Supermarket scene
I've just come back from a trip to our local supermarket. I like going down there. The place is always going off! Crowded and busy with shoppers getting mobile phones, face whitening creams, yoghurt, a fresh fish (caught in the tank) for dinner or pineapple beer. I got some of the latter to try myself. It is always very noisy in the supermarket too. They have TV screens all over the joint blaring out ads for specific products on the shelves below. Lucky I don't understand a word of it and it just becomes background noise to me.
I love how the beer is so cheap in Asia :P RB goes for San Miguel. For $1 AUD you get 640ml of a very drinkable and tasy beer. Today I went for some stubbies of Heineken at $1.5o AUD for 330ml. Not as good a value but it tastes much nicer than the Heineken we get in Australia and more like the Heineken I would drink in France. It is made somewhere in Asia.
There is so much to see in the supermarket! The strange breads, cakes, fruit n vege, meat cuts, cooked foods (like dumplings, noodles soups cooked to order....) , black-skinned chickens (these uncooked fellas freak me out), snacks, drinks. There is even a rice counter with 7 kinds of rice to choose from per kilo. RB and I have been testing out the different brands of potato chips (aahh chipies I love you!) Lay's make some of my favourite chips at home so I have been testing their Chinese favours. The "cool" tastes range features green tea, cucumber, and lemon flavoured chips. I liked the cucumber ones!
I also bucked the system at the supermarket today. I took my own plastic bags down there. For a country that says it is becoming environmentally aware, they love the plastic bag here. I even bought some wet wipe tissue things and these packets got put in a plastic bag inside my other plastic bag. When you go to MacDonalds they even give you a special plastic bag to carry your drinks in. ..... Yes, we eat at Macca's sometimes. :) It is easy to get a feed there compared to going to a cafe! China needs to get into green bags like we have at home at the supermarket.
I went through the market on the way home to look for some tomatoes. It is very freaky there but cool, and a bit stinky near the butcher's counters. It is amazing how they just have all the meat lying out on the bench. Not too many live chickens at the markets at the moment though. The people of Guangdong province used to like to have their chickens killed fresh for them at the market (apparently it keeps the flesh tender) but the practice is less popular since the threat of bird flu. Now some markets have established a special room for the hygenic killing of poultry but I think our local market is too tiny to have this.
A Gaungzhou resident died just after I arrived here from bird flu. Apparently he always hung out near a market or something like that. Today's paper reports that "sales of Baicheji, cold boiled chicken, have been plummeting in Guangzhou since a local resident died of bird flu. The chicken is usually only half cooked, to keep the meat soft and full of flavour. However, this has not been a safe way of consuming chicken due to the bird flu threat. One restaurant that is famous for its Baicheji said it hadn't received a single order for it all week."
It's cold outside today. Somewhere between 10-15C depending which weather site I look at. I had 4 layers on top with a scarf and I was okay, but when we went out for dinner last night it was below 10C with the wind chill factor and drizzle. FRESH! Even the dogs and cats outside today have their jumpers on. Yep, I saw a cat in a little purple wooly jumper!
We have sorted out how to get some tickets to Forshan so we will try again this weekend to go there. :)
I love how the beer is so cheap in Asia :P RB goes for San Miguel. For $1 AUD you get 640ml of a very drinkable and tasy beer. Today I went for some stubbies of Heineken at $1.5o AUD for 330ml. Not as good a value but it tastes much nicer than the Heineken we get in Australia and more like the Heineken I would drink in France. It is made somewhere in Asia.
There is so much to see in the supermarket! The strange breads, cakes, fruit n vege, meat cuts, cooked foods (like dumplings, noodles soups cooked to order....) , black-skinned chickens (these uncooked fellas freak me out), snacks, drinks. There is even a rice counter with 7 kinds of rice to choose from per kilo. RB and I have been testing out the different brands of potato chips (aahh chipies I love you!) Lay's make some of my favourite chips at home so I have been testing their Chinese favours. The "cool" tastes range features green tea, cucumber, and lemon flavoured chips. I liked the cucumber ones!
I also bucked the system at the supermarket today. I took my own plastic bags down there. For a country that says it is becoming environmentally aware, they love the plastic bag here. I even bought some wet wipe tissue things and these packets got put in a plastic bag inside my other plastic bag. When you go to MacDonalds they even give you a special plastic bag to carry your drinks in. ..... Yes, we eat at Macca's sometimes. :) It is easy to get a feed there compared to going to a cafe! China needs to get into green bags like we have at home at the supermarket.
I went through the market on the way home to look for some tomatoes. It is very freaky there but cool, and a bit stinky near the butcher's counters. It is amazing how they just have all the meat lying out on the bench. Not too many live chickens at the markets at the moment though. The people of Guangdong province used to like to have their chickens killed fresh for them at the market (apparently it keeps the flesh tender) but the practice is less popular since the threat of bird flu. Now some markets have established a special room for the hygenic killing of poultry but I think our local market is too tiny to have this.
A Gaungzhou resident died just after I arrived here from bird flu. Apparently he always hung out near a market or something like that. Today's paper reports that "sales of Baicheji, cold boiled chicken, have been plummeting in Guangzhou since a local resident died of bird flu. The chicken is usually only half cooked, to keep the meat soft and full of flavour. However, this has not been a safe way of consuming chicken due to the bird flu threat. One restaurant that is famous for its Baicheji said it hadn't received a single order for it all week."
It's cold outside today. Somewhere between 10-15C depending which weather site I look at. I had 4 layers on top with a scarf and I was okay, but when we went out for dinner last night it was below 10C with the wind chill factor and drizzle. FRESH! Even the dogs and cats outside today have their jumpers on. Yep, I saw a cat in a little purple wooly jumper!
We have sorted out how to get some tickets to Forshan so we will try again this weekend to go there. :)
posted by Polecat at 11:59 PM
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