Breakfast Foods In China

Breakfast foods in China

Since arriving in China my typical breakfast has changed quite a lot (hello baozi and mung bean paste!) so I decided to explore some common local breakfast foods eaten in China!

包子 - Bāozi (my love) These have been an almost consistent (excluding the lunar new year when the canteens and most cafes and restaurants closed) staple of my breakfast ever since I arrived in China. They come with several fillings such as veggie, pork, seafood etc. and they can cooked in different ways such as being steamed, fried etc. Here's a more in-depth post about the types of dumplings and bāo.

粥 - Porridge (zhōu) I sometimes have porridge for lunch instead and it's a really filling meal. I get the Century Egg Congee with Chicken - 皮蛋瘦肉粥 (Pídàn shòu ròu zhōu) and it's one of my all time favourite meals.

煎饼 - Egg pancake (jiānbing) Popular also as a street food, this is a thin crepe type pancake with an egg, veggie, spice, sauce and sometimes meat filling. The actual filling varies as you can customize what veggies and spice level you'd like and whether or not you want meat.

热干面 - Hot and dry noodles (règānmiàn) I honestly had no idea about this dishes existence until a while ago, probably because it's a regional dish originating from Wuhan which is kind of far away from my location. These are spicy and dried noodles which are actually eaten without a broth unlike many other noodles. They seem pretty interesting so if anyone tried them before do share your experience!

桂林米粉 - Guilin Rice noodles (guìlín mĭfĕn) This appears to be another regional dish from Guilin, Guanxi as I had no idea that this was a also a pretty popular breakfast dish. Apparently it's not the noodles but rather the broth that they're cooked in that makes them special, with the actual recepie varying across the region. Someone should do a long weekend trip vlog (pondering on this) to Guilin where they just go from store to store trying these noodles and trying to determine the differences.

葱油饼 - Scallion oil pancake (cōngyŏubĭng) A tasty but heavy-ish pancake imo. These pancakes are cooked with scallions (green onion) and pan-fried to give it that crispy and chewy texture. Very tasty, but it's a little too heavy on the oil for me so I save these pancakes for special occasions instead.

豆浆油条 - Soy milk and deep-fried dough sticks (dòujiāng yóutiáo) I have tried the dough sticks, and I have tried soya milk but separately so far. The dough sticks are these long deep-friend dough sticks, reminding me slightly of breadsticks but more lighter and chewier.

茶鸡蛋 - Tea eggs (chájīdàn) I adore these, my canteen serves them along with regular eggs for breakfast and the tea eggs are usually the first to go. They actually don't really involve tea, instead these eggs are cooked in a mixture of chinese five-spice powder (pepper, cloves, cinnamon, star anise and fennel seeds), soy sauce, and black tea leaves, although some recipes leave out the tea leaves. They have a relatively strong smell so I usually grab some for breakfast on the weekends or in the canteen at lunch if there are any leftover after breakfast. They are also quite cheap, one egg is around 2 yuan so around 0.30 euro, making them a pretty filling and affordable breakfast food.

If there are any other common or specific breakfast foods that you know of, do share them please as I love trying out new things!

Thank you for the tag @gwendolynlerman!

Last song: After the Thunder by Ari Hest

Favourite color: red

Currently watching: I just started rewatching the Dynasty reboot (i swear it gets funnier and more off the rails everytime i watch it)

Spicy/savory/sweet: savory and a little bit of sweet

Relationship status: single

Current obsession: obsessing over whether or not to study another language as a hobby and which one (so far it's a tie between spanish, polish and hindi but who knows)

Tagging: @dearest-lula, @study-with-aura, @lillelily, @potentiallypolyglot, @ghiblilesb, @fireworks-too, @gdlavzo but no pressure!

Nine people I'd like to know better

I was tagged by @quatregats 💖

Last song: Bad Habits by Ed Sheeran

Favourite color: purple (currently wearing an all-purple outfit 💜)

Currently watching: Downton Abbey

Spicy/savory/sweet: savory or (not too) sweet

Relationship status: single

Current obsession: none actually, it's been a while since I've had one 😕

I tag @fluencylevelfrench, @lemonadeandlanguages, @marilearnsmandarin, @mediocrelanguagelearner, @pawprintedpages, @ruhua-langblr, @segledepericles, @sprachgefuehle, and @slavic-roots-western-mind (no pressure!).

