So what has been going on during the “lost month”?
To be honest, not too much! We’ve been very busy at our office getting ready for our school’s certification by the Chinese Aviation Administration. This means hours and hours of proofreading the zillion documents required for the cert. They were all written in Chinese, translated into English and finally, proofread by the DH and I. I enjoy the work but it is really tiring. We’ve been too exhausted in the evenings to do much more than grab some grub and sleep.
We’ve spent our free weekends exploring more of Linyi, including a Buddhist Temple and park complex and a depressing visit to a local “zoo” which I will describe in more detail in coming posts.
Since obtaining food has become our main entertainment, I thought I’d share two of our favorite street foods – and our latest favorite finds.
The Chinese Breakfast Taco – Really it is called Jian Bing
I’ve always been a fan of street food, although it wasn’t until I came to China that I found I could eat it without consequences. Luckily, my system seems to have adapted to Chinese food wonderfully. Back in Shijiazhuang, we discovered the joys of the Chinese breakfast taco (jian bing). Since living in Linyi, and being able to explore the city at all hours of the day, we’ve found the CBT is widely available 24/7. The Linyi version is even better and tastier. The flat bread is filled with fried egg and vegetables, much more veggies than the Shiz version. We’re trying different CBT carts at locations all over the city. The above cart and CBT lady made us two delicious tacos with very little oil, something we really appreciate. She also had an assortment of different vegetables to choose from – cabbage, bean sprouts, onions and other greens. This cart is located near the Wholesale Market. The whole sidewalk is filled with different food vendors, selling variations on the CBT; skewers of meat, calamari and sausages; varieties of bread; candies, fruit and other sweets. It is a great cacophony of noisy cars, food smells and people everywhere.
Our second favorite find is also a bread and egg combo, but this one is made with smaller round breads that have been toasted. This version is less greasy and contains some kind of green, onions, egg and chopped up sausage. We have not come across any other carts selling this kind of treat before. One afternoon while walking to our bank, we passed a small alley lined with vendors. We decided to explore it a little, especially since it didn’t seem to be crowded. It turned out to be a little street market, the kind you will find outside of any Chinese apartment block. It contained lots of vendors selling fruits and vegetables and even a couple of fresh chicken stands. (The kind where you pick out the live chicken and the vendor butchers and cleans it right in front of you, on the sidewalk.) This is where we found our round toasted egg sandwiches. We wanted to take a picture with the couple making them, but they were too shy. DH did manage to get a shot with them in it, though.
Small street with food carts and fruit & veg vendors
Street food vendors and me
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