Beijing in the fall

is so pretty! We had over 2 weeks of blue sky days... it was absolutely amazing. I knew it had to come to an end soon, and when it did, it was with a vengeance! The embassy was getting pretty funny with their air quality read-outs... instead of "hazardous" they chose "crazy bad," which was hysterical to me. Yesterday, the pollution read-outs were off the charts, so they literally had to write "beyond index." Hopefully we get some wind and it clears up!

Beijing has been really pretty in the fall and I thought I'd post a few pictures to show the change of seasons. These pics are from all over Beijing - random streets, the Forbidden City, the Great Wall at Mutianyu.

At the Forbidden City



In this picture, we wandering down a hutong and stepped in to show my parents where the cook lives for the cooking class I go to. These two women, mother and daughter, used to live in the house back to the left... they left in '62, when the daughter was just a baby. We all went back and the people currently living in the home invited us in and showed us around. It was so cool to have the opportunity to see the inside! My husband and the older woman not only spoke Chinese together, but practiced their Russian as well.

Pretty fall leaves on a random Beijing street

The Great Wall at Mutianyu

The hubby and I at my favorite park in Beijing: Beihai. See that tree? It was COLD that day!

At the market with the chef, shopping for our cooking class. Sometimes the uggs need to be worn, what can I say? They are so warm and super comfy to walk around in for me (but my feet don't really have an arch, so that may be why I find them so comfy to walk in for hours on end).

"What's this called?"

Making dumplings

Mmm the yummy Sichuan noodles we made. SO delish! 担担面

Steph

Loving: Fall in Beijing

If you plan to visit Beijing, Fall is definitely the best season to do it! Right now, we've been having gorgeous blue-sky days, fresh air, and temps ranging from 55-75! It's been amazing. Look what I see when I look out my window right now.... gorgeous! I've loved the chance to actually open my windows and let the cool, fresh air in.

I've been so absent - bad bad bad, I know! but my in-laws have been in town and my husband and his dad went on a 20-hour hard seat train ride to Anhui Province, so I've been showing my mother in law around Beijing.... well, for the part of the time we weren't sick! My mother in law and I have had (are still having?) a run-in with a bout of food or water poisoning. Poor mother in law has to fly home today, a very long flight and not feeling her best at all.

I'll be back to posting regularly as soon as I've recovered completely.

Everyone take care, I hope everything is right in your world, and wherever you are, you are experiencing this glorious fall weather!

Steph

Cooking class #2, with recipes!

My husband and I took another cooking class last weekend. The first time, we learned how to make fresh jiaozi (dumplings) and a few other cold vegetable dishes. This time, we chose a class that included a lot of meat! Braised pork, dry pepper beef, fish flavored eggplant, garlic spinach, etc. It was another amazing class and we made a lot of recipes that will be easy to make at home. I think for those of you outside of China (um, yeah. almost all of you!), the difficult part would be getting certain ingredients, but if you have a local Asian market, its definitely worth a try - because the food is easy to make, and its delicious.


#1: Canton Style Braised Ribs (广东烧排骨(shown in the picture on the left)

Ingredients:

500g ribs

Seasoning 1:

a few pieces of sliced ginger

Seasoning 2:

dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp
light soy sauce, 2 tbsp
sugar, 2 tbsp
Chinese white wine (more than 30% alcohol), 1 tbsp

Method:

1. chop rib into section (the ribs we chopped into 2 inch pieces approx.)
2. season wok with 1 tbsp oil (canola oil is fine), add ginger, ribs, stir about 30 seconds until fragrant, and then add 200ml water.
3. add all of seasoning 2 to the wok, cover, cook over low heat for about an hour until the water is gone.

How easy is that? SIMPLE, minimal ingredients and hardly any work! And these were so amazingly delicious.



#2: Fragrant Spicy Beef (香辣牛肉

Ingredients:

Beef, 250g

Marinade:

salt, 1/4 tsp
light soy sauce, 2 tsp
wine, 2 tsp
starch, 4 tsp
If meat looks dry, 1-2 tsp water

Spices:

dry chilis, julienned（干辣椒） - how many you use depends on your personal preference for spiciness
sichuan pepper (these are the sichuan peppercorns 花椒), 1/2 tsp
ginger, julienned, 2 tsp
leek, 6 pieces, only the white part, julienned
coriander (we call this cilantro in the U.S., and its also known as Chinese parsley), a few pieces

Seasoning:

sugar, 1 tsp
dark soy sauce, 2 tsp
sesame oil, 1 tsp

Method:

1. cut beef into 5cm long and chopstick thick, mix with marinade for 15 minutes.
2. Julienne all ginger, leek, and chili
3. season wok with 2 tbsp oil over high flame, turn down heat until oil is not smoking, add dry chili, sichuan peppercorns, then ginger, turn heat to high. When chili and sichuan peppers are fragrant and chili has turned a brown-red color, add the beef. Stir slowly until beef just changes color and separates, then add leek, sugar, dark soy sauce. Stir until leek is soft, turn off heat, and add coriander and sesame oil, mix, and take out.


