Proof Has Arrived 吃鳳爪

So I tried chicken feet in Hong Kong, but turns out naught but a microscopic crumb ended up getting swallowed...so here is tonight's photo of my second attempt to eat this delicacy. If you double-click, you should be able to view up-close the delicate, charming toenails of this little chicky. I ate about 1/3 of the available foot length, but the part that still had large callused "pads," I graciously left for Jerry to consume. No matter I left the job half unfinished...it is still progress from the first attempt. One thing that made me laugh is how I had trouble picking up the stiffened limb with my chopsticks, and had the thought cross my mind, "Why won't this chicken just grab onto the chopstick for me?" You know, in clutching bird-like fashion. I banished the thought and pretended I was eating a regular ol' piece of pork rib. 白人通常不吃鳳爪 (雞腳)

Our sweet Chinese neighbors invited us over for dinner tonight, and they had prepared a feast of festival proportion (apparently several days from now marks the "end" of New Year festivities).

The dishes we ate, from approximately left to right in a clockwise pattern: grapes; sushi; super spicy chicken (flaming even by Jerry's standards); eggplant; pickled beef?; pig ears; chicken feet; raw potato (better than it sounds); some kind of noodles (not available in the US--shipped direct from Chinese relatives); sausage mixture; green bean with some other mystery meat...? and rice of course (not pictured). 朋友們邀請了我們吃晚餐

Jerry and I also brought homemade red bean ice cream to the feast. Here's a photo from the blog where I found the recipe (our finished product looked just the same, only not served on a fancy dish:

I would like to try making Taro ice cream next. Also found a good recipe for Phở, Jerry's favorite soup. Sounds like the secret ingredient is star anise. 家庭自制红豆冰雪糕