LIFE

Random bits and pieces on life in Beijing

Travels in Shanghai: Triple-fried Goodness – Porkchop with Niangao (排骨年糕)

June 10, 2010 in EAT, LIFE by jen | 7 comments

Shanghai. It’s a place most Beijingers love to hate. The antithesis of Beijing, with its European flavor, narrow sycamore-dotted lanes, and a population inexplicably always in a mad rush. This last trip however, I’ve decided to give in to its charms and give up the mockery to embrace Shanghai – well, at least for a long weekend. It was a gluttonous weekend, where I thoroughly indulged in French dinners (crusty baguettes! real butter! fresh-preshed olive oil!) and burritos (thus far the best I’ve had in China), but it was the first meal of this eating marathon that I count as the food discovery of this journey. Triple-fried porkchop with fried glutinous rice cake (排骨年糕).… READ MORE | 7 Comments

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Beijing Pastry Culture: Daoxiangcun 稻香村

May 24, 2010 in EAT, LIFE by christine | 5 comments

I really miss afternoon snacks.  There used to be something really acceptable about eating a cookie and having a juice in the middle of the afternoon, and really humane about acknowledging that hunger strikes every three hours.  Or two hours.  In any case, in the last few weeks I have taken to stopping by Daoxiangcun on my way back from school to buy a little afternoon snack.  This is consumed with tea, instead of juice, but same concept.  What’s different is the idea of sweet, or perhaps that sweetness doesn’t just come from pure sugarcane but also other types of carbs: red beans, mung beans, jujube date pastes, pumpkin (okay, that crosses over neatly), lotus seed… READ MORE | 5 Comments

Tsinghua Cafeteria Series: Students

February 11, 2010 in LIFE by christine | 2 comments

Cafeteria no. 7 at Tsinghua University is incredibly crowded.  The space issue is compounded by the reservation system, which is a fancy way of saying that students stake out seats with a mitten, hat, or notebook.  Walking into the cafeteria at rush hour – 12 pm sharp – is an entire lesson in strategery.  Otherwise you may find yourself with a full plate of whatever RMB 4 buys you these days, no seat, and nowhere to go but the -2 C weather outside.  Groups complicate the issue; it’s really best just to go with one other friend to lunch.  On a particularly crowded day, I once saw a guy chowing down on his plate of… READ MORE | 2 Comments

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Meat Truck: curing ham in a van

January 10, 2010 in LIFE by jen | 3 comments

Sometimes, actually, oftentimes, in Beijing you see pretty random things. For instance, on the way to school at Tsinghua 清华大学 (near Wudaokou 五道口, Haidian 海淀) I saw this:

There was a man reading a newspaper, in a van, with a hell of a lot of hams just hanging up and hanging out.  And nope, it wasn’t a delivery truck. We asked.

Christine’s addendum: I like the umbrella hanging next to the ham.  Do you think it improves the taste?… READ MORE | 3 Comments

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