Yes, it’s another post about China. I promise I’ll stop soon!

In China, many of the teas include bright orange-red berries. They float on the surface like cheerful buoys and, unlike most tea ingredients, are tasty enough to munch on when you’ve drained the cup. During the Shanghai trip, I kind of pointed and grunted to indicate that I liked them (I didn’t know what they were called in either English or Chinese). H somehow remembered this and miraculously a package of them materialized in my hands a few days later.

It was only just now that I decided to look them up. I had a hunch that they were goji berries and a Google image search confirmed it (they’re also known as wolfberries). A look at Wikipedia, without which no 20-something’s research would be complete, revealed that these berries are quite good for you. And then I discovered that they can go for a pretty penny.

Now I’m curious how much that 8- or 10-ounce package cost in China…

Here are some pictures of my food adventures in China.

And if you want to see all the photos from the trip, check ’em out here.

More to come… of course.

I have a few minutes of free internet here in Shanghai and decided to check in. The experience here has been very gratifying, especially in the culinary arena. At least 95 percent of my photos are of kabobs and tofu and scallion bread grilled on the street, various sea creatures, food markets, tables full of food, restaurants and teahouses, and funny English translations of what exactly it all is.

Eating Chinese food in the States, as most astute noshers know, is not much the same as sitting down to a Chinese family dinner or even going to a Chinese restaurant in China.

When I return home, I plan to try my hand at some of the Shanghainese dishes I’ve been eating, post a few recipes, and invite friends (dear readers in the D.C. area, be warned!) over for a Chinese dinner. But if you can’t wait for that, here are some ways you can eat like I’ve been eating for the past week:

– Arm yourself and your guests with only chopsticks and small ceramic bowls.

– Prepare part of the meal beforehand, but keep that part in the kitchen.

– When everyone is hungry and ready to eat, go out to the nearest market for 10 grocery bags full of fresh vegetables, fish, noodles, eggs, and perhaps a live chicken or two.

– Saute each of your fresh ingredients in a wok with plenty of peanut oil. Sprinkle liberally with salt.

– Begin eating each dish as it comes out of the kitchen, piping hot.

– Don’t be shy. Reach around people to grab a mouthful of the newest dish, pour yourself tea, pour other people tea, and spit out unwanted shells or bones right on the table (or, if you want to be more polite, in your ceramic bowl).

That is all! Until next time, happy New Year from Shanghai!

As a Jewish vegetarian, I have to admit that one food has tugged at my lacto-ovo resolve: lox. It’s so tasty, and so available at so many Jewish functions. As fish, it already puts me on the moral fence, on one side doubting that a salmon’s level of consciousness is really that high and and knowing that the fish industry is a model of sustainability compared to factory farms, and on the other side knowing that the tasty, coral-colored stuff on that platter was once a salmon flitting through the water and leaping in the crisp Alaskan sunshine.

So I’ve always faced a conundrum when it came to lox… until now. The other day I discovered smoked dulse, and a smokey, savory, dilemma-free heaven opened up. Dulse is a sea vegetable (now that I see what it can do, wouldn’t dare call it a weed) that I already loved to snack on or sprinkle on popcorn. Then, it seems, some brilliant individual decided to smoke it with applewood. The smoked dulse has the same iron-packed goodness as regular sea vegetable with an added yummy flavor.

Here’s a spread I worked up that satisfies my lox tooth without the moral bite of eating fish:

Loxless Spread
Makes enough to schmear 2-4 bagels

4 oz. cream cheese or neufchatel cheese (1/2 a package), softened

Generous 1/4 c. smoked dulse, lightly rinsed and chopped

1 small clove garlic, minced

Small slice of pickled beet, mashed, or a few drops beet juice for color (optional)

1/2 carrot, finely grated, for color and more substance (optional)

Bagels

Capers, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, and/or thinly sliced red onion

Combine cream cheese, dulse, garlic, beet and carrot (if desired, to achieve a lox-y color). Mix well. Serve on sliced toasted bagels garnished with capers and veggies.

Enjoy!