Crazy Food

It's been a little while, and I know many of you have been pacing back and forth for days, nervously awaiting our next blog. and I apologize for any grief it may have caused you. It's not that I we had forgotten about you, trust me. The real reason we have neglected to inform you on our latest crazy adventures(misadventures) was a virus struck, and struck hard. before you inquire about our health I assure you we are fine....our computer on the other hand barely survived it. Poor thing was a mess. Couldn't get a response from it for days and finally had to end its life, to save. thank goodness I had all of our music and pictures backed up. anyway, moral of the story, get a really good anti-virus program, and don't try to download THE OFFICE episodes while in China..

So, besides computer problems (which I am happy to say are fixed, for the moment), we have been doing as well as can be thousands of miles away from home. I thought I'd take the time during this blog to discuss some of the local cuisine that we have either seen or eaten. After watching some of the little "cultural outings" that reporters did during the Olympics I was half expecting to see squid and dog on every street corner in town. I was only half wrong. We haven't seen any dogs.....dogs for eating, yet.. But we have been to some Korean restaurants that apparently serve this "delicacy." We are unsure if we have actually consumed any dog ourselves, but are pretty confident we have not. I am curious about what kind of dogs are supposedly better though. Do bulldogs have a juicier, more tender taste, and great danes a tougher more salty side??? sorry all of you dog lovers. I am proud to say that my old dog Twinky would have fetched quite a price on any menu in town.... When I asked one of my students if she had ever had dog she looked at me with a puzzled expression, and then said "of course.. it's my favorite."
well, duh! idiot American makes another mistake. oh well. Moving on. So, I said earlier that I was only half wrong about the dogs and squids on every corner. that's because there are squids on sticks, literally, on every corner..It's crazy to be walking down the street and see little kids walk by munching on a squid stick. It's as normal as little fat American kids stuffing their faces with an ice cream cone. We have tried squid by the way, just not on a stick. Too rubbery.
Next on the list is chicken feet. These are quite popular as well, and can be found in the meat section of the market, or in the snack section (pre-cooked and in little plastic bags- next to the Lays potato chips). Next to these you can find the pre-cooked pig snout...I know what you're thinking, "why not the pig foot?") well, the pig feet are back in the meat section.

We've also seen live, uncooked frogs in the seafood section, next to the live sea turtles. spicy octopus balls. yummy squid salad. and numerous other items that we have no idea what they could be. and don't really care to know.

BUT! The amount of amazingly delicious and cheap food China has to offer far outshines all of its stranger choices, and so far we haven't had a bad meal yet. We've done Hot Pot several times, which involves boiling hot water in a pot in the center of your table. Half the pot is spicy the other mild, and you order whatever meats and veggies you want to cook yourself in the spicy water. It's AMAZING! Dumplings, meat rolls, noodles, fried rice, sweet and sour anything, amazing cooked vegetables, and a million other dishes. If you like Chinese food in the U.S., you will definately like CHINESE food.