tolja. we did warn and it sounds like you prepared as much as possible. watch that cold -rhinovirus. chicken soup available there? lots of liquids.
no chicken soup, but duck soup is popular, in fact that's about all there is.
strangely, 5000 years of history, and they still haven't learned to use a
freakin' spoon to eat soup. it's a challenge with XXXL-size hands to use
those dinky half-size disposable chopsticks to eat soup.
i just wish they'd learn how to properly cut up a bird. the method here is
to put the whole bird, sometimes ungutted for hot-pot, on a wooden block,
and beat it with a cleaver until it's in sorta bite-size chunks. you'd get the
same effect by pressing it through a 1/2" wire mesh.
sneeze has cleared up, spent the day shopping for cheese. only american
processed cheese food clone is available in one of the stores, so tried to
buy some from a few local restaurants that serve "pizza." no luck, most
people here don't know what cheese is. ask at the restaurants for cheese
and they don't have a clue.
...you serve pizza, right?
....yes, we have pizza.
....then you have cheese, right?
....no, we have no cheese.
....well, what goes on top of the pizza?
....corn, fruit, some kind of meat.....
....and what goes on top of that?
....ummm, potatoes?
....aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhh!!!
ah, learned something new today. this part of china doesn't use the
word "nailao" (milk or breast or grandmother jelly). no, they say
"zhishi," which, um, translates to........sesame soldier.
so now i'm scouring the internet for cheese recipes. wow, it seems real
mozzarella is made from water buffalo milk. now THAT i can get. found
some simple recipes using just milk and vinegar or lemon juice.
