So the past few days have been a feeding frenzy in our household. Chase went to Guangzhou for a business trip for a day and a half. Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province, the province that borders Hong Kong which we Americans have slurred into saying.... Canton. Well, that's what the rest of the world calls it as well, so I won't put all the blame on us Americans!
So Guangdong province is also famous for their diet. They are the Chinese that you hear about eating seahorses, sea cucumbers, shark fin, baby fetus and placenta (promise, they eat it), monkey brains, etc. I kid you not.... they eat anything that moves.... ants (it's a well known snack food), worms, rats, etc. No shame they just are adventurous when it comes to their palette. And thank goodness Chase is as well. He really enjoys trying everything served up in restaurants and this coming from someone who when I first met him, was a vegetarian, and then pescetarian. He is just so good at adapting and being flexible. So I was curious to see what would end up on his plate when he was at a business dinner there!
I can not tell you what "delicacies" he ate.... you will have to ask him yourself. All I will say is that the rumors are in fact true about Guangdong.
On Friday, I took the train into Shanghai and met with Chase at our friend, Lisa's apartment. He flew in and the timing was great. We went for a late dinner at a so-so thai food restaurant that I had heard of before and Lisa recommended. I had a brief honeymoon phase of how cool Shanghai is during my first few hours there. I kept saying that I can not wait to move there! It's much more cosmopolitan than New York City, more bustling than Hong Kong, more fashionable than Paris. The saying is that it's the "Pearl of the Orient", but I say it's the Pearl of the World!
Last year, I also mentioned how cool I think Shanghai is. That was how I felt coming from Beijing, which is a great city in itself. Love that place. But coming from sleepy Hangzhou, it felt like I fast-forwarded into the future! Hangzhou is like taking a few steps back into the 80s as far as culture, infrastructure of the city, etc. So we really enjoyed being back in modern society.
The only down-side to Shanghai is that it's a bit too westernized. Beijing has done a great job of still keeping a China-focused identity. Shanghai has left that in the dust and has put on a new veil of money and fashion.
On Saturday we enjoyed another sumptuous feast at our favorite French restaurant in China, Jean Georges. Our food was just as delicious as last time, but the wine pairings were not quite on. I really enjoyed my dessert of an almond souffle cake with strawberries, creme fraiche, and a seaweed nut ensemble. Chase enjoyed venison, red snapper, foie gras, the whole-sha-bang.
And this afternoon before we took our train back to Hangzhou, we stopped by my favorite dumpling place, Din Tai Fung. Originating from Taiwan this increasingly popular eatery serves the most delicate, light, and healthy dumplings. They've even got a location in LA now. We would eat at the Beijing branch almost every month until our Ayi came to cook. I always order the vegetarian dumplings which hit the spot every time. Great bok choy and tofu bits and they have a great dipping sauce which is quite simple: freshly thinly sliced ginger, garlic and red chili paste, vinegar, and soy sauce which you mix to your liking. Chase and I love to load up on the sauces and make ours very vinegary.
If you don't know, Chase is a vinegar lover; he eats vinegar with everything. At the restaurant he used the soup bowl they provide for his dipping sauce instead of the regular dish. So you can imagine how his dumplings are drenched by the time they hit his mouth. He sampled a black truffle dumpling in addition to his pork xiaolongbao. That means dumplings with sauce inside.
So Chase started his culinary journey late last week and we continued in Shanghai and ate our way through the weekend. Needless to say I hopped off the p90x train for one day. I missed my Saturday cardio workout and my Friday workout was a little condensed. But I am looking forward to a big workout tomorrow evening. It feels great to be getting back into shape. Even if I don't look different, I feel stronger and happier.
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