New Theme: Spanish French Toast, Green Curry and Hot Dogs

So after lots of deliberation over the direction that my blog has been heading in, I've decided to change the theme from a radio/travel blog to a food blog. This also lines up with my new found hobby, that being cooking and researching all things related to food. At my university we only have one dining hall for a couple thousand students and the food quality is less than satisfactory. Because of this I decided to purchase the smallest meal plan and then supplement that with cooking my own meals. It has been going very well and I would like to be able to use this as a way to show college students, and others, that it is possible to cook quality food with limited times, limited funds and limitless creativity and resolve. We'll see how long I'll be able to keep this up.


I guess the best way to start this would be to explain what I cooked today.

In my humble opinion, Sunday breakfast is one of the most important meals of the week. Usually it is pancakes day in my apartment but I decided to try something different. While creating my recipes binder (a collection of about 100 recipes, and growing) I came across a recipe for torrijas, spanish french toast made with a stale french baguette. Luckily enough I had a quickly-hardening baguette on the top of my fridge, and so I went about making the torrijas topped with powdered sugar and a side of bacon.

Then for dinner I decided to make a green curry with this paste that had been sitting in the cupboard for an amount of time that I can't publish in good conscience. Because of what I think believe is a result of all of the chili paste and soy sauce, my green curry became a red one, but the flavor is so good that I think I could put Bangkok Bistro out of business. It would also be terrible for me to forget to mention the hot dogs (for the picky-eating boyfriend), tomato-basil-mozzarella antipasto and sundried tomato and basil focaccia that humbly sat beside the curry at the dinner table.

That's all for now. I'll post the recipes and pictures of the results sometime tomorrow, as soon as I get them from my boyfriend's camera.

And just when I thought there was enough sin in this world...

This Is Why You're Fat, hold on to your asses. This one is so grotesque that I've been inspired to re-enter the blogosphere. Never have I experienced anything so offensive, at least since my trip to Lafashan, somewhere in Liaoning province a.k.a. bumblefuck, China.

Last night I was watching t.v. when a commercial came on for a sandwich, at least that is what it is called. "That just can't be," I exclaimed when the picture of the "food" was displayed across the screen. "Never in my life have I seen such a thing. Perhaps KFC is a little late on the April Fool's uptake." And just as suddenly as it appeared it disppeared and I dismissed it in the same way I dismiss my roommate's attempts to go to Yates1.

Then as I was reading the Huffington's Posts new food section, it appeared, just as suddenly, as frighteningly as it had the night before. This is no mere by-product of the KFC research and development dungeons. It's much more than that, a food phenomenon spitting in the face of Michelle Obama's campaign against Americans becoming by and large (pun most definitely intended) the worlds fattest fatties. I am so offended by this that I am considering writing a letter to KFC. I'm not sure who specifically right now, but it will be strongly worded, with lots of capitalized letters and exclamation points, because in the face of the unknown (this so-called sandwich), we as a society become fearful and angry. And right now, this sandwich scares me and makes me angry.

There is a phrase in Chinese that goes 苛政猛于虎, meaning a severe government is more ferocious than a tiger. In present times that phrase often goes 网毒猛于虎, meaning that the "internet drug" is more ferocious than a tiger, relating to the pervasiveness of internet addiction in modern Chinese society. I think in America the phrase, 食毒猛于虎, or the "food drug" is more ferocious than a tiger, is very applicable in these times and we are now experience one of its most ferocious manifestations.

End Notes:
1. Yates Field House is the gym at Georgetown University. My roommate has not cast as much as a shadow there since 2008.

For Further Reading

The KFC Double Down: One Sandwich to Kill You All

Michelle Obama's Obesity Plan: in the Nick of Time

Trends in Obesity in the US from 1999-2008

Obesity Trends by State and Race, 1999-2008

临行之前的看法 : Thoughts upon Leaving China

In a little less than one hour I will be checking out of the hotel, in 3 I will be heading off to Beijing International Airport and in 6 hours and 20 minutes my plane will be taking off.

