Quarantine Diary Day 20: A Standout Lunch

Today there was yet again a formulaic yet fun breakfast.

Starchy vegetable of the day: waxy corn. This is definitely something I’ll probably lay off of, until the next quarantine. I just don’t find waxy corn so enjoyable, and never have.

Pair of mini pastries 1/2: These were sweet, custard buns, with a kind of coconut flavor in the custard.

Pair of mini pastries 2/2: scallion buns (but not the decorative kind like an earlier breakfast, or the ones we had at the Homeinn.

Egg of the day: tea egg.

Pickled vegetables of the day: thinly julienned mustard tuber (I think) and also ginger (both guesses!).

Congee of the day: plain rice.

Lunch was an absolute delight. And I actually picked it up right after they dropped it off! In fact, at lunch time they had one delivery for the hotel-provided meals, and then a separate delivery later with the people who ordered from outside.

I absolutely loved these little things. And I’m sad I don’t know what exactly they were, or what they’re called! This was where I wish there was a printed menu like at Jianguo Hotel, so I could learn about this new dish, and look for it in post-quarantine life.

There was like a typical pork filling, as one might find in a 包子 bun, but wrapped in something. It wasn’t exactly tofu skin, but it was something rather porous which could absorb a lot of flavor (including a delicious oil flavor). It seemed like it was cut in half, then fried, and then coated in some kind of sauce. It was just so tasty!

Then we had simple, stir-fried Chinese celery. I love Chinese celery (and western celery), so I quite enjoyed this.

The next dish was beef, stir-fried with thin, spicy green peppers, and onions. This was the oiliest dish I’d had so far this week, but it was so yummy! Like a slightly spicier version (thanks to the peppers) of a Chinese-American beef stir fry dish.

The yellow-hued drummettes were okay, but the weakest part of the meal.

In the second lunchtime delivery, I got my second order of fruit from Hema/Freshippo! This time I ordered another 500g of strawberries, but somehow my tray of strawberries this time contained 24 strawberries, while last time there were only 15? I wonder which order they got wrong (since I’ve already thrown away both labels!).

I also got a container of (very nice, firm) blueberries with a discount, for buying the strawberries. The orange was from the previous order.

My lunch capped off with my customary coffee and mint cream. There’s actually a plant right next to the desk - and it’s a real one! I touched it to check!

Dinner was okay. I actually picked it up soon after they dropped it off, and it was already quite cool. So I guess I shouldn’t be to blame for eating room-temperature dinners the other evenings.