To be honest, it was not so bad. A Mexican guy brought some tortilla (= Beijing duck pancakes) with I-forgot-what-it-is-called meat and salsa, which was great. A fellow postdoc brought some food made by the Chinese grandma (his own) that he is keeping locked up in his apartment (just kidding about the locked up part-- I think). And then there was the obligatory turkey, sweet potato roast etc, which I guess you have to have more emotional ties with than we do, to fully appreciate them...
I know I should not be saying this, but I will do so anyway, because many of our readers are American(ish) and I recently learned that tooting your own horn is encouraged/expected in the U.S. of A.*: my favorite dish of the evening BY FAR was the apple pie with cardamom scented cream.
* Apparently, on page 86 of this book they recommend that Chinese people dealing with Americans develop an "Understanding that modesty is equated with low self-confidence and that enhancing and crediting oneself is expected."
Sunday, November 29, 2009
"Thanksgiving" - epic fail
Here is what we will be bringing to the "Thanksgiving" party in a few moments.
As you can see, we failed miserably.
The sweet potatoes are about as watery as they were yesterday (apparently, storing overnight in the refrigerator does not remedy this).
The mashed potatoes lack any chicken-y flavor, and where are the onion-y bits?
The apple pie smells funny, of some weird foreign spices. Even worse, the whipped cream that goes with it does not come from a hygienic spray can, and -- oh horror! -- it seems like someone accidently spilled some cardamom in it!
We can only hope that our fellow postdocs won't notice.
As you can see, we failed miserably.
The sweet potatoes are about as watery as they were yesterday (apparently, storing overnight in the refrigerator does not remedy this).
The mashed potatoes lack any chicken-y flavor, and where are the onion-y bits?
The apple pie smells funny, of some weird foreign spices. Even worse, the whipped cream that goes with it does not come from a hygienic spray can, and -- oh horror! -- it seems like someone accidently spilled some cardamom in it!
We can only hope that our fellow postdocs won't notice.
African Foodz
Since we will be faced with the challenge of making mashed potatoes soon, we decided to get a little easy practice first, and make some African food.
We used our friend Marcus Samuelsson's cookbook, but since we had not used that for one and a half years, we had forgotten that we should not follow his directions too closely... So the injera were completely messed up, the meat was too chewy and the mashed sweet potatoes slightly too wet.
Maybe we should go out and buy that packet of instant mashed potatoes now. As Emma pointed out, how else will we add delicious chicken-y flavor and fried onion bits?
In the mean time, courtesy of Starbucks, we are already preparing for the next non-holiday (Christmas) with this little espresso candle. So cute!
We used our friend Marcus Samuelsson's cookbook, but since we had not used that for one and a half years, we had forgotten that we should not follow his directions too closely... So the injera were completely messed up, the meat was too chewy and the mashed sweet potatoes slightly too wet.
Maybe we should go out and buy that packet of instant mashed potatoes now. As Emma pointed out, how else will we add delicious chicken-y flavor and fried onion bits?
In the mean time, courtesy of Starbucks, we are already preparing for the next non-holiday (Christmas) with this little espresso candle. So cute!
Saturday, November 28, 2009
"Thanksgiving"
Being completely Americanized as we are, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow (admittedly three days late) with our fellow postdocs. However, seeing how we are always complaining about our work environment, I would not be surprised if our blog post on this event will be more "Complaintgiving" then "Thanksgiving".
Now, I know that some (all?) of you think that we are nasty whining people, who complain about our poor coworkers who surely are very nice and interesting people once you get to know them.... we have hair-raising news that will change your mind (although maybe not about us being nasty whining people):
During the yesterday's planning meeting it turned out that none of the other postdocs can cook. Gasp!!!
The fact that they say this is bad enough in itself.
But wait until you hear how badly they cannot cook: They believe that the way to make mashed potatoes is to use a sachet with instant grossness. Yuk!
When F said we would volunteer to make the mashed potatoes, he was queried extensively on how he would undertake such a challenging mission. Understandably, F has been terribly upset the rest of the day.
Come back tomorrow to find out whether or not F will succeed in peeling, cooking and then mashing some potatoes, possibly with the addition of some butter and cream. Oooohhhh, sounds hard!!!!
