New kitchen stuff

10May08

Too bad I have to go home again. I just started to enjoy this life of walking around, chatting with people, and trying out food in all kinds of restaurants. I haven’t been in the kitchen for two weeks, but back home, I will have to cook again myself.

But not without new stuff! I have had lots of dishes to try, especially the quick and easy vegetable ones, which put together ingredients in a way I wouldn’t have come up with. I snapped about a picture of everything I’ve eaten here. My table mates have resented this when they, hungrily, had their chopsticks ready, but I can enjoy my pictures for new inspiration.

To the Chinese supermarket I went all by myself, to buy stuff-to-take-home. While other foreigners might hang around silk stores or calligraphy stores – not me, I am in the supermarket, eyeing the shelves with Sichuan pepper and vintage vinegars. I asked the shop girls for info, and some passers by, too. They told me their favorite brands and then I simply added another item to my shopping basket.

I will travel home with bags of huajiao, chile peppers, dried shiitake mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, huajiao oil, fragrant vintage vinegar, new chopsticks and brand new chopping knife. I bought some strange looking packets of sauces to try. Also, I bought a new jiaozi board, for putting on home-made jiaozi so they won’t stick.

When I walked on the street with this large round board (the equivalent of a Chinese in the Netherlands walking around with a poffertjespan), an older woman stopped me to ask where I got it. When I told her she wanted to know the price as well (7.90 yuan, being €0.79), and then she went to the shop to get one, too.

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