A little bit of China, once in awhile

[deuem]

From time to time if I happen to capture an interesting photo or something by request, I will post it here.

Sky and I were talking about eggplant so I went up to the local BBQ outside snack bar and had some. The pictures were taken with my cell phone which has no flash and it is dark there so I lightened them up in PS to see better.

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Egg Plant, This tastes a lot better than it might look. I can eat several of them and to be honest, I hate eggplant. Grilling them this way changes the meat and taste so much it makes it worth the trip.



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Shrimp, yea, stick a chopstick in it and toss it on the barbie



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Outside BBQ Area, not exactly very clean, but very cheap and open on weekends till the sun comes up. I know this fact first hand too many times. Pitchers of beer and snacks with friends all night. whoohoo! By morning this is all packed up and gone and back to being a parking lot for the day shift. Every day it rolls in, sets up and then leaves. They rent the parking lot for the night. Double usage!



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Dumpling, Meat filled, might be pork. Wrapped in a rice based bread and then steamed.



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Tsingtao, this is the original so we call it old tsingtao, the new one is not as good IMHO. Either way they cost about $1 each and you can get them ice cold or warm. I don't know why but a lot of locals only drink warm beer. Room temp, which today is about 35C. I will take the ice cold ones, thank you.



The night of these photos was an early one, we just stopped by to get the photos. This parking lot has 2 large BBQ vendors and a bunch of small ones. Maybe you think it is crazy but they make a lot of money every night. Their rent for the space ( maybe 200m2) is about $1,500 USD a month. That is a lot of money here for no buliding.
Deuem

[A51Watcher]

Showing that stuff is SO not fair! (yummmmmMMMM!!)

Last time I was in Hong Kong for 2 weeks, I managed to gain 12 lbs!


As you might imagine, I sort of enjoy chinese dishes!   

[deuem]

Showing that stuff is SO not fair! (yummmmmMMMM!!)

Last time I was in Hong Kong for 2 weeks, I managed to gain 12 lbs!


As you might imagine, I sort of enjoy chinese dishes! 

It is also very interesting to me how they all stay so skinny. I eat the same food!

If some of them walk into me they think the got hit by a truck. I am not that big of a guy, just solid. I can usually pick one up with each arm.  But there is a chance coming. It is called bread.  I have now started to see a lot of fat Chinese people wondering around.
I ask, do you now eat bread, YES, they say, I like being heavy, it is a sign of wealth! I said Ok, in that case there are many, many millionaires in the states. Believe it or not, they are after this look. Maybe that is why they think I am rich! lol

Oh another thing, I have never once tasted anything here that tastes like Chinese food in the States. The ingredients are so different, the taste changes or was changed to meet US taste buds.   Deuem

[burntheships]

Deuem,

Nice pics, you have my mouth watering over the
eggplant especially!

Looks delish!
I see some herbs, and what else?

[deuem]

Deuem,

Nice pics, you have my mouth watering over the
eggplant especially!

Looks delish!
I see some herbs, and what else?

Chopped Onions and garlic. On the onion they use the stalk, not a bulb, so you can see some of it white and some green. I know we have a name for this but I forgot it. These onions put out a very small bulb but a lot of shoots or leaves. You can eat the entire plant less the root hairs. Maybe you call them leaks?

Again I will say, This is the only way I will eat egg plant. Other wise you could not pay me to eat it. This method changes it so much I can't believe it is still egg plant. Very tasty. It has to do with cross cutting or scoring deep the meat of the plant and the very hot heat of the grill. The grill is a wood charcoal grill. Not the pretty nuggets you buy in bags. Add some oil, herbs, onion and garlic and grill till toasty. They also can add very hot peppers if you wish to burn your mouth out. But this is the reason we have beer. Yea, that takes some of the heat away...Or some of the memory, I forgot which one.

Deuem

[deuem]

Forgot 1 thing, that egg plant in the photo served as is, cost me $0.75 USD cents I guess that price is Ok for almost anyone. The beer cost a quarter more.   When you deal on the local level, things are priced to that level. I could go to a fancy restaurant and get a side of eggplant for maybe $5.00 USD. It takes a lot of practice to figure out where to go and what to order. Any newbies seek me out if they want to go off the grid and explore local food. Most of that level food is junk by our standards but there are enough golden ones in the mix to make it worth while.  I still pass on the pig guts and fish heads.  deuem

[zorgon]

Maybe you call them leaks?

