I’m still eating food! My skills with chopsticks are remarkably better than when I arrived in China. I do not miss using a knife to cut food. The salad below was the first meal I ate where western style utensils were provided.

At a hostel I picked up a cheat sheet with English and Mandarin words for common food items. I have used this basic phrase sheet a few times on the street. Another traveler taught me the words for “this one” and “that one.” These basic words are helpful when pointing to food choices.

Dinner my first night in Shanghai with an MBA alum, Frank. Super tasty! The white and black dish is mushrooms with a root vegetable. The soup was a chicken broth with a meatball. The shrimp was served with a vegetable puree and the long rectangle dish held beef and potatoes. All excellently seasoned.

My last night in Shanghai I was treated to a meal by four MBA alumni. We ate family style with a rotating lazy susan enabling everyone to sample all the dishes.

I always carry snacks with me. First photo: breakfast on the go in Shanghai. Hard boiled eggs are easy to find on the street and in the Family Mart and 7-11 convenience stores. Second photo: our cobbled-together lunch on Tinamen Mountain. Just like at home, it’s cheaper to bring your own food than to buy food in the park.

Cold noodles with sauce and vegetables on the street in Zhangjiajie.

My hotel in Zhangjiajie was at the end of a street filled with street food vendors. For breakfast there were dumplings, noodles, and bao zi options. For dinner I ate kebobs and stir fried noodles. Seating was outdoors on tables and chairs sized like those found in an elementary school classroom.

After a rougher train ride from Zhangjiajie to Guangzhou, familiar food was in order. I had my first salad in China at a mall in Guangzhou. Quinoa, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce all packaged neatly and including (comical) messaging saying eating salad makes for a sexy life.

I am always trying to get more vegetables into my diet. From a picture menu, I ordered a stir fried vegetable platter and dumpling soup in Guangzhou.

An update on my goal to taste all the flavors of Oreos! Lemon Oreos on a thin cracker and Macha (green tea flavor) Oreos on a regular cracker. Kudos to the food scientists because the scents are strong and accurate for both flavors. I like the thin cracker Oreos because you get more frosting when you have less cookie.