Chuan(er) 串儿

----pronounced chware (last part like the word "are")-------

Chuan(er) is something that we enjoy eating here in China. Basically, it is a lot of food on a stick-like kebabs. If you can see the Chinese character, it looks like there are two chunks of something on a stick, so it's nice to remember. We went out to eat chuan(er) last night and it was very tasty so I thought I would share with you.

Our favorite place to eat "stick food" is this one place that is pretty nasty actually. One time while eating there this roach ran along the wall beside me. I pointed it out to the waitress and she looked at me like "what?" It is the kind of place you don't look too carefully at what you eat, where they prepare/cook the food, and where you eat. They bring out the food as it is finished and throw it on a plate in the middle of the table that is covered in a plastic bag (to prevent having to do dishes). Then you just grab the food and dig in.

You can honestly get anything on a stick here. My friend pointed out the cow eyes as an option last night on the menu to me. However, we usually stick to more normal things. All foods are covered in this mixture of spices containing cumin, maybe some garlic powder and some spicy goodness. Here are some of my favorites:

• For meat, always lamb. Many of the places are also Muslim so your choices are usually lamb, beef, or other animals we don't usually eat. We often stick with lamb because it has the least amount of fat. It is usually alternating meat/fat/meat/fat so I usually only eat the meat part and pick the fat part off. The Chinese really like that fatty part for the most part.

(some random meat chuan(er)-picture from internet)

• Potato (both normal white and sweet potato). The regular potato comes very thinly sliced while the sweet potato is thicker
• Garlic shoots
• Tofu rolls 豆腐卷. (Spinach or other lettuce like vegetables wrapped up by dried tofu.）

(doufu juan-picture from internet)

• Bread. They have a few different kinds of bread that you can order but they are usually covered in oil and the spices mixture.

here are some pictures from friends eating the huge bread last night:

(the room we ate in last night isn't actually part of the restaurant. We had so many people they put us on the second floor-which we are pretty sure is part of a pizza place next door. That's why the room looks so nice!)