Hmmm... Western Food, You Say?

One of our last stops in Hong Kong was dinner at an Italian restaurant, pictured above. In addition to pasta, we had gnocchi, garlic bread, bruschetta, red & white wine, and a trio of cheeses for dessert. That's right folks, we had cheese for dessert. Are we crazy? Maybe, but that's not why we ate cheese for dessert. For us, cheese is practically nonexistent and is only really available in Changsha (more than a two hour bus ride away). So, you could say that cheese is quite the luxury to us, hence all of the nom nom nomming on the cheese. Okay, I'll stop talking about cheese before you all vom on your nice computers.

Anyhoot, the Western food in general really inspired us to cook outside of the Chinese food box. On a trip to Yueyang, we found some Barilla pasta at Wal-Mart and decided to grab some. When we got back to Rong Jia Wan, we found some small tomatoes at a local fruit stand, and we picked up a few kilos of them. Apparently, people just snack on them like grapes, so we got a lot of stares from the folks who saw us with this large bag of 'snacking tomatoes'. Bunch of weirdos...

In all, the only ingredients we could get from our simple, little (frigging, crappy) town were tomatoes, garlic, onions and olive oil (which was way expensive). In addition to the pasta, the basil, balsamic and parmesan cheese had to be bought elsewhere.

We got back to the apartment and got straight to work on our Italian feast. In the end, we made tomato sauce, bruschetta and pasta, and all was right with the world. Until we opened the 'champagne'. This strange Chinese brew is for some reason pink, without effervescence and tastes like watermelon Kool-Aid mixed with rubbing alcohol. The taste... it's hard to forget.

On a lighter note, we also recently picked up a toaster oven in Changsha, which allows us to bake chocolate chip cookies! Of course, we also have to pick up brown sugar and vanilla outside of Rong Jia Wan, but the cookies are droooooool... I've gained fifteen pounds!

Cullen

Fenghuang: Night Snacks!

Ah, the evening. A cool and dark wind blows crisply across one's face... one's nose... What's that smell? 

Why, it's night snacks, of course! These nocturnally grilled and boiled treats are popular throughout China, especially in Fenghuang. Conveniently enough, a good number of night snack stands opened shop along a road that is very close to our Inn. This comforted me, as I had a strong feeling that the night snacks might turn on me. However, I later discovered that my fears were unfounded, as the night snacks provided us with just the right amount of nourishment to walk around town and see the sights lit up in the traditional neon fashion. 

We decided to skip the weird stuff and go straight for the grilled fish, grilled vegetables, boiled dumplings, grilled steamed buns and grilled glutenous rice with pig's blood (yum-o). All of it was coated in a really spicy rub and a lot of oil, which made us pretty sluggish afterwards. 

It was at one of these night snack shops that we encountered our first group of friendly Westerners. Up to that point, every Westerner that had I passed returned my greeting with an uninterested glance. However, when I saw a couple of Westerners sitting down for a meal, I marched up them and asked them in my best Mandarin if they speak English. They replied, "Um, do you speak English?" I was both pleased and a little hurt by this revelation (maybe my Mandarin is terrible?). Long story short, they were a friendly couple from Australia enjoying their first night in Fenghuang.

On to dessert. Ginger candy is made all over town by hand-pulling a mass of ginger and sugar until it cools enough to be cut into smaller pieces. We bought a bag of this, which helped sooth our stomachs and delight our palettes. Good times.

Cullen

Fenghuang: coffee-coffee-coffee...

And not just any coffee, but sweet blended iced coffees, called Frappus! Sound familiar to anybody? Okay, whoa! I've gotten ahead of myself here. Let me elaborate...

While back in New York City, Melissa and I developed a powerful addiction to coffee. The long hours we worked left us feeling tired and slumpish (GRE word for you there). But ho! Starbucks yonder! In fact, Starbucks coffee was on every city block and even made its way into our offices for an easier fix of the black stuff. Heck, it was even trendy to sit our butts down in Starbucks and sip on some fancy joe. So, when we came to China and found out that they drink hot water with grass floating in it (they call it tea), we knew that we'd just ordered a heaping plate of cold turkey.

