After a downpour all of yesterday and much of the week, bright skies finally returned to Shanghai. Today is one of those days when Shanghai gets as close as it can to a blue sky: that is to say, the sky is a bright pasty white with blue clouds... as opposed to the greyish/brownish pasty off-white color the sky usually assumes.
L. and I decided to hit the outdoor track and begin are long awaited workout program. On the way back, we were talking about making scrambled eggs for breakfast but instead hit upon one of our favorite street snacks: Chongqing cold pasta (重庆凉皮)。This dish is made using with flat rice pasta (fresh), cucumbers, vinegar, chili flakes, cucumbers, coriander, peanuts, tofu, and in some cases, a green noodle that tastes like seaweed. A good size bowl cost about 4RMB (60 cents). I did not have my camera with but will post a picture at a future opportunity.
Street food is one area where China excels. Other favorites of mine include Lanzhou pulled noodles (made with lamb and coriander) and barbeque cumin-and-chili-laced kebobs (using lamb, beef, chicken, hot green peppers, fish, garlic, corn, buns, green beans, squid, scorpions, anything imagineable). I don't have much of a taste for Shanghai's native food... local dishes strike me as careless and flavorless. But Shanghai is fortunate to have a wealth of imported food. Besides for all the great international food– last night we ordered latkes, beef tenderloin and chicken Sharama from Hala's Mediterranean Restaurant– there is also some good Sichuan and Hunan food that can be found.
A new dish that L. has introduced me to in recent weeks is jigongbao, a variation on hot pot. For this dish, a main entree (say, chicken) is brought out on a simmering pan. You eat the chicken and core vegetables, then a soup is poured over the untouched bones and scraps and whatever other remainders are still in the pan. From there, it's much like hot pot, with cabbage or potatoes or lamb slices flash boiled and consumed immediately. I don't like the hot pot end of it as much as traditional Sichuan hot pot, but the fried chicken offered at the beginning is delicious. For anyone trying this dish, I recommend it with carrots at the initial stage, too.
Walking home, a neighbor called to L. in Chinese, "His stomach is too big!" The Chinese were never big on subtlety. Looks like L. and I will have to be making a few more trips out to the track.
Comments