Life's a Stitch

There are so many ways to approach the subject of food, it may have to be in two posts. I could do it by the meal: brekkie, snacks, lunch and dinner, by the odd signage translations, or unusual offerings. How about we start with breakfast and snacks.

Our accommodation, no matter luxury or basic, included wonderful breakfasts. All buffets, there were traditional western choices and a wide variety of local items: congee (rice porridge), noodles, stir fries, steam buns and pastries. An example:

The steam bun pictured was filled with delicious rich, eggy, coconut custard. Didn’t see those again after leaving Beijing. The absolutely best thing to pass these lips in China, possibly anywhere in the world, were these “Net Red Dirty Bags” in Hongzhou. 

It’s a croissant made of chocolate pastry, slathered with ganache, rolled in cocoa powder. Once the word got out, our group wiped out their supply. Sometimes called dirty bread, I am determined to find these in Vancouver.

Snacks. How about frog on a stick? Or fresh market frogs?

I’ve eaten frog legs in my past, and yes, they taste like chicken, but silk worm pupae don’t. 

I got brave and popped one in. They taste like dirty wood. I chewed and chewed then it struck me, I should just swallow and get it over with. So I did. Silk worm pupa? Been there, done that, don’t need to do it again.

Variations on the familiar, zoom in to read the flavours:

And the unfamiliar: