everything dry

One way of preserving foods for cooking here is ‘dried’, much of the seafood seen in these shops can be simply soaked in a bowl of water overnight, sliced and cooked into any dish.  A popular item here is reishi mushroom, shark fin, scallop, salty fish and sea cucumber (I love this one in claypot, also good for the skin full of collagen).  The flying lizards and starfish are a nice surprise to add to the menu yikes!  

Every herb/dried goods shop has it’s own ‘shop cat’.  This little guy had just arrived a day before.  The owner said that he just walked in and made himself at home atop a bag of lavender feeling very much in charge…now he’s part of the family.