#joyluck

When it comes to Hotpot, the metal pot is placed on the burner and the temperature needs to be boiling. You can then dip ingredients in until they are done cooking. They cook pretty fast because of the boiling water. Typically you would use your chopsticks to do this. After your food is done cooking, you can dip it in various sauces which you choose and mix together all in one bowl. Some of the food that we had to dip into our pot were squid, prawn, cow stomach, beef, lamb, pork, clear noodles, lettuce, tofu, and a couple other things. 

It’s a very interesting thing to do. I definitely felt like it brought all of us to socialize a little more so I understand why the Chinese like doing this. I mainly dipped all my food in the spice section of the hotpot. The spice is pretty strong and it definitely opens up your sinuses for sure. All the food was really good and some of it was interesting. My favorite thing to eat was definitely the meat and the seafood. I didn't make a good combination of sauces so I wasn't into that, but overall it was good and super filling. 

Johnny was the one that told us about the mixing of sauces in one bowl. I found that to be interesting that the Chinese do that because I feel like you lose the flavoring when you mix all these different sauces together or you taste one sauce more over the others. I was also surprised that rice wasn't served with this. I thought I read somewhere where they have the rice at the bottom of there bowls and then after they dip all there ingredients they place them on top of the rice. 

Some other traditional dishes in China that is very popular include Sweet and Sour Pork, Kung Pao Chicken, Ma Po Tofu, Wontons, Dumplings, Chow Mein, Peking Roasted Duck, and Spring Rolls. 

I’m really glad I got to experience traditional Chinese food because nowadays we're used to Americanized Chinese that includes General Tso’s and Honey Chicken (my favorite) and many fried foods or foods that people say are “Chinese” when it’s just super Americanized and isnt very traditional. It’s good, but it’s nice to have something that's really authentic and unique. I’m glad Johnny was there to really confirm how traditional this dish actually was.