Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Nong Mao Shi Chang (Chinese Farmer's Market)


Food markets are fascinating places.  Since I take cooking lessons at the Chinese language school in Kaifaqu, we often go to the farmer's market there which is really nice.  The produce is plentiful and fresh and inexpensive.



Xigua

The market has many areas.  The fruit and vegetables are mostly outdoors.  Inside some of the many buildings you can find spices, seasonings, dried things such as mushrooms and shrimps, etc.  In another building you can find fresh seafood and meats while other buidlings have cooking related items which is where I bought my wok for all of 3 dollars.
   










Sunday, August 23, 2009

Oxtail Stew


Some friends went to Chang Xing Shìchǎng to procure an oxtail.  I don't know what Chang Xing means - I guess it's just a name but Shìchǎng means market. It's an enormously big market that sells almost anything which apparently includes oxtail. Since I was otherwise preoccupied, I did not go to the market so hence I don't have any photos of the actual oxtail before it's final destination. However, a bunch of us were fortunate enough to join in on the dinner.


The oxtail was extraodinary!  Here's a close up...


Here's the spread on the table.  In addition to the oxtail stew, the menu included:

Stir fried baby bok choy (yóucài), squid stir fried with garlic chives, clams steamed in a sweet chile sauce, potato salad, and watermelon (xīguā).  This was delicious food - the Chinese have an expression for this which is: hǎo chī.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Benxi, Shenyang, and An Shan


We took a weekend excursion north up the peninsula to the Benxi Shui Dong (water cave) in Benxi, next, over to Shenyang (the capitol of Liaoning Province) and then south to Anshan to visit the Jade Buddha temple there before heading back home.


The Benxi Water Cave is an extensive cave system located at the Taizi River and is part of the Benxi Water Cave National Park. The entrance is a huge portal, 25m wide and 7m high. Right behind the entrance follows a deep, wide chamber with a pier big enough for 40 boats.  After entering the cave, you hop into one of the boats and the rest of the cave visit is done by boat. ...Loads of fun!










Imperial Palace (gugong) in Shenyang








Temple at Anshan

Largest Jade Buddha in the World
- carved from one solid piece of jade.



Enjoying Squid on a Stick

Monday, August 10, 2009

Gaupi Island


We went on an overnight trip to Gaupi Island which is a small island off the coast of China in the Yellow Sea. There were about 90 people, mostly Chinese but a good handfull of the expats, that went.  The whole trip was organzied by the social club and included shuttle bus, ferry, hotel accomodations, and all meals which came to about $50 dollars for both Sarah and me. 

The journey to the island was a bit chaotic to say the least but once were on the ferry, it got much better and eventually we did make it to our destination.

Some views from the ferry on the way over...

This is a view of a smaller island looking out the window of our hotel...


Guapi dao, is pretty small, undeveloped island.  There is a small hotel, more like a hostel, a few small rustic, home-style restaurants, and a lot of argriculture and fishing. This is how we were transported around the island - mainly between the main dock, the hotel, and the restaurant.

This is the restaurant where we had all of our meals (2 lunches, dinner, and breakfast).  The produce they use is growing all around the restaurant and of course the seafood comes from the sea which is only minutes away.


Lunch: a whole bunch of the most amazinly fresh and diverse seafood you can imagine.  Three or four Chinese women did all the cooking for the whole group in enormous woks that are commonly used in the rural parts of the country.



They just bringing what seems to be endless plates of seafood so the plates start to stack higher and higher...

A demonstration on how to eat sea urchins. They say "you either like them or you don't." We didn't try them so we don't know if that is true?  This guy fell in the love'em camp.


The beach...







Saturday, August 8, 2009

The Dalian International Beer Festival Part 2


The beer fest continues... Saturday night there is a get together (a stag party of sorts) for Chris, one of the Irish lads, who is going to get married soon. A whole bunch of expats and our local Chinese co-workers met at the Brooklyn Bar (an expat hang-out) for pizza and beer. Following dinner everyone (about 30 people) made our way to the beer festival for more fun.


Here, Chris mysteriously appeared at the back of stage dancing with the performers in the outfit he wore all evening long.



Eventually, many of us were invited to join Chris and the entertainers on stage for a song.


This is our table inside the German pavillion.



Some of my local teammates:


Craig and Yang Yang enjoying meat on a stick - a particularly spicy Sichuan variety:








Blue-boots and friends:




The Irish contingent were out in force for Chris's party:





Some of the entertainment for the night: