Archive for the 'Scenes' Category

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26.2 Miles & Asiana Airlines

Published by Gastronomer on August 28, 2008 in Airplane Food, Korean and Scenes. 3 Comments

On our final morning in Beijing, The Astronomer woke up super-early to catch the men’s marathon. I was wiped out after a late evening of track and field and chose to sleep in before boarding our trans-Pacific flight. I know, I’m weak. The Astronomer caught the pack of runners at three different points along the course. Here they are around four minutes into the race. The lead pack cleared the first mile in 4:41. Insanity!

The conditions on race day were 74 degrees in the shade and 84 degrees on the course. Here are the leaders 36 kilometers into the race (six kilometers left). Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya is in first at this point, and he pulled away to win in a time of 2:06:32. What pollution?

After playing groupie, The Astronomer returned to the hotel and we got in our own (much slower) run and then headed off to the airport.

On the first leg of our flight from Beijing to Seoul, we were served beef with rice, peas and carrots. Side items included a roll, butter, potato salad, fruit salad and a tube of Korean chili paste. Although it’s hard to tell from the picture, the portion of beef seemed quite generous. Our idea of what constitutes a proper protein portion has been forever distorted after residing in Vietnam for a year. We thought this meal was on par with the ones we’ve eaten on United and Cathay Pacific—solid airplane fare.

Before leaving us alone to watch movies and pass out on the second leg of our flight from Seoul to LAX, the stewardesses served dinner. Our choices were Korean or Western. The Astronomer and I had one of each—Korean for her and Western for him. I think it’s so wonderfully cool that Asiana serves bi bim bap on board. Imagine if Vietnam Airlines served pho. Wouldn’t that be a trip (literally and figuratively)? The bi bim bap came with a little fold-out note card instructing fliers in English, Chinese and Korean how to assemble and eat it. I saved the foldout because it was just too precious to throw away with the garbage.

The instructions advised me to add the hot rice to the beef and vegetable mixture first. Then, I squirted Korean chili paste on top. Lastly, I mixed it all together well. The instructions suggested that I eat the bi bim bap with the hot soup and the banchan (kimchi, burdock with peanuts and tiny salty dried fishes), which I did. The bi bim bap was probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten on board a plane.

The Astronomer’s Western steak and potatoes didn’t come close to matching the awesomeness of my bi bim bap. The steak was anti-tender, but The Astronomer said the sauce was good. Suuuure.

Eight hours later (two hours before landing at LAX), we were served a final meal. I chose the crispy fried seafood, which wasn’t so crispy by the time it arrived in front of me. The soba noodles with wasabi weren’t the least bit gluey, and they actually tasted quite good! What’s cool about flying on a non-American airline is that soba noodles are considered a perfectly normal thing to serve on board. Love that!

The Astronomer went for the “bulgogi” for his final meal. It tasted exactly like the beef and rice dish we were served from Beijing to Seoul. Before we knew it, we were back on American soil. Unbelievable!

And because reader Nate inquired, here’s some ping pong action from Day 2 in Beijing. The Astronomer and I were rooting for the French dude in blue because he looked like a dad and had a little beer belly. Too bad he lost to the ultra-fit eastern European. Give the old man a break!

Farewell Fuwa*

Published by Gastronomer on August 27, 2008 in Beijing, Chinese and Scenes. 4 Comments

My last full day in Beijing started with a warm soy milk and an egg McMao sandwich from the bread outlet on Third Ring Road. The bread place is located a few doors down from a hair salon. Every morning during our stay in Beijing, The Astronomer and I watched as the hair stylists performed their daily hand/eye/aerobic exercises. Whereas the women in Saigon are full of energy when they work out, these Beijingers were an unenthusiastic bunch.

Peking Duck? Check. Silk Road? Check. The Great Wall? Check. We saved visting the Forbidden City for last.

The Forbidden Citywas the Chinese imperial palace from the mid-Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. For almost five centuries, it served as the home of the Emperor and his household, as well as the ceremonial and political centre of Chinese government. Built from 1406 to 1420, the complex consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8,707 bays of rooms and covers 720,000 square metres. The palace complex exemplifies traditional Chinese palatial architecture, and has influenced cultural and architectural developments in East Asia and elsewhere.

