March 18, 2009
Happy Birthday, Janet!!! Today is the birthday of one of my dearest friends (and she has been my friend the longest of any other). I still remember her getting on the bus the first day of second grade on our way to the 4-room schoolhouse in Tuscola (closest thing we had to a one room schoolhouse in those days ... that was close enough), one room for each grade first through fourth. She and I hit it off immediately and have always been in each other's lives in one way or another. I could write reams about that ... but that's for another publication.
Last week, I had lunch with 10 other ladies at a Chinese restaurant called Xiao Nan Guo (loosely translated means "Little South Country") and was quite impressed with the food as well as the establishment. The building is a very large multi-story building and the dining areas have high ceilings, marble floors, beautiful chandeliers, and linen table clothes upon which the glass lazy Susans rest waiting to serve hungry patrons. After I told Randy about our lovely lunch there, it was decided we'd organize a Friday evening dinner to include Alan, Bela & Julian, and Wind & Nicole (our Chinese friends ... Wind is a former ADS employee). I had also invited Phil & Danli but they declined as they were busy with family. But in the exchange with Phil regarding the restaurant, he insisted that we try the house specialty at Xiao Nan Guo .... deep fried python. To which I replied, "Uh ..... OK," with a bit of trepidation. We aren't usually afraid to try most new things but even snake was a bit of a stretch for us.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, we asked Wind & Nicole about the house specialty and they concurred with Phil .... it must be tasted!! Wind ordered it immediately as the snake is fresh killed, cleaned, and prepared, and this process takes around 45 minutes. So we ordered salads and appetizer dim sum in order to whet our appetites before our reptilian main course could be presented. I have to say that nothing we ordered was disappointing ..... marinated wood ear mushrooms served in a lovely red pepper that had been decapitated, steamed dumplings, marinated peanuts, and asparagus were all enjoyed.
Eventually, the aforementioned reptile was presented on a couple of long oval platters. It was cleaned much like a fish (head removed and gutted), sliced into 3-4" lengths, then fried (no batter or anything like that .... just some savory seasonings). It was served with a salt/pepper mixture that could be sprinkled to taste. I started out trying to utilize my chopsticks but finally realized that the locals were using their fingers to pick up the pieces as you would fried chicken. It was similar to pulling meat from a chicken neck .... came off the bone the same way except that there was meat both inside and outside of the rack of bones which came off the spine in a fashion similar to a fish. The meat was very tender and slightly spicy .... really quite good!! Probably my only objection was having to work around those bones. So I'd have to say that the python eating experiment was a success other than at some point during the meal, I realized that I'd chipped a piece from one of my back teeth (sigh .... I HATE dental work).
On Saturday, we decided we'd like to try to locate the dodgy electronic market to see if we could find a combo docking station/speakers for Randy's I-Touch in order to play music in the apartment from it. I'd had a business card picked up during a visit there last year and we were able to find the market without too much difficulty. After the purchase, I'd remembered that there was a Western restaurant called Element Fresh just a couple of blocks down the road and, as the day was pretty pleasant in terms of the weather, we decided to walk there.
We left Element Fresh after a lovely lunch of Vietnamese noodles and pita with hummus (there's nothing like a mixture of Asian and Mediterranean), and without my sunglasses which I think were nabbed when I went to the bathroom. They LOVE American sunglasses here .... MUCH better quality. We were not too far from my dentist's office (you may remember my mentioning Dr. Hu in a previous post) so I popped in and made an appointment for Monday. Health and medical services such as dentists and eye doctors are available every day of the week including Saturday and Sunday. Normally, the only days these places are closed are national holidays.
Sunday was another nice day weather-wise so we took advantage of the climate and did a little more walking, locally this time. We trekked to a small mall called Brilliance for a few personal purchases, and then on to the Pines grocery store which caters to the expat community where we purchased among other things some charcoal. Randy had decided he was ready for a real BBQ, so we fired up the grill for chicken and ribs .... YUM!!
On Monday, I hailed a taxi for the dentist and arrived at Kosei Dental Clinic on time. Dr. Hu examined me and said, "Yes ... velly tiny chip in tooth. I fix!" I'm telling you, it is worth the price of the plane fare to come to this country for dentistry ...... quick, painless, sterile conditions, good quality care, and best of all .... CHEAP!!! He filled my tooth (no drilling needed!) in about 10 minutes and charged me about $35 USD!!!