China has been an interesting experience. I spent most of my time in Harbin complaining about the food at the cafeteria, the unkempt-ness of the city, the ignorance of the people, the lack of real Chinese culture and the coldness of the weather. But upon arriving in Beijing, I feel like I've been exposed to the kind of China I've been longing for: clean streets, large buildings, relatively friendly people, with a touch of Westernization.

As I said earlier, Harbin was a let down and I plan on making a pact with myself to never go back to that city, but Beijing has given made me more excited about the prospect of coming back here and I'm glad that I got to end my study abroad experience this way.

Now, just 24 hours and I will be in Newark airport praying my parents don't forget to pick me up.

Beijing's Second Impression

When my plane landed in Beijing it was smoggy and cloudy and gray. I thought it had been raining but it was just the humidity of the city mixed with severe pollution, topped with my disappointment. Now, however, it might be the anxiousness of sitting in Beijing International Airport 24 hours from now or the clarity that you get from studying for a semester in China and coming to the realization that both you and your cab driver understand each other, but while I'm in Beijing I'm liking it more and more.

I was not happy while I was in Harbin but I have no regrets about studying abroad there I have tried not to let that influence my entire impression of China. But, upon leaving Harbin, I thought that I would not be able to live here at any point in my life. But so far, a light is beginning to shine again on that possibility, though only in Beijing (and Shanghai). At the very least, I will try to come back here if I have the chance.

When I get back to the US I know I will have lots of people asking me what I thought of my time abroad and I still haven't decided if I will lie about whether I liked it more not, but coming to Beijing and having this time to contemplate being in China has allowed me to begin to pick out the good moments of this experience.

Classes are Over!

After 15 weeks of whining, moaning, fighting through what seemed like an army's worth of Chinese students/random old people digging through garbage cans for bottles, and baring temperatures up to -20 degrees Fahrenheit (or should I say down to, it just doesn't seem to have the same ring), I am done with classes.

There is something satisfying in be able to say that I'm done with classes, but I was really hoping more for a sense of closure and the feeling that the end is near. But in all honesty, I don't see what at this point should be an extremely bright light at the end of the tunnel. So for now I'll just lower my head and push through the last barrier, 2 finals tomorrow, 1 final Thursday, and 1 final Friday.

It's also hard to imagine myself a week from now waking up 7000 miles away from this place. And that is a little unfortunate because it's thoughts like that that have gotten me through this semester.

Hopefully, upon completing my finals, I can get, and should get, the kind of closure about the program really being over that I can't get through posting on a blog. For now I'll just revel in this temporary joy.

9 Days and Counting...

After finishing my last full week of classes I figure it is time to begin reflecting on my semester her at CET Harbin.

Academically, I am satisfied with the program and I feel like the rigor of the classes, without any overwhelming sense of stress or anxiety, along with the benefits of studying standard Mandarin in Northeast China has gotten my Chinese to a level that it would not have been able to reach by studying in the States alone. I think it's also important to keep in mind that upon coming here I had a good Chinese language foundation thanks to Georgetown having a good Chinese department as well as relatively good study skills and personal motivation and those were also factors in my improvement.

Administratively, the program is lacking and I am currently working on a letter to send to CET headquarters in DC. The resident director, Li Laoshi, and that guy that was always in her office and for some reason was on CET payroll, Xuan Laoshi, and the resident advisor, Connie, are all nice people. Unfortunately, they are also utterly ineffective, unreachable and opaque in terms of what it is that they do, if it is the case that they are doing anything. Basically, I think that there needs to be a trimming down of resident staff, more responsibility on them to plan more cultural events for us, and for them to be a visible, transparently-operating, knowledgeable contact who not only lets us reach out to them but makes an effort to reach out to us.

In terms of Harbin, this is a terrible city. Whoever did the city planning must have been on crack, the infrastructure is in terrible condition, and for a place called the "ice city" there is not one plow in the city. They just let it snow, let people walk all over it and pack it down, wait a day or two for it to completely freeze over, then hit it with a shovel and scratch at the ground til they get it up and throw it into a truck so they can ship all of the frozen snow out of the city. And then the process happens again the next time it snows. And it snows a lot here. And I think this instance is a good analogy for not just how Harbin handles things, but how China handles things. They let the problem exist and watch the situation compress under the stress of a billion people until they have to deal with it and then scrape away at it and cart it out of the city, only for it to be followed by another issue.

