Nutmeat travels though Asia to get to my belly! - A Photographic Diary

I might have mentioned before that a couple of years ago I was living in China, studying and generally experiencing a whole different culture! As I've been posting other photo diaries lately about my travels in relation to food (check them out here, here and here if you like), I though I might share this lovely story with you.

The food in China was very variable - there was a lot of pretty ordinary and not very nice stuff around, but after living there for a while I got to learn what to order and what not to order. After finding my feet I found a lot of amazing food, but living there for an extended amount of time meant you end up just wanting to cook for yourself - some of the basic and staple things that remind me of home, like pasta and minestrone soup!

Luckily we rented an awesome apartment which had a small but excellently functional kitchen! So we bought a couple of pots and pans and started to cook a lot of our own meals, which was nice - and much cheaper overall. My fun flatmate Emily and I were able to buy almost anything we wanted in the foreign section of the supermarket - most importantly pasta! We also experimented with some unusual fusion (like making ravoili with fresh oyster mushrooms and wonton wrappers)!

Our little green kitchen - so many good memories

After almost a year abroad and away from the things I usually eat I started to miss something which I most certainly couldn't buy in China! That was nutmeat. I don't know how many of you know much about nutmeat. My father used to make a fantastic nutmeat bolognaise when I was a kid which I loved more than meaty bolognaise - and now I make it for myself all the time! After almost a year of noodle soups, rice and stir fried vegetables, I just had a hankering for some nutmeat bolognaise!

Luckily my best friend Paul was coming to visit me, and he asked me if I had anything I'd like him to bring over from home. Yes, Nutmeat!

So, Paul (who is awesome) packed himself a tin of nutmeat and took it on a trip through Asia to get to me! He travelled from Sydney through Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and South China before meeting me in Hangzhou and staying with us. He carried the nutmeat all the way and boy did that nutmeat get to see some sights!! That tin of nutmeat was more well travelled than half the people I know, and here is a photographic diary of it's journey!

NOTE: These aren't the greatest photos, they were taken with a camera phone along the way. Special thanks to Paul!

Packed and ready to see the world!!

Blurry pic of the nutmeat on the long distance bus

Tucking in for the overnight train

After the Nutmeat finally arrived in Hangzhou, where I lived, we showed it a good time. We took it to karaoke.....

Then I thought I we might actually eat it.....

But then we realised something that temporarily cramped our style.... we didn't own a tin opener! Time to improvise....

Ha! Nothing holding us back! Now to cook it....

And guess what? It was DELICIOUS!!! Yes!!

Yep - you won't find this dish anywhere else in China!! Thanks Paul!!

NOTE: This is not commissioned or endorsed by Sanitarium in any way! But they're welcome to send me some money anyway haha!