Comments on: Hungry Traveler: Hunan

By: sfrrr

sfrrr

about 30 years ago, when Hunan food was new o the U.S. foodie, The New Yorker, one of the most highly regarded magazines in our country, announced that a place called the Hunan restaurant in San Francisco's North Beach was the best Chinese restaurant in the world. It turned out later that that was the first real Chinese restaurant that writer ha ever eaten in. And, I guess, he liked it. (Don't ask me how a fellow who hd lived in both New York and the San Francisco Bay Area (and, I think, Los Angeles) had managed to avoid Chinese food until he was well into his thirties, but the world is a strange and wonderful place.

By: darylk

darylk

Oooh, this series will be good. Just before doing this lesson, I had been Googling "top ten shanghainese dishes." My goal is to eat each of these ten at least once by 2010. Then maybe I'll start on the top 10 Hunan cai.

By: clay

clay

Yeah, I think this series will be a fun one for the foodies out there. We are going to spotlight a few popular dishes from each province of china, and we will list another 4-5 in the supplementary section as well.

By: texastochina

texastochina

Tomorrow I take 4 visitors from Dalian to Yao's, Yao Ming's family's restaurant here in Houston. It was their choice. Food is so much fun and China is such a rich place to explore different foods. Nice.

By: texastochina

texastochina

One of the greatest things about Chinesepod.com is that you remember many of the things the way Jenny says them. Then, they come out of your mouth and you remember, aaahh, wasn't she sweet the way she said "black" in Mandarin.

By: mark

mark

请方多辣吧!

By: jennyzhu

jennyzhu

texastochina, I went to Yao Ming's restaurant in Shanghai, which is called Yeeha! Apparently he is transporting Texan food to China and Chinese to Texas.

By: hankfdh

hankfdh

Props should be given to the Canadian TV show 'The Thirsty Traveler' for inspiration.

By: bingge

bingge

Good for Yao Ming! I experienced "辣死了!" while visiting Chicago's Chinatown. wow. spicy cabbage. I took half a piece of this shredded cabbage stuff, chewed for about five seconds and immediately started having a coughing fit. I turned red,etc. I actually lost my voice for a few minutes. Let me just say, it wasn't pretty. It really did have great flavor, though. Kudos to the strong ones out there who can handle 辣菜!

By: clay

clay

I just had some Hunanese food this past week by Peoples Square 人民广场, and I had the first item listed in our supplementary vocab, the spicy fish head (Duo4jiao1yu2tou2 / 剁椒鱼头). Now, im not a huge fan of fish, but it seemed like every table had this dish on it, so we gave it a try. Flavor was amazing, but its quite an event getting through all the bones.

By: kesirui

kesirui

I must have a hotter tongue, because I had some really spicy 湘菜 once, and everyone around me was crying its was so hot, but I was fine (it was spicy though) haha

By: ilovechina777

ilovechina777

大家好！我去过湖南，我在河南省的时候我很喜欢吃那边的菜，因为河南人很喜欢加大蒜。好像什么菜都会加大蒜酱。我也喜欢吃饺子跟大蒜酱。我期待你们广东的课程，因为我现在住在广东省。

By: light487

light487

I haven't listened to the lesson yet, as I am still at work and I can't download anything from here.. :( but I was just curious... @clay How do you eat fish with chopsticks? I can understand eating fish-cakes with chopsticks but not fish with bones... and was it the actual fish "head" that was served.. or just the exotic name of the dish?

By: jennyzhu

jennyzhu

I watched a documentary about Hunan food. It claims that traditionally 80% of Hunan dishes was actually not that spicy. But the few famous ones were and helped build a reputation of the cuisine being spicy. So much so that now Hunan food as a whole has become spicier.

By: clay

clay

ilovechina777, The Hungry Traveler will be visiting Hong Kong on June 17th!

By: jiarenlun

jiarenlun

sfrr, Hunan Restaurant in SF - do you remember the huge banner across the dining room that said "We use no MSG"? （没有未经 mei2you3wei4jing1) . They actually had a parking lot in North Beach. This was right before Chinese food started getting fusion-ized, and it was slightly yuppie and trendy. We liked the 麻婆豆腐 (ma2po2dou4fu) - but that is a Sichuan dish!

