At Fuente Oficial, Santiago. Most restaurants in Chile have Menu del Dia — which will come with an appetizer (or in this case, tapas!)……a main course (I went for the menu pacifico, tuna AND salmon!)……a dessert and coffee!I mistakenly bought this — ONE LITRE of PRE-WHIPPED CREAM– in a tetra pack, instead of milk!Churros. CHURROS.When a friend handed this to me, I said “What is it?” It’s called mote con huessillos, a very traditional Chilean drink + snack. At the bottom is a husked, cooked wheat and whole peach (pit still in). You eat that with the spoon, while sipping the juice, which is made of honey, water, and cinnamon. REALLY nice!Another Menu del Dia example, from a little village in the Andes. The starter was bruschetta, salad was sliced tomatoes and cucumber. Main course was Cazuela — HALF A CHICKEN, with rice, potato, corn on the cob, and squash, all in chicken broth. And dessert was…a banana!You can get mussels in a tin, like tuna! This makes me weep with happiness.This was my first asado, the Chilean barbecue. NO VEGETABLES ALLOWED.Ketchup. In a pouch. Why do I find this weird? A bottle isn’t more natural. It’s…just what I’m used to.Marraquetas, Chile’s version of sliced bread. Which is not sliced, is precisely baked to come in 4s, and is more like a bun. Perfect for chorizo at an asado, for example.I admit to being confused by some Chilean words: in any other Spanish-speaking country, this would be torte de limon, but here, it’s pie!I can’t explain how good these cookies are. I’ll let their placement in the supermarket do it: These cookies can’t be found in the cookie section…but in the chocolate section.This. This is the glorious empanada, fast food of South America. But putting this into the same category as McDonalds doesn’t do the empanada justice. They can be filled with almost anything – cheese, chicken, beef, black olives, eggs, shrimp, mussels! – and they’re available everywhere. I’m busy so I eat take-out a lot here, but take-out is usually this, and there’s nothing here to complain about.
I’ve been here almost 10 months, and I’ve seen quite a few things I still haven’t processed yet, or wasn’t sure how to classify. “Random” seems as good as anything.
When a new shop opens in Zhongshan, bouquets of flowers on stands and BIG blow-up dragons appear!
The flowers are always lovely.
Some displays are VERY extravagant. This is a lion dancer getting ready to open a travel agency!
These are their flowers! Notice the bright cloth wrapping around the bases holding the flowers?
This is the same kind of arrangement, but in Xi’an. Smaller flowers, more greenery, tulle instead of wrapping. Same idea, but different region. Neat!
Also in Xi’an. Want to buy a fur coat from behind a piece of corrugated tin! Totally legal!
This is glimpse into the grounds of the technical university in my neighbourhood. I can never go in to see it properly without being on business in there. ALL schools have this kind of gate.
Mosquito and sandfly season was hard on me. (Sandflies are midges.)
Never had a mosquito net before coming here. It helped against the mosquitos. The sandflies…eh.
In Hong Kong. Just thought this was cool,.
I came down with the flu, and the pharmacist gave me…THESE. The box came a package of tiny straws to suck back the medicine in these vials.
The instructions.
Me at a coffee house I’ve discovered. Instead of number, they give you a teddy bear to track your order.
Little girl on her way to school on a rainy day.
The Flower Market of Zhongshan. Where they sell more than flowers.
Tropical and deciduous trees going up the mountain. Just on the other side, more building.
China is skyscrapers and high finance. It’s also people selling domestic rabbits out of cages on the street.
Roosters outside of a play school.
Not sure…
During the winter, I had to get this hand warmer / hot water bottle to defrost my hands. It was the Year of the Monkey, so…
Google is everywhere!
Yes, while you get your car washed, you can have chicken meat, goat meat, or dog meat. Your choice.
I’m ashamed that I go to McDonalds here, but I do. And they have this instead of apple pie — taro, purple sweet potato.
Yes. Purple. PURPLE. It’s good!
But even better is this. This this THIS.
Bendy straws are the only straws here. This is lemonade at a curry place I often go to. I guess they like me!
Carrefour is the supermarket closest to wear I live–it’s a French company. How Canadian am I? I picked up a can to read the English on the other side, and couldn’t figure out at first why it wasn’t bilingual!
The very aptly named Chinese version of Pringles.
Green tea being prepared. It needs its own table, cups, pots, and there’s a science to it I don’t understand.
On the left: BREAD. On the right: COCONUT JELLY CANDY.
My Starbucks name in China. (Yes, I go there too. Mostly to write.)
Look at the centre of the photo, right at the water’s surface. That’s a turtle for sale with the fish.
Karaoke, or KTV, involves beer. Lots of.
And salty snacks.
And fancy fruit for rehydration.
Live chickens in a basket.
This is why too many diseases first crop up here: NO separation between livestock and people, even in the city.
The food-handling standards are low, and washing hands with hot water – or drying them after – doesn’t happen here. But, fresh chicken!
