On Food

Despite the food on a stick incident that I wrote about last time, I have had some excellent meals over the last week. I would be willing to bet that the Chinese invented fast food. There are so many stands selling all kinds of things - peanuts and crackers, meat on a stick, noodles, fruit drinks, dumplings, fruit, .... A culture that snacks. I hope I don't come home 20 pounds heavier. One thing I've tried is a dish that Shanghai is famous for - pork dumplings with broth inside. They are tricky to eat with chopsticks but really really good. My grandma is always saying that pork tastes different from when she was a little girl and now that I've had these dumplings I agree. They are savory and moist, a meatball wrapped in a dumpling with broth. Super good.

Another thing that I've had that was kind of by accident was a fish soup with a ginger broth. Last night I felt like soup, so I saw some people through a window eating soup and went in and pointed at it. It was excellent and I brought leftovers home. The fish was a white fish and there were pieces of ginger and mushrooms and seaweed in the broth. It hit the spot.

Spain girls - it is the season of mandarinas [clementines for the non-Spain folk] here - there are street vendors selling them everywhere, today I even saw a small truck with the entire payload full of mandarinas. Great citrus boost and so fresh and it reminds me of Spain.

One other thing I've had a lot of is a drink that they call "Milk Tea," it's a room temperature mixture of tea and milk with tapioca balls inside that you drink through a fat straw. I was addicted to Starbucks chai in the US and I think I may have found a new addiction here. It's the perfect midafternoon snack.

So, question #3 - what has been the best food that you've eaten while on a trip? Tell me about the perfect bistro in Paris, or the roadside stand where you had barbecue in the south. Share your food story!

Cheers!