Xi'an Terracotta Warriors

This was actually the reason we went to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts a couple of days ago.

Happy New Year!

Chinatown

One of the things I had been most looking forward to in Chicago was Chinatown. Yesterday, I finally made my way there. As the waitress remarked, I "ordered like a Chinese" since who knows when I'll have another chance to eat real Chinese food!

The 夫妻肺片 (husband and wife lung slices) was my absolute favorite. We used to eat this in 沸腾鱼乡 in Beijing, but I think I may like the version they had here in 老四川 even better. The beef was flavored with a bit of five spice, and the spiciness was just right. According to the menu, they get all their ingredients straight from China, and you could definitely taste this. Especially the Sichuan peppers were delicious!

The 红油黄瓜 was OK, but not very special. Good one to keep in mind though if we're making our own Chinese food, as this seems like a very easy side dish to make...

The piece of the resistance was this 东坡肘子 (Dong Po pork elbow). The meat was super tender and delicious. I was not quite used to the sauce they used -- it was similar to the red sauce on 对鱼头 (duo fish heads) in 郭林. It worked, but I found myself missing the slightly sweeter version I am used to...

All Too Familiar

Our last dinner we went to one of our favorite restaurants. Again, maybe not the best restaurant in Beijing, but very comforting dishes and flavors. The restaurant is appropriately named: it translates to something like "all too familiar".

We had Taiwanese Style Pork, Sichuan fish, Beijing duck, and other stuff that I did not take pictures of.



But I just had to take pictures of these delicious balls!

Happy Valley

We spent the day being amused in amusement park Happy Valley.

Scary kittens that we are, we did not take all the rides.

This one looked fine.



Being upside down for a whole ride took a little more balls.



Look at Amanda in happy anticipation of so much fun.

Just another day in China...

... with just a touch of culture shock on the side.

Welcome to Eat Zhajiangmian

On our last day in Beijing (for now), we had zhajiangmian for lunch (again).

Yum-o!

Great Beijing Food

Amanda then took us to her other new favorite restaurant: Meizhou Dongpo.



And, of course, this was an excellent choice.



The main attraction was the dongporou, pictured above: perfect texture, wonderful flavors, and as an added bonus, a little spiciness.



So good in fact, that it warrants two photos.

The other dishes (dongpo sausage, soup with a special vegetable, these vegetables with some tofu, and the tofu below) were excellent as well. But the dongporou was in a league of its own.



Here is were the magic happened:

For Old Times' Sake

Su Shi is not the best restaurant in Beijing. But we ate there the first night we arrived in Beijing, and many times after that. We cubed the cycle and had another duck.



Another favorite is this egg with veggies. They outdid themselves with both, and gave us even more happy memories!

Frog Hot Pot

Amanda took us to her new favorite restaurant, where we ate frog hot pot. Yum!

798!

We of course paid a visit to our favorite art district in Beijing: 798.

Golden Tripod Attic

Another favorite in Beijing: Golden Tripod Attic near the Olympic Village.



This restaurant has awesome dumplings.



Yum...



... o.



Also: some surprisingly good okra.



I forgot what these cakes where made of, but I remember enjoying them tremendously.



Interestingly enough, the sweeter dishes turned out to be harder to photograph.

Beijing Bicycle

Time for Guo Lin

The first thing we used to do, when we got back to Beijing, was have lunch or dinner at Guo Lin. Old habits are hard to break.



We had some of our favorites: fish head...



... Beijing duck...



... and some duck liver.



We had missed you, Guo Lin!