The Fish and Rice Food of Shanghai, China by Ruth Paget

The Fish and Rice Food of Shanghai, China by Ruth Paget 

Fuchsia Dunlop is known more as the popularize of the fiery hot food of Sichuan, China, which she wrote about in her cookbooks Land of Plenty and the Food of Sichuan. 

She has written an equally great cookbook entitled Land of Fish and Rice about the mild food of Shanghai and “Jiangnan” region south of the Yangtze River in China. 

I have visited two cities in this region when I went to China on a study tour in 1979 – Nanjing and Beijing. I discovered a Chinese dish on a commune outside Shanghai that I really liked, ma’po dofu, made with braised pork and firm bean curd sprinkled with chopped green onions. I thoughe the bean curd, tofu, would never catch on in the US despite my liking this dish. 

That is a very positive memory I have of China. I looked through Land of Fish and Rice for recipes that could create a positive experience about Chinese food for a young family and put together a two-course meal that uses ingredients that are easily obtainable in the US. 

The recipes I like for a Shanghai lunch or dinner follow: 

*Stir-fried Cockles with Chinese Chives 

Cockles are small clams. Chives are mild flavored, think onions that can chop with scissors. 

In this dish, you stir-fry the chives first in oil until their fragrance rises. Then, you add in shelled and cooked cockle meat till steam rises. When everything is piping hot, add 2 tablespoons stock and bring to a boil before seasoning with salt. 

*Shanghai Fried Rice with Salt Pork and Green Bok Choy 

You can eat this side dish alone because it has so many good ingredients in it. To make this dish, you stir-fry rehydrated mushrooms, salt pork or pancetta, bok choy (Chinese cabbage), with onions and ginger. 

When everything is piping hot, you add sesame oil as a seasoning just before serving. As you can see from these dishes, you do not use garlic. Fuchsia Dunlop notes that garlic is too strongly flavored for most of the dishes in Shanghai and its surrounding area. The cooks of Shanghai prefer ginger and green onions as their seasoning base Dunlop writes. 

Fuchsia Dunlop’s cookbook Land of Fish and Rice contains much cultural information that young families can use to make a multicultural meal experience that could include: 

-shopping for ingredients at the supermarket and/or the Marina Farmer’s Market (Sundays 10 am to 2 pm), which has some Asian ingredients on sale 

-Preparing ingredients ahead of time to cook -practicing using chopsticks 

–look up youtube videos for instructions -maybe do a video of dinner dishes and chopstick use for a tiktok or youtube video 

Happy Cooking! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

China's Hunanese Food - Surprisingly Simple and Delicious by Ruth Paget

China’s Hunanese Food – Surprisingly Simple and Delicious by Ruth Paget 

The Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province by Fuchsia Dunlop contains recipes from the homeland of China’s Chairman Mao Zedong. Dunlop’s cookbook preserves Hunan’s flavorful and healthy dish that young families can try to learn about one of China’s most important culinary areas. 

Dishes from Hunan province appear on menus throughout China due to its ties with leaders of the Communist Party, notably Mao Zedong. 

People interested in diplomatic careers or international business careers can find something from every food group in Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook that they can try in the US or China to help prepare them for meals they might eat in the course of their career. 

The following recipes use items that have become easily obtainable in most local supermarket’s Asian food sections for families who would like to try a multicultural meal like the following one at home using recipes in Dunlop’s Hunan cookbook: 

*Farmhouse Stir-Fried Pork with Green Peppers 

Dunlop writes that pork is the main meat staple in Hunan. She notes that this dish is found on almost all restaurant menus in Hunan, including those in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan province. 

You can use green bell peppers or hotter ones in this recipe. The green peppers are sliced and marinated along with sliced pork belly in shaoxing wine and soy sauce. 

The peppers are cooked first in a wok and set aside. They are then taken out and the pork bellies are cooked next. 

Garlic and fermented, black soybeans go in next followed by lean pork.  When the pork has changed color to indicate being cooked, the green peppers are added back into the work and stir fried till steaming. 

