I’ve told you about cold side dishes before. Salted peanuts in vinegar are another both common and popular side dish in China. They often get served with any bigger meal and make a tasty addition to the other side dishes.
Bake sales are great! They happen about twice a year, and it’s the one chance you get to indulge in western style baked treats. Our bake sale offers the full range of deliciousness: cookies, cupcakes, bagels with cream cheese, granola, and full size cakes. And this time they offered apple cider, coffee, and other hot drinks. There always is a silent auction for all the cakes, and the profits of the bake sales go to support orphans in our area. So, not only do you get to have yummy treats, but your treats also get to help children in need. What better way is there to indulge oneself?
One of the favorite dishes of one of my foreign friends is this aloe dish. It’s a cold dish that comes in a white sauce with colorful sprinkles, and has a sweet flavor. It’s a rather refreshing dish, that is great for hot summer days.
Another one of my favorite dishes here is crispy rice with meat and mixed vegetables. It comes braised in a delicious sauce, and is a wonderful addition to any Chinese meal.
One of my favorite types of food are sweet and sour dishes here in China. This one gets a zesty twist to it, since it comes with an added lemon flavor. Quite a delicacy. Usually it’s accompanied by rice and other side dishes.
I’d known them as decorative accents before, but ever since coming to China, I’ve learned that parts of the lotus are considered a side dish here, and actually can be pretty delicious. They have a crunchy bite, have a sweet flavor, and usually are prepared in the wok, frying them in oil – sometimes with, sometimes without any other additions. Oh, and here’s the latest photo for the challenge this month: Photo Challenge Day 19: Something Orange
While sweets and treats in China often are quite different from what we are used to in the West, some of the goodies you can get here can make quite some delicacies. There are lots of bakeries here that sell all sorts of little snacks – from cakes and pies to cookies, to various other sweet treats. Today, I allowed myself a special treat and went to a bakery around the corner to get this piece of cake for my afternoon snack, and though it didn’t taste exactly he way I wanted it to (after eating half of it, I felt I had enough), I’m still glad that certain things we do not have to give up when living in China!
Here’s another pretty typical side dish that you can get at most restaurants around: broccoli cooked in oil and salt, plus some sort of egg. Our guess is that this was quail egg, so yes, in China you can get more variety than just the typical chicken egg!
Well, I while ago I promised you to post a picture of our new dining hall. It has taken me a little longer, but I finally managed to get a photo at our BBQ dinner last Monday. Fact is that our dining hall now is twice as large as it used to be, and it has undergone a real upgrade: cushioned chairs, sofas, and lots and lots of tables of varying sizes and shapes. The only thing some of us do miss are the big round tables where we used to sit and get involved in grand conversations. With the new setting, it’s more difficult to involve more than four people in one conversation. But then, you can’t just have everything, right? I’m sure, rather sooner than later we’ve forgotten all about those large round tables!
Cold side dishes are very common for almost any kind of restaurant in our area. Usually, the various dishes are displayed, and people pick and choose from what is offered. Often you can combine two or more sides that will be put on one plate. This particular plate was a mixture of pieces of tofu, green beans, steamed carrots and boiled peanuts.