By: xiaosiobhan

xiaosiobhan

Tudou si sounds a lot like the hash browns you would get at Denny's or Waffle House. Is it usually plain fried potatoes or is something else usually added? Pics of Denny's/Waffle House style hash browns: http://www.vickihodge.com/blogs/tofucornhashbrowns/tofucornhashbrowns-Images/3.jpg http://cookingtrainer.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/hashbrowns.jpg

By: perle

perle

Ah Bluejay- you too are a SFBay area C-Poder as well as sfrrr? I am a newbie/lower ellie on the outskirts of SF and my little town has only Cantonese speaking owners who think that I should be learning Cantonese. I am not sure what happened to the 88 groups- especially the one that was for the Bay Area, but any Mandarin speaking establishments- I would love to frequent to practice. Most people are willing to play along with my fractured Mandarin and I always learn something even though some exchanges are awkward and embarrassing. I just keep smiling and it all seems to work out ok. Any suggestions?

By: clay

clay

Ive attached the photos of each dish mentioned in the dialog and the supplementary. Ill try and do this for all future Hungry Traveler episodes.

By: sushan

sushan

土豆丝就又软又苍白；还差不多生的.可以加青椒、泡椒、等等。建议吃干煸土豆丝.很香很脆. Tŭdoùsī jiù yoù ruăn yoù cāngbái； hái chàbuduō shēngde。 kĕyĭ jiā qīngjiāo,pāojiāo, dĕngdĕng. Jiànyì chī gānbiān tŭdoùsī。Hĕn xiāng hĕn cuì。 The shredded potatoes come out pale and soft (or still slightly raw). They can have green peppers, preserved hot peppers, or other stuff added. Much better are 'gānbiān potato shreds', they are very fragrant and crispy (though not in a 'cake' like hash browns). Clay, could we pleaseget a reference for the 图片(túpiàn)? Thanks.

By: auntie68

auntie68

Hi Clay. This Auntie's special request is: If the Hungry Traveller is really going to Hong Kong, as per your teaser (mm, nice!), could you please mention HK "speakasies"? These illegal micro-restaurants run out of tiny private homes are so "HK"! Thanks again!

By: henning

henning

Great idea for a series. And the most important show up front! @Clay: 剁椒鱼头 is indeed delicious, I love it. But it makes you lose all traces civilization - spitting, slurping, sucking, main thing getting the last bit of meat out there...

By: sushan

sushan

在中国土豆不是基本粮食而是素菜. 因此吃土豆跟米饭很平常. 我很喜欢做土豆酸菜炒饭 Zài zhōngguó、tŭdoù bùshì jībĕn liángshi、érshì sùcài。Yīncĭ chī tŭdoù gēn mĭfàn hĕn píngcháng。 Wŏ hĕn xĭhuan zuò tŭdoù suāncài chăofàn。 In China, potatoes are not a staple food but are considered a vegetable. It's not strange at all to be eating a potato dish with your bowl of rice. I love to make potato fried rice with preserved vegetables. I find myself always scanning menus for potato dishes here since they can be done very imaginitively, and potato based street foods are amazingly good too. (Funny, this lesson mentions the one potato dish I don't like...)

By: suburbanite

suburbanite

@light487 You can eat fish with chop sticks. you might want to use a spoon as an assist. The bones are tricky and it depends on the type of fish. I has one dish where it seemed like the bones of the fish were woven. The trick is to develop a light touch. Try eating jello, or custard with sticks. You can then lift the fish off the bones (in many cases). !! If the fish is done well/right after the meat is picked off the top half, you should be able to lift the bones out pretty much as a unit. Don't turn over the fish! That is supposed to be bad luck, and might concern others at the table. p.s. the fish usually comes to the table head and all. Or you might encounter fish head soup. I also was serve pig's knuckle soup. I'd stick with the fish.

