Skip to main content

Potluck Lunch

To welcome everyone back from the winter vacation in February, we put our cooking skills to the test, ate far too much and, as far as I'm aware, avoided giving each other food poisoning. The Chinese are obsessed with food and, if you spend much time in the country, you'll find yourself following suit. We certainly have.
The food was as varied in its origins as the chefs themselves, ranging from a Denver omelette, fishcakes, fried rice, steak, quiche, sushi, popcorn chicken and the biggest 粽子 (a type of glutinous rice dumpling) I've ever seen! There were also the obligatory 番茄炒蛋 tomato with scrambled eggs and 可乐鸡翅 cola chicken wings; the two dishes that always make an appearance as all 1.4 billion Chinese are able to cook them. I was amazed at the culinary skills on display, even from those who claimed not to know what they were doing.
This is an event that we'll definitely hold again, especially when the weather improves and we can make use of one of the many wonderful parks in the city. If you'd like to join in, get in touch via email. And, if you think this is the kind of place you'd like to live and work, we're looking for teachers to work in our brand new English school, so send us a message via email or our Facebook page.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

烧烤 - BBQ

Whilst Brits tend towards pubs and bars for their evening socialising, the locals in Liuzhou go to the 烧烤 BBQ to chat and drink late into the night. These restaurants are on roadsides throughout the city and, given the great weather in summer here, provide the best opportunity for some al fresco dining with Chinese characteristics. By all means go to the BBQ for your main meal but many locals, after having dinner at home or elsewhere, descend on these restaurants for 宵夜, which roughly translates as a "midnight snack". Sitting outside on benches or yellow plastic chairs, you'll see dozens of tables packed with people eating 烤鱼 BBQ fish, 串 skewers of meat and veg, 炒米粉 fried rice noodles and other specialities. As well as the regular BBQ stalls, there are also some speciality places, including our favourite Mongolian style restaurant which serves up the most amazing lamb legs and ribs. Sitting in 30 degree heat at 11pm, eating amazing food, drinking cold, cheap, wate...
Post a Comment
Read more

国庆节 - National Day

Famous for being the busiest travel week of the year, when foreign residents who've spent any period of time in China will tell you to stay at home to avoid the crowds, 国庆节 National Day, or 黄金周 Golden Week, is a public holiday where seemingly the entire country leaves their villages and crowds into the cities and popular travel destinations. I experienced the holiday last year and, as such, decided to stay in Liuzhou this time, to avoid (not entirely successfully) being jostled and gawped at by tens of thousands of farmers. Besides, one of our members at Liuzhou Meet & Learn has some connections within the local tourism department and wanted some foreign volunteers to be taken around the city to attend the various events taking place. So, four members from our group set off to be photographed doing everything from walking around, to eating noodles, to being force fed tea by members of the local ethnic minority groups. One thing that is so seductive about living in a sm...
Post a Comment
Read more

啤酒在中国 － Beer in China

Summers in Guangxi are long and hot so you're going to need to keep your fluids up; beer is scientifically proven to be the best way to do this. Besides, spirits and wine are best avoided in Chinese bars and I highly recommend staying away from the local poison of choice, 白酒 white alcohol, the taste of which could generously be described as somewhere between vodka and paint stripper. So here's a quick guide about what to drink when you're in Liuzhou... As well as better known Chinese mass produced beers such as 青岛 Qingdao and 雪花 Snow, the most popular brand in Liuzhou is 漓泉啤酒 LiQ Beer from nearby Guilin. They have a few types available, including 漓泉1998 and 漓泉新1代纯生, which are their premier offerings. The 1998 variety appears to celebrate a visit to the province 20 years ago by ex US president Bill Clinton and includes a patently false quote from the man himself (I'm fairly sure Clinton didn't speak Chinglish). Whilst the taste is definitely not on a par wit...
Post a Comment
Read more