The eating did not stop for even one day until the moment we finally escaped...I MEAN SADLY DEPARTED, Pu Lee Shah Resort Shanghai. Without doubt this was the most culinary focused travel, I've ever experienced. Kudos to 2B for facilitating a great deal of this, but we had guides and hosts as well who were part of the effort. So let's finish off Gastronomic China.
Liyang VIP Dining
This is just a fragment of the dishes we had over the two meals we were entertained
A broth (kept hot) with a meatball and morel mushroom
A type of fish soup with some cold flavored tomatoes on another plate
As we were talking about New Mexican chile, our host had brought the 'local' chile sauce.
Imagine about 9 dishes have gone by and you are served this which was a kind of dessert. Inside the green thing was a kind red bean paste filling. I honestly don't remember what was in the spring roll type of dish. But the black one on the left was just plain, black sticky rice. Accept you dipped it into the sugar which was on its right. And it was really good!
#2's job requires her going TONS of these meals. And like anything, it becomes too much of a good thing. As she comments, "you have no idea of how many courses are going to come, so you learn to be very careful on how much you eat." But when the fruit arrives, then you can let out a sigh of relief because you know you are done.
Breakfast being delivered and the fancy place we stayed in Liyang. Like all fancy hotels, breakfast is not their long suit.
Then the next day for our lunch before we left, there was this big deal, special fish soup done by famous chef.
This may have been the best dish I ate the whole three weeks we were in China. It was a version of Ma Po Tofu. But it took the dish to a level beyond anything I'd experienced. First that Ma La (the heat from the chile and numbing sensation from the Szchuan peppercorn) combination was so punchy - on the verge of being too much but not too much. There was strong meaty flavor. It was on a burner keeping it hot, so you had a third 'heat' element. No rice was served with it. You ate it with a spoon. It was incredible.
What more traditional Chinese accompaniment to that height than
Steak Frites???????
On to Xi'an
Our guide, who was arranged through #2's local staff, must have been told of my culinary inclinations because each of our meals with him were equally filled with variety and new things.
First Meal after the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda
Meatballs with Fried Tofu
A roast chicken, the flavor was reminiscent of the one we had in Yangshuo but it was not quite as tender. Good nonetheless.
A beef stew with chickpeas and a special ingredient. Xi'an as the terminus of the Silk Road has all kinds of Middle Eastern & Central Asian influences in its food.
The special ingredient?
Gluten!
The back story here is all three of the de-I daughters a couple of years ago watched this food tv series produced in China highlighting all kinds of different ingredients, showing how they were produced and used. One was Gluten. We all commented how in the U.S. all are freaked out over Gluten and trying to take it out of things. In China, it is considered a food product!
After our long morning at the Terra Cotta Army, we ended up at a restaurant that was interesting. The first floor was for Western tourists. It was sedate. Most of the tourists just eating one dish. The second floor was for the Chinese groups. It was a mad house with tons of tables with many dishes at once. We were in the first section but ate like the second.
They like their noodles broad in Xi'an
This was another of my favorites. The long things are tofu skin and they were like silky noodles that absorbed all the flavor.
A stir-fried pork dish. The green vegetable we had many times on this trip. I loved it but could never get a translation that made any sense. It was called Chinese Lettuce.
Another stir fry with green beans and eggplant. Great eggplant
Our last mean in the Muslim Quarter truly melded the Central Asian with the Chinese Flavors.
It is called Pancake Soup because you take a kind of bread and rip it into the meaty broth with glass noodles. They just seemed like think noodles to us. It was very filling.
The Final Feast
2B took it upon himself to order a special meal to account for multiple celebrations missed due to the SoS visit work (Wife's birthday, #2 & 2B anniversary) and to celebrate the successful accomplishment of her mission, and our successful visit to China.
We ate this at lunch so thankfully chose this special floral tea over the Bai Ju
Steamed shrimp with light garlic flavor
This is one of those dishes that looks insanely hot but is not. We've encountered these before where they put a lot of chile in at the last minute and pour hot oil over it.
A whole, de-boned fish, cooked in a sweet and sour manner
A variety of vegetable dishes
Both noodles and fried rice
These look like soup dumplings but are actually kind of like steamed buns, my least favorite of the meal. The brown rectangular things are a deep fried rice cake. I liked them a lot.
Can you guess what these are?
Small fish, de-boned, battered and deep fried
And
FINIS