By: changye

changye

毛泽东 was born in 湖南省韶山 in 1893. One of his favorite dishes was 湖南家常菜 ”红烧肉”. And 毛主席 also loved dishes featuring 武昌鱼. 武昌 is the name of a place in 湖北省. I like to eat 红烧武昌鱼. It is very tasty, but a little expensive. 毛泽东 (mao2 ze dong1) 毛主席 (mao2 zhu3 xi2) 湖南省韶山 (hu2 nan2 sheng3 shao2 shan1) 家常菜 (jia1 chang2 cai4) 红烧肉 (hong2 shao1 rou4) 武昌鱼 (wu3 chang1 yu2) 湖北省 (hu2 bei3 sheng3) 湖南红烧肉 http://images.google.cn/images?aq=f&um=1&complete=1&hl=zh-CN&newwindow=1&q=%E7%BA%A2%E7%83%A7%E8%82%89+%E6%B9%96%E5%8D%97&btnG=%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87 武昌鱼 http://images.google.cn/images?aq=f&um=1&complete=1&hl=zh-CN&newwindow=1&q=%E6%AD%A6%E6%98%8C%E9%B1%BC+&btnG=%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2%E5%9B%BE%E7%89%87

By: ilovechina777

ilovechina777

谢谢Clay! 你告诉我CPOD的内倾！我真的需要学习香港的菜，因为我出去吃饭的时候经常点错了！真的有麻烦有丢脸！你们在CPOD可以帮助我长见识，所以当我父母到香港来我可以装很聪明！我期待六月十七号！

By: jennyzhu

jennyzhu

changye brought up a great point. A lot of small Hunan restaurants are called 毛主席家乡菜/mao2 zhu3 xi2 jia1 xiang1 cai4/food from Chairman Mao's hometown.

By: sophie20461

sophie20461

i love 湘菜very much!haha i've been to hunan to visit my classmate and i stay there for one week. when i have to go back to my school i don't want to leave haha just beacause there food .like 臭豆腐（may be a lot of people can't accept it haha, ）农家小炒肉（this dish is very simple,you can cook it by youself ,just need pork and chile.）手撕包菜。。。。很多很多重点是一定要辣哈哈。我最不喜欢的就是广东菜。我来这里2年了还不不能接受这边的菜，对我来说太清淡无味了。所以我经常去湘菜馆吃饭呵呵。

By: light487

light487

Hrmm yes.. I need to buy myself a set of chopsticks to practise with at home by the sound of it. I only use them when I am at a restaurant.. so I rarely use them and I always get a cramp in my hand after using them for 30 to 60mins.

By: light487

light487

Ok I have listened to the lesson now. I think I understood 5% of the dialogue this time when I listened to it the first time through. However, during the translation I understand about 25% of the dialogue before it was translated by Ken. Is it simply because Jenny speak clearer/slower? Or is it that I simply used to her voice now?

By: lester

lester

light487, Jenny does speak more clearly than the fellow in the dialog. I could barely hear the 'le' at the end of his sentences. But be ready for that and expect it, because that's how its spoken. It's also an amazing feature or CPod that there are so many different voices used throughout. BTW, my office mate is Chinese from somewhere north of Shanghai. He commented that women tend to speak clearer and and better 'putonghua'. Can anyone confirm/deny?

By: light487

light487

Gawd.. look at my bad English now. This Chinese stuff is ruining my English grammar because I am immersed in learning it so much each day that I even, as I commented in another conversation, mistake some English words as being Chinese. ("Sugar" sounds like "shu ge")

By: wolson

wolson

Damn Clay! You would show those dishes now that I am back in the USA! Now I have to get back to China just to satisfy my taste buds. I really do miss the food and especially 川菜！

By: mandomikey

mandomikey

Thanks for posting those pictures, Clay. Looking forward to future installments in this series.

By: auntie68

auntie68

Clay, thanks for those yummy food pictures. Thanks to them, I had my lunch (plain rice with a very garlicky chicken and shiitake mushroom stew) one hour early...