The green peppers in this dish contain Vitamin C, which is also an antioxidant that helps remove free radicals, which may cause cancer from the body. The black, fermented soybeans in this dish give it extra protein, probiotics to promote gut health, iron, and more antioxidants. 

I like the flavor combination in this mild, salty dish, which is cheaper than beef. You could probably substitute chicken in this dish or firm tofu. 

*For vegetables, I like Hunanese stir-fried mixed mushrooms. 

This dish starts out with stir-frying steamed smoked bacon and adding garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes. Then, chopped mushrooms go in the wok. 

Once the mushrooms are cooked, you add stock, salt, pepper, and chopped scallions before serving. 

The secret to preparing Chinese food is to cut and slice up everything up in advance and line up your measuring spoons and cups and spices before cooking. Stir-frying is easy if you do this. 

The Salinas, California angle to this story is that most of our local supermarkets have an Asian food aisle for the pantry items needed to prepare the dishes Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. 

For Asian produce, the Marina Certified Farmer’s Market on Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm often sells Asian produce like bitter melons and strongly flavored green onions. This market also has food trucks and stall vendors. Lee’s Garden is located in the shopping mall where the market is held, if you want to do a market day lunch. (Ho-Wah Restaurant is right around the corner on Del Monte too). 

For items you cannot find at the market, there is an Asian supermarket on Reservation across from QQ Noodle to make market day a real excursion. 

The Hunanese dishes described in Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook by Fuchsia Dunlop can be the foundation of a fun multicultural Chinese food activity for young families in Salinas and the Monterey County region. There are more resources in town to do this locally. This is just example of how to organize Chinese Food Day. 

Happy Cooking! 

Note: Marina Certified Farmer’s Market

          Sundays - 10 am to 2 pm

Note: For a little heat, sprinkle on Sichuan red peppercorns or Italian Calabrian red peppercorns

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

China’s 8 Main Regional Cuisines reposted by Ruth Paget

The following website on fine dining does a great job describing ingredients,?seasonings, and techniques used in China’s main regional cuisines - it’s great a mini work of cultural anthropology:

https://www.finedininglovers.com/explore/articles/8-regional-chinese-cuisines-explained-depth#:~:text=The%20principles%20of%20Chinese%20cuisines,to%20distinguish%20regional%20Chinese%20cuisines.

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Teen in China and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

Chinese Probiotic Black Bean Chicken with Vegetables at Golden Star Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Chinese Probiotic Black Bean Chicken with Vegetables at Golden Star Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

The black beans used in black bean chicken with vegetables at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California are fermented black soy beans. 

As a fermented food not only do fermented soy beans have a delicious salty flavor, they are also a probiotic that promotes gut health. Fermented black beans are high in protein content and fiber. They usually replace oyster sauce as a flavoring agent when they are used in a dish. They enhance the flavor of vegetables, especially cabbage. 

At Golden Star, they flatten the chicken used in black bean chicken with vegetables to make it cook quickly in a wok. When the chicken is done, it is taken out and set aside. 

More oil goes into the wok to heat up followed by the seasoning trio of minced garlic, minced fresh ginger, and chopped scallions. Fermented black beans are added to the seasoning trio and stirred in before adding the following seasonal winter vegetables: carrots, green bell peppers, mushrooms, and cabbage. 

Once the cabbage and carrots soften up, the flattened chicken is added back in and heated up with the vegetables. Just before serving, shaoxing wine is added in for flavor. 

This dish is best eaten steaming hot over rice. I love the distinct vegetable flavors that become even more pronounced with the black bean sauce. 

The flattened chicken curls in the wok when heated. There seems to be a lot of chicken in the black bean chicken, but flattening the chicken might make ¾ of a breast seem like twice that amount.

I like the flavor of salty, fermented black beans and the seasonal winter vegetables very much. This preparation also tastes good with shrimp. I am biased, but I think the seasoning trio of garlic, ginger, and scallions is pretty tough to beat for flavor and health. 

The black bean chicken with vegetables at Golden Star Restaurant in Salinas, California is a very flavorful dish that makes excellent use of the organic produce in Salinas Valley. 