Now, I know that some (all?) of you think that we are nasty whining people, who complain about our poor coworkers who surely are very nice and interesting people once you get to know them.... we have hair-raising news that will change your mind (although maybe not about us being nasty whining people):
During the yesterday's planning meeting it turned out that none of the other postdocs can cook. Gasp!!!
The fact that they say this is bad enough in itself.
But wait until you hear how badly they cannot cook: They believe that the way to make mashed potatoes is to use a sachet with instant grossness. Yuk!
When F said we would volunteer to make the mashed potatoes, he was queried extensively on how he would undertake such a challenging mission. Understandably, F has been terribly upset the rest of the day.
Come back tomorrow to find out whether or not F will succeed in peeling, cooking and then mashing some potatoes, possibly with the addition of some butter and cream. Oooohhhh, sounds hard!!!!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Chinese Food
No picture of the duck, nor of the lion head's meatballs with crab meat (the latter just because we forgot to take a picture --- it was quite awesome), but here are the other two dishes that we had at Guo Lin:
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
More from Cafe Konstanz
After leaving Cafe Konstanz, we couldn't help ourselves and go back for dinner. Schweinshaxe! Mit Semmelknödel!
And for A, partly I guess because we are in some kind of rivalry with some other food blog, Schnitzel! More specifically, Jägerschnitzel.
A couple of bonus pictures of the last couple of days. On Saturday we tried some culture again, and this time it did not disappoint! Jazz Maestro David Braid (yes, he was actually advertised like that) was something special --- not only in his piano playing which I really enjoyed and which was very original, but also in his ability to entertain the crowd with his Chinese! His Chinese may have been better than A's (it most certainly was better than F's). I can highly recommend seeing him perform!
No picture of him, as the ushers at the Forbidden City Concert Hall are actually very strict about the fact that one cannot take pictures.
Then finally, this is what a tricycle fail looks like:
And for A, partly I guess because we are in some kind of rivalry with some other food blog, Schnitzel! More specifically, Jägerschnitzel.
A couple of bonus pictures of the last couple of days. On Saturday we tried some culture again, and this time it did not disappoint! Jazz Maestro David Braid (yes, he was actually advertised like that) was something special --- not only in his piano playing which I really enjoyed and which was very original, but also in his ability to entertain the crowd with his Chinese! His Chinese may have been better than A's (it most certainly was better than F's). I can highly recommend seeing him perform!
No picture of him, as the ushers at the Forbidden City Concert Hall are actually very strict about the fact that one cannot take pictures.
Then finally, this is what a tricycle fail looks like:
Monday, November 23, 2009
Temple of Heaven
On Sunday F visited the Temple of Heaven. The pollution created a beautiful atmospheric scenery.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Oh. my. God.
It had to be done. I have been dreading this for weeks and weeks. The last time was in Malaysia, so that was about two months ago.
The first time it wasn't so bad, but over the months living here in China, hair dressers have steadily converged to the "all hair forward and up, as if you have just been hit by a gale" hairdo. It does not matter if I tell them I don't want it. Today, I even got to point at a picture which obviously did not feature "big hair on the back of the head". But it did not help. Surprisingly, most men have this same hairdo (and in fact, they style it every day so it continues to look like this). Hardly any women have this style, so God knows why all hair people (and I have tried many) insist on this hair style for me.
I hope you are all laughing your heads off at my head. It deserves it!
The first time it wasn't so bad, but over the months living here in China, hair dressers have steadily converged to the "all hair forward and up, as if you have just been hit by a gale" hairdo. It does not matter if I tell them I don't want it. Today, I even got to point at a picture which obviously did not feature "big hair on the back of the head". But it did not help. Surprisingly, most men have this same hairdo (and in fact, they style it every day so it continues to look like this). Hardly any women have this style, so God knows why all hair people (and I have tried many) insist on this hair style for me.
I hope you are all laughing your heads off at my head. It deserves it!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Submission accomplished
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Chinese Food
We love Sushi! Meatz, vegetablez and fishz. (And the fried potato mountain, but sadly no picture today.) Yum-o!
Group Photo
Today it was time for our institute's group photo. We gathered in the drafty hall of our building, waiting for the sign that our fearless leader had arrived.
It took a little too long, and it was a little too cold, so we went ahead and made a picture of the new Yao class without Yao.
And then somebody even decided our group photo would be without the head honcho.
But, luckily, everything turned out fine. Andy was just fashionably late.
