Well, I finally got my teaching schedule and I start teaching on Tuesday. I have a great schedule. I only teach 10 hours (5 classes), Tuesday through Friday. So I always have a 3 day weekend!
I've been doing a lot of shopping. I love going to the open markets and buying fresh ingredients (some are so fresh they are still alive!), to bring home to cook. So, I thought I would share some of the culinary delights with you...
I've been doing a lot of shopping. I love going to the open markets and buying fresh ingredients (some are so fresh they are still alive!), to bring home to cook. So, I thought I would share some of the culinary delights with you...
These first two pictures are of Niu Roe Mian (beef and noodles). Very delicious and very spicy. Nanchang is known for its spicy food. They make the noodles fresh all day long right in the canteen. We have 5 canteens on campus where we can eat for around 5 kuai per plate (which is about 80 cents!). The top picture also shows some bread. The expats call it pizza bread but it really has nothing to do with pizza other than it is really good. It is about 2 kuai and the water is 1 kuai so the whole meal is under $2.00. And yes, I do eat with chopsticks all the time. In fact, it is a good thing I knew how to eat with chopsticks before I got here as there are no forks and knifes in the canteens whatsoever. They do have spoons but only for the soup and then you still need your chopsticks!
This was a wonderful fish dish, but my friends and I had to go to a restaurant off campus for this meal. The fish was succulent and very delicious. However, I don't go out to restaurants very often and I only eat at the cafeteria occasionally as they serve a lot of carbs. As you can see from the first two pictures, it is heavy on the noodles and very light on the beef. My favorite thing is to go to the open markets and buy fresh ingredients then cook them up myself.
As I said, fresh sometimes means still alive. These are fish that are definitely still alive and kicking. The little tubes going into the bucket are pumping oxygen to the fish. The Chinese really value fresh. They were actually some really nice looking fish but a little to big for just me.
They have many kinds of fish here in Nanchang. The Gan River that runs through Nanchang is a tributary of the Yangtze (or Changjiang, one of the two main rivers of China, the other being the Yellow River or Huang He). In fact Jiangxi, the province I'm in, means West River. Jiang (river) Xi (west). We also have many lakes so we have lots of local fish to choose from. You can also get salmon and other fish from the sea as well. Of course if your not in the mood for fish, fresh meat is always good. Pork is a favorite but you can get all types of meat. Chicken, duck, beef, pork, lamb and sometimes mutton and dog.
There are stores with a more western style here in Nanchang. We actually have a WalMart and there is a store called Metro that caters to the western palate and you can buy things like beef patties from Australia or even Skippy peanut butter. But as long as you go early and not on a terribly hot day, the local open market is a great place to buy all your food needs from fish and meat to fruits and veggies and it is always fresh.
Like I said earlier, Nanchang is known for it's spicy food so you can get lots of wonderful peppers here. From the more mild (like the big green ones and the big red ones), to the really hot small red peppers that people buy and then put outside to dry in the sun. The long skinny green ones are pretty hot too so you have to be careful until you know how hot each type is.
These are some of the little red hot peppers drying on a mat right outside of my apartment building. You can find these everywhere and most dishes have a healthy dose of hot peppers in them. You usually have to ask for a dish to be non spicy. Good thing I like spicy!
They also have lots of wonderful veggies, tubers like potatoes, and other delicious food. But if for some reason after all the shopping you know you will be too tired to cook, you can always opt for the street food option and buy a little take out.
These are various dishes from small snails (lower left bowl) to chicken feet (lower middle bowl) to mushrooms (top two middle bowls). I will admit I wasn't brave enough to try the snails but I have had some great street food. Finally, when I am full on all the delicious street food, I might end with a delicious snack from my childhood (well ok I've only gotten them once because they have way too much sugar for me) that has also been a traditional Chinese treat for centuries.
Well, this is my first adventure into the land of culinary delights that China has to offer. This has been such a great adventure so far and it has just started! I look forward to many more and I look forward to sharing them all with you! So until next time....