By: wolson

wolson

[B]TEST[/B] Determining whether or not I can use coding for a picture I want to insert of Xiang Cai

By: wolson

wolson

Did not work: Any one tell me how to insert a picture? Email me at wolson@utnet.utoledo.edu

By: chillosk

chillosk

Clay, thanks for the pictures. Yummy. And great idea for the series, we all love our chinese food! Don't forget to include exotic (at least for non-Chinese) food, like snakes, turtles... :)

By: chris1

chris1

Lester mentioned different voices in the pod casts. I have come to recognize several of the voices over time but of course I don't know who they are. I think it would be very appropriate if someone mentioned the Chinese speakers at some point during each pod cast. I feel like I know these people and I love their inflections and the feeling they put into the dialogue but then again I don't even know their names.

By: kesirui

kesirui

That looks so good! Now that I can see it, I think I've had the first one. Good idea Clay!

By: darylk

darylk

Two requests: 1. Sushan, will you post your recipe for potatoes with preserved veggies? Sounds good. 2. How does one insert a pic into a discussion posting? Like wolson, I'd appreciate the info. Thanks.

By: kbens

kbens

bingge, I think you must have been eating at Lao Sze Chuan. 我爱 the spicy cabbage...it's my favorite restaurant in Chinatown! (I live in Chicago)

By: chenggwo

chenggwo

Sugar is the thing to put out the fire. Adding three packs of sugar to your tea should do the trick. Otherwise, a cola does nicely.

By: bingge

bingge

clay, those potatoes look awesome! Thanks for posting the pics. kbens, yep, I think that was it! Szechuan food, then, not Hunan food. I wonder which is spicier. Well, next time I get there, I'll have to call u!

By: ludongbin

ludongbin

I've just joined! These podcasts are fantastic! They are so very fun to listen to! You get a ton of information, learning, and comedy compressed into such a small amount of time. Thanks so much!

By: lunetta

lunetta

Great new series! I would love to taste those potatoes. :-) One question. Looking at the dialogue in the PDF file and listening to it on the dialogue page I noticed that A says 这么 in the last sentence but when I listened to the dialogue in the podcast it sounds like he says 怎么. I was just wondering if it's me or something else going on?

By: tomtomtom

tomtomtom

Waiters in China might suggest bizarre foods to foreigners, but when I lunch with my Chinese friends in Monterey Park, they're reluctant to order "strange" foods for the table. I've told them the only food I won't eat is sea cucumber, but they still avoid anything that I might consider weird. Too kind!

By: sfrrr

sfrrr

Yes, sugar works well because it's acidic and la4 foods are alkaline (or basic). Swallowing vinegar should help too. Perle, Bluejay--I think that the 88 BA group was the one I started and didn't do anything with. Sorry. We could resurrect it if we can figure out what we want to accomplish. Right now, my priority is finding people o talk to on a regular basis. I'm good at recognition, good at vocabulary recall tests, but nervous when participating in discussions. My ideal would be to have a weekly (or more frequent) face-to-face discussion and help-each-other group, then o use the 88 group as a supplement for grammatical discussions, reading drills, etc. And it would be cool if there were enough of us so we could afford to pay a Chinese grad student to correct us, etc. I woke up this morning, determined o use Craig's List to create such a group, but I'm not sure yet how I'm going to go about it. If you're interested, PM me at the ChinesePod forum.

By: phettu

phettu

Oh boy , My question is going to sound out of place ..... Why is 'zher' used in this lesson and not 'zhe' in the first sentence, or am i being stupid, I love the food too by the way (just trying to fit in) haha thanks all Phill

By: bazza

bazza

Does 麻辣族 mean 'sexy'?

By: buckaroo

buckaroo

Ken exclaiming "I'm on fire!" made me laugh. I think someone should sample that and turn it into a song. ;)

By: channa

channa

phettu-- 这儿 (zher4) indicates that we are talking about a place. In the context of the dialogue 你们这儿 (ni3men zher4) means "at this restaurant." I am PUMPED about this series!

By: luolande

luolande

Certainly, Sichuan food is hot. I have noticed that Sichuanese food includes a healthy dose of 'huajiao,' creating a numbing effect in my mouth. However, if you would like to know of another very spicy province, check out Yunnan Province, just north of Vietnam and Thailand. This food also includes much 'lajiao,' creating a four-alarm fire in one's mouth.

