Food is life

Chinas a giant culinary adventure for me every time I visit. Known for
it's oddities, China sure has had it's lovely surprises.

First, before I tell my stories, I have to tell you how a lot of
restaurants operate. Unlike in the US, in most nice restaurants, you
get put at a table and then go look at what you want to order. Yes,
there are menus that you can use, but since the names of dishes are
fairly useless, they encourage you to see what you're getting. Let's
face it. Chicken in garlic could be a million things. So they have an
area of the restaurant dedicated to their prized dishes, already made,
wrapped in plastic for you to see the finished dishes. For seafood,
you get to see the live fish, scallops, shrimp, etc so you know that
you're getting the freshest seafood possible. It's pretty awesome.
Pics to come.

Dog meat. There's a restaurant that specializes in dog meat across the
street from the apartment. I tried to brave it and go inside but just
couldn't bring myself to do it. I went home that day and told my dad
that I wanted to try it but not to let me know what it was when in my
first bites. I know, I know. It's dog meat. But when in Rome, do as
the Romans do, right? I figured I had to give it a try.

The next day my dad ordered lunch for my grandma and me. I sat at the
table while my dad ordered and in came a tofu and meat hot pot. I
figured it was a beef of sorts and dug in. After like three bites, my
dad told me it was dog! Honestly, it really does taste like beef...
but had the texture of fatty brisket. I'm... glad I've given it a try,
but don't see myself taking a liking to it. 8RMB

Dalian is by the ocean, so these few days ive eaten quite a bit of
seafood.

Conk. I love conk. I've never known how many different kinds of conk
there are. Different sizes, different shapes. Delish. Eaten steamed,
stir fried, or in a soup.

Fish heads. So fish heads are a bit of a delicacy. You can actually go
to restaurants and order fish heads. One of my grandmas favorite
restaurants does two for 58 RMB. They're about a foot long and 6
inches tall. The meat is like fresh steamed fish, but so tender and
filled with fatty fish oils it's quite delish.

Turtle. Eaten usually in stew form, the Chinese eat turtle because of
it's medicinal purpose. It's usually made for the elderly after
surgeries. And wow. They sell it fresh in the middle of the super
market in tanks. When you order and pick one out, they prepare it
fresh for you. Scroll down to the next paragraph if you're weak in the
stomach. So when you order it, they fish it out of the tank, take a
pair of pliers and yank the head off. They then drain the body of as
much blood possible. Then they put it in a shallow pail and pour
boiling water over it to stop the bleeding. They then peel the outer
mucus layer off the turtle and let it soak for 5 min in hot water.
Afterwards, they return to cut open the shell to remove the lungs,
heart, intestines, etc. They leave in the eggs, liver, and a couple
other major organs, cover it back up, wrap it up in Saran wrap and
give it to te customer. It's totally mind blowing how quickly and
efficiently the workers are able to go thru all of this.

My new favorite food: raw sea urchin. Take a sea urchin, cut out the
bottom, clean out the crap, and eat! Add wasabi and soy sauce at your
liking. Quite delicious and definitely one of my favorites. It's soft
and slurpy like the consistency of a good raw oyster and tastes like
seafoody with more flavor than oyster... like raw clams. Yum. Two for
60 RMB

Lamb and cumin. Lamb and cumin is a common flavor mix, especially in
the Middle East. But I kinda really like the Asian version of it: stir
fried in peppers and green onion. Yum! And lamb dumplings!! Omg amazing.

Dumplings! (ok thats a staple of northeast Chinese cuisine) in all
different flavors: pork, shrimp, eggs & chives, lamb, yum. Ranges I'm
various prices but average in a regular restaurant about 36 RMB for 50