As far as the end of the semester, I have "classes" on Monday and Tuesday but they are more review sessions and are kind of half-assed so that is not an issues. Then two finals Wednesday, one Thursday (incidentally my 20th birthday), and one on Friday (Jarrett's, a Georgetown classmate here in Harbin, 21st Birthday). Then Saturday is graduation/train to Beijing, chill on Sunday, then a Monday evening, Beijing time, flight to Chicago, followed by a Monday evening, freedom/eastern standard time, flight to Newark.

Lots to look forward to, as in looking forward to getting out of this place.

Blogger and Youtube are now unblocked in China

After realizing that my VPN wasn't working this morning I've been grappling with the idea that I might have to deal with restricted internet for the next 3 weeks. But today's great surprise is that China has unblocked youtube and blogger. Hopefully this will be inspiration to do some more blogging before I'm back in the states. I guess we'll see.

Nothing is Free-flowing in China

From democracy to trade to toilet water, nothing flows freely in China.

They shut down the water in the dorm. And it is one thing to shut it down, but with out any 通知 lining the walls to inform us of this, they do it randomly in the middle of a Sunday, preventing me from taking a shower and taking away the ability of one of my suite-mates to flush down whatever is festering in the toilet right now.

Enjoy that image, for now I'm going to hunt down the crazy ai-yi and bitch her out until I can drown my sorrows in a 15 minute shower (the longest shower you can take before the hot water heater is completely drained.

Single Person Festival

Today is 光棍儿节 in China. 光棍儿节, pronounced "gwang gur ge-ay" is the official anti-valentine's-day day in China. Literally translated it means "bachelor's day" btu it isn't restricted to the millions of men that will not find a wife due to the millions of baby girls being killed off each year in a very 21st century 重男清女 ("strong man, light woman") fashion. Chinese society manages to reconcile this 男女不平等的问题 ("the problem of inequality between men and women") by allowing the millions of women that some how manage not to find a husband in this bachelor-dominated society nor escape into the arms of a blond-haired blue-eyed foreigner to celebrate as well.

Naturally the Chinese have found a way to trivialize dates. They first point out that on November Eleventh the date happens to be 11/11, and then they have to take it that much further by being like, oh four ones in a row imply that on this day the single people must gather together and support each other in their loneliness.

And so, in an authentically Chinese manner, they manage to ruin something that I didn't think they had the capacity to ruin: a random date in the middle of November.

Future Posts to look out for:

How I Told the Dorm Aid to Take my Temperature by "[Doing] my Milk House"
Bromance and Girl-on-Girl: The Evolution of Friendship in China
Lao Wai: How to go from Being Judged to Being the Judge

37 Days, 39 days, 41 days - Doesn't Matter Which One As Long as I'm Counting Down

37 days until the start of finals. 39 days until the end of finals. 41 days until I fly out of Beijing and into Chicago/Newark. (Thank you time zones for allowing me to fly out of China and Land in the US on, technically, the same day.) These numbers, which thankfully get smaller with each passing day, are the bulk of the conversations that I have with people nowadays.

It seems sad that at this point what is characterizing my experience in China is the extreme desire to be home. Every day it feels like a struggle to get out the door each day and deal with the things that make me not like this place. And the fact that as a foreigner it is entirely impossible to assimilate into the culture and way of life here, not just because it is completely foreign but because the people have the inability to allow non-Chinese people to fully experience China, it makes it hard to adjust to life in China. The fact is I don't really like Harbin and I'm completely unapologetic about it.

I feel as though if I were in a different city in China and in a different capacity it would be a very different experience. Of course I chose my first China experience to be that of a Chinese student deep in dongbei (northeast/ghetto) China at an intensive language program. And that has scarred my experience here. But I try to keep an open mind and recognize that when I come back to China it will be a good experience. But at this point I just want to be home.