#3. Fish Flavored Eggplant (鱼香茄子）－ and no, it does not taste or smell like fish, nor is there fish in it.

Ingredients:

Eggplant, 500g, cut into small finger sized
Minced pork, 2 tbsp (you can omit the pork, or you can even add pork strips)

Spices:

3 pieces of pickled chili, minced and seeds removed （泡辣椒）pictured below


ginger, minced, 3 tbsp
garlic, 5 cloves, minced, about 2 tbsp
spring onion, 3 pieces, minced, about 4 tbsp

Seasoning 1: (add during cooking)

salt, (now follow me here...).... use 1/2 of 1/4 tsp
sugar, 5 tsp
light soy sauce, 2 tbsp
wine, 1 tbsp

Seasoning 2: (add at the end)

vinegar 1 tbsp
sesame oil 1 tsp

Method:

1. season wok with 1 tbsp oil, turn to medium low heat, add eggplant, stir until eggplant becomes soft, then take out.
2. season wok with 2 tbsp oil, low heat, add pork, stir until pork separates and changes color, add chili, ginger, garlic, and stir. Add wine and 200 ml of water.
3. Add salt, sugar, soy sauce, and add eggplant. Cover. Cook on medium low heat until the water is gone.
4. Add vinegar and mix well. Turn off heat, add sesame oil and spring onion, mix, and then take out.

YUM! Totally delicious!

The garlic spinach was sooooo good, too.... and it was simple. We just took a bunch of garlic, minced it, and threw it in a seasoned wok with oil, added the spinach, some salt, and stir fry until done.

Let me know if you try any of these things! I was told if you can't find the pickled chilis for the eggplant dish, you can use fresh red chili as a substitute.

Steph

"Did she just say that?!"

And a random photo taken from The Great Wall - to pretty things up a bit

I think one of the many cultural/social differences that is really obvious to me, as an American living here in China, is the Chinese tradition of BEING BLUNT.

In the U.S., its just not socially acceptable to tell someone they are fat or they eat too much or they have a big nose or they look as if they haven't slept in days. Those are things people may think, but for the most part, remain left unsaid. If someone were to point out these less than desirable characteristics, we would think that person was being rude or too judgmental or in some cases, just plain nasty.

In China, pointing out things like this is the norm and for the most part its not intended to be rude. I think to them, its very black and white... its just a fact: the sky is blue, the grass is green, the sun rises in the east, you have a big nose and you need to tone your arms. Fact. And what's the problem with reporting facts?

I was at the gym today, speaking with one of the Chinese trainers I had met the last time I went to the gym. She is thrilled I can speak Chinese and enjoys chatting with me - and I like her, too! But, today, she confessed that last time when I told her I was an American, she was really surprised because according to her, I look French. Yes. Apparently French people have big noses like mine. I smiled and told her no, I am American, but my dad is Italian. That made much more sense to her - apparently Italians tend to have big schnozzes too! I didn't explain to her that if she thinks my nose is big now, she should have seen it before my nose job! (I don't think that would have translated well!) Luckily, I am no longer a 15 year old girl self-conscious about my nose. Besides, supposedly, Chinese people think a big nose (they actually don't use the word for big, they use the word for tall) is attractive. Hmm.

As I continued on with my work out, I saw her walk over to a perfectly fit girl who had a little extra junk in the trunk. She points at her. "You. You use this machine. You need to lose fat here" (points to the girl's bum). I see the girl nod "yes, yes I need to lose weight in this area" (refers to her bum).

Next, she walks over to a plump lady. "You. too much food." The lady, "yes, I know, I bake too much." The trainer "you like to eat cake and sweets. Don't eat so often."

And I'm over in my corner, doing bicep curls (you know, to tone my arms) and smiling, because its so typical and sort of funny and I am really hoping the two ladies who just endured "the truth" understand she isn't trying to be rude.

