Surprising and nice encounter with Tibetan food (II)

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When my ‘stir-fried’ beef was served, I could not believe it was only for me -- it was a big portion - a full big plate!! I don't think I have ever seen this generous portion in any Chinese restaurants in China or abroad, other than in northern China. So I thought it was just like people normally said - it is a typical 'northern' thing. But, hey, now, I know I am wrong, very wrong. And the taste of the stir fried beef -- it took me back home with the memory of my uncle’s food straight away.

Tibetan beef is famous, so it is not surprising that they can cook really tasty beef dishes; however, I was surprised that the taste of these dishes was very similar to my regional and ethnic group food, even they are not close geographically at all. And the touch of cumin seeds and coriander makes it even better.

Although, I keep on talking about the surprising similarities between Tibetan food and my ethnic group's food, there were actually some differences - one is the prevalence of curry dishes in Tibetan cuisine; in Chinese cuisine, curry never really existed before receiving Japanese and Cantonese influences, and it has never been a 'common homecooking food' in China.

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Surprising and nice encounter with Tibetan food (I)

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This is a totally lovely surprise!! In the evening, a few of us decided to go to the city centre of Bonn (Germany), and find a restaurant there for dinner. None of us really knew Bonn that well, we wanted to wander around, see what we could find. When we aimlessly got off the tram, a friend suddenly suggested, ‘how about Tibetan food’? He explained that on Monday he tried to dine there with a few other friends, unfortunately it was closed, but he might still be able to remember the way. We immediately agreed --- for us, all the food lovers, we LOVE to try everything!

On the way to there, this friend kept on saying that he did not really know if it was going to be good or not, and hope we would like it. --- He was a bit worried if it was going to be a bad choice. The truth was, besides loving to try the food, I was very curious about the restaurant and the people there.

I had never been to Tibet, and I did not have many chances to know Tibetan people and their food. But I have heard so much of it, my dad used to have some students from Tibet, his knowledge of Tibet was really ‘first hand’. They remained very close friendship after the graduation. And my mum always says that the only wish she has is to visit Tibet one day, as it is the only province in China she has never visited. -- So you can imagine, for me, it was not even that important if the food was nice or not --- but I want to be there.

So there we were. Once you entered the restaurant, you could see all of the staffs there with distinguishing Tibetan features -- somehow, we knew we came to the right place, the food was going to be good and authentic.

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My food stories -- Lost in translation in Germany

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O, I totally got lost in translation in Germany, lots of funny stories happened, I have got to share with you. :))

This was my first time really visiting Germany, I mean, apart from a few times ‘passing by’ at the airports. I thought I had completely given my heart to the Mediterranean sun, but have to admit that I enjoyed so much the time in Germany, even if it was  quiet, super quiet -- everywhere. :)) -- Noon, in the city centre, in the shopping mall, at the train station, there were many many people, but, quiet, very quiet, people all talked in very low voices; there even was no background in many shops and shopping malls -- make you feel suddenly, you have all the space for yourself, your mind could fly as high as it likes. Me, as Chinese, ha… you can imagine, what a great experience to visit a country where people do not speak aloud.

Well, not speaking -- there is another reason -- I cannot speak German. :( So here are funny stories.

I was told that ‘Nordsee’ is a popular restaurant / fast food for German style ‘fish and chips’, so I went there for a late lunch. I was not very hungry though, just thought I would need a small bite.

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Stories of eating: eating in Edinburgh

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Ha… I call it ‘stories of eating’ --- it just shows how much I love to eat! :))

I love Edinburgh -- the hills, the ‘layers’ of the ground, the narrow streets, the ‘gray...ish’ and ‘dark’ creamy coloured ‘terraced’ buildings, yet little bright colourful ‘dots’ here and there give the historical bricks some joyful Ornaments.

It is actually strange, normally it is the colourful Mediterranean house which drive my dreams. I have never been a big fan of dark and plain buildings, but in Edinburgh, walking in between the buildings those are standing by the sides of the streets always surprise me, the detailed corner design, the material or the colour… I just like walking among them, looking at them, climbing up and down the narrow stairs between them…

Almost everywhere we go if we are staying for a few days, I would look for two things if I could find, one is featured local food,

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The very first time I learned how to cook: stir fried eggs

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I have developed a really bad homesick lately, or, more precisely, missing my dad -- talking to him on the phone is no longer enough to ease down my longing for being by his side.

It all started couple of weeks ago, when I went to swim, I saw a dad accompanying his two children there, a daughter and a son, probably aged in between 17 to 20? The dad would lead the way in the water, the children followed, sometimes they would rest for a little while, chat and laugh… -- A very warm and touching scene in the splash that no words can describe.

--- I could not help, but the scene that when I was swimming with my dad and brother years ago back home coming to me, we swam, chatted, laughed… But now I can only talk to him on the phone, tell him how my swimming was last night. Who says nowadays the globe is getting smaller with all the advanced technologies? I can hear him on the phone, can see him through the internet, but I cannot get him hold my hands, and I cannot grab his arms like I used to do…

Oh, miss my dad, he is the one who led me to understand this world from the very first step. He taught me everything, from speaking, walking, to literature, philosophy, art, cooking… and to how to become a good person. 


