Food's the Word!

So - categorizing the vast amount of information on China I'm starting with food:

First day Beijing - lunch on our own dollar  - cheap and the "ethnican" chips were just fine.

 What to buy  when you don't know what it is?

 Fast food place near Great Wall - hmm - I think the hot dog may be right on as there are "meat traders" who kidnap dogs in China.

 Breakfast in our hotel in Beijing - about 10 "stations" and the most food and variety I have ever seen.

 Lunch at a "local cafe" - quite a variety here too.

 China is not heavy on desserts or sugary things - mostly fresh fruit - so I was the happiest person in the dining room to discover the dessert corner of the buffet.

 We visited a home in a hutong and were served jasmine tea and these - lychees and they were ok - but had big pits.

 Breakfast again - it was my goal to try everything - well almost everything.  The brown thing on the left is a hard cooked egg and it was sitting in what I think was soy sauce flavored hot water.  It was good.

 Chinese beer on the bus to Xi'an - I think even the terra cotta warriors would approve.

 Dumpling extravaganza at the lunchtime restaurant - wow - lotta dumplings....and courses.  One person at our table would read off this as the courses were brought to the ever present large glass lazy susan.

 The "hot pot" - who ever got the most dumplings would come out on top in the Chinese world.  Zero - return to restaurant; 1 - smooth journey (not sure where); 2 - double happiness and on and on including longevity.  Need to do a little more research on this one but I did get one dumpling and had a good trip.

 Ah yes  - the market where nothing is wasted and there is no running water or refrigeration.  These are chicken pieces including the feet!

 We called them cucumbers and they were huge but I guess are some kind of Chinese melon.

 Remember no water, no scrubbing and open every day.  Pork and as the guide told us "We eat all parts of the pig except the oink".

 Yes - just what it looks like - gelled blood.

 Wraps - actually very good.

Definitely something that flies or walks darn fast - pigeon?

Tai O fishing village - dried fish is the main economy.  These were pretty new to the dryer.

 These were a long time at the drying stage and look like hugs chips of some kind but are really fish.

 I was so excited to find a bag of salted peanuts for lunch.  They tasted a bit odd but I kept eating them and then read the ingredients in English:  Broad Bean, Salt and Vegetable Oil

 I just couldn't order this!  HK$220 is about $28

 On the long Delta flight home.  I have never been so excited to have corn flakes and milk for breakfast!

So I still have a lot to cover - the people, the "Party", Chinglish (Chinese version of English) and more.  But for now it is close to time to meet Alex and Lucy at the school bus for their 8th day with us and 4 more to go.  Why we do this?
Amy and Chris get to go to a luau with family in Hawaii!

 I get to teach my grandchildren to make mudpies in our back yard.

Lucy sneaks up and gives me this:)