Food Fight: Takin' it to the Streets

Our recent trip to Beijing included a stop at Wangfujing Snack Street so we could channel our inner Andrew Zimmern. As intimidating as some of the foods appeared, most of them really weren't that bad!

Wangfujing Snack Street

We were brave enough to sample 5 of the 10 bizzare snacks being offered. Can you name them all?

Here's a freebie...

This wasn't bad at all--rolled in spices, it was just really crunchy. I was just scared of the first bite!

The texture of this was awful enough to get the 'ole gag reflexes pumping

Was nervous about this one but it ended up being our favorite

We're not this brave yet....maybe next time!?

Put this on your bucket list NOW

We have 360 degrees of fireworks in our neighborhood right now. It absolutely non-stop everywhere you look and this is just what you can buy at the corner store! Our hearts were just pounding! Just had 1st slight lull 40 minutes in. This video is just the view from our inn's rooftop. One of the most amazing things we've ever seen! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Happy New Year, Again!

Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year) starts on Monday and Jiangyin is already becoming a ghost town as people start the mass exodus out of town to see their families. We're jumping on the bandwagon tomorrow as we make our first trip to Beijing and then continue on to South Korea courtesy of our 30 day visas. We'll be in Beijing for 4 days, staying at a hutong inn which should give us a glimpse of "Old Beijing." All the usual tourist suspects are on our list--the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall (hopefully covered in snow?!), eating Peking duck, scouring the famous Dirt Market trying to discern trinkets from treasures, ice skating at Shichahai, seeing a traditional Peking Opera performance, and of course, the Beijing Museum of Tap Water. Phew! I'm sure there's no way we'll squeeze it all in!

Then we're off to South Korea to... I actually don't know where! We're flying to Busan because it is the cheapest flight out of the country we could find. But our best friends here in Jiangyin are actually from a city near Busan and happen to be home on their vacation. So it works out perfectly for us to stay with them for two days and get the official insider's tour. I can't wait!

So "Xinnian Kuaile!" and I'll see you all in the New Year! (Which I learned last night at our Chinese lesson, means I'm soon to be 33! ouch! But as soon as I'm south of the Yangtze I'll be 32, which is a little better, yet so strange!)

Fingers crossed for snow!

Oregon Take Two

Our last weekend in Oregon we headed up the Gorge and into Washington (breaking the side ladder on the RV as we crossed the world's narrowest bridge thanks to construction!) so the boys could do some sturgeon fishing in the Columbia. While they all reeled in several fish, none of them were big enough to keep, so mom's worries about cooking 50+ lbs of fish in the RV were for naught. After the boys' departure at an uncivilized hour, we ladies were faced with an exhausting day of relaxation.

The ladies' strenuous day, hosted by Sunnyside Vineyards-thanks T&L!

Food Fight!

By now, nearly a year in to our stint here in China, dinners hosted by the shipyard have changed from a study in the bizarre and unidentifiable, to a familiar medley of mildly edible dishes. Just when I thought we'd pretty much seen and tasted it all, they go and serve this at tonight's Spring Festival dinner. Bon appetit, and happy guessing!

A look on the Sunnyside

Brian and I were able to spend November stateside, and what a whirlwind trip it was! After accomplishing the small feat of time travel, stepping off the plane in Portland, OR thirty minutes before we left Shanghai, it was straight to dinner with some of my extended family. I'm so sick we don't have any photos! Darn you jet-lag brain (did I mention we didn't sleep on the flight?)! It was a great meal and fantastic to see everyone, especially my newlywed cousin and her husband. Then after dinner we pulled a Rip Van Winkle, right?

Of course not! After just a few winks we were up with the birds. Our friends Luci and Tom own a vineyard and were ready to harvest but their picking crew was double booked. So my mom, dad, Brian and I were out the door as Luci rounded up 12 or so of their friends and put us to work. We picked nearly 3 tons of 3 different varieties--a pinot noir I don't remember the name of, tempranillo, and a dolcetto. Three TONS! We were soaked thru with dew and sticky grape juice, but it ended up being the perfect cure for jet lag and an absolutely beautiful day. Certainly a highlight of our entire month home. I suppose the following pictures incriminate me as a less than 100% focused volunteer laborer (sorry T&L!), but it was too beautiful not to snap photos of the grapes and the gorgeous light as the fog cleared.

This is what nearly 3 tons of grapes looks like!

The day ended in perfect Tom and Luci style at their B&B. I've never been so happy to work for dry socks, a lunch feast, and, of course, good wine!

Introducing Old Yeller Red

The problem was twofold. Without an old fixer-upper to keep us busy, Brian and I were itching for a project, and Chinese beer just isn't worth drinking. So we brought back all the equipment and ingredients needed to make several batches of beer with us. No more wimpy Chinese beer for us, thank you very much! Not a tear was shed as we dumped 36 beers down the drain in order to get enough bottles. It was either that option for $15 or a trip to the Shanghai IKEA for fancy swing top bottles for a staggering $114! An easy decision, and very telling that the bottles are worth so much more empty than with swill in them!

In honor of his inspired performance while we were bottling the beer last week, this red ale gets its name from the man in our apartment complex who stands on his porch each night at 8pm and elegantly yells "WHOOOOOOOO" for a minute or two. Ladies and gentleman, we give you "Old Yeller Red" the best doggone ale in the East!

The ceremonial first fill

...and capping

Lone proof of my participation...can we tell who's the photographer in this family?

So mark your calendars and hop on a plane, we'll be cracking 'em open on January 27!

A room with a view!

Hong Kong is the land of very expensive, teeny, tiny hotel rooms. Since it was our anniversary, we went all out and did this trip for free! Thank you CSL for the flight and our credit card points for the room! Upon checking in, we mentioned it was our anniversary in hopes of a room upgrade. And lucky us, we got a 10'x10' corner room with a view!

No, not that view.....

This one! Now that's more like it! Hubba hubby!

We were sorely disappointed by the New Year's festivities in Hong Kong. The fireworks were absolutely pathetic. Actually we were both slightly disappointed by HK in general. We expected a sleek British/Asian version of New York, but found it to be fairly worn down, cramped, and not that enticing. Based on friends' rave reviews of Hong Kong, we walked around all weekend saying "I like Shanghai better. What's wrong with us? Are we missing something?" So I guess it is a good thing we're only a bus ride away from Shanghai and not living in HK!

In spite of it, we walked all over that (very hilly!) city and feel like we packed quite a bit in to two days. We drooled over the beautiful grocery stores but didn't buy anything because of the horrifying prices, then were equally amazed by the cheap $0.50 ferry ride from Hong Kong to Kowloon, where we then paid a staggering $70 for dim sum (this would be about $10-15 in our town!).

Bustling, odor-free market right outside our hotel

The view of HK from Kowloon

thought the lone sparkler was more festive than the actual show....

That's as exciting as it got....

New Year's Day we caught the tail end of a dragon dance in a local park.

We wandered thru the financial center of HK over to Lan Kwai Fong and SoHo, the two concentrated expat neighborhoods for a "home cooked" meal.

SoHo is so hilly they have outdoor escalators everywhere!

Even though HK wasn't our favorite, we now know what to expect and look forward to returning on one of our many visa-prompted trips. We didn't bother to go to the Peak because of the smog, nor did we make it to any of the jade, antique, food or night markets, which we definitely want to do. Other highlights include sane drivers, cheap, cheap public transportation, drivers that don't honk every second and not being stared at incessantly. It's all about the little things!