Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Saturday, April 25, 2009
China's Got Talent
I don't know if any of you have been watching the more interesting parts of "Britain's Got Talent" on the internets like Frans has, but we can tell you that China's Got Talent too.
We went to the newly opened Golden Five Star Market today. We once spent half a day looking for the Golden Five Star Market in our first week in Beijing, when we were not as totally-familiar with the city as we are now.
Anyways, the new branch is right around the corner and is so new that it is still half empty and the sound of drilling complemented the talent show on the top floor.
The whole thing reminded us a little bit of the "parties" we have in honor of our guests, although we did not see any half-naked secretaries doing belly dances (oh, did we tell you she got fired??? We did not yet get the scoop on why though. We wonder if our boss Amy thought her belly was not concave enough?)
We were asked if we would like to sing as well, but we politely declined.
We went to the newly opened Golden Five Star Market today. We once spent half a day looking for the Golden Five Star Market in our first week in Beijing, when we were not as totally-familiar with the city as we are now.
Anyways, the new branch is right around the corner and is so new that it is still half empty and the sound of drilling complemented the talent show on the top floor.
The whole thing reminded us a little bit of the "parties" we have in honor of our guests, although we did not see any half-naked secretaries doing belly dances (oh, did we tell you she got fired??? We did not yet get the scoop on why though. We wonder if our boss Amy thought her belly was not concave enough?)
We were asked if we would like to sing as well, but we politely declined.
Brunch at Grandma's
If we had an American grandmother, I am sure her breakfasts would taste exactly like the one we had today at Grandma's Kitchen.
We are not used to American-sized portions anymore however, and the whole experience gave us some (mild) indigestion.
We are not used to American-sized portions anymore however, and the whole experience gave us some (mild) indigestion.
Kwakje
Last Saturday, we headed down to SanlituR for a bit of Belgium beer. We both had a Kwak (evented by an engineer called Pauwel Kwak and also named for the last sip that -because of the glass's shape - kind of "quaks" out at you.)
Sometimes, Beijing almost feels like a cosmopolitan place. I mean, even in Belgium it is not easy to get a Kwak in its appropriate glass.
Sometimes, Beijing almost feels like a cosmopolitan place. I mean, even in Belgium it is not easy to get a Kwak in its appropriate glass.
Purple Pipal
No, we did not eat a purple pipal (and we did not eat Tuncay either, Emmanuel). It was the name of a contemporary Chinese restaurant Amanda took us to.
The dishes looked really nice, and some of them tasted very good too. For instance these spinach rolls with sesame (?) sauce were awesome.
Shrimp with pineapple
The almond crusted eel with orange sauce tended more towards the "weird" category.
Piglet with XO sauce tended towards the category "French cuisine with a twist"
Then a dish that fell into the category "Chinese with a twist": tofu with cashews. The tofu was extremely soft, and the dish really worked quite well.
And then the obligatory duck, this time in the shape of rolls. On a scale of 1-10 of tastiness, I can't say I was very fond of it, despite it being duck.
The dishes looked really nice, and some of them tasted very good too. For instance these spinach rolls with sesame (?) sauce were awesome.
Shrimp with pineapple
The almond crusted eel with orange sauce tended more towards the "weird" category.
Piglet with XO sauce tended towards the category "French cuisine with a twist"
Then a dish that fell into the category "Chinese with a twist": tofu with cashews. The tofu was extremely soft, and the dish really worked quite well.
And then the obligatory duck, this time in the shape of rolls. On a scale of 1-10 of tastiness, I can't say I was very fond of it, despite it being duck.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Yay Tuncay!
We just heard that Tuncay won a university-wide Teaching Award! And, he is runner-up for the College of Science teaching award, because they had to give that one to some old dude who is about to retire even though Tuncay is obviously the better teacher.Yay for Tuncay! He is the best!!!
My sister made Kabak Mucveri in his honour!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Spice Spirit
Amanda took us to another nice restaurant.
We had our first turtle in China!
I thought I was taking a picture of the head of the turtle, but it turned out to be its ass. My apologies to any offended followers of this blog.
