Food preparation is done on a small balcony attached to the kitchen. The small stove is made for cooking on a wok. It runs on gas. You can also see our water kettle, in which we heat water for washing our dishes. We have not identified the pink pail at the bottom of the photo yet, but we suspect that it may be for rice.

The cowl over the stove vents off the smoke from cooking. Althought we have not used the wok yet (we're waiting for some Chinese help), I'm sure that heating oil in the wok makes smoke. Right now we use it to vent the steam from the kettle since the heated water will fog all the windows. Although a bit cold on the balcony in the winter, in the summer cooking out here will keep the apartment cool, and make good use of the natural light.

Here is our food preparation and dish washing sink. We added the nice blue pan so that we can wash dishes in one pan, and rinse in the other. Since the entire set up is tiled, cleaning up becomes really easy. If necessary, you can simply hose it all off. There is a drain in the floor you can see at the bottom of the middle table leg.

The refrigerator, like all the appliances, is brand new. And yes, Philip, those are bananas on the top. The juice in the carafe is kiwi nectar. That's right. It appears to be a concentrate, so we have to water it down a bit or it is like syrup. Note also on the middle shelf...Asian pears. And no, they don't cost an arm and leg like they do where you live.

Smart cola has recently been introduced into China by Coca Cola. It is very popular. It tastes a bit like hard candy. It is "delicious," as my Chinese friends might say.

Here is our beautiful kitchen table, on which we eat all our meals. We made the placemats by cutting them from a larger sheet. Elizabeth...you can see your hotpad on the back mat...Deanna says "Thanks, it was exactly what we needed."

We like the fact that we don't need a whole lot of "stuff" to get along here in China. All our dishes and food preparation tools are in this pantry. Our hosts were kind enough to supply us with both chopsticks and forks. You will note our rice cooker in the top right, an appliance that is a must in every Chinese home. You can also steam things in the rice cooker. The wok is on the third shelf from the bottom. Deanna reminds me that the rice bowls on the second shelf from the top have Hello Kitty on them.

Copyright 2004, Dr. Lee Williams

Last Modified: 18 January 2004

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