The moral of this story? Don't ever ask a Chinese person if you look fat unless you want to know if you look fat! And if you plan on coming to China - toughen up a little bit, first!

With all this said - if you are not an American, what is the standard in your country for this sort of thing? Do you tend to blurt out the truth in this blunt fashion? Or is it like in America where we try not to acknowledge these things, unless we are asked (and make sure 500 times that the person really wants to know)?

Steph

Adventures in Chinese Cooking: Homemade Noodle Edition - 成功！

After our delicious adventure in jiaozi (dumpling) making, we decided that what we needed to work on most was the dough. You make noodles using the same dough that you use to make jiaozi, so we decided to try making our own noodles, which is overall less time consuming than making jiaozi. I made the dough using my teachers' tips, and when it came time to make the noodles, the dough was perfect!

Because we didn't really have a recipe to go off of, every time we ate out we decided to look and see what veggies kept popping up in noodles. There are no rules really - you can put pretty much any veggie you want in a noodle dish, it all depends on your own tastes. We kept seeing green onion, green peppers, thin carrot slices, and cabbage popping up, so we decided to use those veggies - as well as some red pepper, garlic, and ginger.

The noodles were a success! The food was delicious! The only thing we need to alter next time is the usage of those red Chinese peppers.... those suckers are deceivingly hot.

The veggies all nice & cut up, yum, plus the infamous sauce that completely makes the dish (I use some Chinese vinegar, Chinese soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and red pepper slices - same sauce I love to dip my dumplings in)


The noodles all nice and cut up


Look at that!! Perfect noodles!


Boiling the noodles first until they feel right, then you stir fry


The noodles, pork strips, and veggies all being stir fried



These deceivingly hot peppers! They are so small, at first we only cut up one... then decided maybe we would use one more.... wow... that made a huge difference, this dish was spicy! Next time, we'll stick with one.


They sell them in a huge bag full, like this - but I only need one.... haha. Too bad you can't just go in and buy one pepper ;) I am pretty sure they would look at me as if I had five heads.


I think we are getting the hang of it!

Steph

CHAI-NA: Parts of Old Beijing Disappear Before our Eyes

拆 is a Chinese character pronounced "CHAI" ...or, for those of you unfamiliar with pinyin: CH, like cheetah, and EYE combined: CH-EYE. The meaning of CHAI is "to take apart or demolish." "CHAI-NA" is an interesting play on words; in cities across China, you frequently come across large piles of rubble where older buildings have been destroyed, as well as construction sites where new buildings are being built.

When most people think of Beijing, the picture that comes to mind (aside from Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City) are the charming Beijing alleys known as hutongs. I've talked about these hutongs many times in previous posts. They offer amazing glimpses into the lives of Beijingers hundreds of years ago, long before the country began to modernize and skyscrapers that can be found in any city around the world began to pop up all across Beijing.

In the English version of China Daily was an ad for a free tour of a local hutong, known as Daji Lane. This was one of the last opportunities to see Daji Lane somewhat intact, as many areas of the hutong have already been marked for demolition. Daji Lane is home to over 30 hutongs, 300 courtyards and 78 provincial guild halls. To say there is a lot of cultural significance is an understatement. Daji Lane was built sometime during the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). In some of the alleys, big character posters from the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) can still be seen stuck to the walls. (Thank you to Beijing Today for much of the above information.)

The tour, by 90 Percent Tours (who I highly recommend), was extremely interesting and gave us a glimpse into several competing perspectives: the need for development, the need for preservation, and the needs of the people living in these areas.

Currently inhabited houses




A remnant of a poster leftover from the Cultural Revolution


Chinese characters saying "you are entering a demolition area, please pay attention to your safety."


Piles of rubble from already-demolished buildings on Daji Lane


Houses marked for demolition which bear the character 冤 YUAN, meaning "INJUSTICE."


Another YUAN photo. It is to our understanding that the residents of houses that have been chosen for demolition are fairly compensated. We've also heard that many of them are forced to move further away from the city center, which means more traffic and inconvenient transportation. Others assure us the government compensates them nicely for their hassle.


A banner posted by the government, assuring residents that if they trust a little more, they will receive benefits earlier.


Through the trees: a glimpse of what is in store for Daji Lane


I hope you enjoyed a glimpse into Beijing's fast-disappearing Daji Lane.

