Xian Luncheon: Dish pictured in the center is a broad Xian noodle made of wheat, not rice. The tower marks the point where the West Main Street (Xi Da Jie) becomes the East Main Street (Dong Da Jie) and the North Main Street (Bei Da Jie) becomes the South Main Street (Nan Da Jie). The Bell Tower is the most recognizable structure in Xian, built in the late 14th century. Shortly after landing in Xian, we walked from the restaurant where we enjoyed yet another Chinese luncheon before we walked to the Bell Tower (see above photo at the top of the post). We were expecting extremely hot and horrid humidity, but that wasn’t the case at all. What made me like Xian even more was that we had cool, rainy weather. Everywhere we looked, there were new high-rise buildings under construction and old buildings were being demolished. To me, Xian seemed more modern and also more clean than Beijing, likely because it is a newer city. Rich with natural resources coal and oil, it is a major producer of energy in China.Xian is the Eastern terminus of the famed Silk Road.It is the one of the oldest cities in China with over 3,000 years of history.It is the capital of Shaanxi Province in Central China.President Bill Clinton chose to visit Xian first, over any other city in China! Apparently this was very noteworthy? According to our tour guide, during his first visit to China, former U.S. While Beijing is the Capital of China and considered the largest city in the country, Xian is considered the third largest city behind Shanghai. I’m so asian, yes? The salty-spiciness of the pickled vegetables was perfect for the bland rice gruel. I actually quite enjoyed this okayu and chose to eat this over the ham sandwich. Hainan Airline’s jook served with Chinese pickles. :) Seriously, how often are you served rice gruel in-flight?!? While the jook below appears almost too simple and even bland, it was flavorful and perfect for my delicate “China Belly” condition. He knew I was photographing the jook for my blog. My husband was laughing when I whipped out my camera to take a photo of my very asian brunch. On our two hour flight we were served brunch, which consisted of a ham sandwich and okayu, which is what I grew up calling rice gruel or congee in Japanese, otherwise known as “jook” in Chinese. Our second leg of the trip began with an early morning flight Southbound from Beijing to the City of Xian. I got away with it the last post with Part I: Beijing, and no recipe, but I will start this post by sharing the second leg of our trip, Xian, and end with a dish that we consistently saw at almost every single meal whilst in China: Chinese style scrambled eggs with tomatoes. You have chosen… wisely.Since last week’s post when I started sharing our recent travel adventures to China, I thought about coasting through the next few travel posts without sharing any recipes, but that would defeat the purpose of my foodie blog / ongoing digital family cookbook project, a.k.a Bebe Love Okazu. That said, we don't know whether this ancient elixir of the Western Han Dynasty was ever actually imbibed – or simply placed in the tomb as a ritual burial object to honour the departed, as Gizmodo points out.īut given what sometimes went into these drinks, abstinence was probably the only true secret to living a long, prosperous life. In fact, the high level of risk associated with drinking these magical potions was so notorious, that an entire body of research is dedicated to the history of Chinese alchemical elixir poisoning, and depending on level of exposure, potassium nitrate ingestion can be fatal. In more recent times, potassium nitrate has been employed in everything from fireworks to fertiliser and food thickener – but its combination here with alunite is a match for the ingredients for an 'elixir of life', the researchers say, as documented in ancient Taoist texts.Įlixirs supposedly bestowing immortality or preternatural longevity were a feature of many long-ago cultures, and in the case of ancient China, were composed of all kinds of unusual ingredients you wouldn't usually consume, including gold, jade, mercury, arsenic, and lots of other indigestible or poisonous minerals. But it wasn't rice wine after all, the results show, with the archaeologists reporting that the mysterious liquid is a mixture of potassium nitrate and alunite.
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