Cost of Produce in Xiamen

Here is just a quick look some more cost of living stuff.

This past Sunday I made Vegetarian Chili and corn bread from scratch at our apartment. I didn't have most of the fresh stuff I needed, so I ran across the street to the market to pick up some things.

Here is what I bought.

In case it it not totally clear from the picture:

• 1 Bag of White Sugar
• 1 Bag of Brown Sugar
• 1 Bunch of Celery
• 2 Green Bell Peppers
• 3 Red Chili Peppers
• 2 Cups Cornmeal
• 1 Cup Red Beans
• 2 Cup Kidney Beans
• 1 Ear of Corn
• 1 Large Bottle of Drinking Water

How much did all this cost me? 19.00 RMB that is just above $2.75.

Yes I cheated a bit by using real (not powdered) milk, along with cheese and butter from the Metro (not included) in the corn bread.

Adding these almost triples the cost of the meal, since a good block of cheddar, milk, and butter can easily run you 50RMB (still only costing you $10, including the produce) but obviously you then have plenty left over for other stuff.

I also cheated a little and bought canned tomato sauce for around 15 RMB, but this could easily be substituted for real tomatoes that cost about 1-2 RMB a piece.

If you include the garlic we had in the house, this yielded enough Chili and Cornbread for 4 people to eat until they were stuffed.

Some quick division gives us less than $2.85 a meal per person max. (this is omitting the white sugar since it wasn't used in anything)

Omitting the luxury of corn bread, Cheese, and making your own tomato sauce, Chili for this 4 could easily be made for under $2.80 TOTAL or $0.70 a person. (again omitting the white sugar)

Oh, and it came out great BTW.

(Add TingTao for 2.5RMB ($0.38) , slightly better Thai beer for 8 ($1.25) , or drive to the Marco Polo and adding a Sam Adams for 12RMB ($1.75)

The Fragrance Explodes the Squid Circle

There is a " coffee shop" located right down the street from work that we discovered the other day

I say "Coffee Shop" but it is not at all like anything that we would normally call a coffee shop back home. It is called a coffee shop simply because it happens to serve coffee (along with a a varity of other interesting things as you will see)

You would think a blog post about a coffee shop would have something to do with coffee, this one does not.

This blog post is about just about everything BUT the coffee and is much more how one would go about describing everything else that is available to order in English.

The owner was nice enough to have the menu translated into English so all of us foreigners could know what to order. So your goal by the end of this post should be to know what you want from the menu.

First up on the menu the Entrees. I have split the list in half so that it is easier to read. A few of notable ones: "Harsh Sand Fish Maw" "Emperor Lion" " Does the Pot Fish Head" " Over turns the Heavens Red the Fish Head" "Unwearied Effort However Beef" and "The Peasant Family Braises the Stomach Point"





Next came the "Dutch Fragrant/ Bamboo Tube Food Section. Another honorable mention with: "Dutch Fragrant Fin-less Eel Food"


Some tasty gruels:'


Of course I should include the name sake of this blog under "Fine Snack"



And let us not for Get the "Fire Iron" and "The Water Boils the Series" Which includes "Wild Mountain fungus seafood pot" "The Water Boils the Frog" and my all time favorite "Incites Tinker Pans"


Here is what we chose:
"The country side cooks the meat"




What would you like?!

Chris' Arrival and Company Dinner Party

"If you could have told us this is where we would be right now a year ago, would you believe yourself?"

Straight from the mouth of Chris, who just arrived here on Saturday! I couldn't have said it better my self.

Its hard to believe that just a year ago this whole adventure was just a couple of emails and at best a shot in the dark for the both of us and now, here we are!

You can read Chris' take on his arrival on his blog, which I now have linked along with a few others, on the side of this blog.

He was supposed arrive on Friday March 5th on the same flight I took, but at around 10PM I received a distress call from Beijing saying he was stranded there for the night and would be showing up around 11 the next day.

Fortunately he everything worked out and we meet up with him easily enough the next morning.

After he arrived we went for a quick lunched. (I briefly had him worried we were eating frog strew, which wasn't to much of a leap since there were about a dozen of them in a tank 5 feet away.)


Most of the afternoon was spent unpacking and napping, but at 6 o:clock Lindon had arranged for us to have our annual ENRY dinner party so everyone could meet.

The place we ate was called "The little Sheep" (for good reason). It was actually some of my favorite Chinese food so far. Around 15 people joined us in the end. All of ENRY plus some of Lindon's college friends.

The restaurant style was similar to broth based fondue in Europe. Each person orders a separate broth that stays heated. Mine was mainly garlic and hot pepper based. Then, a HUGE variety of things to cook in the broth is ordered and you get to pick and choose between what you want. Here is a picture of the way it was set up.


But, first there were some appetizers...

