Breakfast in a prosperous Chinese Hotel

It`s not a story about high-standard international brand hotels or hostels....this is the story about your common Chinese hotel option (affordable yet quite appalling)...

Stars are of low (no) importance...as your breakfast is likely to look like in the pictures (provided bellow) either way!

Breakfast offer will be pretty similar and will most probably consist of:

1) conjee - a challenge even for all ya porridge lovers out there ;) (usually liquid rice porridge)
And at times there is no drink (not even water) provided don`t be surprised to be "kindly" suggested to "Drink some conjee"!




2) some kind of steamed bun/bread - tasteless


3) unidentifiable pickled vegetables


4) hard boiled eggs - your best bet.. if any left ;)


5) some kind of beans...matter of taste I guess ...


6) hot water



That said it`s actually all about timing!
If you`re lucky/early enough you might get at least the items listed above...but come more towards the end of the breakfast service...and this is what you`ll be able to get ;) (tea bag was our own and that was the last egg available!)

Bon Appetit :)


P.S. the more prosperity, luxury, splendour is promised by the name of the hotel...the less of it you will actually get ;) (that refers to breakfast offer, too ;), so watch out of all the "Golden Splendid", "Prosperity stars" and the like ;)

Rizhao dumplings :)

It has been truly a dumpling week here!!!

We have a ladies` group here in Rizhao meeting & doing fun stuff together (like 7-8 of us) :)


...last week we went to Qingdao with Jenny & Zsofi and in our cool Old Church hostel in Qingdao Old town...


...there was a dumpling making party! :)


We made quite some dumplings!!! (actually, many more than on this pic ;)



..and tasted our creation afterwards!



And as we were enjoying our creation we decided we would share our new skill with our friends (particularly because unofficially we call our ladies` group "Rizhao dumplings" ;)...so 2 days ago we had a Chinese dumpling making party!



Yummy ;)

Delicious PHILIPPINES!

And now...my top culinary experiences in Philippines (must-try ;)

1. LECHON MANOK or roasted chicken
The best chicken I have ever tasted! Seriously! (And the best of Lechon Manok was on Camiguin island, Mambajao town, Bambi`s place, whole chicken costed around 2 Euros)



2. Mango shakes!!! Had soooo many of them during the trip...



3. Raw stuff :)
Raw sea urchin roe which is told to be a very expensive delicacy in some countries. Quite yummy for sushi lovers like me! Before I even agreed to try local sea urchin "business woman" on Virgin island just smashed 1 sea urchin in front of my eyes, mixed it with vinegar sauce and put a little pile of roe on my hand. Eat! And I did :)
Also Sashimi or Kinilaw - mix of raw fish in a special sauce was real nice!



4. Grilled seafood!



5. Brownies and donuts in most unexpected places (like, street market on the photo) - true paradise for a proper brownie lover like me ;) Manila International airport`s local departure hall had just too many cafeterias selling all kinds of tasty sweets!!!

Xiao long bao :)

Yesterday I was learning to make my favorite Chinese dish - Xiao Long Bao (small steamed buns) in a Chinese Cooking workshop! :)
Arriving to the location it seemed like an independant artistic area..

Here we go!

Huge party kitchen :) Even though it was promised the chef would speak English (or there would be translation)...chef did not speak a single word in English, so was trying to use my very limited Chinese vocabulary and the help of a Japanese participant to communicate - pure fun :)

My very own bunnies!

I was so excited that wanted to photgraph them from all the possible angles to make them look as good as I can ;)

First we were learning to twist the bun without actual filling, cause it`s not as easy as it looks, then we were making the filling and after that making the real stuff with actual filling :) ....and to finish - steaming for 10 minutes

Yammy :)

Now these are my steamed buns :)

Next challenge...to try & make them on my own at home ;)

Chinese cuisine !!! Bon Appetit !!!

Now let`s take a culinary break and see what delicacies you can expect when visiting China ;) (when visiting me in China - sounds even better :)

My top 5 of "I`m ready to eat it whenever wherever" :)

1. Xiaolongbao otherwise know as steamed BUNs ;)...there is one secret place in Shanghai...and buns are soo good there!!!

2. Hot pot or cook-it-yourself-experience :) You basically get a pot of regular or spicy (or both) soup and order raw ingredents that you dip into soup and cook as you eat...real fun & real tasty & real dangerous cause you always eat more than you want ;)

3. Seafood!!! no comment...yammm :)!!!!!



4. Street food! All sorts of meet/veggie/seafood barbecue!

5. Tea (in this picture LongJing tea) & water melon


Now let`s look at some delicacies that I find a bit more challenging to try ;)

Don`t ask me what that is... all I know - that`s seafood! Didn`t dare to try ;)

Now this one is called elephant nose! It was served raw... yet somehow I still prefer raw salmon ;)

Elephant noses in action :)))

Another mystic sea creature...haven`t tried yet :)))


Other "hot must-try" food items :)

Hairy crab! Cute crab prepared for winter ;) Real popular here in autumn season...actually still sold all around... even saw them sold alive in tax-free of Shanghai airport :))

Megabun...that`s how I call it :) Delicacy filled with gravy!

Fish,frogs, snakes, turtles... in a traditional Chinese restaurant you will see them alive (live interactive menu ;) and then pick... Still haven`t tried snakes & turtles

Zongzi - traditional food for Dragon boat festival in May. Look cool, but that`s the only cool thing about it to me ;)

Dumplings: all kind os shapaes, fillings, etc...

Smoked stuff (ducks, for example): haven`t figured out how to eat that stuff exactly, but sure looks impressive and seems to be very popular among locals!

The typical Chinese round table: every meal is like a feast and according to Chinese tradition it`s polite to leave some food as to show that is was good and you had enough...cause if you eat it all they might think it wasn`t enough and you are still hungry!

and...it`s important to feed the Gods, of course :)



And latest discovery in Shanghai is "ALL YOU CAN EAT & DRINK" offer in some restaurants!
There are some barbecue places for true meat lovers: for around 19 Euros (per person) you get unlimited amount of different kinds of meats and unlimited salad & dessert bar. Now this is real dangerous...cause the food keeps coming...and the food is good!
And there are many Japanese teppanyaki places offering ALL YOU CAN EAT & DRINK for 10to 20 Euros (depending on the restaurant) which includes all sorts of teppanyaki, sushi and yeah...sake, plum wine and other nice stuff :) Feast guaranteed ;)

See you for my next post ;) Hungry yet?:)