Hannah's Foodventure Part 2: Hangzhou

I knew that my host sister Sunny and I were going to get along on the first day when she brought me back to her house and then said "Hey, do you want to go explore the 5 story supermarket near my house?" (I said yes, of course). Sunny had a passion for Chinese food that would take us to restaurants across Hangzhou and earn her the affectionate nickname "Food Fairy Godmother". With that in mind, here's the cuisine highlight reel from Hangzhou!!

The Spicy, Stewed, Whole Head of a Duck (except for the eyes)
You read that correctly. Day 2, Sunny and her mom took me to a tiny local favorite restaurant, where Sunny asked me if I wanted to try "something I probably wouldn't see in America". That turned out to be the entire head of a duck, cooked with lots of peppers. It was seriously DELICIOUS. You weren't allowed to eat the eyes, Sunny wasn't sure why, but we ate everything (note: we each were served our own individual duck head) including the brain! It was the coolest way to jump into food in Hangzhou.

COOKING ADVENTURE!!!

As you may know, I LOVE to cook. I asked Sunny if they would let me cook them an American meal for our last night eating in their home. They agreed, and what follows is my Sunday afternoon cooking odyssey:

My first task was to plan the meal. I had to first take into account that despite having not one but TWO small ovens in their apartment, Sunny's family never used them and instead I found they were full of ceramicware and cutlery. Whatever I made would need to utilize a hot plate and a burner. Also, Sunny's absolute favorite food is fish, so I planned to cook salmon, something she said they never really ate because they didn't really know how to cook it. They also told me they wanted to try a salad, but the rest was up to me! I decided in addition to mustard salmon and a yummy salad recipe (which I stole from a close family friend who make's a mean dressing), I would make a daring attempt at Pesto Pasta and some simple stir-fried veggies. The list was set!