What Julie & Julia Did, Julianne Can Do Better

Completely Vegetarian Meal :D

While we were visiting Famen Si, we had lunch at the gala hall that is there, and we were served an entirely vegetarian meal that had dishes that looked like meat. They used different kinds of tofu, grains, and dough to make these dishes and it was so delicious! Some of the dishes looked like pieces of art and one of my favorites was the carved watermelon lantern. Everything was absolutely wonderful and the chefs even gave us the special red bean pastry dish. #IMISSCHINA!!!

Restaurant #2 in Xian

So mind you, this is the same day as I had the yan rou pao mo and at night, I have yet another feast of different Xian foods. The first one is one my favorite because it was basically different kinds of steamed carbs :D Corn, yams (2 kinds) and it had red bean zongzi which is glutinous rice wrapped with bamboo leaves. Every part of that dish was really good especially since the group I was with didn’t really eat rice. Then we had mantou with roast beef as well as a bunch of other side dishes. One that was really pretty was the blueberry covered roots that was great for clearing the palate. The spicy dishes as well as the liang pi dish was really excellent too. Liang pi is a kind of noodles made from steamed pieces of dough mixed with cucumbers, bean sprouts and special spices. Lastly, there was a pumpkin covered glutinous rice that I have never had before. Oh, how I miss China!

First EPIC Meal in Xian

So one specialty in Xian is Yang Rou Pao Mo which is basically small pieces of this special bread that you break down yourself into tiny pieces. They then take away your bowl and make the dish with noodles, lamb meat, and this special broth. You then can add cilantro, garlic and hot chilis to it and then enjoy! Afterwards you have this soup to wash away the strong lamb flavor and they even give you blueberry gum to get rid of the last taste because it is so strong. 

It was the first time I ever had this and it was so flavorful! The broth is really thick and the pieces of bread really absorb everything. The crystal noodles are a good addition and the lamb meat is cooked to be really tender. 

Along with that, we had some other delicacies, such as cook beef tendon and also fried sesame lamb with lamb tongue in the center. We even had sticky rice with red bean, jujubes and pumpkin, covered in jam and sprinkles. 

SUSHI TRAIN :D Every single plate was 6 yuan and it was the first one I went to! I had never been to one before but I really like the hot water faucets they have for your tea and all of the items you need right on the side. I went twice and my favorite was the brown sugar smoked salmon sushi! It was so yummy :) I really need to go to one in the US :D

Desserts in China :)

This was a mango pancake that was layered with fresh mangos and whipped cream! It was quite expensive for how little of a piece it was but I split it with Lucy. It was really soft and the cream wasn’t too sweet either. 

One thing I am going to miss about Beijing: BreadTalk. It is this amazing bakery with the most delicious pastries! They have this egg tart covered in blue berry sauce, a chocolate croissant that they fill with this cream, and they even have this savory pastry that is stuffed with chicken and mushrooms. If any of you every study abroad in China, go to BreadTalk :D

Lunch in Shanghai :)

So this was our second lunch paid for by the University and there were a lot more dishes that I just didn’t take pictures of! It was at this Shanghainese restaurant in this HUGE mall near the Bund and we were basically eating all of the same dishes from the night before with a modern twist. They also had this amazing dessert that was basically a huge toast basket filled with ice cream. If only we could afford it haha. This is just the first post of many to come of all of my food adventures in China :D

SHANGHAI DINNER WHAT UP!

Because of our leader Fei, we ate at this amazing Shanghai restaurant on the University pay hehe. This is only like half of the dishes we ate but everything was really good. Especially Onion pancakes because they were crispy with every tear away from the center. The Mochi soup was really good too with the 10 of us eating together, it was a great experience abroad. So many more pictures of delicious food to come :D 

Ice Ice Ice!

Bellagio is this Taiwanese chain restaurant that is known for their late hours and desserts. Both are shaved ice with condensed milk and red beans but the one with more items, also includes mochi, tapioca, candied pineapple and green beans. Lucy and I didn’t even eat lunch and all we ate was ice. It was absolutely delicious and I am going to go back and eat another one later on. By the way, did I mention that it was the size of 2 of my heads?

Welcome to Beijing Lunch :D

So on the first day of our Orientation, they took us out to a lunch at this Peking Duck restaurant and we basically ate for almost 2 hours. We thought we were just going to eat duck and some rice but we ended up getting almost 15 dishes per table. Everything was amazing especially since we had just had a 3 hour orientation of speeches and such. The best dish was probably between one of the dishes that had both the bread and the meat to put in so the one with steamed buns or the peking duck. Another favorite were the little vegetarian egg rolls and the bing. The one dish I didn’t like very much the was the fried shrimp because the batter was like that of a cake doughnut which was a strange combination.