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.
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.
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Our second leg of the trip began with an early morning flight Southbound from Beijing to the City of Xian. 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. My husband was laughing when I whipped out my camera to take a photo of my very asian brunch. He knew I was photographing the jook for my blog. :) 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.
Hainan Airline’s jook served with Chinese pickles.
I actually quite enjoyed this okayu and chose to eat this over the ham sandwich. I’m so asian, yes? The salty-spiciness of the pickled vegetables was perfect for the bland rice gruel.
While Beijing is the Capital of China and considered the largest city in the country, Xian is considered the third largest city behind Shanghai. According to our tour guide, during his first visit to China, former U.S. President Bill Clinton chose to visit Xian first, over any other city in China! Apparently this was very noteworthy?
A few Googled facts about Xian:
- It is the capital of Shaanxi Province in Central China.
- It is the one of the oldest cities in China with over 3,000 years of history.
- Xian is the Eastern terminus of the famed Silk Road.
- Rich with natural resources coal and oil, it is a major producer of energy in China.
I like Xian.
Bebe Love Okazu 