The real adventure that day started when I hailed the taxi to head back to the apartment. I jumped in the taxi and the driver asked, "Di nahlia?" Where to? I gave him the two streets that meet to make up the corner nearest our compound. He just stared at me. I tried another two streets thinking that maybe I'd need to select a more major intersection in order to obtain his comprehension .... no go there either. Finally, we took off and I thought, "OK ... he gets it now." But I soon realized that we were heading AWAY from the compound, not towards it. I knew the general direction we needed to go but not exactly what streets we should take. I had an idea .... I called my Chinese American friend, Phil, and asked him to give the driver directions for me. OK, no problem. A little chat on the cell phone and we're all set. Oh, no .... the driver stopped to ask no less than 6 different other taxi drivers how to get me home all the while fooling around with a GPS system that didn't seem to offer him any assistance either. I kept wondering if this guy had fallen off the turnip truck just this morning, or maybe it was yesterday!!!
Finally, we got ourselves to a point where I could tell the fellow myself "Yu guai, or tso guai." (Right turn, left turn) and finally, we turned into the compound. "Great!!" I thought. That's over!! Well, not quite. I gave him my metro card which is utilized for taxi, subway, or bus (really handy .... no need to fool around with cash, simply charge it up with more money at the subway station when it runs low), and he didn't seem to know what to do with it (I had a suggestion for him ..... you can use your imagination!!). Finally, it appeared we'd handled the transaction and I jumped out of the taxi. I was about 30 steps away from the taxi when the driver jumped out .... "La, la, la, la!" No, he wasn't singing .... this is how a Chinese person gets someone's attention. Like "hey, hey, hey!" He had the tape from the meter in his hand and was waving it at me. I'm thinking, "There's no way in hell I'm giving this guy any more money!!!" There was another taxi that had pulled up behind his, and he ran to the driver to ask him something waving the ticket in dismay. It's just a good thing there are SO many other taxis in Shanghai or this guy would have been completely LOST ... well, OK. Maybe he was anyway! Finally, he waved me off like, "Never mind." I decided that the biggest ordeal of my day was NOT the dentist appointment (which I'd been fearing), but the taxi ride home!!!
That's about all the news for now. The weather continues to be quite spring-like (which makes me very happy) and I've been going out just to stroll the lovely gardens and enjoying the warmer breezes lately in the afternoons.
Happy belated St. Paddy's Day to you all!!
Last week, I had lunch with 10 other ladies at a Chinese restaurant called Xiao Nan Guo (loosely translated means "Little South Country") and was quite impressed with the food as well as the establishment. The building is a very large multi-story building and the dining areas have high ceilings, marble floors, beautiful chandeliers, and linen table clothes upon which the glass lazy Susans rest waiting to serve hungry patrons. After I told Randy about our lovely lunch there, it was decided we'd organize a Friday evening dinner to include Alan, Bela & Julian, and Wind & Nicole (our Chinese friends ... Wind is a former ADS employee). I had also invited Phil & Danli but they declined as they were busy with family. But in the exchange with Phil regarding the restaurant, he insisted that we try the house specialty at Xiao Nan Guo .... deep fried python. To which I replied, "Uh ..... OK," with a bit of trepidation. We aren't usually afraid to try most new things but even snake was a bit of a stretch for us.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, we asked Wind & Nicole about the house specialty and they concurred with Phil .... it must be tasted!! Wind ordered it immediately as the snake is fresh killed, cleaned, and prepared, and this process takes around 45 minutes. So we ordered salads and appetizer dim sum in order to whet our appetites before our reptilian main course could be presented. I have to say that nothing we ordered was disappointing ..... marinated wood ear mushrooms served in a lovely red pepper that had been decapitated, steamed dumplings, marinated peanuts, and asparagus were all enjoyed.
Eventually, the aforementioned reptile was presented on a couple of long oval platters. It was cleaned much like a fish (head removed and gutted), sliced into 3-4" lengths, then fried (no batter or anything like that .... just some savory seasonings). It was served with a salt/pepper mixture that could be sprinkled to taste. I started out trying to utilize my chopsticks but finally realized that the locals were using their fingers to pick up the pieces as you would fried chicken. It was similar to pulling meat from a chicken neck .... came off the bone the same way except that there was meat both inside and outside of the rack of bones which came off the spine in a fashion similar to a fish. The meat was very tender and slightly spicy .... really quite good!! Probably my only objection was having to work around those bones. So I'd have to say that the python eating experiment was a success other than at some point during the meal, I realized that I'd chipped a piece from one of my back teeth (sigh .... I HATE dental work).
