Culinary Compilations...

Good Hump Day morning, Canada.

I've decided to upload a few pics that have been cluttering my iphoto and share some culinary delights that I've yet to discuss. I am waiting for one Michael Scott to land in Beijing on Sunday to really head out and try some new things so I will have many pictures to show in about two weeks' time! We will be going to DaDong for some roast duck (among other things!) Here are some pics of the ducks hanging from when I went the first time...


I'm not out at my usual Wednesday night dinner this week since I've come down with a bit of a cold and need to rest after taking yesterday off. I'm not too upset since people are going back to an Ethiopian restaurant that I went to a couple of weeks ago. It was an interesting experience sitting on a small stool, squished around what looked like a hollow, woven bongo drum that was our "table". After we navigated the slightly bewildering menu, we ended up with an order for an array of curries and vegetable mixes. What arrived at our table was a huge silver platter the size of the "drum" that had this paper-thin, spongey bread on it. The server spooned the curry in small mounds onto the bread and we then tore it up and scooped up the curry. They also brought us many smalls rolls of the same thin bread that we used instead of utensils! It was fun and interesting but overall the flavours were so-so for me, really nothing to write home about!

I was in my local grocery store yesterday buying some essentials and the usual insane amount of random impulse purchases like Hershey's chocolate that I was gambling on being mint but was green tea and grapefruit Hello-C drink, when I came across a mandolin for 12 kwai. It was orange which made me think: "Well, it's orange; it goes with my kitchen; it's only $2.50; it's fate!" I sliced my carrots for the penang curry that I made last night and was impressed with my new purchase. My family used to have two of these contraptions and I'm sorry to say that I took the mandolin for granted and we ended up getting rid of at least one of them. I'm sorry kitchen utensil, I will never underappreciate you again.

On Saturday I had a ten-hour training session for work which was not my idea of a partay, by any means. On Sunday Tia and I relaxed, made some eggs benedict with hash browns, and watched Gossip Girl. Par-tay.

On Sunday I also bought a ridiculous amount of beans and cornmeal and noodles to use for my first extra-curricular art class that I'll be teaching this term. I decided that the kids would make bean mosaic lions. Perhaps not my best idea ever. (More to come on this since I can't open up that can of worms right now!) Anyhoo, here's what the kids were *supposed* to make. They really just made brown blobs on paper. boo.


Tonight I made myself a Chinese dish of egg and tomato that is totally adding to my beer belly but sooo worth it. Basically it's egg, tomato, oil, sugar. It's so simple and yet in this preparation it tastes like no egg/tomato dish I've ever had. I also had some stir-fried bok choy and mushrooms which I am obsessed with. Apparently my tastes are turning more Chinese than I thought!

I've also tried to make my own version of hot pot. Well, I don't actually eat it hot pot-style using a rice cooker in the middle of my table but still, the taste and smell is very similar to that cumin/curry smell that one encounters so often in Beijing. And, even after a year away from Korea, I still make my own version of Korean Shabu Shabu that I adore way too much. I literally throw as many sauces into the pot as possible and add whatever greens I have and mushrooms and whatever meat I have to make this perfect, spicey dinner.

When Mike arrives in Beijing we'll go out for dinner before he flies to Hong Kong the next morning. Then, when he returns to Beijing with probably more knowledge of China than I have after 6 months we will rock the street stalls in Beijing for some strange, good eats such as these eggs that are in soy sauce that are everywhere,


meat on a stick and/or these candied apple sticks (they also have strawberries, kiwis, pineapple, and other fruits on sticks)

and various types of horrible, cheap Chinese alcohol like Great Wall wine and Baijiu (essentially rocket fuel). Many "howcher" meals to come!

How to lose your face in T-10 minutes...

