Dali
The Chinese name for “marble” (Dali Stone) comes from here. After the Stone Forest, we stopped for lunch on our way to Dali.
Our lunch was in a theater/restaurant. The show was going on while the customers were having lunch. The photo above was a shot from out private dining room.
The lunch was one that was fit for a king. The beer is local, and it tasted great. The thin slices of Yunnan ham (plates in the middle) is famous throughout China. It tastes like Virginia smoked ham; very delicious. The dishes were "just" appetizers!
Here comes the full lunch. The clay pot in the middle is the Chinese-famous "Over the Bridge Rice Noodles". Many hundreds of years ago, in a small town somewhere not too far from here, a scholar was studying for his national examination. He secluded himself in a small apartment away from town to concentrate on his study. His wife brought his meal every night. However, she found out he was always deep in his studies and left the food cold. She had to start a fire, and reheat the food. Of course, there was no instant microwave, or even a convenient gas or electric stove. The poor wife had to start a fire from kindle and wood and it took a long time. By the time the food was ready, he was lost in his studies again. One day, the wife prepared a chicken soup with rice noodles in a clay pot. As usual, the scholar did not eat immediately. When he was ready and hungry, the wife was prepared to start a fire as usual. To her surprise this time, the food was still warm even after a few hours! She found out that the clay pot, and the chicken fats on top of the soup had kept the food warm. So, from then one, she served him this dish once a week, so that he had at least one warm meal a week. He studied for more than a year and went to take the exam. He was the "Chuang Yuan" (First Place Nationwide) and the emperor awarded him an important and lucrative post, with fame to him, his family, and his ancestors. The little town was so over-joyed that they named the dish after the way his wife who created it and brought it over the bridge to his secluded apartment. Everybody in Yunnan, and many in all of China know this dish and its legend.
We were lucky that we had to walk many miles everyday during the tour to burn off the calories we were putting in.
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