It took a little too long, and it was a little too cold, so we went ahead and made a picture of the new Yao class without Yao.
And then somebody even decided our group photo would be without the head honcho.
But, luckily, everything turned out fine. Andy was just fashionably late.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Western Food Weekend
This weekend we ate no Chinese food whatsoever. On Saturday we went to The Tree for Belgian fries, bitterballen and steak tartare with more fries. Here is a tacky picture of the Belgian fries with mayonnaise:
After this late lunch, we headed to White Nights, a Russian restaurant. Obligatory borscht:
Eggplant:
Chef salad, which was nice and crunchy because of small pieces of bacon:
Then we skipped the main course, and went directly to the desserts, milk pancakes and Russian cake:
The milk pancakes really consisted of milk that was cooked until it was solid-ish, and then deep fried.
On Sunday we went to Cafe Konstanz, to indulge in Muesli, yoghurt, Flammenkuchen and Weihenstephan. For dinner we completed our tour of European countries, and went to Morel, a Belgian restaurant, where we ate a crayfish bisque, mussels and fries, beef stew and finished with a waffle with cherries and whipped cream.
Obviously, we are planning to go hiking next weekend.
After this late lunch, we headed to White Nights, a Russian restaurant. Obligatory borscht:
Eggplant:
Chef salad, which was nice and crunchy because of small pieces of bacon:
Then we skipped the main course, and went directly to the desserts, milk pancakes and Russian cake:
The milk pancakes really consisted of milk that was cooked until it was solid-ish, and then deep fried.
On Sunday we went to Cafe Konstanz, to indulge in Muesli, yoghurt, Flammenkuchen and Weihenstephan. For dinner we completed our tour of European countries, and went to Morel, a Belgian restaurant, where we ate a crayfish bisque, mussels and fries, beef stew and finished with a waffle with cherries and whipped cream.
Obviously, we are planning to go hiking next weekend.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
We're home!
OK, so maybe fleeing the pollution by renting a car and driving to a nearby city is not the best idea we ever had. Yesterday, we spent most of the day in our hotel room working hard. It had snowed and it was cold, but the hotel already had heating, so it was quite comfortable.
We took a walk at lunch time, and found that - although there were few cars - there was a huge number of extremely stinky factories within walking distance. So much for fleeing the pollution. And to think that the pollution levels in Beijing had already gone down to a mere "unhealthy for sensitive groups" by then...
This morning, we left at about 10 to go back to Beijing. We needed to do some work for which we had to access files we had not brought with us. Our car would not start, which was not a surprise because it did not start even when we picked it up from the rental company. Mei shi, mei shi (no problem) they told us. Yeah right. However, by some miracle it did start on the third try, after trying in vain to explain to the hotel valets that we may need a jump cable. So off we were...
It turned out the entrance to the express way was closed. No problem, we thought, we'll try the next one. We spent the next hour and a half familiarizing ourselves with the soot covered streets of Xuanhua and its wonderfully quaint and disgusting old factories. We got reacquainted with the Chinese habit of "pushing your car into any little space you can find, thus making sure that a complete deadlock develops". It was good practice for what was yet to come.
The next entrance to the express way was closed too. And so was the next one. A asked what was going on and was told it was due to snow fall. We kept going on the local road, but then we found that we were starting on a huge detour on a small road which had frequent road blocks in the form of trucks and cars that had somehow managed to get themselves stuck into positions they could not easily get out off. So we turned around and went back to the express way entrance, to see if the "snow" had stopped.
We were told to turn around, and A again asked what was up. This time, she was told there were too many cars on the highway. There were several trucks blocking the entrance gate, but miracle-of-miracles, they were made to back up and the passenger vehicles were allowed through!
We raced along all of a sudden; no other traffic in sight. (In fact, we missed our turn but just reversed on the highway -- that is how little traffic there was.)
And then we hit that huge line of trucks and other vehicles. Or, no, not "line". Huge mess. We waited for a few hours, occasionally moving a few meters. It turned out that they closed off Beijing for all but very little heavy traffic, and nobody had taken the trouble to arrange this in such a way that light traffic could pass.
