this restaurant nearby and it was NOT good. For starters, there was this mysterious dish that consisted of bones that had little or no meat whatsoever. It was literally bones covered in some kind of sauce. Even more curious was the fact that all of these bones looked like little vertebrae and ribs, which made us wonder: what animal did these bones come from? It was kind of frightening. Anyways, the next day we went to the cafeteria for the first time and I tried gyoza (dumplings) and baoyza?(like a bread-dumpling), which were okay. We went as a group to the restaurant on campus and the food was great for the most part. We had this chicken that was just like from home, but then this really spicy meat that we presumed to be lamb or beef - boy was it HOT. My favorite was this yellow bread-type stuff that was served towards the end, which I took a picture of because it's wonderful. I also had the Chinese equivalent of a french fry, and get this, it was BETTER than American fries. The way they cook potatoes is superior here, I must confess. I've also tried the famous long noodles and they are great because they are made fresh from dough and cooked quickly in boiling water - you can taste how fresh they are and it's delicious. The other day I tried a dish that was kind of like home fries and it was great.

Using chopsticks is getting easier, but it's still a bit tricky with some foods. Noodles are tricky, rice is getting better because the rice here is different: it's really thick and sticky, much bigger and better than in the states. My favorite thing thus far is probably that awesome bread-thing, but the noodles are amazing. Today I tried this meat and potato dish, but the broth tasted like black licorice, which I don't like. The meat was good but we weren't sure what it was - I'm learning not to care anymore, you just put it in your mouth and spit it out if it's awful. Speaking of spitting, the meat here is not like in the states - there is always a ton of bones and gristle in the meat, and thus we're always have to spit stuff out, which is common. I was told that the Chinese just spit the bones out on the table, but I've yet to see this. I don't like all the bones everywhere, but if you get hungry enough you put up with it.

I found popcorn that's like kettle corn, and it was pretty good. It is popular to put stuff on a stick here - like fruits and meats. Every night there are stands that have grills cooking hot meat skewers and there is always a TON of people gathered around eating. They smell really good but I haven't had the chance to try one yet. Also popular here on campus is little fruits on a long thin stick which is then dipped in a sugary coating - it's like a candy apple in the states. Those are pretty good as well.
One thing I noticed that is odd is that the Chinese don't drink with their meals. I have yet to see a Chinese person have a drink with his or her meal. And there is never any napkins available. This is probably because the Chinese aren't messy. They literally lean directly over their bowls and plates when they eat. Everyone eats with their heads bent over as they quickly put food into their mouths.
I found some American comfort foods here such as microwave popcorn, Chips Ahoy/Oreos, Skippy peanut butter, and pop. The Chips Ahoy have different flavors than at home, such as coffee, nut, and orange, while the Oreos are the same. Microwave popcorn (orville redenbacher) tastes just the same because it's made in the USA, and peanut butter is the same. Chinese chocolate seems to be weaker in flavor than Euro-American varieties. Today Lauren and I tried cake, but it had weird bits of fruit in it, and fruit on top and whipped cream. Hers was lilac colored and tasted like berries of some sort, mine was tan and had chocolate shavings but lord knows what flavor the cake was supposed to be. It was just so pretty we had to try it.

Most importantly though is the fact that Coke Light tastes very different from Diet Coke. It's more like Coke Zero or something similar. The other pops taste the same to me, like Sprite and Coke, probably because I don't drink them at home. The best part is that meals on campus cost less than US $1 so even if I don't like something, it's okay.