Chinese food lovers already know this is a tasty dish, but diners seeking a probiotic dish that is mildly flavored might enjoy trying black bean chicken with vegetables as well. 

Note: There is parking behind Golden Star Restaurant with a passage to Main Street where Golden Star Restaurant is located in Salinas, California. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

Eating Sichuanese Gan Bian Dry-Roasted Green Beans with Shrimp at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Eating Sichuanese Gan Bian Dry-Roasted Green Beans with Monterey County Shrimp from the Golden Star Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

Like many Americans I grew up eating stir-fried Chinese-American food that is inspired by the cuisine of Hong Kong and the southern Guandong Province of China. (Specifically, this is the type of food I ate as a child at the Ho-Ho Inn in Detroit, Michigan where my sister worked.) 

When I moved to Chicago, Illinois to attend the University of Chicago, I was able to expand my cultural horizons by trying the food of two inland regions of China – Hunan (where Chairman Mao Zedong was born) and Szechuan (written as Sichuan in the Pinyin transliteration system adopted by the People’s Republic of China). 

The House of Hunan on Michigan Avenue in Chicago is rather fancy with black lacquer tables and chairs and red silk seat cushions. I asked to dine there when my mother came to visit me in college. The food was mildly spicy and paired well with Burgundy wine according to the waiters. 

The Szechuan House located along the Chicago River between Michigan Avenue and State Street was close to where I lived in the Marina Towers that look like two tall corncobs. The Szechuan House had a great buffet on Sundays with lots of seafood. I tried to eat there once a month when I worked at EY. The food was very spicy I noted, but I thought they just added extra pepper to their stir-fry dishes. 

However, when I read Fuchsia Dunlop’s 2003 cookbook Land of Plenty: Authentic Sichuan Recipes Personally Gathered in the Chinese Province of Sichuan, I realized that the cooking techniques used in Sichuan are somewhat different from those used in Hong Kong. 

Dunlop is the first Westerner to have attended and graduated from the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine in Chengdu, China. As an introduction to her recipes, one of the cooking methods she describes is gan bian where food is cut into small sizes and fried in very little oil until the food is slightly dried out, fragrant, and even a little blistered. 

One of the most famous recipes for the gan bian cooking method is made with green beans and pork. Golden Star Restaurant in Salinas, California modifies this recipe to use local shrimp in place of pork. The shrimp was probably marinated for several minutes in soy sauce to not sear and stick to the wok when dry-roasted. 

At Golden Star, once the green beans are dry-roasted, the chef added a seasoning trio of minced fresh garlic, peeled and minced ginger, and crushed red Sichuan peppers to the green beans and tossed them. 

In Golden Star's version, the green beans were set aside and shrimp added with very little oil to dry-roast. The high wok heat quickly cooks the shrimp. Shaoshing wine or sherry is added for flavoring before the green beans are added back to the work. 

The shrimp and green beans are tossed till steam rises with sesame oil added just before serving. 

I loved this meal. There were many fresh green beans, which may be due to the fact that southern Monterey County is warm and has a longer growing season for green beans. Green beans are a rich source of Vitamin C and fiber, making gan bian shrimp at Golden Star Restaurant in Salinas, California a great deal in addition to being delicious. 

When this item is in season, I highly recommend it as a reasonably priced, healthy, and delicious meal. 

Note: There is parking behind the restaurant with a passage to Main Street where the restaurant is located.

Text and photo by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games

Cashew Shrimp at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Cashew Shrimp at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

One of my favorite authentic Chinese-American meals is cashew chicken, which I recently ordered from Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California. 

The shrimp in this dish gets its salty taste and blackish color from being marinated in soy sauce before being stir-fried (about 10 minutes) 

The cashew chicken at Golden Star makes maximum use of the organic produce available in Salinas Valley with vegetable ingredients such as celery (one of Salinas Valley’s top selling crops), green peppers, mushrooms, carrots, and onions being put in the stir-fry. 

The aromatics used to flavor the vegetables and shrimp tie it all together. Fresh chopped ginger, minced garlic, and chopped green onion along with sweet mirin cooking wine flavor the sizzling cooking oil (usually peanut oil) that the shrimp and vegetables are stir-fried in. 

