Sunday in Beijing

Beijing Sunday 10-23-11

Hi everybody. This morning was a free day we intended to use to try again to go to the Forbidden City, Again without success. After getting a late start we decided to instead use the hotel pool and then go out and try our hand at restaurant eating. No to bad if I do say so myself. We got seated and the menu came. If this one and the restaurant Angela took us to are average then the restaurants around here spend a fortune on menus. They are like a huge book with large pictures of every dish. I had stopped at the apartment front desk and asked someone to write down “I do not want spicy” on a card. We were also told Boo Yow La which later Angela said could be mistaken for “I do not want anything” so that might be a problem. But the waiter seemed to understand the written note. We pointed out a pork slice and onion dish, a pork spaghetti looking dish that came with small wrappers like fajitas, a shrimp and leek burrito dish, Kung Po Chicken which is chicken, peanuts, onions and sauce, and pork/egg dumplings. Ordering drinks was difficult. We thought he was bringing water but hot water for tea was delivered. I said no and used an application on my Iphone to ask for bottled water. It worked! The App is reviewed as not accurate but we were thinking one word would be more accurate than a phrase. So after receiving our bottles of water we used it to ask for forks, no problem. Most of the dishes we liked. E was almost sick after I asked him to try the dumplings. Their wrapper is a pale white with what tasted like a meatball inside. He of course nibbled the edge of the wrapper and proceeded to make a scene. I still think he would have liked the meatball. He also refused to try the leek burritos after he had ordered them. LOL But the chicken and peanuts was a huge hit with him. Little D liked the pork fajitas the best and I liked the pork slices. Plenty of stares to go around. This was a restaurant not on the tourist street but a couple of blocks away. The staring will get worse in Nanchang so we better get used to it.

Colder weather has set in with quite a breeze as well. I still find the room stuffy without a balcony open. When we were walking to the restaurant it was sprinkling and too windy for the umbrella we borrowed from the apartment. One the way home we walked a new direction and stopped at a pastry store to bring home dessert. Yum. Angela was waiting in the lobby to take s on our new adventure. The produce and meat store. It had stopped raining and we got directions from the doorman to the closest store. We also got directions a few more times on the walk. The market was, as expected, interesting. Many different vendors. First we stopped at the spice vendor for soy sauce, sugar, plain bouillon granules, salt and spices. Next the raw meat vendor. Yes, just like you are picturing. The vegetable stall was my favorite and we learned about many vegetables that we weren’t even buying. Cucumbers have prickles all over and only buy the ones with the flowers still on the end for freshness. Egg stall and fruit stall and then we left. Little D and I were the only ones who went to the market so E and D could clean up the kitchen. Angela made us chicken wings with a sugar sauce, eggs with tomatoes, and I have to finish a noodle dish that she made the sauce for. It was fun and funny since our kitchen only has one pot and one pan. Any ingredients we forgot we had to do without. Although we did send D to the corner store with a note for soybean paste.

We rushed out after cooking to the Kung Fu show for which Angela had reserved tickets. Finding a taxi was difficult but we learned that available taxis have a red light on the windshield by the rearview mirror. Also you must add 2 to the price on the meter for a new fuel surcharge. That’s good to know. We need to be comfortable getting ourselves around especially once we get the new children. Monday I think we are going to try the subway.

Still adding photos to Shutterfly. Hopefully we will get that caught up Monday. We are having some difficulty getting them to download where we want them to go but we are working on it. I will post the password on RQ or you can email me. I do get any comments left here. They just do not show up on the blog until I have read them. So you could also contact me that way.