..Small things take on a big significance.
In the last week, I have made the best salsa of my life, enjoyed the most delicious Indian lunch, and had the best brie I've ever tasted. I recognize that these things might not actually be the best ever, but they sure did taste like it.
The salsa has gotten a little bland in the last few days. But there I was, walking past the vegetable hawkers outside the grocery store when I saw them: tomatillos. The distinctive papery skins were enough to set my sights on salsa. Some red onion and cilantro and what I thought was a lime later, and I had the makings of salsa. A little searching through Joy (there are some cookbooks I don't leave home without) and I was shortly roasting the tomatillos in a dry pan on my super-hot stove. A few whirs in the blender with the rinsed onion and cilantro and cumin and red pepper (hot pepper is one thing it's easy to get in China) and I was in business. The biggest problem was that I had no corn chips to have the salsa with. Instead, I've been spooning it on eggs all week long. (Poached eggs on toast with shaved parmesan and tomatillo salsa was a particular highlight.) After a month without salsa, anything Tex-Mex was much appreciated.
For a month now, I've heard rumors of a French butcher in the eastern half of the city (where all the ex-pats live). Said butcher also sells wine and cheese. What a score! However, the man who told me about it is notoriously bad with directions. After multiple google map searches (all listings in China are "unverified", making finding anything a crapshoot -- even without the whole language barrier thing) and some wanderings, I finally decided I knew where it was. So, I went off with two colleagues for an afternoon of shopping and food. Meat and cheese were high on our list.
After the subway ride across the city and a trip to the DVD shop (where, incidentally, I found The Big Lebowski!!!!), we were a bit peaked. It just so happens that there is an Indian restaurant in the mall we were at, so off we went. Oh. My. God. Was. It. Ever. So. Good. Vegetable samosas with cilantro chutney and tamarind chutney (I love cilantro). Garlic naan. Spicy channa masala over basmati rice with raita. Some chicken things. Chilled white wine. You would have thought that we had all died and gone to Indian heaven. We might become their best customers. It was way better than the Indian restaurants in Portland (which always had crazy no-good cilantro chutney). We stuffed ourselves and I managed to still take some home.
Then it was time for meat and cheese. I was hoping for real bacon. Alas, it was not to be. But I got sausage (chorizo and plain pork -- I didn't see any Italian). And cheese. We walked straight to the cheese case and drooled over the cheese for a few minutes before actually ordering. I went with brie, blue, and cheddar. When he asked me how much of the cheddar I wanted, I just laughed and told him I wanted the whole thing. (It was about a 16 oz. chunk.) (There were three chunks, so we could all get one.)
Across the street was anothern Western grocery store, where I found the elusive corn chips, regular flour, yeast, decaf coffee beans, balsamic vinegar, and sage. Now, I just need an oven...
In other "it's the small things" news, I'm working on a stove-top cassoulet. I know, I'm crazy. Tell me something we all don't already know. I made a delicious pork rib braise and cooked some white beans (of a sort, I don't think they're French). I got some Chinese sausage (one kind is very much like keilbasa) and everything has a slight air of Chinese about it, so I'm hoping for the best.
I forgot the duck, though. (gasp!) I remidied that this afternoon (after memorizing the character for duck and figuring it out by finding the whole duck (with head on) and comparing it with the other fowl parts surrounding that and pointing at some stuff with the man behind the counter). Tomorrow, I roast the duck. I also buy a sand pot. Then, I layer the beans and the duck and the meat and I cook it in the sand pot on the stove (simulating a Dutch oven). Breadcrumbs I have (from good bread I find but can never eat all of before it goes stale), but I'm not sure how brown they will be at the end of the cooking.
However, if it's like anything else I've made, it will be the best thing I've tasted in forever.
The salsa has gotten a little bland in the last few days. But there I was, walking past the vegetable hawkers outside the grocery store when I saw them: tomatillos. The distinctive papery skins were enough to set my sights on salsa. Some red onion and cilantro and what I thought was a lime later, and I had the makings of salsa. A little searching through Joy (there are some cookbooks I don't leave home without) and I was shortly roasting the tomatillos in a dry pan on my super-hot stove. A few whirs in the blender with the rinsed onion and cilantro and cumin and red pepper (hot pepper is one thing it's easy to get in China) and I was in business. The biggest problem was that I had no corn chips to have the salsa with. Instead, I've been spooning it on eggs all week long. (Poached eggs on toast with shaved parmesan and tomatillo salsa was a particular highlight.) After a month without salsa, anything Tex-Mex was much appreciated.
For a month now, I've heard rumors of a French butcher in the eastern half of the city (where all the ex-pats live). Said butcher also sells wine and cheese. What a score! However, the man who told me about it is notoriously bad with directions. After multiple google map searches (all listings in China are "unverified", making finding anything a crapshoot -- even without the whole language barrier thing) and some wanderings, I finally decided I knew where it was. So, I went off with two colleagues for an afternoon of shopping and food. Meat and cheese were high on our list.
After the subway ride across the city and a trip to the DVD shop (where, incidentally, I found The Big Lebowski!!!!), we were a bit peaked. It just so happens that there is an Indian restaurant in the mall we were at, so off we went. Oh. My. God. Was. It. Ever. So. Good. Vegetable samosas with cilantro chutney and tamarind chutney (I love cilantro). Garlic naan. Spicy channa masala over basmati rice with raita. Some chicken things. Chilled white wine. You would have thought that we had all died and gone to Indian heaven. We might become their best customers. It was way better than the Indian restaurants in Portland (which always had crazy no-good cilantro chutney). We stuffed ourselves and I managed to still take some home.
Then it was time for meat and cheese. I was hoping for real bacon. Alas, it was not to be. But I got sausage (chorizo and plain pork -- I didn't see any Italian). And cheese. We walked straight to the cheese case and drooled over the cheese for a few minutes before actually ordering. I went with brie, blue, and cheddar. When he asked me how much of the cheddar I wanted, I just laughed and told him I wanted the whole thing. (It was about a 16 oz. chunk.) (There were three chunks, so we could all get one.)
Across the street was anothern Western grocery store, where I found the elusive corn chips, regular flour, yeast, decaf coffee beans, balsamic vinegar, and sage. Now, I just need an oven...
In other "it's the small things" news, I'm working on a stove-top cassoulet. I know, I'm crazy. Tell me something we all don't already know. I made a delicious pork rib braise and cooked some white beans (of a sort, I don't think they're French). I got some Chinese sausage (one kind is very much like keilbasa) and everything has a slight air of Chinese about it, so I'm hoping for the best.
I forgot the duck, though. (gasp!) I remidied that this afternoon (after memorizing the character for duck and figuring it out by finding the whole duck (with head on) and comparing it with the other fowl parts surrounding that and pointing at some stuff with the man behind the counter). Tomorrow, I roast the duck. I also buy a sand pot. Then, I layer the beans and the duck and the meat and I cook it in the sand pot on the stove (simulating a Dutch oven). Breadcrumbs I have (from good bread I find but can never eat all of before it goes stale), but I'm not sure how brown they will be at the end of the cooking.
However, if it's like anything else I've made, it will be the best thing I've tasted in forever.
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