When we first came to China, we were a bit surprised to see bags and bins of large bullfrogs in many stores, including our local Wal-Mart:
So it was only a matter of time before they showed up on our table. While eating with some new students this week, I wondered why they were laughing while ordering the food. Shortly thereafter, the waiter brought this “frog log” to the table:
They graciously filled my bowl with the fresh frog soup:
Chinese cooks don’t remove the bones before chopping up meat. So you just grab a chunk with your chopsticks, put it into your mouth, and spit out parts of frog anatomy that you probably haven’t seen since High School biology class:
Along with this meal, we had an unfamiliar green vegetable, “qing tai” (tones 1 and 2):
In case you don’t have your Chinese-English dictionary handy, “qing tai” is “moss,” which seems perfectly appropriate to have with frog soup. Fortunately, we had a dish of pepper sauce to “adjust” the taste to our individual liking…
I checked this today and thought that maybe you were just doing an April Fool’s thing—but no, it’s real! Glad you’re both such good sports about eating stuff there. Can you ever just say “no thanks” without offending? (Just wondering…)
Part of the lunch deal is that I ask students to take me to new places and order new foods (can be risky). Interestingly, this is one of the better things I’ve eaten lately…
Fried Frog Legs and turnip greens and you would think you were back home.
There’s not a huge difference in southern cooking, regardless of the country. But then again…
Eating frog soup and moss would be a huge “leap” for me! I guess you can mark that off your bucket list!!
It’s nice to know that I can count on Regina to hop into the conversation with some puns!