Nihao everyone,

I'm back from my weekend retreat to Harbin in Northern China. I flew there Friday night at about 9pm with two of my coworkers from other campuses and met two other friends from Beijing and two new friends from other schools in China. Turns out our hotel was down the street from the famous Russian shopping area as well as the Disney Ice World, the cable cars across the river, and the square where there is a monument for flood victims that was Stalin's last work in China--or something like that (our friend from Nanjing arrived earlier than us and went on a walk and found all of the sites and read the Lonely Planet about 10 times so he was elected tour guide and we just followed along for the ride!).

Anyhoo, on Saturday we got up and had good ol' McDonald's for breakfast and then took the cable car across the frozen river
where we got to watch horse-drawn carriages going across and people riding ice bikes and ice chairs on the river as well as sliding down a ramp on inner tubes. I am not a huge fan of cable cars and was definitely wondering how cold cables can get before they sNaP!! Then we found a driver to take us to this Tiger park that you can take a bus through and watch the tigers be fed live animals that you buy for them! We drove around watching the tigers in their natural habitat and then suddenly this SUV pulled up that has a metal cage all around it. The driver started doing doughnuts and driving erratically to keep the tigers moving and then with his one free hand he grabbed a chicken from the passenger seat, opens his door a little bit, and flings the chicken out while a tiger panted literally less than a foot away. The tigers would jump up onto the truck to get at the chickens and then fight off the other cats to enjoy their prize. It was bizarre to say the least. I really have no words to describe how insane it was--safety never comes into the equation in China but all I could think was that the driver was totally iNsAnE. Then later on another truck came by that only had cages over its tires. There was a man in the back seat who opened the door and basically just put this white little bleating lamb into one tiger's mouth. The tiger then started to run away and was chased by at least four tigers. It sounds horribly gruesome but really wasn't since it all happened so fast. Later on there were about 25 tigers all trying to get at the carcass so all I could see was a mass of orange and black backs. When the tigers finally parted all you could see was a little bit of a bloody carcass that one tiger was basically sitting and munching on to keep the other tigers away. Oh, and there were Ligers in other parts of the park---LIGERS!!! And there was a woman sitting in the gift shop area with an IV drip that was hanging from a window sill... very strange but really it takes a lot to shock me anymore!

After that we went to see some snow sculptures in one park. Most of them had been damaged from the hot spell last week but still they were fun to look at. I ended up not wearing enough layers on my legs and nearly got frost-bitten which made the rest of my afternoon uncomfortable and annoying. In the evening we ate a great Chinese restaurant beside our hotel and went to Disney Ice World. There was a little roller coaster and some other rides that were totally fun since the park was pretty much empty. There were also ice slides that were really fun to go on. The whole thing was glowing at night which was really pretty...treacherous in parts due to the ice, but pretty. We also went on the ferris wheel there to see what parts of the park we had missed which almost sent me into a panic attack since I hate heights and I especially hate being inside dangling capsules of metal in -30 weather! (I'm smiling here but thinking: "The cable's gonna break, the cable's gonna break, we're gonna die, we're gonna die!!!!")

The next day we went to see a temple and pagoda in the area.
It was really pretty inside and there was a huge gold Buddha that stood in an open courtyard area. The scene was very interesting since there was a huge ferris wheel off in the distance that looked odd but beautiful next to the temple rooftops.





Then we went to Polar World which is an indoor aquarium. We got to feed fish by hand and seals, too---I've never been that close to a seal before. You could almost touch them in these open tanks and we got to throw little fish at them and make them do tricks. If you tap on the side of your fish container with the metal tongs they will bark and slap their sides and if you make a circle with the fish in the air they will turn around. Too cute but sad that they were in such a small tank.

Then we went to the place that I had been waiting for which was the Snow and Ice World. The place was deserted since technically the festival was over by the time we got to Harbin. We got to walk around with almost no other tourists on the site through this GIGANTIC, sleepy ice town of HUGE ice sculptures. They had cranes that lifted the blocks of ice up to the tops of the structures which was impressive to see. I'm just gonna post the pictures since I am exhausted STILL and have no words to explain the magnitude of their iciness!