Chips Anyone?

 

 

Had lunch today at Subway with my little buddy.  Here are our chip flavor choices...

 

 

 

-French Chicken Flavor
-Italian Red Meat Flavor
-Mexican Tomato Chicken Flavor
-Cucumber Flavor

Which one would you choose?

 

 

"Midnight In Peking"

 For Book Club last month we read "Midnight In Peking" by Paul French.  It's a true murder/mystery of a young Englishwoman that took place in Beijing in the 1930's.  The author made a podcast walking tour that takes you to the actual scenes from the book.  The hutong where she lived, where most of the foreigners lived, the "badlands" where she was murdered.  The area had a real "old China" feel.  The book was okay, but the tour was great!! 

 

 

 

Starting out at the Beijing Train Station

 

 

 

A Hutong is a narrow alleyway where you can find traditional courtyard homes.  This is the way most people used to live, but are harder to find today. 

 

 

 

The Fox Tower.  There was a wall that was built to surround the old Ming Capital Peking.  Part of the wall still stands today.  The Fox Tower was a watchtower to one of the passageways into the city.

 

Just look at that gorgeous blue sky!  See -- it's not always "foggy" here :)  It was a beautiful day!

The wall was built in the early 1400's.  It's 600 years old!! 

 

 

 

Food along the hutong for sale: Buns and Jiaozi (dumplings)

 

 

Fresh meat anyone??  There are actually many fresh meat markets all over Beijing.  I haven't quite been able to buy meat at an open market yet though.  There's just something about buying unrefrigerated meat in a dirty building that I can't get over.  Even though the little supermarket where I do buy my meat probably buys it from that same market :) 

 

At the end of the tour we stopped at a random small noodle place and ate some noodles.  $2.50 a bowl!  The menu was in all Chinese and no body spoke English.  It was a great chance to put all those hours of learning Chinese into practice!  These are the types of places and experiences we are missing out on by living in the suburbs.  So it's fun to experience it every now and then.  Hopefully we can do more things like this!  I had a great time!

 (Check me out eating soup with chopsticks!)

#Forksarestilleasier

 

 



Avocado Tree

Speaking of food...here is one of my favorite (non-Chinese) places to eat!

 

Not sure how she (the owner) did it, but this is one of the best Chipotle knock-offs I've ever had!  Maybe she used to work there, or got their recipe somehow.  But when I get tired of noodles or fatty chicken, I come here.   The ingredients are always fresh and it's just plain good.  Plus, she also makes awesome smoothies (AND they deliver)!

The sign on the inside is awesome - "fresh, hand-crafted, local farm supporting, cylinder of deliciousness. 

And ironically the name is Avocado Tree, but it you want avocados on your burrito or taco it will cost you an extra 3 bucks!

My lunch buddy :)

Bonus:  Baskin Robbins right down the sidewalk!

Cooking in China

 

Cooking meals in China has been more difficult than I had planned! 

 

There are many little grocery shops in our little bubble that have a variety food.  There is (of course) a variety of ingredients for cooking Chinese dishes, a lot of imported European foods (German chocolate - yum!), and many imported American foods as well.  So the problem I'm finding is that just because they have a certain ingredient one week, doesn't mean they will have the same thing next week :) 

 

For example:  One of our family staples is Enchiladas.  I have a quick, easy recipe that everyone seems to like.  The key ingredient in this recipe is green chilies - they are not good without the chilies!  I was so excited to find cans of green chilies on one of my first shopping trips!  A few weeks later I was making a dinner for a friend and planned on making these enchiladas.  So that afternoon I ran to the store and could not find them anywhere!  So I ran to the next store - nada.  One more store - nope!  So now when I see them in the stores, I buy them all :)  Cream of Chicken soup was nowhere to be found the whole month of November, weird.  So I learned to make it from scratch.  Much healthier anyway!

 

 

 

The other problem is that buying foods we are used to are pretty expensive.  You thought everything in China would be cheaper?  So did I.  I was wrong!  Besides paying $12-14/gallon for milk, this pretty little can of green chilies cost me $4.00!  I think I can get the same can in the states for less than $1.00.

The solution is learning to try new things!  We still eat our comfort foods (almost costs as much as eating out!), and we also eat out a lot more than before because it's not that expensive.  We also eat authentic Chinese once or twice a week that our Ayi cooks for us (more on her later - can you say - awesome perk to living here?! Google Ayi and you might find a mom's picture of a little piece of heaven).

MILK

This is for all my Utah/Logan friends :)  Look what we found!!

I've heard that milk prices are going up in the States?  Or they are anticipating rising prices?  Anyone want to guess what I pay for milk here?

I buy imported milk, it comes in 1 quart boxes like the above (so four of these would be a gallon).  This box costs roughly $3.50 USD (give or take .50).  So I am spending about $14 a gallon on MILK!  Crazy!

Tang Hu Lu

Tanghulu is a traditional Chinese snack that consists of candied fruits on bamboo skewers.  When I asked my driver what it was he pulled up the word "Hawthorn."  I don't think I have ever eaten  hawthorn in the states :)

 

 

 

But it was good!!  They take the seeds out, put them on the skewer then put a hard sugar coating on them.  I was told that foreigners really like them (probably because they are sweet!)  They most often use Hawthorn but apparently also use other fruit like strawberries and kiwi.  I'll have to try those!

They are sold by street vendors and by guys riding bicycles with stacks of these sticking out the back - that is where we found ours :)  Kind of had a sweet and tangy flavor, they also sometimes sprinkle them with sesame seeds or some other seed.  AND it cost a whopping 2 Yuan (about 32 cents US!)!