Food Fest! Have you had your duck blood today?

We went to the Shanghai Jade Garden. I think that was the name. I am obviously behind on this blog and am pulling things from memory. If you have a big party going into a restaurant here in China, they have separate rooms in which to dine. I mean real separate rooms with doors and a big table and a couch and credenza and your own wait staff. I must say that the food service is very fast in restaurants here. Then again, when you don’t take the time to debone, skin, or remove anything on an animal, it makes it pretty easy to fix. I can’t even remember all of the food that came out. There had to be 20 different dishes. I think this is where the frog legs were served rather than at my first meal. They eat a lot of duck. Smoked duck, spicy duck, roasted duck, cold duck, warm duck, AFLAK!!!!

There were ginko nuts, (I had chestnuts the night before), duck, frog legs, Chinese cabbage, fish, (this time I saw it come to the table) shrimp, (heads, feet, everything), dish after dish of different things and some kind of rice wine thing for desert. Let me say now that they do not know what sweet is in China. Chocolate is not popular. You can get it, but it is not appreciated. Desserts are not as we know them. Then again, I did not see heavy people. I could never buy anything in a clothing store here. XXL fits my size 5 daughter. One of the things that I particularly liked was the lotus root. It was deep-fried and was stuffed with meat, probably pork, which was very tasty. There were dumplings. I grew fond of Chinese dumplings dipped in a soy vinegar sauce while I was there. There was a rice, (I assume), bread that looked like a dumpling but tasted like a roll that was good, and a chicken and vegetable dish that looked like something you might actually get at a Chinese restaurant in the US. I had to have a fork and knife, I still could not use the chopsticks, and I would have been totally nervous in front of all those people using them. The problem is, forks and knives are not conducive to Chinese food. There is too much to spit out. Duck bones, fish bones, hard things, (don’t ask, I really don’t know), and long stuff that you can’t put in your mouth all at once; it’s a messy business, and western utensils just don’t work. You can’t pull shrimp heads out of your mouth with a fork, but chopsticks work real well. I don’t know how they shell those suckers while they are in their mouths, but I was amazed. I just did it with my fingers, there was no way I was going to master that talent on the first try. Plus, I really did not want to bite off a shrimp head. I thought at first that they were eating them, but I was mistaken (at least I think so). I saw something that pleased me. There were supposed to be 12 of us at lunch, but there were only 9 so everything that was served had 3 left over. When we left the restaurant, someone took some of the leftovers in a doggie bag. Looks like some cultural things are universal.

With lunch and evaluations behind us, we went back to the office. Every time I was in the office, I tried to get as much done as possible. It was my only network time and I was so far behind from losing a day that I was never going to catch up with my other responsibilities. At around 6:00 “J” was asking if I would like to go for dinner. It had been a long day, and we were both ready to go, so off we went to dinner. We ate in one of the the shopping mall/office buildings that were close to the office. Tonight it is spicy Szechwan food. I love spicy food. “J” orders for us. She asks me what I would like to try, but I am game for anything and tell her to order what she likes. Tonight I will try the chopsticks. First comes a cold dish of fish. It looks like it has been fried. “J” tells me how to eat around the bones. I tell you, that is the hardest thing I am finding about the food here. I know why everyone is so thin. They work off calories as they eat by eating around bones! The smaller portions may be part of it too. They aren't like the American "hogs to the trough" size. Anyway, although I am not a huge fish fan, this is alright. Using the chopsticks seems to be easy at this point, and “J” actually says I am doing a good job.

Have I mentioned how great “J” is? She has been an absolute treasure since I have gotten here. She is very protective and has been at my side for every move.