Roasted cashews are added in at the end of cooking along with oyster sauce and sesame oil. Golden Star makes sure everything is bite-size to be easily picked up with chopsticks, if using. 

I love vegetables, shrimp, and cashews independently. When they are all put together in this dish with ginger, garlic, green onions, and sesame oil as seasonings, I think the combination pretty terrific tasting and full of vitamins, minerals, and protein. 

Diners who like shrimp and vegetables might also like these ingredients with cashews to try something new at a reasonable price at Golden Star Restaurant in Salinas, California.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Lunar New Year at UChicago as part of Year of Games reposted by Ruth Paget

The University of Chicago Year of Games Program invites the university community to come play Chinese mahjong and Korean Yunnan in observance of Lunar New Year on February 17, 2026.

Information about this event follows:

https://events.uchicago.edu/event/259113-lunar-new-year-game-celebration-at-the-library

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Succulent Shrimp Vegetable Stir-fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Succulent Shrimp with Vegetables at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I like the Chinese philosophy that food is medicine, which prompts me to look for Chinese restaurants when I look for places to live. 

Salinas, California where I live now has several Chinese restaurants with Golden Star being closest to my home. They have delicious, reasonably priced food and friendly workers.

On my most recent foray to Golden Star, I tried their stir-fried shrimp with vegetables dish with steamed rice. I loved this dish, because Golden Star used Chinese 5-spice powder as part of the aromatic seasoning mix. 

5-spice powder is made of a powdery crush of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and fennel seeds. 5-spice powder is flavorful and a potent antioxidant at the same time. 

Chinese cooks place 5-spice powder in hot peanut oil in a wok at the beginning of a stir-fry. Cooks then add green onions, garlic, and peeled and minced fresh garlic to the hot oil as a flavoring base in almost all stir-fried dishes. 

When the scent of the garlic rises, cooks add in fresh vegetables to sear in flavor and color. Searing gives the vegetables a tender outside and sturdy interior. Vegetables prepared this way are visually appealing. Cooking the vegetables this way takes about 8 minutes and makes them blazing hot. 

The vegetables that Golden Star uses in its shrimp vegetable dish showcase the organic produce that Monterey County grows: broccoli, mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, and cabbage (Napa cabbage) are among this Monterey mix. 

When the vegetables are steaming hot, cooks add in gray fresh shrimp, which curls into a circle and turns orange in the heat. About 4 minutes will cook the shrimp this way. To finish the shrimp vegetable dish, 

Golden Star uses a classic Chinese sauce made with soy sauce, chicken broth, toasted sesame oil, rice vinegar, and mirin (a sweet Chinese cooking wine). I like the flavor of 5-spice powder in this dish and think the finishing sauce enhances that flavor with salt and some sugar. 

I drank a Peroni Nastro Azzuro beer with the shrimp vegetable stir-fry, because it reminded me of China’s Tsing Tao. A slightly sweet white wine would pair well with this dish as well due to the mirin wine in the sauce, which is slightly sweet. 

Shrimp lovers looking for new flavors would probably enjoy the shrimp vegetable stir-fry with steam rice at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California. 

Shrimp Vegetable Stir-Fry with Rice
at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant
in Salinas, California

Photo and Text by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Shrimp Broccoli Stir-Fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Shrimp Broccoli Stir-Fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

One of my favorite Chinese-food-as-medicine dishes is shrimp broccoli stir-fry. I recently tried the Golden Star version of this dish in Salinas, California and feel that I have a Vitamin C booster for the 2026 New Year. 

One of the reasons I find Chinese stir fry to be healthy is that the Chinese start out a stir fry with hot oil that they season with fresh ginger and garlic and sometimes onions and red pepper before adding in vegetables and protein like broccoli and shrimp in the dish I tried. 

What makes this stir fry delicious is they savory sauce made generally of soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, brown sugar, sesame oil, and corn starch (for the sheen appearance), which can be a sauce for rice as well as the main ingredients. 

