Imagine you have ordered a delicious plate of large, fresh, tasty, greasy, home-style French Fries (or "chips" if you live on certain other islands.)  You’re ordering from Xining, by the way, so you’re already feeling very delighted to be able to order such western luxuries…

Then imagine that your order comes out looking something like this: (Bonus!)

Then try to imagine taking a big bite of one of these fried potatoes and savoring the delicious seasoned flavor of…

Sugar.

Yeah, those aren’t big grains of salt like you thought at first glance.  Those french fries are the infamous Xining "sweet fries" (I’m guessing here?)  I must say it was a nice dessert.  Anna didn’t complain one bit. 

At times when I see these central China renditions of western food, I wonder to myself if the cooks are primarily working from a picture rather than a recipe.

Yeah, looks like sugar.  Just pour some sugar on top.  Looks great...

Then again that doesn’t explain why the chocolate ice-cream sundae that Christa ordered at a restaurant a few days ago was sitting on a bed of sliced tomatoes…  Tomatoes are technically a fruit, but I don’t recommend using them to spice up your sundae.  Call me close-minded if you will.