So I write down this post to share my first cooking memory with you. 

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My Chinese encounter

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:))) Yes, I call this post as ‘my Chinese encounter’ in Barcelona… During my short stay there, I realized that I did not have much chance to practice my Spanish for food, instead, I spoke Chinese all the time. ha…

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I slept till ‘naturally’ woke up, it was half past ten already - just love that “Mediterranean’s” lazy morning. :)) But I do need coffee - I know, don’t remember since when I started needing a cup of black coffee to start the day off, while him drink green tea all day long - we swapped cultural custom. :)

On the way down to the hotel’s cafe, I was a bit joyful, a bit nervous - I was going to try out my Spanish on my own, and not to families and friends.

I ‘pretended’ causally walking into the cafe, was just about to open my mouth to ask in Spanish that I had practiced many times in the elevator, the only girl -- waitress wearing a straight black pony tail, a ‘honest’ pair of ‘glasses’, with a Chinese looking face, started talking in English to a group of guests. … A sigh of relief - I will try to talk in Spanish later then, now, I can make an order in English --- I was thinking.

I did make my order, then sat quietly waiting for my coffee. I still was not sure if she was Chinese, coz she had much darker skin, and her English (and Spanish that I later heard) did not sound with very strong Chinese accent.

After a long while, she noticed me still waiting for my coffee, she rushed into the back of the counter to make coffee for me herself. I felt really sorry -- it was my lazy day, I should not bring her any rush at all, so I quickly spoke to her, “no, no rush for me, I am not in rush, I can wait…” She immediately looked at me with a surprise but warm smile, answered, “it’s ok. It is just my colleague is supposed to be here as well. She will be back soon I guess, I will be ok then.: --- In CHINESE. Then I realized I actually talked to her in Mandarin too. My instinct (while confronting a Chinese face) did talking before my mind choosing the language. :))

Anyway, in between her busy work, we talked enough to know each other in Chinese briefly.

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I wandered around the residential area where the hotel was, trying to choose a bar for a typical Spanish lunch. But I am not that kind of person comfortably sitting in a restaurant alone, also all I saw was Spanish man in groups having beer in the bars and small restaurants. Eventually, I saw a small bar with a few families sitting around the tables outside in the shades. A little girl with cute blonde girl waved at me with a big smile, “hola!” I waved and smiled back - here it is then, I sat down.

A few seconds later, a lady with a modernized Chinese ‘qipao’ top came to me, asked me what I would like to order in Spanish. I puzzled - isn’t it Spanish food bar? I looked at the menu, and looked around the food on the other tables -- yes, they were all Spanish food. I made my order - in Spanish to her.

When she brought the food out, I decided to try my settle my wonders. “Are you Chinese?” I asked in Mandarin. “Yes! Yes! I just told my husband that this girl outside looks like ‘our’ Chinese.” Then she pulled the chair in front of me, sat down, started talking in Mandarin with very strong their local accents - never mind I was eating. Ok, then, I have accompany for lunch. :))

She started telling me the story since she came to Spain till what happened the night before. I did enjoy listen and fill in my curiosity of their life here. They are from a small village in south China, used to live on land and a rich mine nearby. They left all that behind, now own this small bar, working from half past six in the morning to around 12 or 1 in the midnight.

“But how come you serve Spanish food in your menu?” - it was my big surprise, because, for example, in England, the Chinese takeaways or restaurants mainly serve Chinese food, apart from ‘Fish and Chips’. In fact, I probably have never seen Chinese run a complete ‘western menu’.

She did not explain much, or I could not get her accent right. I think she meant that a small bar like this will not have business if only serve Chinese food, since people always expect to have tapas and drinks here.

Honestly, the lunch I had was not … very authentic. Ha… But I do appreciate her effort.

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The first time I came Spain to visit my-in-laws a few years back, there was a couple passing by in the street. We overheard the lady asked her husband where he thought I was from, the gentlemen answered, “must be from ‘east’ somewhere”. Because there were not many Chinese in the streets.

But now, :)) I have had Chinese lunch (southern cuisine) in the Chinese restaurant next to the hotel a few times already, not to mention breakfast or coffee in the bar that all like these encounters I had.

Eventually, I found myself just enjoy sitting in a bar like this, looking at locals having coffee and chatting with the Chinese owners or waiters/waitress. The topics are normally like, “How is your son now? Did he sleep well last night?” The Spanish lady asked. “Yes, he was well. My wife was going to bring him to visit you.” …

Stories of food: Having Chinese food in Paris

I love Paris. I always think that there are cities that one can visit in just a few days. But Paris is different for me; to understand Paris, one needs to live there for some time. Just hopping on and off the metro, walking in between the shops, getting lost in the streets… Probably you can then understand why it is the way like this, what made all the artists and writers came here and became famous, how the city with massive destructions and reconstructions in the past hundreds years still present a whole historical path from the very early settlement to now.




But coming to food… we lost. We are not big fans of butter, cream, cheese -- so you can imagine.