Steph

Two Laowais' Adventures in Homemade Dumpling Making

My husband and I attempted to make homemade jiaozi (dumplings) a week or so ago. We happened to randomly pick the day that you are traditionally supposed to eat jiaozi on: what is supposed to be, according to the lunar calendar, the hottest day of the year (but that I can tell you which was nowhere close to the hottest day we've had in Beijing!)

We tried to remember as best we could the instructions we learned from the Hutong Cuisine cooking class that we took. Neither of us took home the recipe... DOH. Majorly kicking ourselves for that!

So, we looked everywhere for the little wooden-stick-thingie (擀面杖 or ganmianzhang in Chinese) that you are supposed to use to roll out the dough (yes we made homemade wrappers and everything!) Unfortunately, we couldn't find one anywhere, so we used some quick thinking and scoured our kitchen for an acceptable replacement. Adapt and overcome, right? Luckily, we found this thing... it goes in a plastic pitcher we have, and you usually freeze it to keep the drinks cold. It also doubles as a decent little-wooden-stick-thingie, as I like to call it!


The hubby rolling out the dough. I'll be honest... about 10 minutes into working with the dough, I decided we were crazy for trying to make our own jiaozi and left the dough-work to my husband. Working with dough is hard, people! Especially when you use the wrong measurements - oops! Silly waiguoren (foreigners).


Our not-yet-cooked, not-quite-visually-appetitizing jiaozi. OK, OK. We need to work on the dough. Some parts were too dry, others too wet - noted! We spoke with our Chinese teachers who gave us some little tricks, which we will definitely try next time.


The next funny part - we decided to steam them. It was only after our decision that we realized we didn't bring our proper steamer with us to China... so, again, we improvised and used a strainer. It worked, except some of the jiaozi "skin" stuck to the bottom of the steamer. Our teacher again gave us a tip - you are supposed to place a thin damp cloth on the bottom of the steamer to ensure the sticking doesn't happen.


And ohhhh... the best part in my opinion - the dipping sauce! I could seriously drink this stuff, people. It was SO good. MMMM. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it! The key is to use good quality Chinese soy sauce and Chinese vinegar. I put a little of each, some fresh crushed garlic... a little bit of fresh ginger - to be honest, I can't really remember if I used ginger or not... but I may have... and a spicy red pepper cut into small pieces. The sauce was out of this world!


Despite our dough mishap... the jiaozi were truly delicious! And well worth the effort. We did a traditional filling of pork & cabbage (with some green onion, garlic and ginger, soy sauce. I've since been told Chinese don't put garlic in the filling. I love me some garlic and the filling came out so good, garlic is definitely going in again next time!)

I'll get another chance to work with dough tonight - we are going to make our own homemade noodles, then stir fry them with veggies and pork. Luckily, I remember the process for the noodles, and this time I'll hopefully get the water to dough ratio right ;)

Steph

Taking on Beijing's taxis (& bicyclists!)

Living in China is always an adventure, but I didn't realize that even taking a taxi would sometimes be a challenge. Me and taxis... we don't have that great of a relationship. Not lately at least. Let's just say out of the last 6 times I have taken a cab, I have been kicked out of said cab 3 out of those 6 times. Thats not really a great record... not at all. These 3 recent getting-kicked-out episodes aren't the first time it has happened, but its the first time it has happened so close together and been really noticeable to me - and upsetting! so, let's start from the beginning.

I was meeting a new friend at a local shopping area, so, being my usual self and in no mood for the subway, I opted to take a cab. Absolutely no problem this time - I flagged down a cab, luckily had a nice driver who understood me perfectly and drove me exactly where I wanted to go. By the time we arrived, I was feeling pretty accomplished by this seemingly simple action of taking a taxi.. (sometimes, its the little things) ....paid the driver, opened the taxi door when WHAM!! I opened the door onto a biker rider trying to pass by. Ooops. I felt awful! I shut the door and looked at the taxi driver with big eyes - OMG! I'm so sorry! I said in Chinese, knowing these cabs are usually personally owned by the drivers. Luckily, he was a nice taxi driver, smiled and assured me "mei shi mei shi" ("it's nothing") - I think he felt bad for me. He must have known what was waiting for me!

I stepped out of the taxi and walked over to the bike rider who was just standing near her bike a few feet away from the taxi. Guys - I merely OPENED the door on her. She didn't actually fly right into it, and she wasn't moving very fast, and she didn't even fall. But of course I rushed over, apologized a million times, asked her if she was okay... I must have ruined her entire day because she immediately started cursing at me in a stream of rapid-fire Chinese. After a few minutes of this I realized there was nothing I could do - she wasn't injured, her bike wasn't damaged at all - so I walked away, completely embarrassed & obviously apologetic.