It was in Fenghuang where we fell off the wagon. We were strolling along the narrow riverside path, when we saw a big sign for truffles. As we craned our necks in distant recognition of the word, we caught the whiff. Before we knew it, we were relaxing outside of Cafe Soul, Too sipping on tall cups and discussing the finer points of risotto and cheese with Rock and William, while people-watching. Life was good.

But then again, maybe it happened more like this: We dragged Rock and William into the cafe, forced them to order something, sat down outside, ranted to Rock and William about foreign cheeses, paid a 106 RMB bill and all the while, people stared at us. Yeah, that sounds about right. A Chinese girl even made her boyfriend take a picture of her sitting next to Melissa! That was a little weird.

Anyways, just sitting in the cafe and drinking coffee was one of the better parts of our vacation. It allowed us to feel as though we were experiencing a little bit of the good ol' US of A while on our scenic vacation. We also planted the seed of business venture into the minds of Rock and William, as their families own two good plots of real estate in Fenghuang. We told them that they should create a chain of coffee & ice cream cafes. 

It would make sense for them to diversify from the overdone Chinese-themed store, because an express highway from Changsha to Fenghuang is about to be completed (a windy eight hour trip all of a sudden becomes a three hour straight shot). To me, that means that Fenghuang is about to be injected with a greater amount of foreign travellers. We told them that we would gladly act as outside counsel if they promised to give us free coffee. We've got our fingers crossed!

Cullen

Burners Replaced with Afterburners

Have you ever seen the movie Top Gun? Honestly, I haven't seen it in a while, but I remember that it showed a few jet-fighters taking off, with their afterburners lighting up and launching the aircraft into the sky. I was recently reminded of this part of the movie after using my repaired cooking range. The flame on the burners was really weak, so I complained to the school, and they got it 'fixed'. And by 'fixed,' I mean cranked up to eleven. I swear to almighty Zeus, the flame is a bright green when I turn it on high.

For the first meal I cooked up some snow peas with eggplant and then pork with black tree fungus (it tastes better than it sounds). I started the meal by burning the garlic to a deep, cancerous brown, followed by a hasty scrape onto the serving platter. Although oil got everywhere, I continued cooking.

I threw in the snow peas, and they died upon impact. A few moments later, the entire bottom of the pan became engulfed in flames, which quickly spread to the snow peas (poor things...). By the time I pulled the pan off the portal to Hell, the flame had shot up about two and a half feet! I swear, I thought that it was trying to escape out the exhaust fan.

After that debacle, I started on the black tree fungus for the second dish. All was going well until about a minute into the frying, when the fungi started exploding like popcorn! Fungus was flying all over the kitchen, rocketing from the wok at an alarming rate! By the time I was done with the stuff, half of it was on the floor.

Afterwards, all of the adrenaline in my system made it hard to use my chopsticks. On the plus side, it boils water lickety-split, so dumplings and tea are now that much easier to make...

Cullen

Rong Jia Won: Fine Dining

Eating out in Rong Jia Won is always an adventure, but the food here is always Hunanese. We have no alternative foods, not even other Chinese food styles. Boring, yet harsh on your stomach.

A lot of restaurants have statues of big dogs guarding their doors. I know what you must be thinking; "Aww, those Chinese love the little doggies" WRONG! They love to eat them! I thought that dog was a dish that was not served in this area, but apparently, dog is eaten in Rong Jia Won, too. If a restaurant has pictures or statues of dogs, they are served in that restaurant.

I was at a dinner last week for all of the Senior 1 teachers, and after the meal, Melissa told me that one of the dishes was dog. We were separated by some men, who wanted to drink with me (or force me to drink), but they failed to warn me about any of the shady dishes that were served. Melissa's table, on the other hand, was very courteous to her and told her all about what to avoid.

I don't think that I ate any of the dog, but I can't be too sure. I used to not eat any meat at restaurants as a prevention to consuming dog, but I started to eat pork, which is pretty easy to identify. Anyways, I hear that dog meat looks like beef, and some say that it tastes better than beef. Blah!!

