China Gaoshou 中国高手, Mountain Man, Food Maven

Fresno gets a lot of abuse and derision and, to be honest, in my humble opinion at least, some of that is well deserved.  The city’s air has been rated as among the worst in the country by the AmericanLung Association , close to 1 in 4 (23%) of its residents live in poverty , and it ranks near the bottom of the heap among larger cities with respect to percapita spending on parks and recreation .  And don’t even get me started on the dearth of intellectual and cultural life in Fresno.  Fortunately for Fresno, these drawbacks are to some degree offset by its one major plus, namely close proximity to what many argue is the finest mountain scenery in America.   I’m talking about the so-called “High Sierra,” which comprises the tallest and most rugged part of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.   The latter stretches from the Kern River Plateau to the south to the North Fork of the Feather River to the north.   The south end of the “High Sierra” beg...

China has a serious image problem when it comes to how it is viewed globally.  A Pew Research Center Global Survey  released late last month casts a harsh spotlight on global opinions about the People’s Republic and its treatment of other countries.  The report surveyed attitudes across 16 high-income and 8 middle-income countries.  The high-income countries included the US, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan, the UK, France, Spain, Greece, Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Israel.  The middle-income countries included Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Indonesia, and India. Aggregating attitudes across these two groups yields a negative view of China and its international behavior.  Just over a quarter (28%) of those questioned across all 24 countries had favorable views of China compared with the over two-thirds (67%) with unfavorable views.  Some 57% agreed that China interferes in the affairs o...

  When one hears the term “sweet and sour pork,” the thing that immediately comes to mind is the dish ( 咕噜肉 [G ūlū ròu]) that is a well-known staple of China’s Guangdong cuisine ( 粤菜 [Yu è c à i]).   It is what Americans often order and eat when consuming Chinese food in Chinese restaurants or as take-out from such establishments.   While I certainly like eating this dish, sweet and sour pork is not unique to China.   Italian cuisine has its own distinctive take on this way of fixing pork, and I finally got around to cooking it this summer.   Italian sweet and sour pork is lighter than its sticky sweet Guangdong counterpart.   In the Italian version of this dish, the sweet and sour flavors are more subtle and understated.   On top of that, like most food from Italy, this dish stands out for its simplicity and ease of preparation, making it the perfect choice for those occasions when one needs fix something that is tasty, a bit elegant, and can be wh...