One of the things I like most about China is that, even though I’ve lived here for two (!!) years now, there are still surprises. For instance, when I found gummy penguins outside my office a couple of weeks ago. And then, in another instance, today, when I was at Wal-Mart after work buying the last of my groceries for Thanksgiving and I saw these babies in the produce section!

Muuuuuuhhhhhhhh.

These were a favorite of mine when I still lived at home and my mommy would qing chao them with some garlic. I called them Old Man squash because, well, that’s what they look like. They are known as chayote in the West and fo shou gua (佛手瓜) in China, or Buddha hand squash. They’re not usually shiny, but I forgot to snap a picture until after I’d peeled the first one. You can kind of see the other one in its wrinkly glory in the back there.

I really didn’t think I’d find it in Beijing ever, just because my mommy said it was a Southern China/SE Asia kind of thing. Chayote actually is native to Mexico and is very popular in Latin and South America, so who knows where these were from. Based on the price though, it seems like it’s a domestic product, but it’s odd I’ve never seen them in the supermarkets or produce stands before. The ones in the U.S. are usually imported from Mexico. It’s a pretty abundant vegetable and relatively inexpensive, but these two cost me 1.24 kuai total (19 cents!) at RMB 3.2 per kilogram. In other words, my dinner tonight cost less than a quarter. That’s got to be a record.

Guess what this is going to become!

Technically, there’s no cooking involved. I know I’ve been complaining about the rise of food prices lately, but avocados are cheaper (for now)! I found them at the grocery store for 9.5 kuai ($1.47) each over the weekend. Usually they’re 15 kuai ($2.32) each or 55 kuai ($8.50!!) per kilogram. So naturally, I indulged and bought two. I got some rye bread to eat one with, and then I decided I would make guacamole with the other. I’m pretty much always craving guacamole, so I thought it was high time I got around to making it.

Whack-a-moley.

I tried really hard to not eat all of it, so I managed to save about half. But now that I’m writing about it, I really want some more! It’s just sitting there. The pictures don’t look so great, but it’s hella good! Really! (Even if I made it myself.) Mmmmm. Oh, fuck it, it’s better fresh anyway. I’ll just save a quarter.

I made this last night:

It looks like bread loaves because I only have mini-loaf pans. But it’s still pretty tasty. Why haven’t made this before? All it takes is apples, flour, sugar, eggs and butter.

I was going to make cookies last weekend when I ordered an electric mixer off the Chinese Amazon. Little did I know, next-day delivery wasn’t going to be next day. Anyway, it came the day after that, on Monday, even though I had specified to deliver only on weekends. Fortunately, one of my roommates was home.

So now I have a mixer! I’m so tempted to just buy some whipping cream and make whipped cream, or beat some egg whites. Alas, I just used it to make my cookies this past weekend, which, thanks to the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day Golden Week holidays, was shortened by the government to a mere one-day weekend. I am working on a Sunday so I can “earn” the holiday later. Is it just me, or do the Chinese not really understand the meaning of “holiday”?

Oh, right, my cookies. They were meh: good but nothing special. A tad bit too sweet, even though I skimped on the sugar (as I always do), but delicious with milk. I omitted raisins because I used granola leftover from when we made parfaits that had dried apples and blueberries, but I wish I hadn’t because it’s not like the apples and blueberries were very noticeable in the granola. Also, I got lazy and combined it with another granola mix with bits of chocolate instead of keeping them separate.

In England, these can be called neither oatmeal nor cookies.

Main ingredients: Granola, sugar, butter, flour — all of which I had on hand.

Special flavorings: The recipe called for a teaspoon of vanilla, which would have been good, but I didn’t want to shell out the cash for it.

Total cost: 30 to 35 RMB ($5) for two dozen. Granola and butter are expensive. Plain oatmeal is much cheaper and probably better for oatmeal cookies anyway. Also, every time I make cookies, I’m always amazed by how easy and quick they are to make. I’ll totally be making some with regular oatmeal and raisins soon.

Better made with challah.

Main ingredients: Bread, milk, cinnamon.

Special flavorings: Honey, which usually sells for 25 RMB ($3.71) for a jar. While it’s comparable to U.S. prices and doesn’t seem very expensive, I do live in a country where things are usually a small fraction of American prices. Still, it’s better than using maple syrup, which goes for 60 RMB ($8.92) here. But, I’m still working on my Jew honey.

Total cost: 7 RMB ($1.04) for eight pieces.