Cullen

Rong Jia Won: A Better Life

This crazy block of a building is the nearest supermarket to where we live. Its name is A Better Life, and it's about a two minute walk away from the main gate and a seven minute walk from our apartment. Pretty close, eh?

Now, as far as supermarkets go, our choices are fairly plentiful in Rong Jia Won. A Better Life has the advantage of being extremely close to where we live. Shorter walk = happy (fatter) Cullen. There is another supermarket that is probably about twelve minutes away that has a greater variety of items (think cheap-as-dirt clothing, weird cell phones, etc.). We've been calling this place Heart Market, as there is a big heart over its entrance. There is a third, but that one's pretty useless, so I won't talk about that one.

Ever since we got here, we've been using the closest market. But then, a few weeks ago things started to turn sour in our relationship...

First, they started to discontinue our favorite food: eggplant. We would cook that stuff all the time if we could. It was very frustrating. It made me seek eggplant elsewhere, such as at Heart Market, where it is plentiful and delicious.

Second, a few Saturdays ago, I went to A Better Life in search of french toast ingredients by myself. As I approached, a trio of tiny hooligans noticed me with great interest. They then began loudly asking (?) things in Chinese to me, to which I said, "Ni hao" and walked on by. They must have thought this was the funniest thing in the entire world, as they started laughing hysterically and followed me into the store. I passed by the security guard, hoping that he would stop them. No dice. I walked into the candy aisle, hoping they would get distracted by the sweets, but they kept on screaming and laughing all around me. I quickly grabbed my things, proceeded to the check-out lane and they accompanied me to the cashier, louder than ever. I exited and lost them as I crossed the street, hoping that they would follow me into oncoming traffic (kidding... or am I?). So, that was fun.

Third, an employee at A Better Life, who was a student at our school, keeps trying to start English conversations that Melissa and I keep needing to repair, as she doesn't speak very well. She has asked us for our cell phone numbers maybe four times now. It's ridiculous. Recently, she literally ran up to us (I could hear a rapid clop-clop-clop coming from behind us) and presented us with a card saying that she wanted to give it to us. She then said that it is for one hundred dollars. We were pretty stunned at first because it was a generous gift, but then we were confused because she kept on saying that it is for dollars (I think one hundred dollars equals something like seven hundred kuai). THEN, she tells us it doesn't have any money on it, but that we need to add "one hundred dollars" to it to use it. Right, lady. Sure. By that time, I had the card in my hands and had noticed how worn it looked. Melissa and I tried to find an exit from this scam, but then she told us that we needed to "help her" by adding our money to it. Melissa and I pitilessly said we'd think about it and made our great escape to the cashier.

In short, I'd now rather walk the extra five minutes to the Heart Market. I'm gonna be so fit!

Cullen

Homemade Dumplings: It's a Lot of Work

On Saturday, Melissa and I decided that we needed to do something productive... something rewarding... something delicious. We looked at each other and cried, "DUMPLINGS!" in unison. With that, we headed out to the open market to pick up the dumpling wrappers. We picked up about 150 of them and, thinking that would be enough for a week, we went to the grocery store to pick up the rest of the ingredients. 

This is the end product of a crap-ton of chopping with the pictured butcher knife. As you may be able to see, I used green onion, ginger, red pepper flakes, salt and chicken bouillon powder. In hindsight, I should have used a little bit of sugar, but the meat mush tastes pretty dern gewd as is.

Melissa and I start on our hour-long dumpling-filling marathon in the above photo.

As you can see from the meat mountain hiding Melissa in the above photo, we had our work cut out for us. We worked throughout the afternoon, but in the end, we had enough dumplings to last all week. We even have leftover dumpling meat to be made into more dumplings later! This was a good idea, because it gives me a break from cooking more complicated dishes and the dumplings taste great!

Cullen

Too Lazy to Cook. Bon Appetite!

I'm experiencing a general feeling of laziness recently. Above is lazy food in China. This is the only way to get your daily allowances of tomatoes and aromatic crispy chicken!

Has the MSG slowed me down? Has culture shock grabbed me by the throat? Are my students and non-students wearing me out? Wait, that sounds about right. Yeah, that's the one. 