Broccoli is a low-calorie food packed with fiber; vitamins C, K, and A: potassium, and antioxidants. I like the flavor of this super food. 

Shrimp is also good for you if eaten in moderation. It contains vitamins B12 and D; the minerals selenium, phosphorous, and zinc; and antioxidants. It is hard to believe that something this delicious is good for you in moderation. (It has high salt and cholesterol content.) 

The flavor and quantity of the shrimp broccoli was very good. If you like shrimp, you would probably like this dish. Golden star offers versions of this dish with beef and chicken as well. 

Golden Star is located on Main Street in downtown Salinas, California with a large parking lot in back next to Compass Church. You have to go down a short passage from the parking lot to the front of the restaurant on Main Street to pick up your food. 

What I really like about Golden Star is that it is about 5 minutes from my home in Salinas, California, making picking up take-out Chinese food easy. I also like it that their extensive menu is available all day. 

Broccoli Shrimp Stir-Fry with Rice
at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant
(next to Compass Church - Parking in back)
in Salinas, California

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Chinese Lion Dancer Leonard Han reposted by Ruth Paget

Chinese Lion Dancer Leonard Han has performed at many First Night Monterey Celebrations.

His website below details his many skills:

https://leonardhan.pairsite.com/mb/about

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Yunnan: The Chinese Tea Game Created by Ruth Paget

Yunnan: The Chinese Tea Game Created by Ruth Paget 

This is a game for tea drinkers, people who would like to learn more about China, and food and beverage industry workers who would like to advance in their careers.

Items Needed to Organize Yunnan: 

-The book Tea: History Terroirs Varieties by Kevin Gascoyne, François Marchand, Jasmin Desharnais, and Hugo Américi 

-Index cards – large and small 

-notebook paper 

-pens 

-boxes of Chinese tea to be used as a prize for mastering all information 

Yunnan Game Objectives: 

1-Know the families of different teas and their characteristics 

2-Know the main cultivars or cultivated varieties of tea grown in China 

3-Know the process steps for the tea families that give them their final characteristics 

4-Know the terroirs where tea is grown in China and be able to locate the region on a map 

5-Know the most famous teas from the different regions 

Game 1 – Tea Families Definition 

All tea begins as a green leaf, but different processing methods produce teas with specific characteristic for flavor and medicinal value. 

For this game, you will place the tea family name on the front of an index card and the definition of the tea family written in your own words on the back. 

If you are unsure of a word’s pronunciation, use Google’s pronunciation feature (type the word followed by the word “pronunciation” in the Google search bar. A speaker icon will appear that you can tap to hear the pronunciation.) 

Use the tea book mentioned in the materials section to look up the following tea families:  

-white teas

 -green teas 

-yellow teas 

-wulong teas 

-black teas 

-aged teas (learn the names of the specific teas they list as examples) 

Game 2: China’s Main Cultivars or Cultivated Varieties of Tea Leaf 

Cultivars or cultivated varieties are similar to varietals or grape varieties in wine making. 

There are four main cultivars or tea varieties grown in China. For these cultivars, write the name on the front of an index card and 5 to 10 facts on the back to memorize about it, especially the terroirs or areas where it is grown in China. 

The following four cultivars are the main ones grown in China: 

-Fuding Da Bai 

-Long Jing 43 

-Tie Guan Yin 

-Zhu Ye 

Game 3: Know the Process Steps that Create the Different Tea Families 

This game will require notebook paper to play.

First, note the tea family on the front of the notebook paper. Use the tea book in the materials section to note the number of process steps for each tea family. The number of steps differs to create the characteristics of each tea family.  

Memorize the tea family and the number of process steps to make it. Then, use the tea book to list the tea family name of the front of a sheet of notebook paper. Next, list each process step name and a description of the process in your own words. 

Finally, memorize the tea family name and the definition of each step used to make it. 

Game 4: Know China’s Main Tea Terroirs 

Use the map on page 42 of the print edition of the Tea book in the materials section to locate China’s main tea terroirs. Write the following regions down on index cards. On the back, note the main province and large cities in each region: 

-Southwest Region 

-Southeast Region 

-South of the Yangzi Jiang River Region 

-North of the Yangzi Jiang River Region 

Game 5: Chinese Tea Types 

Tea types are similar to different kinds of wine like Burgundy and Bordeaux. 

