brain crabs

Saturday proved to be one of the best days we’ve had in Beijing so far. Brendan didn’t have to work, so he was able to hang out with us and help us get around. We went to a big market called Luilichang that sells papers and brushes and other kinds of crafts. Some shops were housed in buildings that were fixed up in the traditional style, while others were little outdoor stands crammed with stuff. We ate this sort of glazed fruit (not sure of the name, but it tastes like an apple/berry combo) on a stick and wandered around shopping compulsively. We got some really interesting books and brushes and ink stones. After a long and winding journey through one of the old ramshakle residential neighborhoods that is miraculously still standing, we found a Muslim Chinese restaurant. The Chinese are tearing down older buildings in Beijing and replacing them with high-rises at a rate that is staggering. Brendan says that he often has trouble finding things in the city, because the store or restaurant he is looking for might very well have been demolished since his last visit.
Anyway, back to lunch– I had this delicious dish of potatoes, eggplant and green peppers in a tasty brown sauce and the boys had some kind of chicken with chilis, and we all split an order of scallion pancakes that resembled Indian naan. The food was sort of spicy, but incredibly rich; definately related to what you’d think of as Chinese food in the States, but wholly unique. We ordered big bottles of the local brew and drank them out of tiny juice glasses.
We headed back to Brendan’s apartment to drop off our purchases, and picked up some pastries on the way. Chinese pastries here are differant than what we get in the States, but they are really tasty. I had this big blueberry-filled monstrosity of donut-thing and some green tea cakes and other uncatagorizable delicacies.
Saturday evening we went to a kind of variety show that Brendan had purchased tickets to earlier in the day. It was in a large theater several stories tall and in the lobby was a life-sized bronze sculpture of George Bush senior shaking hands with some Chinese dignitary. It was beyond creepy.
The show, however was pretty entertaining. There were several small acts that comprised the entire show. The best acts were the Beijing opera singers, the Sezchuan face changer, who flipped the masks off his face so rapidly it looked like magic, and a juggler who could do a number of tricks with a basketball-sized ceramic pot, including tossing it up in the air and catching it on his head (!!!).
The evening ended with take-out food in Brendan’s favorite coffee shop and a couple of beers.
Sunday morning we slept in (yum) and then had a late lunch of dim sum, which included more of that naan-like bread. It was enjoyable, but I missed the waitresses running around maniacally behind the big metal cards stacked with hot-pots. This was all ordered off the menu and brought directly to your table.
After lunch we did some more shopping. We’ve had to buy another suitcase to accomadate all of our purchases. I just can’t help myself. There is a lot of stuff over here which is just so cool and so affordable, I can’t pass it up. Hope everyone is excited about the Japanese/Chinese holiday gifts they are about to receive, because if you don’t like them, they can’t exactly be returned.
As a post shopping reward, we stopped at a shop in the mall called Beard Papa (yes, that’s right) that makes dee-licious creme puffs. Turns out that is actually a Japanese company (which I totally believe, cause when it comes to sweets, the Japanese totally know what’s up) and the logo for the joint is this Santa Claus-y lookin dude grinning at you. Not sure how this relates to creme puffs, but it’s entertaining to say things like, “Hey, could you pass me another Beard Papa?”.
Post cremepuff-ing, the three of us met up with Brendan’s girlfriend, Song Li and drank some coffee while we decided what to do for dinner. We ended up at a spot that served southeastern Chinese food. The food was really good (and quite vegetarian-friendly) and there was all of this amazing folk art on the walls; the kind of stuff that you know is Chinese, but is less processed than a lot of Chinese art. Batiks and weavings and masks were all over the walls. We ate this sour mushroom soup and some warm cabbage salad and cold noodles with fried peanuts. Then they brought out an entire fish on a platter. I wasn’t in to it, but I heard it was good.
After dinner we went to a tea house that Song Li recommended and had kung fu tea. They did the traditional tea prepartion ritual, which involves a lot of really messy pouring back and forth with the tea and the hot water. Also, the tea is served in these tiny little cups. Everyone gets a tall one and a squat one. The squat one is for sipping tea out of and the tall one is for scent, so the tea is poured between the two cups to absorb the scent in the taller one. It was really fascinating, and the tea tasted like Easter lilies, which was strange and wonderful. I felt like I was eating flowers.. or having a stroke.
It was really great to spend so much time with Brendan and his lady friend. Beijing is much more enjoyable when you are with someone who loves it as much as Brendan does.

This entry was posted by jon on Sunday, December 18th, 2005 at 10:47 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.