Tonight, we had Chinese.


I know that the Chinese migrants in mainland Europe, are unlike the ones in England who are usually from Canton. In Paris, Chinese migrants mostly come from Central China. So, Chinese food in Paris is supposed to be very different from Chinese food in England.


We purposely got lost in the small streets in a district we didn't know at all, and thinking whichever restaurants came up and looked ok, we would just go for it. Then we passed by this small window, and saw a chef hand pulling noodles --- not very skillful, but enough to attract us to look at the menu and enter to give a try. --- I really missed white plain boiled rice.


The menu was very simple, and mostly consisted of mainland Chinese dishes. I even saw ‘Di San Xian’ on the menu, which I have never seen ever before in a Chinese restaurant in Western Europe!


Today, I am sharing my eating experience in the restaurant, rather than cooking in the kitchen. We ordered two very typical mainland Chinese dishes - ‘spicy fish in soup’ and ‘ma po doufu’.


Spicy fish in soup’ is a landmark Sichuan dish, which  suddenly became famous and popular in Northeast China. It is normally seabass cooked in spicy soup.
The dish is normally presented in a big ( I really mean big, big) bowl, with the soup covered by red chilli pepper and sichuan peppercorn. After being presented in front of you, the waiter normally offers to help you take out the ‘top layer’ of chillis and peppercorns, so you can see the fish and vegetables in the bowl. :)) It is a bit ‘oily’, but with distinguishing sichan spiciness --- don’t worry about the chillis, it is not chilli as it shows. Since then, it became a ‘must’ order dish for us. So if you ever go to China, and don’t mind spicy food, this is definitely recommended.


Second, because we both like tofu, after a few days haven’t had tofu, we really miss it. So I ordered ‘ma po doufu’ with stressing that I don’t eat pork, so either beef mince or no meat at all. --- If you are ordering in China, this is never a problem, because the dish normally doesn't contain meat, but since the food has been adapted many times, ‘ma po doufu’ always comes with meat. Famous ‘ma po doufu’ is from Sichuan as well, it is made from fresh tofu, (not fried), and normally with pure chilli sauce, no pickles or other ingredients. The colour is red, and this can be very spicy! If you don’t like spicy food, do not bother to tell the chef to make it less spicy, rather just order another way of cooking tofu, because the best of this dish is the ‘sichuan spiciness’.


At last, we ordered some mixed vegetables. Mix many different vegetables together is never a Northeast style. In stir frying leaves, the green leaves are normally still very juicy and crunchy, and the dish normally doesn’t come with ‘thick’ sauce. It is supposed to be light and fresh.


Coming back to our dinner in this small restaurant, these three dishes are definitely a good combination. But although the waitress claimed that the chef was from Beijing, the dishes... ok. It is a ‘hybridized’ Cantonese and sichuan style. I learned a lesson -- never put too much soy sauce and corn flour thickening, and always try to keep the taste fresh. :))

Children’s day in China

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Happy Children’s day everyone! We all have a playful ‘Child’ inside at heart, no? 

Just forget about all the headaches in grown-up’s world, at least for a few minutes, and go back to the time we used to play childhood games in the yard with little friends ---  we are happy, carefree.

Sometimes, for a split second, I could almost feel the summer morning breeze softly blowing on my face when I was a little kid playing at the front yard, after just waved goodbye to my parents, they left for work, and hoping my little friends would see me and turn up to play with me…...

In China, Children’s day is a big day, ‘festival’ atmosphere is all over the places -- the banners of ‘happy Children Day’ waving everywhere, on the street, the entrance of the schools, the steps of the shopping centre (--they want to cash in :))) ….. All the schools would have their own celebration program, either go for a day trip, or transfer the classroom into a ‘celebrating scene’… and most of the mothers who have kids under 12 years could get half of day off to be with their children and celebrate. And on the evening TV programs, all the channels are showing the celebrations.

Suddenly, it seems that the whole world is filled with children, they are in charge. Their colourful clothes like jumping dots in the abstract canvas ornament the streets. 

At that moment, we just could not stop admiring the youth of lives, and at the same time, wondering where all those times have gone.

In Chinese, there is a saying, "children is the future, they are like the raising sun at 8am  or 9am in the morning”. (Hence, we always joke that we are the sun at lunch time.:)) I remember when we were little, every time hearing this sentence, we would straight up our back and take a deep breath --- we had a big mission in this life. ha…

Coming back to food, I have been thinking if we had anything special on this day … no, not really, just played outside, had less homework. My dad would cook something nice, and there was one dish he made I would remember forever: a zoo on a plate. Yes, it is.

He fried spinach leaves and laid on a big plate as grass, and made couple of ‘pandas’ by using potato. and used red beans as pandas’ eyes and ears… That dish had been left on the table untouched for a long time during the dinner -- nobody wanted to destroy the scene.

I miss that childhood, miss on this day, the teacher would take us to the lake side or big city garden, all we could hear was our loud noise, but we laughed a lot in the bright sun, and looked up, it was the blue blue sky, even a few cloud became so beautiful -- there was no pollution, no worries…

Have a lovely Children day!