Scallions



Leeks



Potato Leek soup... a real medieval treat

[zorgon]

Oh another thing, I have never once tasted anything here that tastes like Chinese food in the States. The ingredients are so different, the taste changes or was changed to meet US taste buds.   Deuem

Most of the dishes n the US originated from San Francisco when they brought all the Chinese over for working on the railroads and mines.  I think the flavors came about mostly from using local ingredients

Back in Toronto I worked for a couple years in a Chinese takeout store. Ended up there because a friend I met at a one summer surveyors job suggested I go with him when he had to help out with the family business.

It was a lot of fun... and back in the kitchen they ate some of the real Chinese food like those black schrooms and 1000 year old fish

After closing my friend used to take me along to the after hours China Town bars... I think he got a kick out of it LOL because back then I had a crew cut and a beige trench coat...  so imagine the effect him taking a whitey looking like me to these laces fr Chinese workers

The first time in one place a Mahjong game was dumped off the tale He had to let them know I was okay... it was a lt of fun

That was before I started hanging out with the mob LMAO

[A51Watcher]

... and back in the kitchen they ate some of the real Chinese food like those black schrooms and 1000 year old fish

And I think you were sampling the tsing dao beer too!

Cause that's 1000 year old eggs, not fish silly!    yuuuuuuuuck! LOL

[zorgon]

Hey can you send me a couple bottles?   

I can get the new stuff here in Vegas but its only 3.3 percent alcohol   



i usually drink Beck's  my hometown beer at 5-6% or Samual Adams when I am serious

Samuel Adams Imperial Stout  9.2%
Samuel Adams Wee Heavy      10.0%
Samuel Adams Imperial White 10.3%
Sam Adams Alpine Spring     5.5%
Sam Adams Noble Pils            4.9%
Sam Adams Triple Bock      17.5%
Sam Adams Double Bock      8.5%

I like Guinness Black Lager but its only 4.5% so we use Sam Adams Triple Bock 17.5% at events

[zorgon]

Cause that's 1000 year old eggs, not fish silly!    yuuuuuuuuck! LOL

yeah the 1000 year old eggs tasted great... that old dried fish  not so great. Might have the name wrong but the young guys were watching me as I took the usual bowl of rice and took some fish... I usually had no problem with any dish but that fish   yuuuuuuuuck!  is an understatement

My friend told me later I didn't lose face... because none of the young Chinese can stomach that either.. So they all had a good laugh at my expense

[deuem]

I think that the beer is around 10 o 11 percent. I will have to check the label again. They are all pretty high, even the cheaper ones.

I don't know of a cheap way to send a few of these. It would cost over 100 bucks for a few bottles even if they were empty. It is the US customs fees. $125 for anything that is not a letter.

If A51 flys back to HK, he could stash a few for free in his pack.

I will try to check out both the price and the proof.

1,000 year old eggs are really not that old, it is just a name. But they are pickled in some trash for awhile first. I can't stand them.

Yea it is the scallions on the egg plant, not the leaks.

Deuem

[Littleenki]

Dumplings...my favorite chinese food..the stuff they call chinese food in the Usa?
Not quite, as Z said, it was altered by the immigrants to appeal to the westerners seking a new style of food.
If we evr cross paths, Dueum, Ill cook you some dumplings...with a bechamel sauce and chooped cilantro..I call it Chinfrenchmex style..hows that for fusion?:-)

Tsingtao? Good stuff there maybe, but here at the sushi house its pretty watery..gimme a newcastle brown and a lobster roll anyday!:-)

Le

[zorgon]

I don't know of a cheap way to send a few of these. It would cost over 100 bucks for a few bottles even if they were empty. It is the US customs fees. $125 for anything that is not a letter.

Wow  that is some shipping  And they say the world has become smaller  HA

Thanks anyway At least I can get Chinese rocks and jewelry without those hefty fees Some of them even do free shipping

[Somamech]

Ahhh thanks for sharing those pics deuem 

You just reminded me how the wifey and I have postponed our trip to Taiwan for a couple of months due to the inflated cost's of air travel over the xmas period.  And how much I miss Taiwan's Night Markets and street food   

The Eggplant looks a lot like a dish I ate here once at Yum Cha.  I had it once at that joint and never seen it again on further visits, maybe I missed the eggplant trolley though

I think a lot of the difference in Chinese food outside of China is that the folke who started restaurants back in the 70's were from either Hong Kong or Guangzhou.  Cantonese food

Due to immmigration patterns changing and what have you (at least here in Oz) we see a plethora of different regional flavours in Melbourne.  Which I'm sure is quite the same elsewhere in western countrys

Will do my best when I'm in taiwan next to post a few pics mate... you inspired me