For this game, you will need large index cards and a pen. On the front of the index card, note the tea type and on the back note the characteristics listed in the tea book. Learn a tea type and one characteristic at a time. Learn three tea types as a group before moving on to the next three. 

Note the following characteristics for each tea type:  

-tea family 

-name translation 

-alternative names 

-harvest season 

-cultivar 

There are 12 tea types listed with 5 pieces of information for each tea. 5 x 12 makes 60 pieces of information to learn. 

Game 6: Reward Drink some Chinese tea for mastering this game. 

For cultural information, the following books provide a good introduction to Chinese food: 

-Tea: History Terroirs Varieties by Kevin Gascoyne, Francois Marchand, Jasmin Deshaun’s, and Hugo Americi

-The Food of China by E.N. Anderson 

-Invitation to a Banquet by Fuchsia Dunlop 

-Complete Chinese Cookbook by Ken Hom 

I have written three blogs on Hong Kong’s tea lunch or dim sum that show one way that tea is used in Chinese culture: 

Chicago Dim Sum

Chicago Dim Sum 

Millbrae Dim Sum (San Francisco Suburb) Dim Sum 

Millbrae Dim Sum

Salinas, California Dim Sum 

Salinas Dim Sum

Northern and Southern Chinese Food Differences

Northern and Southern Chinese Food

Have fun learning about Chinese culture! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Sesame Beef and Broccoli at Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Sesame Beef and Broccoli at Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

When I lived in downtown Chicago (Illinois) after I graduated from the University of Chicago, I ate sesame beef with broccoli at Chinese restaurants like Szechuan House and House of Hunan and felt like an empress doing so while working at my entry-level job in sales. 

Later when I lived in Wisconsin, I bought a wok at a garage sale and restored it. I made broccoli beef myself to cook my own empress meals. 

In my new town of Salinas, California, I tried sesame beef and broccoli at one of our local Vietnamese restaurants, Saigon Noodles, located on North Main Street by Grocery Outlet. 

The Vietnamese stir-fry shallots in peanut oil and add in the beef with soy sauce and oyster sauce. The hot beef is finished with drizzles of sesame oil and sprigs of cilantro. The beef sauce is thick but not cloudy from the addition of cornstarch. 

Many Chinese restaurants add cornstarch to stir-fry dishes at the end of cooking to add a glistening sheen to meat and vegetables. I think cornstarch “slurries” add calories and dull flavors a bit. 

Fortunately, the stir-fry beef sauce at Saigon Noodles is savory, salty, and clear of cornstarch. I dipped my rice and steamed broccoli that came with my meal in the sauce and loved the rich flavor. 

Saigon Noodles also offers this dish with chicken. 

For a regal treat, I highly recommend the sesame beef with steamed broccoli and rice from Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California. 

By Ruth Paget, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Bol.com of the Netherlands and Belgium is carrying two of my books posted by Ruth Paget

Thank you Bol.com of the Netherlands and Belgium for carrying two of my chapbooks about Asia - China Hand and Eating Soup with Chopsticks.

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Abe Books is selling my books China Hand and Eating Soup with Chopsticks by Ruth Paget

Thank you Abe Books for carrying my first edition books - China Hand )Revised book title - Teen in China) and Eating Soup with Chopsticks.about being an exchange student in Japan.

Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Asian Cultural Experience Salinas - 4/26/25 by Ruth Paget

The 26th Asian Cultural Experience is happening in April 26, 2025 in Salinas.  This event is organized by the Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese communities in Salinas.

For more information click on the press release link below:

Asian Cultural Experience information

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

The Poppy War Reviewed by Ruth Paget

The Poppy War Reviewed by Ruth Paget R.F. Kuang’s 

The Poppy War is a fantasy-historical fiction novel that is loosely based on the period of Chinese (Nikara in the novel) history called The Rape of Nanjing or the Nanjing Massacre by Japan (The Federation of Mugen in the novel) during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 – 1945). 

