porridge steamboat

the chinese are very hospitable, and they treat their guests well. my dad's friend who is in xiamen gave me four boxes of branded mooncakes and tickets for the sightseeing bus because he didn't want me to miss home too much this Midautumn festival. Our chinese friends who went to SMU as exchange students last term then came to bring us out for lunch because Midautumn fest is a time for reunion. When the Chinese invite you out, they will foot the bills - from the taxi trip to the meal and drinks, regardless of whether they have less earning power than you or not. That's a cultural practice, and they dislike it if you try to pay or suggest going dutch. We had to learn this practice, after they insisted that we stop offering to pay. Lunch was at 老知青, a restaurant fashioned to be like in the cultural revolution era. Mao's face was framed up together withthe propaganda posters of that time. the private rooms were named after the collectivist farms of that era, and the restaurant staff were all dressed like the red army. Highly unique and interesting! There's a House of Mao back home, but that was much more slick and packaged and thus lacked authencity. Not that restaurants in the cultural revolution 文革时代 were like that ( in fact, were there such restaurants? probably for the bourgeosies and not the labourers of course), but having such a thing in china seemed like that they could take their history with a pinch of salt.

 

had porridge steamboat today at 南粥北面 and the experience reminded me of Da Chang Jin 大长今 where food is an art (or science). How to truly appreciate food and its essence. even the sequence of which ingredients to add to the porridge base would affect its final taste and nutritional value. haha, i liked that of course, but some table mates were slightly impatient at the slow speed of cooking.

 

by the way, i cannot access this blog and thus haven't been able to upload photos or even see the page. Have u left comments? perhaps you could email me instead ;)

 

till the next time.. i am slightly fatigued.