Monday, January 31, 2011

ah food, delicious food.

I have been waiting to do this blog post for such a long time. Since we arrived in September! Many of you have asked about the food that we've encountered here and I apologize for the delay, but I wanted to accumulate enough imagery to make it truly memorable.

China and its cuisine has such an allure, one that I truly didn't appreciate until moving here. There is such thought put into dishes! They consider temperature, texture, sauce, spice, method of eating, presentation, order, and mentality of the consumer. Forget fast food, in the amount of time it takes to order a hamburger at Mickey D's, you can have a bowl of steaming savory broth with noodles and vegetables. Or, as I outlined in a recent post, you can easily find an amazing nuggets of dough containing flaky treasures of pork and green onion. But they don't only do fast food well. They are experts at the extended lunch too! With glasses of steaming tea, peanut juice, or corn juice throughout, the group dining experience is a visual parade of appetizers, cold dishes, hot dishes, fish, meat, noodles, soup, and dessert...complete with a plethora of toasting one another. I love it. And dumplings. Oh dumplings. It is such a simple-looking bite of food. But these steamed, boiled, or fried beauties are delectable. I'm making myself hungry....

There is so much to write on this topic, but I will save us all the platitudes and go straight to the pictures. I will include not only traditional chinese fare, but also some shots of the variety that Beijing offers. Mediterranean, Japanese, Thai, Italian, French, anything you can imagine. Go forth and salivate!


dumplings, delicious dumplings. And eggplant! another favorite I discovered here.


beautiful fruit all the time. i especially love the white one with the black seeds


not the most chinese of dishes, but a lunch staple from the grocery

taiwanese restaurant - eggs boiled in tea, peppers, and a version of hot pot
 
lunch with Jay Woz!


Hands-down one of the best things: Chuan. Meat kabobs grilled over a personal trench grill on the side of the street. Complete meal with marinated cucumbers and fried peanuts.

Enjoy some chuan with very low-alcohol content chinese beer

Street food: can't beat it!

"Fast food" - rice, carrots, bok choy, chicken

haven't quite figured out this vegetable yet
Our AECOM Annual Dinner (full post to come later)

Whole fish: I've never liked fish, but I enjoy it here. Probably because I can just take 1 bite.

Whole shrimp. Haven't quite got it down yet.


i know, i know. this is the only bad pic i included...because it's too good to
pass up. A fantastic chicken soup...if you can get over the baby-hand-like chicken
foot in the bottom.

we went to a restaurant that specializes in food from the far west of china...close to the middle east. this was their menu.

maybe shredded jicama? it was a beautifully crunchy texture in a marinade.

chinese tacos! lamb, cucumber, onion....


i'm in love with drinkable yogurt...

the fun thing about chinese cuisine is being surprised. Pumpkin paired with sweet dates and a julienne of pear!

spicy cucumbers. another china specialty

breakfast! dough blended with a fried egg

then combined with spicy sauce, lettuce, and green onion.

november goodbye lunch at a nearby japanese restaurant


some of the best sushi!

CCTV roll

squid....not much to say here.


steamed buns. perfection.

Mezze at Bite-a-pitta mediterranean restaurant

chrysanthemum tea on a cold day!

5 comments:

  1. I think the mystery veg is either chinese leeks or chives

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  2. Mmmm... all the food looks yummy and brings back memories of my mom's cooking. I remember chrysanthemum tea. Soo good. Miss you guys.

    ~kmah

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. wonder what elephant soup looks like?

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  5. We loved the food. Have you had the peking duck yet? We can't wait to take Jess back for a visit. Although nervous too. She is allergic to nuts, fish & shellfish. Seems to be a staple in all Chinese food.

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