Bag o' Meat and Red Onion Wine

Yes, you read that correctly. I bought a bag of meat at Tesco today. I rode my bicycle up to buy a couple of ingredients to make tacos tonight. It probably seems like I am going to the store a lot... well, I am! A big part of that reason is that most Chinese go to the store every couple of days so things are packaged smaller. They are also packaged smaller because most people BIKE to the store (see earlier blog). So I can't go pick up a gallon of milk or two (nor would I want to lug that back on the bike). Anyway, I digress. I wanted to buy some ground meat and another person told me that Tesco was the best place to buy it. I went to the meat section and looked for the packages of ground beef. Hmm, no packages. But there was an area that had meat piled in divided sections. Now before you get too worried, this was a refrigerated section that reminded me a lot of the meat counter at Kroger just set up a bit different. Instead of a man behind the counter getting you want you wanted, it was more self serve. Unfortunately, I was confused by the whole process. The man behind the counter was watching me as I pointed to the meat trying to indicate that I wanted some. He looked around and had another man come to help him. The second man held up one finger and then made his hands into an X. I took this to mean did I want 1 kilogram of meat or 1/2 a kilogram (because it seemed like he wanted me choose one of the 2). I indicated half. He then grabbed a bag and put A LOT of meat in. (Just for all those people like me that have no clue how much a kilogram is, it is a little over 2 pounds). I wonder, what exactly did he mean? I also was unsure what kind of meat it was. I was pretty sure that it was ground pork or chicken, but after eating it I am voting for pork. Can I just state for the record that I can't wait to understand and be able to speak at least a bit more Chinese!? Now onto the onion wine. Andy and I have been curious to try things that we couldn't get at home. I was in the wine section trying to choose a bottle of wine and I saw one labeled "Red Onion Wine" and couldn't pass it up. After tasting it, we can't taste any onions, but it is not our favorite either. I first wondered if this was just a crazy lost in translation moment, but there is a picture of onions on the bottle with grapes. Isn't that strange? Doesn't it seem like I am talking about food an awful lot? Speaking of food, Andy has gone out to eat with customers and the people from the local government and he's eaten some crazy things. Jellyfish, cuttlefish, and duck tongue to name a few! I consider myself a moderately adventurous eater, but I have been glad that it is him and not me. :-)

Red Onion Wine - can you see the picture of the red onions on the bottle?