As soon as Pat and I decided to go to China many people started sharing their experiences with us.  That the food was great was a common thread and they were right! Everything was wonderful, even when we didn’t know what we were ordering and just pointed to the menu!

For breakfast we bought eggs, yogurt, bread, and peanut butter to eat in our room. Lunch we ate at school.  At night we went out to the street vendors or small restaurants.  It was all fabulous!

Most dishes center around rice, noodles, or dumplings.  They where either stir fried or in a soup that includes vegetables and a variety of spices and herbs; you could generally choose beef, chicken or pork to be added.  A point of interest about how chicken was prepared.  The Chinese cut up the chicken including the bones, so don’t be surprised if you all of a sudden you need to spit something out!

All the food is not brought out at the same time.  As soon as a dish was ready, the cooks brought it to the table.  This seemed a little strange at first but then we realized it was a great way to share and try different foods. The tables would often be set with small plates or bowls for sharing. Chopsticks were the perfect tool for picking out exactly what you wanted!   Pat and I are now the proud owners of a beautiful set of chopsticks.  They will always be on our table!

Below is just a small sampling of our experiences with dining in China.

Eating at the mall!  Great food courts.

Hot Pot!

Hot Pot is a great way to eat in China with a large group of people.  Each person chooses a “soup base”, beef, chicken, tomato, spicy, veggie, etc.  The broth is brought to you in a pot with a “Bunsen Burner” under it.  The server lights it for you.  Now watch as your soup comes to a boil.  In the meantime, everyone chooses what they want in their soup:  mushrooms, salad greens, noodles, pork, shrimp, etc.  All of this is placed on the Lazy Susan in the center of the table.  Once your “soup” is boiling you can place what ever you want into it and when it is cooked, enjoy!  This is a lot of fun and great way to try many things.

These are some unusual things we saw or bought from the grocery store.

Pigs Feet.

100 year old eggs. (They are boiled in tea.) These were interesting to eat, like a hard boiled egg but jammy. We didn’t eat many of these.

Parts of chickens and whole chickens, including their feet!

We also saw a variety of vegetables, fruit and rice.  If we had stayed longer in China we would have explored some of the options.  If we were homesick though, we could always find something from the USA!

Pizza Hut Menu – this was a great pizza – China style!

This was a surprise!

Cheese is hard to find in China, so this was a real treat!

We found a Wal-Mart!

Street Food is always the best.  Someone needs to invent an app that can capture smells because this is the best part of buying food on the street – the smells.  The cooks take such pride in their food.  They prepare every dish with care.  I regret not taking more pictures of everything we ate and the cooks!

Getting ready!

Grilled corn!

These were taken at the Muslim Market in Xi an.  We saw so many things that were hard to capture in pictures.  Noodles and naan (Muslim bread) were made on the street.  So many spices and herbs to smell!

Nothing is wasted here!  Everything was used down to the bone!

Herbs and spices simmering to be added to your meal.