Turkey Day & Hsinging with Harry

One of Mike's friends, Harry, came to visit for the holidays. Needless to say, we took him out for some good times and to celebrate Turkey Day :)

Thanksgiving Dinner at the Westin Chaoyang

Our host of the night, Ray, made up his own icebreaker - "iLeyS." Here he is, introducing his wife Dina as his "Master of the Universe." LOL

Tofu, "because his skin is as white and smooth as tofu."

The UMich crew - Miguel, Ray, Deb, Sean & Harry

The boys - Harry and Mike

Dina and I had a second Thanksgiving dinner the next night with the Beijing NYU Stern Alumni Club. When the GM of Invito, Pablo, brought out the turkey, we couldn't resist taking a picture with it (and Dina couldn't resist helping herself to a juicy piece of bacon).

Drinks at D Lounge

The Boys #2

We went out for karaoke the next night for some singing...drinking...and um, rapping. Here's Harry, Sean and Mike

Sean and his girlfriend Andrea plus Kern

Amy came out for some singing. Too bad she's leaving China and moving back home...boooo :(

A very awesome couple :)

The boys started to sing...

...and they sang...

...and sang...

...and sang...

Who knew Harry loved Hsinging (sorry, just had to put that in HAHA)?

SOMETHING had to entertain me while they sang

Some incoherent conversations towards the end of the night

Awww...good times boys...good times :)

HOPE EVERYBODY HAD A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

China Scaring Kids Out of Fast Food Chains?

My friend Carlie, a dietitian who works and lives in Beijing, recently contributed to this article online, and I thought I just had to share. The article was about a recent ad campaign that China launched to "scare kids out of fast food chains."

According to the article, the "Chinese are already facing an obesity problem, with one in six, or 215 million people, overweight or obese."

In Carlie's blog post, she writes,

"The 2002 China Health and Nutrition Survey estimated that around 215 million Chinese people were overweight or obese. The rate of this increase is particularly eye-opening - from 1992 to 2002 the prevalence of overweight adults increased by nearly 40% and that of obesity doubled. And in rural areas, where 60% of the population lives, it went up two to three-fold over just 10 years."

It's a good thing that China is trying to combat obesity before it gets out of control (like the Americans). Some people speculate that the ad campaign is part of a nationalistic move, trying to deter the Chinese from eating at Burger King (apparently, there's a lot of hype surrounding the first store opening in Beijing) and driving them to eat at local places (although how do you explain the popularity of KFC then?).

Anyway, the point of this blog post is not about the motives behind the authorities, but rather how ridiculously silly the ads look.

Scorpion burger?

Glass in the chocolate sauce...needles in the biscuit?

Mines in the ground?

Hah, well, I don't find any of these ads scary at all. In fact, I think they're pretty comical and I spent 10 minutes laughing at these ads the other day. Maybe it's a cultural thing, but it's going to take more than a scorpion burger to scare me. Then again, as my friend politely pointed out, I'm not a kid anymore.

Up Goes the Christmas Tree!

It's time to put up the Christmas tree! Ok, I know...some of you have already pointed out to me that it's too soon. But for those of you who lived in China before know that there are no rules in this country and anything goes...including when the Xmas tree goes up right? And to be fair...I was only 1 week early!

Anyway, I usually get very nostalgic when the holidays come around, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are two holidays of the year when I'd rather be home in the States. Asia is just not the same when it comes to these two holidays, especially Christmas!

So to make things festive, I decided to put up a small tree in the apartment this year. I read online that you can find Christmas tree stands at the Flower Market in Liangmaqiao, so I went there last Sunday and was rather surprised. As always, the Chinese don't really waste any opportunities to make money, let alone Western holidays. There were a number of stands outside of Nurenjie selling trees, ornaments, wreaths, almost everything you need to make your home festive! So Mike and I bargained with this lady and bought a small tree that came with lights for 100 RMB. I spent another 50 RMB on ornaments and gold ribbon for decorations. When I was in Sweden last week, I also bought a box of polar bear ornaments to add a little personalized touch from my travels. After picking up the rest of the supplies, we quickly went home that afternoon to set-up the tree.

Well, it turns out that the Swedish polar bear ornaments didn't come ready-made...they were part of one of those do-it-yourself kits!

Now when's the last time you had to apply your arts and craft skills?

I don't think he knew what he was doing...

Here's my polar bear in the making...first you create the body...then the feet...then the ears...

...don't forget to add the nose and eyes...

Wrap a felt scarf around it and voila! Polar bear ornament done!

Here's Mike's polar bear...hahahaha...it looks weird...

Anyway, we managed to make 3 ornaments before we got bored...then we decorated the rest of the tree! Isn't it so pretty?

But then...typical China...the lights blew out in 1 hour.

Grrrrrrrrr...

Foodie Tour Resumes - Shaanxi Food!

Mike and I resumed our Beijing foodie tour today!! Craving a hot bowl of noodles and hearty food, we decided to check-out a Shaanxi restaurant for lunch. Where is Shaanxi and what is Shaanxi food? Well, for those of you who don't know, it's a region in Northwest China, where Xian is the capital. According to Wikipedia, "Shaanxi is considered one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Thirteen feudal dynasties established their capitals in the province during a span of more than 1,100 years, from the Zhou Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty." Back in March 2007, I traveled to Shaanxi on a volunteer trip with Cross-Cultural Solutions and spent 3 weeks teaching English in Xian...oh, those were the good old days!