By: clay

clay

Lunetta, Of course, those words in question are similiar in sound: 这么 zhème (so; such; this way) 怎么 zěnme (how?) but in this case, 怎么多辣椒 (zěn me duō làjiāo), would not make any sense. Therefore by default, one's ear should make the association with 这么 zhème.

By: auntie68

auntie68

Hello. One effective way of putting out fires in the mouth is to swallow a small amount of milk. It seems that the casein in the milk binds with the capsaicin in the chilli, putting out the burn. Well, this works for me. Drinking water merely spreads the capsaicin around. One problem is that milk doesn't go well with Chinese food...

By: amber

amber

hi Bazza, No, sexy is: 性感 (xìnggǎn)

By: suntzu8

suntzu8

Hi Bazza, There's a joke that I heard regarding 性感 (xìnggǎn). It involves a foreigner (who presumably has a working knowledge of some Chinese) and a local Chinese person who thinks the foreigner is sexy. I think it goes like this: Local: Nǐ hěn xìnggǎn! (You're really sexy!) Foreigner: Bù shì. Wǒ bù xìng Gǎn, wǒ xìng Smith. (No. I'm not surnamed Gan, I'm surnamed Smith) Sorry to anybody out there named "Smith", just an example! =) The joke being the foreigner has mistaken the "xìng" in "xìnggǎn" as being the "xìng" meaning to be surnamed. (Example: Qǐng wèn, nín guì xìng?) Hope that's not too lame! I thought it was pretty funny! 8-)

By: texastochina

texastochina

Jennyzhu Thank you for telling me about Yeeha! I will have to try it out. Yao's seems to be popular as a Chinese tourist destination here and the food, as I was told tonight by my group from Chengdu and Dallian, comes from all over China and was authentic. Two foo dogs are out in front. I asked my guests if anyone could tell the male from the female. They could not but looked pretty silly as they examined the lions. Does anyone here know the answer?

By: bazza

bazza

There's a facebook app called 清纯族还是麻辣族? The url for it says 'cute or sexy'.

By: alwingate

alwingate

Thanks Bazza. This is really helpful. By the way, I notice Beijin Hua (or is it Huar) introduced as a staple in the dialalogues of late. I am curious. Why this change now without notice? Before it was introduced along with Taiwanese as regional dialects. But, is it in fact Mandarin or did Mandarin spring from it. Guess this is an historical question really. Anyone? Anyone?

By: light487

light487

@darylk I was going to reply to your #2 question earlier today but I got sidetracked. rich has explained the insertion of pics on another thread in excruciating details.. hehe.. :) It's over on this lesson: http://chinesepod.com/lessons/diet-coke/discussion

By: alwingate

alwingate

SFRR I want to say this in the spirit of discussion. To say that any restaurant is the best Chinese restaurant in the world is a stretch. I'm surprised that the New Yorker, prestigious magazine it is what makes us of sweeping generalization. As you may or may not know a few years ago when desktop publishing was invoke the New Yorker was one of the first to modernize its print facilities going totally digital using Macintosh computers. The unintended consequence of that move was the abrogation of the rights of working people in the print industry. Now as you know, or I suspect you know the New Yorker was a strong advocate of labor rights. But when he came down to the bottom line i.e. money; you forgot its ideals and move forward into the future. The world is indeed a strange and wonderful place since I was able to avoid or perhaps should I say have been deprived of the eating of jellyfish for almost 60 years until I came to Taiwan where that food is commonly served. Anyway food is really a code word in China for sex. If a young pretty Chinese girl offers you something to chew on and calls it a nutritional supplement don't turn her down.

By: alwingate

alwingate

Mark, thank you for bringing that to my attention. It is one of them more insightful statements that I've seen for a long time. This is the strength of a community of learners who when they bond together and communicate makes a learning experience so much more valuable.

