Do sho mien
Just when I think there is nothing left of old China in Beijing I run across something that makes me rethink, like "do sho mien" "knife noodles." These wheat-based noodles are the basis of northern Chinese cuisine, unlike the rice of the south. I eat in the cafeteria with everyone else in the class and most of the people who work in the building. I get a voucher for lunch. Yesterday there was someone making dumplings and I wanted dumplings, but by the time I saw them, I already had my lunch. So today, I asked Stan Tan the Man (a former resident of Toronto, and my go-to guy for translation) to write "I want dumplings" on a piece of paper so I could have dumplings for lunch today. I took my piece of paper and gave them to the dumpling maker, and he said "No dumplings today. Tomorrow." (I'm guessing here, but I THINK that's what he said.) Then he said I could have any of the other things they had, and I walked down the row of dishes and looked unhappy. Then he waved a big hunk of dough he held in his hand and said "You can have noodles." (Again a guess.) I nodded and he took a flat blade, about 4 inches by 3 inches, and whipped off noodle size pieces by running the blade down the dough lump very fast. They flew forward and into a pan of boiling water. When he was done I applauded and everyone laughed. I handed over my voucher and went back to the noodle maker and he pointed to two containers of soup. I recognized one as hot and sour soup, a favorite of mine, and pointed to that. He scooped up the knife noodles, piled them in a bowl and put soup, grated cucumber and a fried egg on it. It was the best thing I've eaten here.
The cafeteria food is not very good as a rule, but I eat there anyway. Matt says that's too bad, that I'm eating average food in a place famous for Chinese food, but I don't mind. I get an experience that no tourist enjoys; in a small way, I live like a Beijinger. I walk to work, always nearly being mowed down by cars, I work, I eat in the cafeteria. Then I go back to a REALLY nice hotel. So ok...it isn't exactly cultural immersion. But neither is it touring, where you see everything that is superficial and little that is real.
The Chinese eat amazingly huge amounts for such extremely slim people. None of it is sugar though, and they all get lots of exercise dodging cars.
One of those things: It never occurred to me that people in Beijing would have Pekinese dogs, but they do. About half the dogs I see are Pekinese. I always thought it was just one of those names. No...Pekinese are, in fact, the preferred dog of Peking.
The cafeteria food is not very good as a rule, but I eat there anyway. Matt says that's too bad, that I'm eating average food in a place famous for Chinese food, but I don't mind. I get an experience that no tourist enjoys; in a small way, I live like a Beijinger. I walk to work, always nearly being mowed down by cars, I work, I eat in the cafeteria. Then I go back to a REALLY nice hotel. So ok...it isn't exactly cultural immersion. But neither is it touring, where you see everything that is superficial and little that is real.
The Chinese eat amazingly huge amounts for such extremely slim people. None of it is sugar though, and they all get lots of exercise dodging cars.
One of those things: It never occurred to me that people in Beijing would have Pekinese dogs, but they do. About half the dogs I see are Pekinese. I always thought it was just one of those names. No...Pekinese are, in fact, the preferred dog of Peking.