The Astronomer and I enjoyed the Forbidden City, but weren’t blown away by it. It seems that after a year of living in Asia, we’ve become desensitized to this type of architecture. Granted, the Chinese invented this style of architecture, but at the end of the day, it was “same, same” in our book. The Forbidden City was scorching when we visited, so this peach icy popcicle (3 RMB) was crucial to our survival.

Ancient sundial.

Nature making wonderful use of negative space.

Local tourists were keen on buying these faux royal head dresses for their little girls. They reminded me of the characters from the Chinese movies—the ones that come in sets of 50 VHS tapes—that my grandmother loves with all of her heart.

After a couple of hours exploring the Forbidden City, we shopped for Olympic merchandise at the flagship store nearby. While I think Black Friday is a blast, the crowds here were much too much! We picked up a few items for our loved ones back home and then headed down to the basement food court for dinner.

After two weeks of bravely holding out, The Astronomer finally gave in and chose the most sesame chicken-like item he could find. The texture of the sauce and chicken pieces were spot-on, but the flavor lacked the sweet and sticky punch that’s characteristic of Chinese-American hits like sesame chicken, General Tso’s chicken and orange chicken. It was also kinda cold. Unforgivable.

The pan fried dumplings were excellent, except that The Astronomer chose the celery and pork ones (and everyone knows celery is sort of inferior).

I couldn’t leave Beijing without indulging in one more stick of candied fruit. This time around I chose a mixed-fruit variety with pineapples, tomatoes (!), grapes, plums and crab apples. To encourage more Americas to consume fresh fruit, I highly advocate candy coating.

After our food court dinner, The Astronomer and I rushed to the Bird’s Nest for the last evening of Track and Field action. This time around, we sat on the stretch of track facing the torch and the finish line. We were also seated next to a bunch of Americans so it was good times, especially when the women’s and men’s 4×400 teams took home gold. The group of Finns behind us were the most enthusiastic javelin fans we’d ever met.

Victorious Kenyan and Ethiopian runners after the 5K. It’s too bad that track stars are only elevated to super-star status once every four years.

Goodbye, Bird’s Nest. You are a damn sweet piece of architecture. Don’t get rusty while I’m gone.

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*The Fuwa are the mascots of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The designs were created by Han Meilin, a famous Chinese artist. There are five fuwa: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. Together, the names form the sentence “Běijīng huānyíng nǐ,” which means “Beijing welcomes you.” Originally named ‘The Friendlies,’ they were promoted as ‘Fuwa’ when there were concerns the name could be misinterpreted.

Peking Duck at Da Dong (with a side of baseball)

Published by Gastronomer on August 25, 2008 in Beijing, Chinese, Restaurant Review and Scenes. 6 Comments

A trip to Beijing wouldn’t be complete without a meal of Peking duck. After consulting a number of food blogs and online publications, I decided to take Diana of Appetite for China’s advice and try Da Dong Roast Duck Restaurant even though Quanjude and Bianyifang are the city’s most popular establishments.

Peking Duck originated in Beijing and has been prepared since the Yuan Dynasty. According to Wikipedia, ducks are bred specially for the dish and are slaughtered after 65 days. The ducks are then seasoned and roasted in a closed oven or a hung oven.

We arrived at Da Dong at lunchtime and were stunned by the number of Olympic-goers who also felt the need to cross “eat Peking duck” off of their to-do lists. The wait time was quoted at 40 minutes, but ended up being more like a full hour.

To pass the time away and to quell our hunger pangs, The Astronomer and I strolled around the neighborhood in search of light snacks. We stumbled upon a convenience store nearby where The Astronomer picked up some cookies, while I went for a mysterious beverage sold in a little clay jar (3 RMB). I’ve noticed Beijingers consuming some sort of liquid from similar clay jars and was curious to try it myself. The consistency was a bit too thick to suck through a straw, so I removed the rubberband and tissue paper and gulped it down. It turned out to be yogurt—thick, sweet, a smidge sour and all around good.