Rin, the book’s main character, a dark-skinned peasant girl from the South, tests in the military academy at Sinegard, which rigorously prepares its students for a war that has not happened yet, but that will according to daily reminders from professors. 

The entire school becomes mired in war much sooner than the characters think. The horrific atrocities induce many of the soldiers and leaders to use opium to continue fighting, particularly as food supplies dwindle and to invoke warrior deities. 

In the two Opium Wars prior to the Sino-Japanese Wars, the Chinese fought to keep opium out of the country. However, by the time of The Poppy War that Kuang writes about, the Chinese population had begun to widely use opium (derived from poppies like heroin) despite its being illegal. As you read through The Poppy War, you can see its varying effects on soldiers, especially leaders.

One of the great lessons of The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang is that despite efforts to prepare for defensive war, a country can still suffer greatly and be invaded by other countries seeking land and/or wealth. 

The Poppy War illustrates in devastating detail the atrocities of war in Nikara. This makes for difficult yet important reading for readers who are interested in real-life careers as: 

-diplomats -war crimes assessors 

-translators 

-military personnel 

-psychologist, especially for therapists dealing with victims of gang rape by enemy troops 

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang uses the fantasy format to relate a historical incident like The Rape of Nanjing to make it supportable for readers who probably would have trouble reading about it in history books.

In the end, The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang acts as an excellent introduction to 20th century Chinese history. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Surviving Babel - a review by Ruth Paget

Surviving Babel – a review by Ruth Paget 

Babel by R.F. Kuang is a highly readable story about how racism in 19th century Great Britain affected its foreign policy. 

Kuang’s anti-hero is Robin Swift, an Anglo-Chinese student at the Royal Institute of Translation, called Babel, at Oxford University. Kuang’s novel is set in 1830s England where silver makes the British Empire run. Babel’s translations create magical silver that fund the student stipends and contribute to the British Empire’s wealth. 

The British Empire’s problem in Babel is that the silver is running out due to buying luxury goods from India and China. These two countries want nothing that England produces making the Indians and Chinese accumulate vast reserves of silvers as the British silver funds are being depleted. 

This situation creates the need for certain languages to be taught at Babel and the economic argument to promote the Opium Drug Wars between England and China. 

Robin Swift and his classmates learned languages to fill needs of the British Empire with no other perceived alternatives offered for employment. This negative learning environment brings in Babel’s crime element, which is threaded throughout Robin Swift’s student years and “career.” 

Learning about the traditions and lifestyle at Babel and Oxford University keeps Kuang’s novel from being a pessimistic reading experience. I liked learning about the insider names of the various academic quarters at Oxford and about the third and fourth year qualifying exams, the internships, the immersive language experiences, and profitable languages for translation. 

That students could work during the social upheaval of 19th century Great Britain illustrates the strength of Oxford University as an institution that it still benefits from today as the training ground for the United Kingdom’s leaders.

Readers who might enjoy Babel by R.F. Kuang include: 

-diplomats

-translators 

-military intelligence officers

-economists 

-students applying for fellowships to study at Oxford 

-travelers 

I enjoyed Babel by R.F. Kuang because I was an undergraduate student in East Asian Studies. This novel is definitely a book I would have discussed with my classmates over coffee and pastries at the University of Chicago in the Regenstein Library’s coffee shop. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Curried Fried Rice Meal by Ruth Paget

Curried Fried Rice Meal by Ruth Paget 

A fast lunch I prepare for myself is curried fried rice. The inspiration for this meal is Chinese. However, the Chinese add more ingredients like peas and ham or shrimp, especially in restaurants. 

For everyday lunches, I use the following recipe: 

Serves 1 

Ingredients: 

-2 tablespoons olive oil 

-2 teaspoons Madras curry powder or another brand 

(Look for turmeric in the curry ingredients. It is a good antioxidant.) 

-1 (7.4 ounce) container of cooked Bibigo sticky Korean rice 

-2 beaten eggs 

-salt and pepper to taste 

Steps: 

1-Heat olive oil and curry in a sauce pan till steaming. 