By: alwingate

alwingate

Clay, you say this series will be fun. I'm not sure how long this series is going to be. I have been eating for a long long time and therefore find this habit rather annoying since I have gained over 50 pounds since moving to Taiwan. However I'm sure what you have said has some merit -- I'm just not sure the specifics of your statement.

By: alwingate

alwingate

Texas to China Interesting transition: from Bush country to? Show interesting tales about how we ended up where we are. Our life has been a journey -- the journey less traveled by most -- and I think it is interesting to find out the history of peoples journeys. For examples, I ended up in Taiwan because as a young boy Taiwan was in the news and as I was looking through the different ads for English teachers Taiwan jumped out at me. That's the short version.

By: alwingate

alwingate

Jimmy Choo I am not really sure what you mean by Yao Ming transferring Texas food to China. There is a food they call Tex Mex. They say that this is a combination of the best of Texas food combined with the best of Mexican food. What it amounts to in my experience is really good Mexican food with sweetcorn tossed it.

By: alwingate

alwingate

For those of you who have a low tolerance for spicy food I would respectfully suggest a special lesson on the use of Chinese in the local restaurants. I think it is really unfair for us older folks to have to differentiate in Chinese between medium and hot. To me it sounds like the same Word. But I know it is not due in part or maybe in totality because of its tone. Both the wonders of tone. I guess just to be on the safe side a person with a bold stomach like me off to stick with the mild. at any rate no matter what category of spiciness you choose you will know the next day for sure whether with mild medium or hot.

By: alwingate

alwingate

Change, I didn't realize the oh so many details about the life of Chairman Mao. He certainly was a force to be reckoned with also in the kitchen. Would you come by since knowledge of this? Is this from experience i.e. StreetSmarts or is this from book learning IE worm smarts.

By: alwingate

alwingate

BlueJay I am very familiar with San Francisco. I lived there for over nine years. Okay, I'll play you the truth. I lived in San Jose for over nine years and visited San Francisco often. Each year Apple Computer holds a conference in Moscow and a center and displays their latest innovations. At any rate, San Francisco is slowly becoming a city of the haves and have-nots. Prices for a decent home i.e. a lost may run in the millions of dollars. Amortize that one out over 30 years. However the best thing about San Francisco in my opinion is not the Chinese food in particular it is the quality of many of the restaurants that you can find there.

By: penben

penben

I have to agree with lunetta. Perhaps 怎么 zěnme does not make any sense and 这么 zhème does make sense, but I guarantee the man said 怎么. Is this a common pronunciation of 这么?

By: auntie68

auntie68

Hi penben, lunetta -- I've just listened to the dialogue, and the man says "这么“ (zhe4me), like Clay said, not 怎么 (zen3me). I think what threw you for a loop was the effect of the man's intonation -- ie. exaggerated by his suprise -- on the tones. Just like in English, intonation does change how things sound in Mandarin. Eg: "So?" "So...." "So I told her not to come back to work..." "So! It was you all along!" etc etc.

By: sballa

sballa

By the way, Clay, those pictures are very helpful. I made some flash cards with the characters on the front and the picture of the dish on the back. This will help me, right now, visualize the dish names I'm memorizing. And perhaps they'll help down the line, to show a waiter or compare to a menu picture. Steve

By: lunetta

lunetta

At least tell me that the man is pronouncing zh as z. That would explain everything. :-)

By: penben

penben

auntie68, Perhaps I just need more listening practice. I listened to it a few more times and now I'm hearing zèn which is perhaps halfway between zěn and zhè. I guess if I had a better hold of the meanings of the two phrases in my mind that would have taken me the rest of the way.

By: auntie68

auntie68

Okay, I finally hear you, lunetta. Yes, you're right, the man's "zhe" is not very thick.. it is a bit "halfway". But he sounded so startled that there wasn't really a lot of time for him to form the sound. His tongue was melting! ;-)

By: lunetta

lunetta

Auntie, LOL! I was wondering if CPod is doing this on purpose to make us more familiar with common differencies in the pronunciation. It really caught me unaware but I think it makes a nice contrast to the pronounciation on the dialogue page and will help me train my ear.