I teach Senior 1 students (think of them as high school sophomores) twelve times a week and on top of that have extracurricular 'English Corners' with them. Now, this isn't so bad, but when all of the Senior 2 and Senior 3 students who miss their foreign teachers of past years see me, they automatically want to hang out with me at my apartment. 

They don't come over all that much, but when they do, they give very little or (usually) no warning before they knock on my door. What's annoying about these little meetings is that the students are the ones who dictate how long they stay. They know their schedule and come into my apartment thinking to themselves that they have X amount of time, so I should talk about 1, 2, 3 &4 and then suddenly leave.

The students themselves are very nice and thirst for an opportunity to speak English with me, so I'm not against meeting them. However, I just feel like I need a little space, which is impossible on this campus. I live right outside the basketball courts, which is full of students playing basketball all the time. Whenever I leave my apartment, I'm a spectacle and continue to be a spectacle until I get back inside my apartment.

Having said that, I guess I'm experiencing culture shock, too.

Cullen

Dumplings for Beginners

Hi everybody! echo, echo, echo...

Rock and William came over to our place a few days ago to cook us another Chinese classic: dumplings. They brought all of the ingredients, which included the pre-made wrappers, a huge hunk of pork (half fat), green onions and ginger. They're too nice.

So, the first thing that must be done is to take your meat cleaver and chop the bejesus out of the pork, ginger and green onions. After that, you mix in salt and chicken bouillon powder and you get something that resembles the above glob. Yes, you read that right: I said chicken bouillon powder. All of the best chefs use it as a substitute for MSG. Duh, guys.

After icing your arm from the half hour of chopping, you go through the tedious process of filling the dumpling wrappers with the mixture. For me, that simply meant sleeping while pretending to fill dumplings, as shown in the above photo. Melissa, Rock and William are good at filling them. Not me...

After all of the dumplings are filled, you boil them while giving an awkward peace sign. Man, I need a haircut.

After you put your hand down, fill your bowl with a little oil, soy sauce, salt, black vinegar (?!), cilantro and even more green onions. When you ladle in the dumplings, some boiling water will come with them and you get something like this:

I know what you're thinking; "Why the crap would I do all that when I could just buy frozen dumplings?". And then I would return your question with another question; "Why not just order takeout in the first place?". Touche. But seriously, they were really good, and for us, this method is the only option.

Cullen

Welcome to Rong Jai Won!

On the 20th, Melissa and I were swept off to Rong Jai Won by Rock Long, our Chinese liaison, and Erin Chen, the daughter of a teacher at Yueyang County No. 1 Middle School (which is where we now work). Rock (she said that she wanted a name that is strong, and a rock is indeed strong) is exceptionally helpful and fun. Sidetrack: Chinese English speakers make up their 'first' names, and most of the time, they don't even choose actual names. The other day we met an English teacher who we thought was named 'Chris'. We later had dinner with him and he had to openly correct me. It turns out that his name is 'Praise'.

Back on course: Erin (far right) will be leaving for university soon, so she has been marginally helping us. So, the burden of being our guide rests on Rock's (middle) sturdy shoulders, but she is getting some help from her boyfriend, William Long (not related to Rock). More about them later (I have no pictures to support my rantings!). Our first day in Rong Jai Won (RJW) consisted of Melissa and me cleaning the apartment and settling in a little bit. On the second day, Rock and Erin took us into town to show us some of the shops.

We shopped around the various lighting stores (successfully haggled!) and the bedding stores (too expensive! - tai gue le!). Then they took us to the Open Market, which is like a cross between a farm stand and a flea market. The Open Market resides in the center of RJW, and provides a lot of interesting sights.

The above shot is of the various vegetables on sale at just one of the many stands in the market. Notice the various hot peppers in the foreground. Believe me when I say that hot peppers are everywhere in Hunan and they are used in almost every dish. Hunanese food is not for the mild palatted. There were other sights that I dared not take pictures of, mostly out of courtesy. These sights were tubs of eels and fish (both alive and dead), full nets of large, jumping frogs, and cages of live rabbits and ducks. Melissa and I feel sad to see these animals on death row. Then again, I think of the various animals we have eaten (I've eaten frogs, eels and ducks, and Melissa has eaten all the above including pig intestines), and I realize that we are consumers of this sadness. That's deep, for reals.