After our excursion, our table was finally ready. Even though there was only two of us, we were seated at a table for 10. The duck usually takes 70 minutes to prepare because it is made to order, but The Astronomer had a stroke of genius and pre-ordered ours so that it was ready upon arrival! Woot for instant gratification!

We ordered a half portion, which set us back 98 RMB. This was double the normal price—hotels weren’t the only ones looking to cash in on Olympic fever. Each duck is carved tableside by a fowl artist wearing a surgeon’s mask.

The duck was presented to us in neat slices upon leaves of Romaine. The skin was glossy, thin and crispy—definitely the highlight of the entire dish, while the meat was moist but unspectacular. By the way, Da Dong’s specialty is a leaner duck; apparently it only has 17% fat compared to up to 47% for other Peking ducks.

The duck is served with an array of condiments. The classic accompainments are scallions, cucumbers and hoisin sauce. The extras included crushed garlic sauce, granulated sugar, julienned turnips (I think) and two mysterious chunky pastes (pink and brown—front and center) that The Astronomer and I could not decipher.

A portion of steamed pancakes to wrap up the duck and condiments in. To assemble, we put a little bit of this and a little bit of that onto the pancake along with a few slices of duck. We wrapped it up neatly, ate and repeated until the duck was gone. The cool cucumber was my favorite condiment; the combination of granulated sugar and garlic came in a close second.

After a year of living and eating in Vietnam, The Astronomer found it VERY peculiar that the proper protocol for eating Peking duck was to spread the hoisin sauce onto the pancake rather than dip the roll into the sauce, a la goi cuon. That’s my boy!

We finished off our meal with some complimentary fruit and complimentary sticks of Double Mint gum (not pictured).

With our tummies full of ducky goodness, we headed to the baseball diamond.

We caught the semi-final match-up between the USA and Cuba.

The sun setting over the field. There’s nothing like catching an evening baseball game during a warm summer night.

The Astronomer waving his newly purchased America flag during the seventh inning stretch. The lyrics to “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” appeared on the big screen for everyone to sing along. We felt like we were back in America. Too bad the minor leaguers couldn’t hack it against the Cubans. It could have been a perfect day.

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Beijing Dadong Roast Duck Restaurant
Dongsanhuan Beilu, Cháoyáng
Phone: (010) 6582 2892

The Great Wall of China

Published by Gastronomer on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, Chinese and Scenes. 5 Comments

It seems like I’ve been starting off every post from China with a picture of meat on a stick—well, here’s another. There’s no denying that the Chinese love their meat served on a bamboo skewer! The Astronomer procured these sticks of mutton (4 for 10 RMB) at the base of The Great Wall because he needed a protein boost before our assent. I already carbo-loaded in Chaoyang, so I passed.

Vendors selling meat on a stick, corn on the cob and kebabs to hungry tourists. It was a rainy day in Beijing, which meant that the weather at The Great Wall was cool, bordering on cold. Visibility was pretty good despite the looming clouds.

The Great Wall stretches “6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles) from Shanhaiguan in the east to Lop Nur in the west, along an arc that roughly delineates the southern edge of Inner Mongolia.”

We visited the wall at Badaling, which is located 70 kilometers northwest of Beijing. Made of stone and bricks from the hills, this portion of the Great Wall is 7.8 meters (25.6 ft) high and 5 meters (16.4 ft) wide.

The “Hollywood” sign of Badaling.

Badaling is the most popular section of the wall and was moderately packed during our visit. The Astronomer and I were both surprised by how tough the climb was—it really gets steep at some points! Climbing The Great Wall is not a walk in the park, but we saw lots of elderly Chinese people trekking along. Impressive!

A view of rolling hills with rocks jutting upwards from atop The Great Wall.

The Wall just goes on and on and on…

After a 45 minute hike, we reached the highest point of the Badaling section. An imposing brick wall signaled that it was time to turn around and descend. Check out the old man getting a massage for a job well done—lucky fella.