Barnacles mmmmmm


and Goose Neck!


Then comes the MASSIVE amount of food. I would hate to do dishes at a place like this. By my count including the dishes we ate off of and not including chop sticks and spoons there where 138 dishes from our table alone!


Thing that where included:
Lotus Root
Potato
Kelp
Lamb
Lamb Intestine
Noodles
Tofu
Lettuce
Cilantro
Cauliflower
Carrots
Beef

There were probably a few others that I forgot but those were the main ones.

Here is a photo of everyone eating together.


Afterward we sat around talking and play "the dice game" or "Bullshit" which is the direct Chinese translation. One of my coworkers challenged everyone around the table to a round.



After, we did a little private room Karaoke with a few coworkers. Chris found "Let it Be" by the Beatles to sing. I sand my staple, Superstition by Stevie Wonder and Lost by Coldplay. This was a new place and only had about about 3 dozen US artists with the majority of them being a similar genre close to Backstreet Boys, Michel Jackson, and Madonna.



Chris was pretty jet lagged by around 10 oclock so we headed back early and got a good nights rest. We are finally pretty settled in now and the appartment is starting to look pretty good. We got Chris a fork and knife today so he is officially living in luxury!

More soon of course. Stay good.

Lunch Time with the the Bag Team

Yesterday the office went out for lunch at a restaurant down the street. I've never had my camera on me the times we have been out before, but today I did so I figured I would post a little about a typical lunch time meal today.

This type of food is traditional from the Hunan province which is located here.

This is a typical place setting when you arrive. Maybe times they are actually disposable.


The liquid in the cup is Chinese tea. Tea is usually had before the meal, not after like in the US or Europe. I have yet to come across a Chinese tea I dislike.

Then usually there is some sort of soup. Soup is usually considered the beverage of the meal and unless you specifically ask for "Bing Shui" (Ice Water) or "Ke Le" (Cola) it is not uncommon to not have a drink with your meal. (However today we got orange soda since the waitress insisted I would like it. Again not individual but a 1 liter bottle.)

This soup is Peanut and Papaya, interesting combo but not bad. At least it was all recognizable. The green stuff on the side is kelp. (Which in my taste isn't terrible, but I could live with out)


Here is more of what the soup looked like.


Most meals in China are served quite differently than in the US. Here, instead of individual meals, 4 or 5 dishes are ordered and shared on a lazy Susan and everyone get their own bowl of rice to put the food on. Not having enough food is considered VERY bad form, so there are is ALWAYS too much ordered. Typically the dishes come out one after another.

The first dish out was this one. Mostly cooked cabbage, chives, hot peppers, and mushrooms in a spicey soy like sauce. My personal favorite of the day.




Next out was some fish and noodles. I have no idea what kind of fish it was. The sauce was very garlicky with maybe some lemon. I also noticed it had a similar taste to the sauce Lindon's mom taught me to make for the dumplings. I think it has something to do with the untranslatable sauce used. I liked the sauce and noodles, but no surprise that the fish was not for me.


Next came a spicy chicken dish. This tasted pretty good, but having the bones still in the meat is a little weird for me. I think that the person who originally came up with American Chinese food maybe have experienced and tried to recreate something like this originally. This assumption is mostly based on the way the food looks and a few of the ingredients. The taste is still no where near the same. The smiling girl in the back ground is Lily, she is the Engineer at our company.



Here is a closer look at the chicken dish.


Finally the last. A mushroom based dish. I was so stuffed at this point I didn't get a chance to try it.


And finally a picture of all of us. Can you spot the foreigner!?



To really illustrate what I mean by always ordering too much, this is basically the end of the meal and all the food you see is left overs. Fortunately it doesn't go to waste and taking food home here is very normal. The whole affair, 4 people, 3 courses, 1 liter if soda, and tea cost us less than $30.00!

More later. Stay good.

Homemade Tradition Dumplings!

Just a quick post today.

Last night I got the privileged of Lindon's (my boss) Mother making me homemade tradition dumplings!



She even made them vegetarian for me! These ones have egg, chives, and bamboo shoots in them. They do NOT taste like dumplings I have ever had before, but they are fantastic!

They also taught me how to make a dipping sauce out of garlic, soy sauces, and some magical ingredient I have never seen before.

I also made an "Asian" stir fry to go with it that complimented it pretty well. Onions peppers and snow peas in a soy, lemon, and honey sauce all served over rice. The vegstables here all come from the market next door and are always fresh and delicious. It came out pretty well and I was happy with it.

I will have to ask her to show me how to make them sometime.

More soon.

More food related post

Apparently there is some concern around the office that I am not eating enough, am starving my self, and will become too skinny.

I believe it stems from the fact that everyday I bring "bread" to work and have it for lunch. In reality, everyday I make my self a sandwich (bread, lettuce, cheese, peppers, onions, and chicken) and bring a long a piece of fruit and a water bottle.