The following was the spicy food --- intestines with duck blood (and peppers).
Another specialty of the restaurant --- tofu with seafood.
And then some side dishes --- mashed potato,
soy beans,
and green papaya salad.
Finally some colorful rice balls to finish another wonderful meal.
We had our first turtle in China!
I thought I was taking a picture of the head of the turtle, but it turned out to be its ass. My apologies to any offended followers of this blog.The following was the spicy food --- intestines with duck blood (and peppers).
Another specialty of the restaurant --- tofu with seafood.
And then some side dishes --- mashed potato,
soy beans,
and green papaya salad.
Finally some colorful rice balls to finish another wonderful meal.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Lobster sashimi
In honor of more distinguished guests, we had more distinguished foodz today. Here is just one picture though: lobster sashimi.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
锦府盐帮
Amanda took us to a really great Sichuan restaurant yesterday. Stupidly, we forgot our camera, but fortunately, Amanda brought hers so we are able to post her pictures.
Duck livers.
Cucumber with mint.
Special river fish which is only found in one city, and can only be caught in the fall by low tide. It tasted very fresh to us, so we are not sure about the truth of that statement.
Thin beef slices.
Rabbit hearts (aka "crispy delicacies").
Anke is trying to eat the lips of the fish.
Frans seems to enjoy fish snogging a whole lot.
Duck livers.
Cucumber with mint.
Special river fish which is only found in one city, and can only be caught in the fall by low tide. It tasted very fresh to us, so we are not sure about the truth of that statement.
Thin beef slices.
Rabbit hearts (aka "crispy delicacies").
Anke is trying to eat the lips of the fish.
Frans seems to enjoy fish snogging a whole lot.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Today's deep thought
Suppose you scored 97% in the driver's license exam, and in fact enjoyed studying for the exam so much that you prepared evening entertainment for distinguished Danish visitors based on the exam, for which you were rewarded by your employer with a nice cash bonus.
Now suppose you are approaching a traffic roundabout. Would you ask your wife: "Who has right of way now? The people already on the intersection or me?" Would you ask the right of way question again every time a car approaches? And would you keep asking your wife what the speed limit is on the road your driving on?
On the other hand, would you keep pointing out how other people on the road, without a SINGLE exception, break one traffic rule after the other?
Would you explain to the wife that the road builders also do not know what they are doing, since the signs on the road indicating pedestrian crosswalk should be blue and not yellow (verified in the exam book: Question 2.44 "the (blue) sign means ... " (correct answer: crosswalk), Question 2.134: "True or False: the (yellow) sign indicates a crosswalk" (correct answer: false))?
Now suppose you are approaching a traffic roundabout. Would you ask your wife: "Who has right of way now? The people already on the intersection or me?" Would you ask the right of way question again every time a car approaches? And would you keep asking your wife what the speed limit is on the road your driving on?
On the other hand, would you keep pointing out how other people on the road, without a SINGLE exception, break one traffic rule after the other?
Would you explain to the wife that the road builders also do not know what they are doing, since the signs on the road indicating pedestrian crosswalk should be blue and not yellow (verified in the exam book: Question 2.44 "the (blue) sign means ... " (correct answer: crosswalk), Question 2.134: "True or False: the (yellow) sign indicates a crosswalk" (correct answer: false))?
Home cooked dinner
After our excitement-filled self-driven day, we continued our independent and self-sufficient m.o. and cooked tonight: asparagus, salmon with tomato-cilantro vinaigrette and new potatoes. It even tasted very nice! Even more surprising, the wine we had with it was more than drinkable and maybe just quite good. It had been sitting in our fridge forever because we had been dreading drinking it (we have yet to develop a love for the wine (local or imported) on offer here). But lo-and-behold, Grace vineyards (said to be the best Chinese wine maker) makes a nice chardonnay!
Chinese Bob Treman
Here are a few more pictures of Pinggu Gorge, which, as we already pointed out, looks exactly like Ithaca's Bob Treman park (except maybe for people stepping over the demarcation to pose on top of a cherry blossom branch):
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)