Me and the little 4-year old munchkins in Xian

So what is Shaanxi cooking? Well, here's the description according to Savour Asia - "Wheat flour features prominently in Shaanxi cooking (also called Qin cai 秦菜), with many types of noodles from thick hand-pulled ribbons, to thin buckwheat ones, and a variety of dumplings and biscuits (bing) as well. Shaanxi is also famous for its dark vinegar, so this is found on every table and added to enhance the flavors of most dishes. Slow cooked pulled pork is another core ingredient, and is used in little Shaanxi “hamburgers” sandwiched in a dense white biscuit or crumbled over spicy wide hand-pulled noodles. "

Slow cooked pulled pork...spicy hand-pulled noodles & biscuits...MMMMM...drooling yet? Well, for our foodie adventure, we checked out 黄河陕西面名小吃, a small local restaurant located near the Beijing Fine Arts museum on a quiet street of hutongs and siheyuans.

The store front wasn't anything impressive. All it had was a 24-hours sign (good to know for late night snacks!).

Quiet street of hutongs

When we first walked in, we spotted the makeshift oven where the biscuits (bings) were being made.

Lunch started off with an order of 肉扎某 (rou zha mo), the typical Shaanxi hamburger described above. See the freshly baked biscuit stuffed with chopped fatty pork and green chilies? The "burger" was mouthwatering and delicious, and the juices spilled out when we bit into it. In fact, I'm craving one right now, haha.

We also ordered a side dish of 皮蛋豆腐 (pi dan dou fu) - tofu with thousand year old egg, minced scallions, drizzled in sesame oil. The tofu was really fresh!

Next came our main dish - 肉拌面 (la rou ban mian) - wide noodles served with bok choi, bean sprouts and pulled pork. We mixed the noodles up with some chili oil and chili flakes. I have to admit - I didn't think this dish was the star of the show. In fact, the burger and the tofu dishes were more impressive, but I did like the texture of the noodles and how you can taste the fresh dough!

Here's the vat of slow cooked pork at the front of the restaurant.

What was the total damage for lunch? 70 RMB for the entire meal ($10 USD), including 2 cans of Wang Lao Ji (herbal tea). With good food, awesome prices and friendly service, this restaurant has moved up our restaurant rankings and is now one of our favorite Chinese spots!

Scandinavia

After our little adventure in France, it was time to separate and come back to reality. Mike returned to the Jing, and I went to Scandinavia for work. First stop was Stockholm. To be honest, I didn't (and still don't) know much about the Nordics - Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, except all four of these countries were way up North and now was not the best time to travel there. Oh well.

I didn't get a chance to see much of Stockholm, but based on what I saw, it's a really pretty city. It's much quieter than some of its other European cousins - London, Paris, Rome...but it's very elegant and classy. The people are gorgeous (men and women), and the designs are just really cute. In fact, all I did during my free time was shop!

Drottninggatan, the street where my hotel was at. Unfortunately (for my wallet), it also had a lot of cute boutique shops.

Ligonberries on sale at the Christmas market

Chantarelle mushrooms. I never knew this, but Scandinavians love to pick mushrooms in the forests during their free time.

My hotel, the Hotel Bentleys, was a really old building that was constructed in the 1600s. Here's the elevator. No joke, it seriously dropped a few centimeters when I rolled in with my suitcase (plus it didn't fit through the door). Did I mention I had to close the doors myself as well?

Dinner on my first night at a restaurant called SPISEN. I ordered a seafood stew cooked in a light tomato broth and sprinkled with chives. It was very fresh and hearty.

View of Stockholm during the day

Notice how there's no sunlight during the winter!

My second stop was Helsinki. If Stockholm is the darling of Scandinavia, then poor Helsinki is like the ignored ugly child. I arrived yesterday morning, and at first glance, Helsinki looked grey, drab and boring. It wasn't until my coworkers took me around the city that I got to see its charm and beauty!

Drinks at A21, a cocktail lounge in Helsinki. This place mixes the Finns' love for berries and plants into its drinks. I thought the rhubarb martini was delish.

Dinner at Strindberg , a long-time favorite spot for the Finns

Glass of Glogi - my colleagues called this "Christmas wine." It's a type of warm wine mixed with spices and nuts to keep our bodies warm. It tasted sweet at first, but I realized later in the evening (maybe too late) that this drink was rather lethal and strong. I may have had too many glasses of these - my chest was feeling warm and fuzzy, but my head was a bit dizzy!

For starters, I ordered the goat cheese mousse, with beets, drizzled in a vinaigrette with honey and lavendel. This was really yummy - the ingredients were really fresh!

My entree - seared white fish with tiny bits of shrimp and potatoes, cooked in a light cream sauce

The next day I caught a glimpse of downtown Helsinki

The library of the Helsinki University. Note the neoclassical style of the building

Tuomiokirkko, the Lutheran Cathedral. Note the Russian influence on Finnish architecture

Lohikeitto, salmon soup with cream, another popular Finnish dish

Some other places I like:

• Efva Attling - Swedish jewelry designer. Very pretty and chic
• Gina Tricot - the Scandinavian version of Forever 21 and H&M
• Indiska - Swedish clothing store with an Indian flair
• Cafe Engel - Near the Lutheran church, this place is popular with the locals!
  

Anyway, that pretty much sums up my trip! I have to say, while this adventure was definitely fun and productive, I'm pretty tired now and I'm ready to head back to my warm comfy apartment in the Jing. Can't wait to head back!