Rice with a bang

By:  December 27, 2023 Categories: 

炸米花 (puffed rice) made on the street in Chuansha (川沙). Bring your own oil, sesame, and rice or corn, and put your bag in the queue.

Great taste, especially when still warm. Crunchy and a tiny bit sweet.

When the rice is almost ready, the pot-thingy opens with a big bang.

Eva: “When we were young and you heard that bang, everybody yelled ‘Quick, get in the queue! Get oil, get rice!'”

For a whopping 35 RMB fee btw (preparation fee). I overheard someone say “It used to be 2 RMB.” So maybe some will a sign about the Chinese economy in there — but I think it’s another reason why it’s so nice to live in Chuansha, on the edge of Shanghai.

In 2025 (November) in Tangzhen (唐镇):

Latest

Ways to harmony

Ways to harmony

In Shanghai, cars, scooters, or bicycles in public are exposed to the impulses of opportunistic advertisers. So while you’re asleep or at work, they may place cards or stickers — fancy designs promoting services ranging from fake diplomas to ladies of not-so-virtuous nature, as well as housing funds. I’ve been annoyed dozens of times by […]
December 8, 2025
The Return of Magic

The Return of Magic

My first time in an airplane was in some Cessna 25 years ago. I had never imagined I’d ever sit in a plane, because that was something for rich people. But then after our visit to Legoland in Denmark, my dad decided we’d see the park from above. The whole was so inconceivable, not just […]
November 11, 2025
Toilet Egg Pancake

Toilet Egg Pancake

Sometimes a place or thing becomes super memorable not despite its odd name, but because of it. In Kunshan (昆山) there’s a place that sells ‘Toilet Egg Pancake’ (厕所蛋饼), because their original store was next to a public toilet. It has already moved on, but the name remains. While their pancakes are so good (and […]
November 10, 2025
These Same Roads Again

These Same Roads Again

My parents visited Shanghai for the first time in seven years, and even though the city has changed a lot, I dare say it has changed not as much as I have. Sure. On the surface of Shanghai, a lot of stores have come and gone since 2018, and large areas of the city were […]
November 5, 2025