N- Verbs in Chinese

A quick cheat-sheet of chinese verbs begnning with N!

Narrate - 叙述 - xùshù

Navigate - 导航 - dǎoháng

Need - 需要 - xūyào

Neglect - 忽视 - hūshì

Negotiate - 谈判 - tánpàn

Nominate - 提名 - tímíng

Normalize - 正常化 - zhèngchánghuà

Notice - 注意 - zhùyì

Notify - 通知 - tōngzhī

Nourish - 滋养 - zīyǎng

Nurse - 护理 - hùlǐ

Nurture - 培养 - péiyǎng

This kind of went a bit off the rails. Just a tad. At 11pm Tuesday night I decided that I at least should try to do the exam, as the textbook material was challenging but doable. And how else can I improve if I don't challenge myself? Yes, the past semester was not easy, but my chinese level had significantly improved. Sure, I could repeat the semester and study the higher class material by myself but I owe it to myself to do what's best for me, not what's easier.

So I signed up, only to find out that my name wasn't on the exam candidate list when it was announced on Thursday evening and after going to the office to ask our coordinator about this on Friday, it turned out that I don't even need to do said exam because I can automatically go up if that was the level after my level last semester.

The next several months are going to be most likely filled with non-stop studying but honestly I think I'll be able to handle it.

Yes, I'm probably not going to be at the top of my class (some of my new classmates are apparently preparing for hsk6!), but as long as I put in the work and keep going, I have a decent chance of doing okay, which honestly all things considered is pretty great.

So we got our class schedules today and it turns out that I'm in the same class as I was last semester, probably because I requested to stay in the same level in the survey that was sent out without actually thinking everything through.

To be fair, this survey was before I got my exam results back and honestly I think did pretty well for someone who was initially placed 2 levels below because I didn't do too great on my placement test (although I evidently redeemed myself on my swap out test).

This upcoming week we're allowed to try out other levels before either staying or doing the swap test to go to a higher level, which I might do if the next level is manageable.

I feel like the main issue is that despite being really out of my depth in the beginning, this level ended up being challenging enough, but what if the next level is too difficult and this level is too easy? I don't want to waste this semester, but I also want to thrive rather than try to survive and constantly be stressed out about studying.

I guess the upcoming week shall reveal its secrets so there's not that much sense in obsessing over it. I for one will try to make the most of the remaining days before classes start.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Thank you for the tag @ros3ybabe!

Last song: Second Chance by Peter Bjorn and John

Currently watching: Rewatching Suits again because that show's soundtrack is definitely one of my top 10 (I have around 50ish songs used in Suits in my library and the list is growing again).

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy: Definitely savoury, but lightly sweet is also good, like red-bean bread or matcha cake type of sweet.

Current Obsession: I don't really have an obsession now, other than trying to manage my extra-curriculars with my studies and social life.

Tagging @ghiblilesb, @gwendolynlerman, @malaidarling, @hopefulmilkshakeengineer, @3ninth, @thelastneuron and anyone else who wants to join! (no pressure!)

Nine People I'd Like To know Better

@alby-noted tagged me so I figured why not!

Last Song I Listened To: Too Sweet by Hozier or Pink Venom by Blackpink, I don't necessarily remember

Currently Watching: My Demon, Avatar The Last Airbender (Live Action), and I want to start watching Shogun and a Spanish tv show soon!

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy?: Savory and Spicy!!! (my favorite indulgent meal is spicy cheesey ramen!)

Relationship Status: about to hit 2 years with my man that I've been long distance with for the last...8 months? I love my boyfriend <3;

Current Obsession: watching study/productivity youtube videos, specifically studyquill, The Bliss Bean, Study To Success, Mikayla Mags, Lindie Botes, etc (and also being efficiently productive)

No pressure to anyone I tag! much love 🩷

@mystudyrecords @study-diaries @tokidokitokyo @gretheresa @zzzzzestforlife @slavic-roots-western-mind @winryrockbellwannabe @wonyoungismind @alcnek

I tagged people I'm mutuals with since I don't really know anyone here (besides maybe my accountability buddy zesty!)