Anyhoot, we grabbed a bunch of ingredients and brought them back for our first home-cooked meal! Yahooooooo! Actually, it was Rock and William who did all of the cooking, and I observed them from afar (and ate Oreos, which are nearing extinction in China thanks to me and Melissa).

Now, the Chinese love their MSG, and I must admit that it tastes absolutely delicious. However, our apartment is a No-MSG Zone. We don't want it, so don't bring it. The stuff being poured into the wok is good old salt and lots of it! Actually, that dish being prepared by Rock is hot peppers with pork. Notice I didn't say pork with hot peppers. One thing I learned about cooking hot peppers is that you should stand back or the hot pepper fumes will make you.

Pictured above is our authentic Hunanese meal, as prepared by Rock and William in our very own kitchen! It was pretty derrrn good, and I have been cooking with their techniques since.

Cullen

Zai Jian, Changsha!

So, our last full day in Changsha (and our last day of orientation) was Tuesday, the 19th. By the way, we are twelve hours ahead of you folks on the East Coast of the US. If you think about it after spinning around really fast and getting dizzy, we're in the future. Scary, huh? If your mind doesn't hurt too much, the above is a class photo of our absolute beginner Mandarin class.

The whole group got all gussied up and walked over to the finest Hunanese restaurant we could afford for our good-bye banquet.

We ate and drank much and thanked the Department of Education and our fearless orientation leaders for all of their hard work!

This little lady greeted us outside of our hotel every single day, and it was hard for us to say good-bye to her! OK, it was hard for Melissa. I think I said 'later, gator' or something like that.

Bye bye, Changsha!!

Cullen

Do You Stinky Tofu? Hint: Don't

Today, our Chinese teacher gave us a special treat before class! It was stinky tofu! I know you're jealous!

So, a little background to this wondrous 'food item': I had passed a certain garbage can near Walking Street that has consistently smelled as if it was used as a vomit and diaper receptacle. I'm not even kidding about how terrible this smell is. It turns out that the trash can is next to a stinky tofu stand, and that smell is the waste products of that 'treat'. Everyone throws away their used wrappers and unfinished stinky tofu in that trash can. For more info, the wikipedia page for stinky tofu is here.

Anyways, I didn't want to upset the teacher, so I tried a little, and I have to say that I wish I had not been so polite. Everybody else thought it was OK, but that was because they dipped theirs in soy sauce. Mine was straight out of the bag, dripping with stink. Melissa wisely did not try the stinky tofu, but was equally grossed out by the whole experience.

~ Cullen

Happy Birthday, Melissa!

Last night, more than fifty of us volunteers came out to help celebrate the birthdays of Melissa and Charlotte in downtown Changsha. Charlotte prodded one of the Chinese teachers into booking a nice Hunanese restaurant, got her to order all of the food and everybody chipped in. It was a blast!

The restaurant is located just off of Walking Street, which is the major metropolitan section of the city. Everybody met at the first large statue at the front of Walking Street, which is behind Melissa in the first photo. We then proceeded to make our way towards the restaurant as a group after everybody grabbed the cheap beer from the street vendors (one strange things about China is that the restaurants allow you to bring in outside drinks).

The food was plentiful and spicy, as it has always been here in Changsha, and everybody got into the partying mood. Melissa came around to all the tables and thanked them for coming out to help celebrate her birthday.

Charlotte even got a nice cake for the both of them at the local Western bakery.

Here's the birthday girl cutting her piece of cake. She didn't give me any cake, so I'll let her tell you how it tastes...

Actually, I think this picture says it all!

After dinner, the whole group went to a bar called SoHo, where we danced like idiots. The Chinese were very impressed by our moves, and we were impressed by the 30 kuai beers (not really). We ended the night by walking over to Haagen Dazs for some much needed chocolate ice cream. Melissa says that this has been one of the best birthdays she's ever had!

~ Cullen