I have tried to explain that it is not just bread and is in fact a sandwich and even showed them the insides to convince them this is not only healthy and normal but fiscally responsible (everyone else in the office orders a 3 course take out meal. This is apparently much more normal here). This has been a fruitless effort.

They are so unconvinced that I was instructed to buy Chinese food at the supermarket and was sent with a chaperon to make sure I was getting the right things.

Tonight I cooked my first Chinese meal. I am absolutely sure I cooked it wrong or there is supposed to be more added but what I am not sure. I really don't even know what it is. I was just instructed to "cook hot pan with oil". (the hot pan part was with hand motions and not actually vocalized so it was more like "cook{hand waving}hot oil" )

I am trying to be open minded about it, but I really don't understand how this is more healthy than a sandwich.

I looked up the ingredients on the back on my translator and it is essentially sugar, milk, egg, and flour. I just had fried dough for dinner.

How on earth are American's fat and these people stick thin?

Obligatory picture after I had eaten most of them.

Eating In China

I thought I'd start doing some more day to day entry type posts. I was also thinking a good theme might be a section on eating here because it is an adventure partly because the food is crazy, partly because I am limited to when I can go to the store because I don't have a car yet, and partly because I've had bigger closets than my kitchen here.

So to work off that theme. Today we went to the grocery store. By we I mean Lindon's wife, 6 month old son, and Lindon's brother all of whom have about the same English vocabulary.

Doing the shopping is not too bad. I have learned "Do you have..." and then I can usually fill in the last word via translator. But most of the fun comes from all the stuff I see in the stores I shop in and guessing what they will and won't have in the imported food section.

Today I was looking for salsa to no avail. I haven't had Mexican food in about 3 weeks and as some of you know that is kind of a big deal for me. I had a craving that no amount of noodles or rice would satisfy. So I remembered, oh hey I know how to make salsa, I made gallons of it at the Ocean Mist in my time. So I decided I would. I took pictures partly because I was proud of it and partly because some people have been asking me what my apartment is like and I have been slacking on pictures.

Here's what my kitchen and pre salsa making endeavors look like.


As you can see, it's not much. There is about 4 in of counter on the other side of the sink. Cooking for more than one is a little tricky but I have only tried it once so it hasn't been much of a problem.

These little babies made my eyes water a little.


China has a great variety of spicy peppers which is great for me. Half a dozen meals or so far have been me "entertaining" the people at the table with my "ability" to eat hot foods. It goes a little something like Lindon orders me the spiciest peppers on the menu, everyone kind of goes OH! (but not oh obviously they say La! because that means spicy.) Then I proceed to eat it and thoroughly enjoy it. Then everyone who said La! at the table tries one and we have to ask for more water and noodles to calm everyone down. Haha

Here is the viggies chopped up.


At this point I realized that some where a long the the line the lime I thought I bought didn't quite make it into my bag so I took my first venture down the street at night by my self which was fine. I went to a little fruit stand and bought a lime. Except when I got back to my apartment I realized it wasn't a lime it was some kind of little apple like thing the exact same shape, size, and color as a lime. Fortunately it only cost .50 RMB which is less than a dime. Now I have a new fruit to try.

So the salsa is still lacking lime but here it is almost finished.


Final opinion, Acceptable. Next time I will use a different type of pepper, these where a little too bitter and not sweat or spicy enough. By it self its alright, I made a quesadilla though and put it on and you can't tell. (because I found tortillas but not salsa :-/ go figure)

Anyway, I am thinking for my next series of eating related posts I am going to bring my Camera to the super market and show everyone all they funky stuff there. Lindon's wife also coaxed me into trying some little fryable Chinese roll thingys (I don't know what we would call them in English just the Chinese name) If the production is interesting I may include it.

First solo shopping excursion

While I am waiting for my more fun photos from my weekend to finish uploading, I thought I’d write up a quick post on cost of living hear in Xiamen.

Today I went on my first solo-shopping excursion to buy some stuff I need around the apartment (I have been doing dishes with hand soap for about 3 days. Google said it was safe enough, I have too much faith in the Internet.)

The trip was largely successful. I got all the essential things I needed plus even a little bit of Chinese honey. To top it off I learned how to say sugar as well. But the most interesting part is the translation of price. Below is a picture of every thing I bought.



Not a whole lot, but plenty of useful things windex, dish soap, sponges, sugar, Tupperware, honey and broom . My guess in the US it would have run me anywhere from 25-35 dollars depending on how much a broom like that costs and the quality of the honey. Either way, it all ran me exactly 50 RMB. For those of you with out a calculator handy or that don’t know the exchange rate, that’s a whopping $7.35.

Not a bad.

More interesting post coming of sight seeing as soon as all the pictures are done!