Food

Food has been one of the hardest aspects of our quarantine.  Food is emotionally comforting, so we're missing out on that--especially the girls.  We're not used to the smells.  It is cafeteria type foods.  Much of the time we don't know what it is.  Always an adventure...not always a pleasant one!  That said, incoming meals are the most exciting time of the day. 

Originally we were getting 4 meals a day.  But the only thing the girls were eating from them was the rice and there is way too much rice in that container for one person.  So we had it cut back to two.

Breakfast is the hardest meal of the day.  I already knew I didn't love Chinese breakfasts.  Tom had told me that every breakfast he saw from watching quarantining videos had a boiled egg.  I knew I could eat that if I had some salt and pepper.  So I brought some.  We're doing okay on the salt--supply wise.  We're rationing on the pepper.  I'm so thankful to have some salt, it gives me at least one thing I can eat for breakfast.  (We do have oatmeal packets and Nutrigrain bars that I supplement with. Those are two foods I definitely don't love, but in this circumstance, I'm very happy to have them to eat!)

The cute purple cake was....okay.  Steamed bun had spinach in it. Pickled carrots/seaweed.  Another pickled something. Boiled egg and boiled potatoes.

Boiled sweet potatoes, boiled egg, pickled veggie--we can't figure it out, bean sprout delight, steamed bun filled with corn and what you might hope to be a cute, chocolate muffin thing isn't.  Not sure what.

Corn for breakfast anyone?  Come over, we'll share! We get it a few times a week.  Egg, boiled peanuts with veggies, pickled slivered celery and carrot, steamed bun--we've stopped even looking what is in them.  And a pumpkin bread look-alike that was so not pumpkin... 

Boiled carrots, egg, green twig thingies with a lone boiled peanut left over from yesterday, canned beans??, steamed bun and oil sticks--  Think doughnut without glaze.  These are quite good.  This was a good breakfast.

Now onto other meals....

All of the shrimp have shells, eyeballs, legs, antenna and other parts..... All battered and deep fried for an extra-tasty-crispy effect--for those willing to venture. I pass on this experience. The eyes on these shrimp were especially beady!  Also bok choy--I like bok choy quite a bit. And I definitely prefer bok choy over their steamed spinach or steamed lettuce.  The other veggie is a cauliflower dish. The bottom entree is a pork something.  This is served about 70% of the time.  The flavor is not bad, but there is so much fat and bone on it that I have stopped trying to eat it. 

Here is a before and after picture to give you an idea of about how much I eat.  This was a better day of food.  Both vegetable compartments were really quite good.  In between the veggies was duck.  I haven't liked their duck much.  The rice-meatball thingies were...uh...NOT good!

One night right before dinner arrived I said, "Anyone want to bet there is rice tonight?"  There is always rice.  Greta said she bet $1,000 there would be rice.  That night it was pot stickers!  The pot stickers were quite edible. So was the sausage--it had quite a bit of star anise flavor, which is not my favorite, but I'm developing more of a taste for.  I don't particularly enjoy cooked tomatoes, so I didn't try the egg-tomato dish.  And where I usually love zucchini, I passed on boiled, unsalted zucchini--need to save my salt for breakfasts!

The other day our employee here in China was trying to negotiate the food issue with the hotel manager.  The manager told Jacky that they have a "Western" food option.  We opted for a couple of trays of 'western'. Turns out, Tom and I prefer bad Chinese food to awful 'western' food.  But the girls will eat the French Fries and chicken nuggets. That is better than rice all of the time, I guess.

Chicken salad, fries, chicken nuggets, 'salad'--the dressing was mayonnaise + sugar, "spaghetti".  I didn't taste it, but it is probably ketchup on noodles with carrots.  Tom likes ketchup so he thought it was quite edible.

These onion rings were really chicken nuggets in a different form, more salad, breaded chicken wings, fries and another version of spaghetti.

Veggie mix with shrimp---super surprised to see them without all their parts!  Tom said the salad was apples, cucumbers and tomatoes in the mayo dressing, sausage, fries and another version of spaghetti.  He liked this one quite a bit since it had pepper and jalapenos and onions in it.  I have been thankful to still be getting one tray of the Chinese options.  

Needless to say, we're all looking forward to some home cooking! But we'll make it!  We've got 16 days of quarantine behind us...only 12 days to go!!  Our snacks are holding up.  The girls' favorite snacks are gone, but we still have enough that they won't starve the last dozen days.