After a few great hours hanging out with my friend, I went over to the taxi queue to catch a ride home. I got into the first cab and told the driver where I wanted to go. "I don't know where it is" he says - and because *I* don't know HOW to get home from there (driving), I'm at a loss, so I shyly step out of the car, feeling like a silly foreigner, completely self conscious and embarrassed. Onto the next cab, I get in, crossing my fingers and hoping with every fiber of my being that this driver would know where I wanted to go. Apparently not. I gave him street names, landmarks such as subway stations, the CCTV television building - he said he doesn't know exactly where it was. so. I got out, the second time in just 3 minutes, completely embarrassed! I mean - this guy is a Beijing taxi driver and he doesn't know where the CCTV building is? FISHY! VERY FISHY!! I don't know if I believe that.

A couple days later I took a taxi and it was flawless, the driver was awesome, he understood me, and when we were stuck in a traffic jam he complained about all the cars and I agreed.... when he realized I spoke Chinese, it was like a floodgate opened and we chatted the whole way back to my apartment. It was like he had been dying to talk to someone! I love that sort of taxi driver!

He restored my faith in taxis, which is why yesterday I felt comfortable flagging down a taxi on the way home from school. The taxi came driving over, I thought "nice!" I had this theory that I'm less likely to be kicked out of a cab if I flag the driver down and he drives over to me - as opposed to seeing a taxi sitting on the side of the road and me going over to him. I figured this way, the taxi driver is making a choice to come over to me and take me somewhere. I was convinced it was fool-proof. Unfortunately, I was proved wrong. I got into the cab, told him where I wanted to go - anticipating the "I don't know where it is" excuse, I threw out all the landmarks and surrounding streets. The taxi driver responded "I'm sorry, blah blah getting off of work blah blah words I don't understand blah other direction blah." so, I got out. His accent was super thick and he was talking really fast, but I'm pretty sure he was getting off from work and was hoping to pick up one last ride - if it was going in the direction he wanted to go.

I decided SCREW TAXIS!! Every time a taxi drove by I immaturely (but very satisfyingly) thought "screw you" as I made my way to the subway. I SHOULD have thought "wow at least he said he is sorry!" The other drivers acted like they couldn't be bothered. At least this one was apologetic! But at the time, it made me feel bad and I fought tears the entire walk to the subway station.

I've taken the subway since then. The good thing is it was a really bad day and I wanted nothing more than to stay inside my house and NOT leave for the rest of the day.... fortunately, I had a hair appointment and was forced to go back out. I'm glad I did because it made me turn my negative day into a positive day, and I had a great time walking to and from the subway station and just enjoyed being outside in Beijing. Plus, my new hair stylist is amazing! Who knew I'd have to come to Beijing for someone who can do a great blonde?!

Lessons learned:
1. Always look before opening a car door!
2. My "call a taxi over to you and you are less likely to get kicked out" theory is completely false.

We are going traveling tomorrow - maybe by the time we get back to Beijing I'll feel like taking my chances on a taxi again. :)

Steph

P.S. An update on my homesickness and slight culture shock - I am feeling SO much better! Now that I've made a few friends here and have made myself get out and about, try new things, enjoy travel.... I have been feeling so much more at home and have been able to cherish my time here.

Beijing.is.sweltering.

Thank you all for the super kind comments in my post from yesterday.

I was all set today to go out there with a positive attitude and explore Beijing, but it is so incredibly hot... I couldn't do it. When you step foot outside you can literally feel your skin burning! Its like an oven. I haven't left my house all day and it pains me, because today the sky is blue blue blue, and there is not a cloud (err, a pollution cloud?) in the sky. I'm sad such a beautiful smog-free day had to be so hot.

What information did weather.com have for me? Just how how IS it in Beijing today....


Definitely not my imagination. It is too hot for anything other than sitting in my house watching episode after episode of United States of Tara, obsessively checking Sephora's website to see if a new palette I want is in stock yet, and talking myself out of going to the gym yet again. Oh, and looking at these super cute pictures from an article in today's paper about the insanely high temperatures all across China lately!


A Panda in Wuhan desperately trying to stay cool by laying on a huge block of ice. Poor guy!


so yes. Its hot. very hot. And the final two episodes are calling me...

Steph