On Saturday, we decided we'd like to try to locate the dodgy electronic market to see if we could find a combo docking station/speakers for Randy's I-Touch in order to play music in the apartment from it. I'd had a business card picked up during a visit there last year and we were able to find the market without too much difficulty. After the purchase, I'd remembered that there was a Western restaurant called Element Fresh just a couple of blocks down the road and, as the day was pretty pleasant in terms of the weather, we decided to walk there.
We left Element Fresh after a lovely lunch of Vietnamese noodles and pita with hummus (there's nothing like a mixture of Asian and Mediterranean), and without my sunglasses which I think were nabbed when I went to the bathroom. They LOVE American sunglasses here .... MUCH better quality. We were not too far from my dentist's office (you may remember my mentioning Dr. Hu in a previous post) so I popped in and made an appointment for Monday. Health and medical services such as dentists and eye doctors are available every day of the week including Saturday and Sunday. Normally, the only days these places are closed are national holidays.
Sunday was another nice day weather-wise so we took advantage of the climate and did a little more walking, locally this time. We trekked to a small mall called Brilliance for a few personal purchases, and then on to the Pines grocery store which caters to the expat community where we purchased among other things some charcoal. Randy had decided he was ready for a real BBQ, so we fired up the grill for chicken and ribs .... YUM!!
On Monday, I hailed a taxi for the dentist and arrived at Kosei Dental Clinic on time. Dr. Hu examined me and said, "Yes ... velly tiny chip in tooth. I fix!" I'm telling you, it is worth the price of the plane fare to come to this country for dentistry ...... quick, painless, sterile conditions, good quality care, and best of all .... CHEAP!!! He filled my tooth (no drilling needed!) in about 10 minutes and charged me about $35 USD!!!
The real adventure that day started when I hailed the taxi to head back to the apartment. I jumped in the taxi and the driver asked, "Di nahlia?" Where to? I gave him the two streets that meet to make up the corner nearest our compound. He just stared at me. I tried another two streets thinking that maybe I'd need to select a more major intersection in order to obtain his comprehension .... no go there either. Finally, we took off and I thought, "OK ... he gets it now." But I soon realized that we were heading AWAY from the compound, not towards it. I knew the general direction we needed to go but not exactly what streets we should take. I had an idea .... I called my Chinese American friend, Phil, and asked him to give the driver directions for me. OK, no problem. A little chat on the cell phone and we're all set. Oh, no .... the driver stopped to ask no less than 6 different other taxi drivers how to get me home all the while fooling around with a GPS system that didn't seem to offer him any assistance either. I kept wondering if this guy had fallen off the turnip truck just this morning, or maybe it was yesterday!!!
Finally, we got ourselves to a point where I could tell the fellow myself "Yu guai, or tso guai." (Right turn, left turn) and finally, we turned into the compound. "Great!!" I thought. That's over!! Well, not quite. I gave him my metro card which is utilized for taxi, subway, or bus (really handy .... no need to fool around with cash, simply charge it up with more money at the subway station when it runs low), and he didn't seem to know what to do with it (I had a suggestion for him ..... you can use your imagination!!). Finally, it appeared we'd handled the transaction and I jumped out of the taxi. I was about 30 steps away from the taxi when the driver jumped out .... "La, la, la, la!" No, he wasn't singing .... this is how a Chinese person gets someone's attention. Like "hey, hey, hey!" He had the tape from the meter in his hand and was waving it at me. I'm thinking, "There's no way in hell I'm giving this guy any more money!!!" There was another taxi that had pulled up behind his, and he ran to the driver to ask him something waving the ticket in dismay. It's just a good thing there are SO many other taxis in Shanghai or this guy would have been completely LOST ... well, OK. Maybe he was anyway! Finally, he waved me off like, "Never mind." I decided that the biggest ordeal of my day was NOT the dentist appointment (which I'd been fearing), but the taxi ride home!!!
That's about all the news for now. The weather continues to be quite spring-like (which makes me very happy) and I've been going out just to stroll the lovely gardens and enjoying the warmer breezes lately in the afternoons.
Happy belated St. Paddy's Day to you all!!
posted by Roxanne Gillett at
9:05 PM
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