Beijing

Arrive in Beijing from Xin Jiang at about 1pm. Went to Pingod apartments where my cousin P stays. After catching up a little, we decided to take a walk in Ritan.

We had a beer to welcome me to Beijing at a Germany restaurant in ritan business park. Then walk around the park a little. Ritan is not like Tiantan, which is very touristy, but it does have some ancient ruins. It feels like a park which the locals used for their recreation activities. P has taken on rock climbing rather seriously, and the park has a climbing wall, so this is his regular hangout.

We stop by Xiu Shui Street (秀水街） after our walk in Ritan. I really did not have much to buy, but figure I could use a new sports watch. There are some sporty looking fake Nike and Reebok watches, but none of them has lap timer feature. The sales person complaint I am being difficult. "These are all fakes!", she exclaims. I had imagined the fake watches would have all the features of their real counterparts, but implementing lap timer feature on a fake must be too costly:)

Dinner was at Lao Beijing Luju Huo Shao (老北京卤煮火烧） in Jinbao street（金宝街）. P informed me the food here is very authentic. There were several taxi-cabs parked outside the restaurants, and the cabbies were all inside having dinner.

We started with 4 cold dishes: Xin Li Mei carrot skins（心里美萝卜皮）, Century eggs with tofu（皮蛋豆腐）, napa cabbage with yellow wasabi（芥辣白菜墩） and ma tofu（麻豆腐）. Then 2 bowls of Luju（卤煮）. Then got adventurous and order huo shao donkey meat（火烧驴肉）, served in shao bing, plus dog aspic（狗肉冻）. Wash everything down with Red Star Er Wo Tou(红星二窝头）.

Xin Li Mei carrot skins is a pickled carrot skin. The carrot skin is a special type of carrot with green skin on the outside, and a pinkish skin on the inside, sliced thinly. The pickling is not too tart and the vegetable is still quite crunchy. Pretty good dish.

Napa cabbage with yellow wasabi is exactly what is being described. The cabbage has been pickled with a yellowish liquid and pack quite a punch. Good on days where allergies is serious:)

Comparatively, century egg with tofu is a very normal dish. Good, but normal. Soft tofu is slice then soy sauce and sesame oil is poured over the tofu. It is then topped with century egg. A good contrast in texture and flavor between the mild taste of tofu and century egg. I might try to recreate that dish at home.

Ma tofu is the fermented soy bean residue left over from making tofu or soy milk, stir fried with diced spicy dried chili pepper. I enjoy the texture of the dish and the spicy aroma of the fired chili pepper. Again, another dish difficult to recreate due to lack of soy bean residue.

Luju is a bowl of pig's intestines, five spice tofu and pieces of flour, cooked in a flavorful broth. I cannot really make out what the exact ingredients of the broth, but do taste some fulu (腐乳) . Very satisfying soup base. I think I end up drinking more soup then eating the intestines.

Donkey meat is a little unusual. It is quite soft, but not melt in your mouth soft. There is still some texture in the meat, but no stringiness. There is no strong donkey flavor(whatever that would be...), but it was clearly not chicken, beef, lamb or pork. I don't know if I consider it good enough to order again.

Comparatively, dog aspic has a dog like smell to it...in a bad way. I did not like this dish at all. It is my first taste of dog meat and besides saying I have eaten dog, I really cannot recommend the dish to anyone. Probably it is the preparation, and an acquired taste, but not a dish I will ordered again.

After dinner we had a drink at Q Bar. The owners: Echo and George, were bar tenders at Long Cafe, where we had drinks 2 years ago on my last visit to Beijing. I like the atmosphere of the bar and am a sucker for roof top garden. I have 3 special grape martini, which is not too sweet and got quite drunk.

A good break from the rather hectic silk route travel schedule. I like going to museums and visit natural scenery on my vacation, but just catching up with family/friends is fun too.