I had the morning off from work today, so I didn't eat at my school's canteen for lunch nor was I able to take a picture of any Chinese food today since I ate at home.

However, as I explained in my first blog post, I am halfway through my stay in China. This means I have about 5 months worth of photos laying around on my computer. So, I decided to share a few of my past meals over this time period.

Also, I had a reader ask me what the RMB after the prices meant. RMB is the currency they use in China. It can be also referred to as Yuan (¥) or as the Chinese like to say, qui.  $1 = ¥6.09 

What: Whole Fried Chicken Leg + Thigh 

Where: Street Food Cart. Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, China.

How Much: 8 RMB

Ingredients: Whole Chicken Leg, breading/flour, five spice powder.

Description: Sorry Mom(Aiti)! My mother warned me not to eat street food in China, but how can I resist greasy fried chicken? My kind of comfort food. I rarely eat fried chicken like this, but I was on lunch break at work and was walking through the streets when I spotted a street vendor selling it. The smell hypnotized me into all of its crispy tasty goodness. The leg was originally whole, and that's how I thought I was going to eat it, but when I told the vendor I wanted this one he put it on his cutting board and chopped it up in slices. He then proceeded to cover in the original Chinese five spice powder. Five spice is a popular spice used in China. Of the five spices I can recognize garlic, cumin and ginger. It goes great with fried chicken. Overall the chicken was a little dry, but the breading was crispy and tasted great with the five spice. I ate it in about a minute. The Chinese love chicken, especially on the bone. They love it fried, roasted, and boiled.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

What: 3 Fried Crabs on a stick

Where: Pedestrian Street, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.

How Much: 7 RMB

Ingredients: Crab, breading/flour, five spice powder.

Description: Again, sorry mom! This one was just too good to pass up. Fried crab on a stick! I mean come on. It's literally 3 full crabs on a stick, deep-fried, and covered in five spice. Hangzhou is the capital of the Zhujiang province and is about a 40 minute train ride from my city of Zhuji. The city has everything you need from international supermarkets to the famous West Lake. Pedestrians streets are in every major city. They consist of tourist shops and tons of little unique and not so unique food stands. Cars are not allowed to pass through which makes it easy for tourists and Chinese alike to walk through them with ease. As soon as I saw the crab I knew I had to try it. The lady took it out of a huge pile of crabs on a stick she had, deep fried it a second time to warm it up, I guess, shook some five spice over it and there ya go, crabs on a stick. Shell and all I took a huge bite into it. It was delicious. The breading it is fried in is extremely crispy and flavorful. It is fried so much that the shell of the crabs are edible. Greasy, crispy, and tasty. Definitely one of my favorite street foods in China.

Rating: 4 out of 5

What: Muscles

Where: Gulangyu Island, Xiamen, Fujian Province, China.

How Much: 5 RMB

Ingredients: 5 muscles, garlic, other unknown spices.

Description: Xiamen is probably my favorite city in China, so far. It is a fun and tropical city right across the water from Taiwan. This particular day I was on a popular small island in Xiamen called Gulangyu. Gulangyu is famous for it's Beaches and tons of great fresh seafood, among other things. I was walking through Gulangyu's pedestrian street when I came across these muscles and they looked too good to pass up. I am assuming they were steamed before hand because when I ordered them all the guy did was put them on a grill for about 30 seconds to warm them up. They were super juicy, fresh and the minced garlic and other spices on top added great flavor. A small but delicious seafood snack. Wish I had more right now.

Rating: 5 out of 5