2-Add the cooked sticky rice. Break up the rice and turn it to coat with the yellow cooking oil. 

3-When the rice is steaming, add the beaten eggs and turn for 2 to 3 minutes or until cooked. 

4-Remove the rice and eggs from the heat. Season them with salt and pepper and serve. 

As a dessert, I eat two or three clementines after the curry rice and drink a small carton of whole milk. 

This meal is fast and easy and still relatively inexpensive even with the higher price of eggs. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Chinese Buffet Strategy at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Chinese Buffet Strategy at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

There is so much food available at Chinese buffets on the East Coast like Chow King in Marietta, Georgia that you need a strategy to navigate them, especially as they now have pan-Asian offerings like Vietnamese phô soup, Japanese hibachi grilled food, and sushi in addition to piles of Chinese fried and stir-fried food. 

People from the West Coast should know that before going wild on all the sushi that the white they see in the maki rolled sushi is not octopus, but Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I like sushi and cream cheese, but not together. I ate what I took, but will pass the next time I see them. 

For the buffet offerings, I have taken my cue from Chinese senior citizens about what to eat. Most buffets have mounds of seafood refried rice and lo mein egg noodles that I always head for. The seafood rice is made with seafood broth, which gives it a bright orange color. It is then refried with egg, peas, and carrots. I fill half my plate with this item. 

The other half of my plate I fill with lo mein egg noodles that have been stir-fried in peanut oil with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil added at the end. 

On top of the rice and lo mein noodles, I fill ¾ of the plate with stir-fried broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots flavored with nuoc nam or nam pla salty fish sauces from Vietnam and Thailand. The remaining ¼ of my plate, I fill with tangy orange chicken, which I consider dessert. 

I do two rounds of this combination and then eat chocolate pudding for dessert. 

Almost all Chinese buffets have these delicious items like the ones at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by joint base Clay-Dobbins Air Force Base. Chow King has five large rooms, plenty of parking, and air conditioning, which add to the reasons for trying Chinese food. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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5-Spice Powder Shrimp Stir-Fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

5-Spice Shrimp Stir-Fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

I ordered shrimp vegetable stir-fry from Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California and knew from the wonderful aroma that the restaurant used 5-spice powder to make this dish. Golden Star combines 5-spice powder shrimp with thin, bite-size pieces of broccoli, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms to make this delicious “food as medicine” stir-fry. 

5-spice powder appeals to the following Chinese flavor profile: 

-sweet 

-bitter 

-sour 

-salty 

-savory 

The typical 5-spice powder blend is made with the following ingredients. Several of these ingredients contain strong antioxidants that help remove free radicals that can cause cancer from the body:

-star anise 

-cloves 

-Chinese cinnamon 

-Sichuan pepper

 -fennel seed 

These flavors blend with the usual Chinese seasonings of fresh garlic and fresh ginger that go in with the peanut oil to start a stir-fry. The shrimp is then added and cooked a few minutes and followed by the vegetables. The hot oil draws out moisture from the shrimp and vegetables. The moisture is hot and is perfect to cook seasonings without burning them. 

At this point, many Chinese restaurants will add in a mixture of cornstarch and water to give the food a glowing sheen. Golden Star does not appear to do this, which I do not mind. The vegetables in the shrimp vegetable stir-fry I ate were bright and tender as they were. 

The nutrient powerhouse in this dish at Golden Star was the broccoli with Vitamin C (an antioxidant), potassium, and vitamin B6 (nutrition information from the USDA – US Department of Agriculture website).

Cabbage has large amounts of vitamin C as well (nutrition information from the USDA – US Department of Agriculture website). Carrots contain large amounts of vitamin A (from the WebMD.com website). Mushrooms contain antioxidants (from the Medical News Today website). 

What is nice about this highly nutritious 5-spice powder shrimp vegetable stir-fry is that it is very flavorful without being spicy hot. The Sichuan peppercorns in the 5-spice powder made the dish refreshing without the numbing heat that they are famous for. 

People trying Chinese food for the first time might enjoy this shrimp vegetable stir-fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California on South Main Street. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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