Next dish is a cold dish of jellyfish head. OK, I had that last night and it wasn’t my favorite, but different restaurant, different taste……..maybe. Ok…………..NOT a different taste. I just can’t get over that gristly chewy texture, cause really, what can you do to "see through goo" to make it taste different? My son has made this comment “At what point do you see a jellyfish and decide Huh! That would be tasty!” Then again, he is an assistant manager at a plasma donation site and one donor made the comment that he would like to taste his plasma (his own, not my son’s). So anything is possible I guess. One more thing on the jellyfish, one of my colleagues told me that it was one of his favorite dishes, but his wife didn’t like it. He said he liked to eat it with a little piece hanging out of his lip to gross her out. HAHAHAHA! Men are the same everywhere aren’t they?

Next dish was a spicy eggplant. I liked this. When “J” was ordering, she wanted to make sure I wanted to try it because it was very hot. I said if she could eat it, I could eat it. Texas chili, jalapenos, habaneras, and a pepper that comes from Guam that is unbelievably hot have tempered my mouth over the years. I didn’t think I would have any problem with this. Sorry, no funny story here, it really was not as hot as I expected it to be, but it was very tasty.

Now we have a dish served that is duck blood and something else. When I ask what the "something else" is, the answer is “beef intestine”. OK, I am here; I am game. I just can’t figure out how the little squares of duck blood stay congealed when it is hot. It has the consistency of slippery tofu. It is a little harder to pick up with chopsticks, but if you are careful it can be done. Now I ask you, what is the proper way to eat duck blood? Do you chew it, or do you just let it slide down? I remember many many years ago; I went to a party where there were raw oysters served. I put Tabasco sauce on them and just sucked them down out of the shell. No chewing involved. Are raw oysters still alive? I really liked them and ate too many. I wasn’t doing so well the next day. I don’t think I have had raw oysters since then. Anyway, I just picked up the DB and gave it one bite then let it slide. I don’t think I can give a fair evaluation of the taste because my brain was going “YOU’RE EATING DUCK BLOOD!! YOU’RE EATING DUCK BLOOD!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU’RE EATING DUCK BLOOD!!” It kind of overwhelmed my taste center, and in turn made my gag reflex go “Brain has told me you are eating duck blood, abort……abort……abort!” However, I was able to push through this and get it down along with a couple more. I tried the beef intestine too. It was speckled brown ( I am hoping that was the natural color after cleaning) and a little rubbery; kind of like eating a piece of fat. This was not my favorite dish so far, but everything has to be given a chance. By this time I hear Scotty (another Star Trek reference for those of you who don’t know) in my brain “I’ve tried everything capt’n and I can’t get her to respond. She’s eating everything they put in front of her!”

Last dish is a dessert. “J” likes sweets. She is a very attractive woman, tall and slender, but she thinks she is too heavy. My left leg is bigger than her…………….

Anyway, sweets in China are not very sweet. Many people do not like sweets and any chocolate that you find is not indigenous to the area. The same goes for pastries, breads, cheeses, milk, (although there is soy milk). This dessert was a boiled dumpling with brown lacing which was sesame and in the middle was mildly sweet black sesame. Interestingly, the sesame in the middle was as dry as a bone. This came to the table in a hot bowl of water with a ladle to scoop out the dumplings. I assume it is the same water in which it was cooked. This was tasty. Not a chocolate mousse by any stretch, but still tasty.

After dinner we walk back to the hotel. My feet are beginning to feel painful. I have been walking more than I usually do and I only brought dress shoes with me. The ones I have on are flats, but it feels like I have been walking barefoot and the balls of my feet are painful and that stupid pinky toe on my right foot has curved under my 4th toe again making it go pointy because when I walk, I walk on the side of the toe. After walking all day at the hospital, it is bothering me. And I have been walking up stairs………I am just fine on a level surface, but stairs kill me. I am already hypoxic most of the time and I get air hungry pretty quickly on stairs. I feel like “The Little Engine That Could” going up stairs. I THINK I can, I THINK I can, I THINK I can. As long as I don’t have to talk for a few minutes after I finish climbing, I am OK.

Tomorrow is a big day. I will be doing training for the staff at the hospital. One of the team members here in the office has made my slides bilingual. That should help.