Cafeteria Food

The school that I live at provides us breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day in the school’s cafeteria. The workers are really nice and I love eating with the kids, but the food here is not very good. To save money I try to eat here as much as possible (although some days I just can’t do it). At first I really didn’t like the food, but eventually I’ve learned to like it more.

The cafeteria.

Breakfast: When we first came to China, we couldn’t handle the breakfast and instead bought our own at the store. But after a while of becoming more accustomed to the food, Whitney and I decided to try it again. Each day they give steamed buns, which you put some type of spicy veggie mixture in, and then either a boiled egg or a sponge cake. We discovered that if you put jam on the steamed buns—it’s actually really good (you can even get a little wild and put peanut butter on it for a PB&J)! And thus breakfast with Whitney became one of my favorite things.

Lunch and dinner: For lunch and dinner they serve about the same things—always rice and four different side dishes to choose from. I wish I could tell you what is on all of these plates, but the fact is most of the time I don’t know—it’s been pretty fun trying to guess what are noodles, meat, tofu, or vegetables. Also, the cafeteria has been known to serve chicken feet and dog—as shown in the picture below in the left corner.

And now I promise to NEVER complain about American food again. 

Update

Oh hey followers,

So I’m back from China and although I really miss it—it’s really nice to be home. However, I still have a ton of photos and events that I haven’t posted yet… I’ve just been really busy and my China blog has not been my top priority, but I still want to finish it. So anyway just letting you know that even though I am home, I’m going to keep posting about China until I finish.

Laters.

How to make Dumplings

One day our native coordinator, Mary, showed us how to make jiaozi (or dumplings as we call them) and we used this recipe:

1 cup ground pork or beef

1 TB soy sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1 TB Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, or to taste

3 TB sesame oil

1/2 green onion, finely minced

1 1/2 cups finely shredded Napa cabbage

4 tablespoons shredded bamboo shoots

2 slices fresh ginger, finely minced

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced

1 egg                                                                                                                                                                                                  Add the soy sauce, salt, rice wine and white pepper to the meat, stirring in only one direction. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring in the same direction (very important), and mix well.
Place a small portion (about 1 level tablespoon) of the filling into the middle of each wrapper. Wet the edges of the dumpling with water. Fold the dough over the filling into a half moon shape and pinch the edges to seal. Continue with the remainder of the dumplings.To cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add half the dumplings, giving them a gentle stir so they don't stick together. Bring the water to a boil, and add 1/2 cup of cold water. Cover and repeat. When the dumplings come to a boil for a third time, they are ready. Drain and remove.
For dipping sauce—just mix vinegar and soy sauce.