Rice Crispy cake......not!

Hello Gentle readers.
Welcome to another Thomson family taste test. In fact 2 taste tests.

Yesterday we tried some sponge snack cakes again and I am afraid that these cakes left us pretty uninspired. We tried 5 varieties and the pretty much all tasted the same. One type had fruit in.

Today we tried 8 different varieties of chinese rice crispie cake.

The first one we tried which is the bottom left in the pictire was awful and it tasted like a weird fusion of peanut and sunflower seed flavoured asbestos.

Its like someone took some cardboard boxes and soaked them in peanut flavoured toilet water.

The second (bottom right) was better but still god awful. It was sweeter but I could still taste it minutes later.

The popcorn variety was next and tasted ok. It was really hard and reminded me a bit of peanut brittle. It had raisins inside it and it nearly broke my teeth.

The next 2 types were both sesame seed crispy cakes. They were basically just black or white sesame seeds held togetherby sugar. These were probably the best.

In Russia there is a treat made from sunflower seeds called Kazinaki, Lena was very excited to see a snack that looked similar. Unfortunately looks can be decieving. This had chilli in it.

The next was actually made of rice with sunflower seeds, honey and.....chilli. Good heavens China.....why so much chilli? 

The final cake had black sesame seeds and seemed to be covered in egg wash. Not the worst but definitely not good.

The best were the sesame seed snacks. The worst was the peanut loft insulation.

I will leave you with an image of what a rice crispie cake should look like.

#china #ricekrispiestreats #kazinaki

First trip to Guangzhou

Hello Gentle Readers. Yesterday Robert,Lena and I took our first trip into Guangzhou city.

We had an errand to do but unfortunately the place we were looking for had moved so instead we took a walk around one of the biggest parks in the city.

We took the free shuttle bus from near our apartment to the closest subway station and then took the train into the centre.

The train was remarkably easy to use. It helps that the signs and announcements were all in English.

Yuexiu Park is beautiful and is filled with exotic trees, shrubs and ponds full of giant colourful fish.

It is also where you can find the Statue of the 5 Rams, which is one of the most iconic of Guangzhou sights.

#guangzhou #yuexiupark #statueofthe5rams #guangzhoumetro

Today in History: 19th August

Good morning Gentle Readers. Its time to grab the Crispy won-ton of time with the chopsticks of history and dip it carefully into the dipping sauce of eternity.

1692: The Salem Witch Trials end with the execution of 4 men and 1 woman found guilty of witchcraft.

1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie returns from exile to Scotland and start of the "45 rebellion."

1883: Coco Chanel, fashion designer and founder of the Chanel corporation is born.

1921: Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry is born.

#august19 #salem #bonnieprincecharlie  #cocochanel #generoddenberry #startrek #todayinhistory

Chopsticks

Hello again Gentle Readers.

I grew up in England; a country famous for many things.

Royalty, Cricket, the stiff upper lip, the weather and many many more that bore the socks off most non-English people.
One thing that English people pride themselves on is our dinner table etiquette and that means using a knife and fork.

Chopsticks were something I only saw in TV shows or movies and I never got to learn how to use them properly.

I didnt even use them until I moved to Latvia and even then I just skewered the sushi with them like I was spear fishing.

Now I live in China.....whoops!

Chopsticks are everywhere. Now at home we can use forks or spoons but today Gentle Reader, yes you guessed it, we went out to eat.

The establishment was a rather rustic looking place in the village near our apartment and using the handy photographs on the wall we ordered the noodles.
We settled down at our table while bemused locals studied us and openly discussed our presence. Our food came and yes.....they had no forks.
So I picked up 2 hefty looking chopsticks and started eating.....badly. I cannot pick things up with chopsticks, i just try to balance food carefully on them and shovel it into my mouth before it falls off.

The Chopstick Champion in action LOL

My inexperience in the art of chopstick dining was painfully obvious and I began to hear the customers and staff laughing at me. Embarrassed I persevered and I actually began to find it funny myself. This broke the ice and our fellow patrons and I were laughing together
One of the girls working there even asked if  she could have her photo taken with us.

The food was really good and very cheap. All three of us ate for less than €2 and we will definitely go back soon.....although I shall definitely practice my chopstick method.

The Restaurant

The Menu

#chopsticks #fittinginwiththelocals #china

New country. New goal achieved.

In all the excitement of settling into our new home and new country I had not even noticed that the number of page views had passed the 150 thousand mark.

Although most of these views occured while we were in Latvia I am sure that the move to China will continue to make the number of views rise and rise.

I am very grateful to all of you who choose to spend some time here with me and my family. Thank you wherever you are in the world.

#150000

China pics (So far)

Hey Gentle Reader. Over the last 57 hours we have taken a variety of pictures of our new home and its surroundings. In this post I am going to share some of these with you so you can see just where we are and what we are doing.

Building 21 Yuhu...we are on the 36th floor

People Marching....obviously

A water buffalo

2 Fulham fans

A Latvian flag in China

Views on a Chinese bus

An exotic looking vegetable

CBIS. My new school

#china #foshan #waterbuffalo #fulham #yuhu #CBIS

Crackers about Chinese crackers

The family went back to the supermarket today Gentle reader and we bought a lot more stuff that we needed for our new adventure in China.

We bought our first Chinese alcohol. I got some beer and Lena got some cocktails in a can. We bought more fruit and vegetables, some Chinese dumplings and a few other things from the grocery.

On the way to the supermarket we popped into school and we were given some very nice flavoured mini crackers to try. When we saw these crackers in our supermarket we had to get some and in keeping with yesterdays steam bun challenge today I bring you the........

Crazy Chinese Cracker Competition.

The 4 contenders from left to right were BBQ, Spicy Kimchee, Hotpot and Vegetable.

The Vegetable crackers were very tasty and came in a small packet that would be ideal for a lunch box. They were quite salty though.

The BBQ and Hotpot varieties were also tasty with the Hotpot being a little bit spicier.

The Kimchee crackers were the most divisive. I loved them, Robert shrugged and Lena.....well you can see her reaction in the photo below.

mmm....nummy kimchee

I thought the kimchee was best, Lena like the vegetarian and Robert liked the BBQ best.

We washed the crackers down with some tasty Chinese beverages.

Rio: Blackcurrant and Brandy

Pineapple Beer and Tsingtao Lager

#china #crackers #tsingtao #riococktails