By: a1pi2

a1pi2

@Alwingate: Each year Apple Computer holds a conference in Moscow Apple's conferences are at Moscone Center, not Moscow : ) When we have the CPod lesson on 旧金山 (Old Gold Mountain==San Francisco) it might mention George Moscone, the mayor of 旧金山 who was gunned down two years into his term. And you thought that 芝加哥 (Chicago) had all dirty politics and violence?

By: a1pi2

a1pi2

@Texastochina: I asked my guests if anyone could tell the male from the female. The male temple dog usually has his paw on a ball (which may represent the earth?) The female has her paw on a baby temple dog. If we really want to be sexist we can postulate that the baby is a male and will one day sit proudly in front of the temple with his paw on a ball after having found a stone female and sired a stone child.

By: alwingate

alwingate

A1pi2 Yes, Moscone Center, you are right. Also, I remember the assassination of Moscone along with Harvey Milk I believe. Perpetrated by a man named White who was exonerated because he had eaten too many twinkies. Can that be true? Tis my memory.

By: phettu

phettu

Channa Thank you for your explanation, i have only heard it said, 'nimen zhe li',你们这里' being 'you here'. oohh how comlex this language is :) thanks again :) Phill

By: phettu

phettu

complex :)

By: calkins

calkins

kbens, Lao's is my favorite restaurant in Chinatown also...small world. The Szechuan smoked tea duck is 真好吃！ Thanks CPod, this will be a great series.

By: bingge

bingge

We need a Cpod meetup at Lao's.

By: suburbanite

suburbanite

鸭子，我现在是！

By: suburbanite

suburbanite

鸭子，我现在是俄！ sorry for the dup--MS IME is not user friendly.

By: light487

light487

哈哈 hāhā Yeh it takes some getting used to.. though it's worth it so I can practise my 汉字 hànzì..

By: shensw

shensw

剁椒鱼头 is my favourite. And I do like 酱板鸭 (jiang ban ya) too. By the way, how can I upload the picture to here ?

By: texastochina

texastochina

a1pi2 Very good. The male usually faces you on the right. He has his right paw on a ball that represents the world. Thus, the male controls the earth. The female usually has her left paw on a small cub, a group of kids or something that represents children. Thus, she controls the matters regarding family. If you are Chinese and go with me to dinner then I will always ask you if you can tell the difference between the two. If you cannot then it will be my pleasure to remind you that it took an American to show you the difference between a Chinese male and female! Alwingate My home is still in Houston. The Bushes come from the Northeast but George Sr has a home close by and GW in Crawford (central Texas). I have a small office in Shanghai, several groups of business partners and travel all over China. I came initially for business but stayed because I love the people here.

By: sushan

sushan

OK, but I don't have the energy to translate it....just take cooked potatoes and heat til crispy (leftover gan bian tu dou si are perfect since they are already crispy), then add the suan cai and heat them together. There should be plenty of oil in the pan; this can be sludge from the takeout containers or regular cooking oil. Pile rice into the pan and move the other stuff on top; let rice get a bit crispy too then mix all together til everything is hot. Eat with pao cai.

By: jlswedberg

jlswedberg

Add me to the list of people who are really excited about this new series. Thanks, guys! I am a hungry traveler!

By: chenggwo

chenggwo

I am excited about this Hungry Traveler series, I hope to see another one soon.

By: tigerinthesun

tigerinthesun

Wo ai tudousi! I must admit that in the podcast the diner does not sound like he is on fire. He is so unemotional about his hot food.

By: zhanglihua

zhanglihua

My favourite hot pot dish is 鸳鸯火锅 (yuān yāng hǔo gūo) "pair hotpot". It is both spicy and mild! This is a very enticing mix.

Another remedy for "that burning feeling": soy sauce. Don't swallow it though, it contains too much salt. Beer is not bad either. Raw eggs are efficient as well, but I would recommend them :-P.

I just love hot and spicy food, but there are many Chinese people who 讨厌 it. But as a foreigner, you will always be met with understanding smiles, even if you're crying hard because you can't bear 重辣的菜 .