You Are What You Eat?

If it's true, "You Are What You Eat", I am probably part donkey, part shrimp and part pig with a little bit of hot pepper thrown in! I'm not the biggest fan of Chinese food but I must admit that in Beijing, I've had some of the best Chinese food ever. The other night I went out with some tourists and I have to say it's embarrassing. They wanted wanton soup and food with no spices. Now in Beijing, it's not hard to get bland food. Noodles and dumplings are a mainstay here. But in the restaurant we were at, the food tended to be a little more exotic. There were duck tongues, duck bills, webbed feet and some kind of stomach of something. I passed on these. However, we had some very interesting dishes also. There was a sparerib dish with the ribs cut very small and served in a savory sauce inside a steamed pumpkin. Delicious! We also had shrimp with peppers and mushrooms, dumplings and a delicious soup. I didn't take pictures of these dishes as we were with "tourists" and I didn't want to look like a tourist. Oh well, I'm sorry I missed out on the opportunity to do so. On Monday, Chinese friends, Laura and Hunter, took me to a famous noodle restuarant and it was very nice. We had spareribs and noodles. As you can see, I enjoyed them very much!


What do I eat at home? Well, for breakfast I have eggs, Post raisin bran or oatmeal. If I'm here for lunch, I have a ham or turkey sandwich or peanut butter and jelly. I finally found a super market with western style meats. I purchased chicken breast and steak and I have cooked them at home. I've also made soup which I enjoy for supper. Occasionally I have pasta but usually I have enough leftovers from restaurants to heat up so I don't have to cook very often. Fresh vegetables are somewhat limited here. I don't have an oven, so everything I make has to made on the stove top. There is a nice restaurant on the YMCA premises where I eat about once a week. Usually, I have noodles and vegetables in soup but this week I had beef with peppers which was very nicely prepared. I've been able to get chocolate bars and imported cookies in the foreign section of the supermarket. They even have skim milk and a low fat cheese which I enjoy once in a while. There's a 7 - 11 nearby which has Chips Ahoy. I don't buy these because if I did I would probably eat the whole bag at one sitting. They also have the best wine buy. Wine is very expensive and not very good. I've found a Chilean wine which is passable and costs about $8 per bottle. But still, compared to California the quality is not as good and the cost is pretty high. Where's Trader Joe's when you need it!
There are some other eateries you might recognize but I haven't resorted to them yet. However, there's a walk up window at McDonalds and I always see the locals lining up on the sidewalk for their Big Mac's!