The long road home.

After climbing The Great Wall, I was definitely ready for something warm and hearty. In addition to the roadside stands selling meat on a stick, there was also a food court selling noodles, sandwiches and bi bim bap! The Astronomer and I shared a fired-to-order portion of pork bi bim bap (15 RMB) with sauce on the side. For Korean food served in a Chinese tourist hot spot, the bi bim bap certainly could’ve been worse!

Eating in Chaoyang

Published by Gastronomer on August 23, 2008 in Beijing, Chinese and Scenes. 7 Comments

Chaoyang is the name of the section of Beijing The Astronomer and I are residing in during our week long stay in the city. It’s a fairly modern business and residential neighborhood located around East Third Ring Road. With so much traffic and new developments in this part of town, its been a bit tough searching for delicious and cheap local-style eats. After a bit of sleuthing about (back alleys are definitely where it’s at), we’ve found three go-to places to fuel up in between catching sporting events and site seeing.

This nameless counter is located smack on Third Ring Road. The menu is completely in Chinese, but the goods are laid out front so it’s difficult to go wrong.

The specialty here is bread products sold plain or stuffed with vegetables, meat or eggs. Products are made in house several times a day to keep the inventory fresh. The triangular bread on the far left tasted similar to foccacia, while the cabbage-stuffed round ones were just savory enough to hit the spot.

The bread counter also sells jianbing (4 RMB)—a thin crepe topped with egg, brushed with hoisin sauce and filled with scallions and fried wonton crisps. Each crepe is made to order on a large circular hot plate and served neatly folded up in a plastic bag.

Check out all the lovely crepe layers! I asked for two eggs (since that’s what the locals who were served before me got) and I was stuffed to the gills when finished. If you’re down with carbohydrates like I am, jianbing is a must-try Beijing favorite.

This one is sort of like an Egg McMuffin, but way better (3 RMB). The bread is a touch salty, while the texture is a cross between a buttery biscuit and a flaky croissant. The “meat” slices are nowhere near as delicious as a good ol’ American sausage patty, so I’ve been ordering my McMuffin without these days for just 2 RMB.

The Astronomer picked up this sticky doughnut filled with sweet red bean paste and coated in sugar (1 RMB). Admittedly a bit oily and heavy, but the fabulous tapioca texture made up for it.

Nothing washes down a bread-intensive breakfast quite like fresh soy milk (1 RMB). Hot or cold, I find it so refreshing.

Our second favorite Chaoyang eatery is this nameless window dishing up noodles morning, noon and night. Patrons place their order at the window, and a few minutes later the food is delivered from the same window. Magic! Since The Astronomer and I aren’t fluent in Mandarin yet, we’ve been pointing at other diners’ food and smiling to indicate what we’d like to eat. Not the classiest move, but you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

Flat and wide rice noodles served cold with cucumbers, cubes of bread and a sauce of chili, garlic and vinegar (3.5 RMB). The cubes of bread soak up the tart dressing without getting mushy.

A similar cold noodle dish using round egg noodles and without bread cubes (3.5 RMB). The dressing here is similar in composition but a lot less spicy.

In addition to cold noodles, the chefs also make chow mein. Of all the foods I’ve eaten in China, this dish is the most reminiscent of Chinese food in America. It totally looks just like the stuff at Panda Express!

At night, the chefs whip up meat and veggies on a stick in addition to noodles. The Astronomer thought he was getting fish balls, but this turned out to be some sort of mystery meat that collapsed a bit too easily in our mouths.

And last but certainly not least, the Chinese flat bread (bing) dealer. We were enjoying some cold noodles from our favorite window the other day when we saw some locals noshing on flat bread. We tried to order some at the window, but they directed us to go around a nearby corner for the goods.

Bing is cross between Indian roti and Mexican tortillas. However, while roti and tortillas require some sort of filling, bing has the slightest hint of salt that makes it pleasurable to eat plain. A single portion, which is humongous, by the way, costs 3 RMB. Served hot, it’s impossible to eat just one slice.

Who knew Chinese food was so bread intensive?