"Spoor" refers to any trace of an animal, especially a wild animal, by which it can be tracked. Sometimes the word is employed as a euphemism for droppings, pellets, or other scat, but it also applies to the likes of footprints, a bit of fur caught on a broken twig, the twig itself, even a lingering scent. Diligent tracking — or in this case backtracking — can often lead to a promising feeding ground.
Discarded skewers
Shanghai
(From a September 2006 visit)
A reminder this holiday season: Be thankful for family and friends as well as food and drink, and if you're hungry for seconds, let along thirds, be sure you mind your manners.
Sign for Boor Delicious Food
Shanghai
One large, boisterous open room, one notch above fast food. From the section captioned "Northeastern Folk's Coarse Grains," corn porridge (Y3) was coarse indeed; I would have preferred a smooth blend rather than whole kernels. Stir-fried pot-herb mustard (Y15) did little but provide my daily quota of greens.
Dongbeiren
1 Shaanxi Nanlu, Shanghai
(one of several locations)
A chewy, slightly oily beef-and-onion flatbread (Y10) could be a meal in itself, and after tearing off a few bites, I came across someone who needed that meal more than me.
Halal Baked-Goods Stand
Yunnan Nanlu, Shanghai
Three pastries? No, just one: Those scallion-laden oblongs, doughy little buns, and griddled disks are in fact the same snack at three stages of its "life cycle," under the loving upbringing of a husband-and-wife team. The fourth stage, after it's completed a metamorphasis into a crispy scallion pastry (Y0.5 each), is, inevitably, to fall prey to one of the many pastry predators lurking about.
Griddled-Pastry Stand
Near Dongjiadu Lu, Shanghai
Sweet buns (Y0.5 each).
Baked-Good Stall
362 Dongjiadu Lu, Shanghai
This resilient folded-dough bun (Y0.6) was pleasingly salty, with a touch of spring onion.
Bakery/Cooked-Food Storefront
Zhonghua Lu south of Kangjia Lane, Shanghai
A turnip cake (Y1) was flaky without, moist within.
Baked-Goods Stall
Kangjia Lane near Zhonghua Lu, Shanghai
Freshwater crabmeat dumplings (12 for Y48) — which I expected to be the "soup dumplings" I've enjoyed in New York — were thick-skinned, stiff, and not as juicy as I hoped. The "famous Yangzhou 'soup-in-dumpling' " with crabmeat (Y20) was so large and soupy, by contrast, that it flattened under its own weight. Indeed, I was presented one straw with my glass of gooseberry juice (Y16) and another with the soup dumpling! That said, the broth inside was good, not transcendent. The juiciest, best-filled dumplings I've found in Shanghai remain the four-for-Y3 items at Yang's Fry-Dumpling.
Shanghai Uncle
211 Tianyueqiao Lu, Shanghai
(one of several locations)
Got a much-needed mid-afternoon sugar hit from a chewy cruller (Y1).
Corner Bakery
201 Guangyuan Lu (at Tianping Lu), Shanghai
Thank you!