Ever since I saw the preview for the Pixar movie, I’ve always wanted to eat ratatouille. Not that the movie really explained what it is, but I came away with the impression it was some sort of lame, poor-man’s vegetable stew/soup that is undergoing a rediscovery. Vegetables — good! Then I started to look at recipes and realized ratatouille involves eggplant.

Ew.

I decided that I would just … omit … the eggplant, but when I was at the store, I got this feeling that I can’t just omit it. After all, as I’ve grown up and moved out of my parents’ house, I’ve realized that sometimes, you just gotta cook with things you always pick out of your food (I’m looking at you, garlic and green onions). But then, after all the vegetables were roasted and mixed together, I couldn’t even tell which ones were the eggplant! Inwardly panicking, I decided I would just … not chew … anything. Which was hard to do.

Alas, whether the end product is ratatouille or not, it tasted great, so I managed to calm down enough to enjoy it. We ate it with pasta and on its own, and I’m going to try the leftovers with some bread later.

Not the movie.

Main ingredients: eggplant :( , tomatoes, bell peppers.

Chinese twist: Instead of yellow squash, which doesn’t exist in China, I used some kind of Chinese squash that kind of is like a fat light green zucchini? Also, instead of normal American herbs, like thyme, basil and parsley, which also don’t exist in China, I used fennel (or something like a cross between fennel and dill) and cilantro.

Total cost: 13 RMB ($1.92) for about six servings. It IS a poor-man’s dish.

Hachis Parmentier is, apparently, the French version of shepherd’s pie, that I baked in my mini-loaf pans:

Or: Meatloaf topped with mashed potatoes

Pretty delicious, though nothing memorable. Nothing especially French about it, either. So, meh.

Main ingredients: ground beef, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, parmesan.

Special flavorings: nothing special.

Total cost: 40 RMB ($5.91) for six servings. Yeah, pricey. For shepherd’s pie.

We had a lot of lettuce leftover from the hamburgers, so naturally, we used it for a salad. (Is there anything else you can make with lettuce?) I used to make this kind of salad a lot at home because it was easy, cheap and delicious, so I don’t know why I never tried to make it here. It was still easy and delicious, and kind of cheap.

Anyway, the point is, I had to make the croutons for this salad. Everything (such as the balsamic vinegar and parmesan) can be found at Carrefour, but not croutons. And I love croutons — a lot. I’ll pour an entire bag on a salad. Actually, I pour half the bag and reserve the rest for munching. Luckily, I had most of a baguette on hand, so my clever mind instantly decided that it can’t be that hard to make croutons. They’re just over-toasted bread cubes, no?

So I cut my baguette into cubes, tossed them in a bowl with garlic powder and dried sage powder (which I think belonged to one of my old roommates, but I’ve been using ever since I moved in — free stuff!) and a little bit of grated parmesan, then drizzled a little bit of olive oil on them to coat them. I spread them out on my tiny baking sheet and toasted them until they came out like croutons. Tasty! Now I want to experiment with all different kinds of breads and herb spices. Of course, they only make about two different kinds of breads in China, wheat and white. Maybe I can use mantou (steamed rice bread) to make croutons with Chinese characteristics?

Anyway, the salad:

OK, so you can't really tell what's chicken and what's crouton...

Main ingredients: lettuce, chicken, parmesan, croutons.

Special flavorings: balsamic vinegar, olive oil.

Total cost: about 25 RMB ($3.69). A liter of the cheapest evoo is something like 70 kuai ($10.32), and most of what I see in the supermarket comes from Spain. Balsamic vinegar and parmesan are even more outrageously expensive.

Manly.

My boyfriend got it into his head that he wanted to be like Rocky and eat Rocky hamburgers, which are big manly burgers that clog your arteries just by being thought of. Basically, we made hamburger patties (fried in a pan, not grilled, because we don’t have a grill), then piled on all sorts of things. We had the requisite lettuce and sliced tomatoes, plus onions, bacon, fried eggs, blue cheese, and bad guacamole. Also, I think that everyone should season their hamburger patties with cinnamon and nutmeg. It really adds a subtle twist.

Main ingredients: ground beef, lettuce, tomatoes were readily available. But I had to go to the Western food market for decent (though still not great) hamburger buns, and while I was there, I thought I’d pick up better cheese.

Special flavorings: bacon, eggs and the jar of guacamole also are all easy to find. And now that I have them, we spiced our hamburger patties with nutmeg and cinnamon, which is highly recommended if you want to add an interesting, subtle kick to your hamburgers.

Total cost: 50 — 55 RMB ($8.10) for four hamburgers. Not too bad, considering one of them alone at a restaurant would cost at least 80 kuai ($11.80).