Eight hours after we left this morning, we finally arrived back in our 'hood. Car is parked next to the car rental place, so that they can deal with the battery-deadness tomorrow. Then we ate lots of food (first food of the day, since we were afraid to stop and not be able to start the car again). And we reminisced on how interesting a trip this has been. Loathing for Chinese anti-social driving and for far-reaching government measures which are not accompanied by any information played a big part in the reminiscing. Also, Xuanhua was very interesting with its giant empty boulevards where huge new fancy government and apartment buildings were being built, with dirty streets and stinky outdated factories just a few blocks further towards the river.
To end this story of hardship (a little of which was endured by us, but probably very little compared to the people living in these hell holes), here are some photos of Frans doing a happy dance in our hotel room.
We took a walk at lunch time, and found that - although there were few cars - there was a huge number of extremely stinky factories within walking distance. So much for fleeing the pollution. And to think that the pollution levels in Beijing had already gone down to a mere "unhealthy for sensitive groups" by then...
This morning, we left at about 10 to go back to Beijing. We needed to do some work for which we had to access files we had not brought with us. Our car would not start, which was not a surprise because it did not start even when we picked it up from the rental company. Mei shi, mei shi (no problem) they told us. Yeah right. However, by some miracle it did start on the third try, after trying in vain to explain to the hotel valets that we may need a jump cable. So off we were...
It turned out the entrance to the express way was closed. No problem, we thought, we'll try the next one. We spent the next hour and a half familiarizing ourselves with the soot covered streets of Xuanhua and its wonderfully quaint and disgusting old factories. We got reacquainted with the Chinese habit of "pushing your car into any little space you can find, thus making sure that a complete deadlock develops". It was good practice for what was yet to come.
The next entrance to the express way was closed too. And so was the next one. A asked what was going on and was told it was due to snow fall. We kept going on the local road, but then we found that we were starting on a huge detour on a small road which had frequent road blocks in the form of trucks and cars that had somehow managed to get themselves stuck into positions they could not easily get out off. So we turned around and went back to the express way entrance, to see if the "snow" had stopped.
We were told to turn around, and A again asked what was up. This time, she was told there were too many cars on the highway. There were several trucks blocking the entrance gate, but miracle-of-miracles, they were made to back up and the passenger vehicles were allowed through!
We raced along all of a sudden; no other traffic in sight. (In fact, we missed our turn but just reversed on the highway -- that is how little traffic there was.)
And then we hit that huge line of trucks and other vehicles. Or, no, not "line". Huge mess. We waited for a few hours, occasionally moving a few meters. It turned out that they closed off Beijing for all but very little heavy traffic, and nobody had taken the trouble to arrange this in such a way that light traffic could pass.
Eight hours after we left this morning, we finally arrived back in our 'hood. Car is parked next to the car rental place, so that they can deal with the battery-deadness tomorrow. Then we ate lots of food (first food of the day, since we were afraid to stop and not be able to start the car again). And we reminisced on how interesting a trip this has been. Loathing for Chinese anti-social driving and for far-reaching government measures which are not accompanied by any information played a big part in the reminiscing. Also, Xuanhua was very interesting with its giant empty boulevards where huge new fancy government and apartment buildings were being built, with dirty streets and stinky outdated factories just a few blocks further towards the river.
To end this story of hardship (a little of which was endured by us, but probably very little compared to the people living in these hell holes), here are some photos of Frans doing a happy dance in our hotel room.
Update
Update on update: we are through! Turns out they are blocking trucks and thus caused a huge pile up of traffic. We've spent 7 hours in car now. Can't even take a break because car battery is broken. Hope our last 70 km are smooth (but we're ready for the worst)
Live from the express way
It is not a traffic jam we're in, although we've been in those too. Now we are just waiting for god-knows-what -- snow to stop (is not snowing)? Cars/trucks to magically disappear? Highway to be reopened?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Escape From Beijing
Today we rented a car to get away from the pollution. When we got to where we thought we wanted to go (Zhangjiakou), and got off the highway, we saw a long queue of trucks parked on the road towards the highway. They looked like the had been there for a while, and weren't going anywhere soon. Since the trucks were parked right in front of the entrance to the toll road to Beijing, our hypothesis is that, in an attempt to get pollution levels within "normal" levels again, Beijing has put a temporary ban on trucks entering the city.
Zhangjiakou turned out to be pretty polluted too, however, so we turned around and went to another city in the vicinity: Xuanhua. Here is our hotel room/temporary office:
And, to make sure this is blog is not only about whining, but also about dining, here some picture of our dinner here.
Yup, Beijing duck.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)