Mangosteens
July 13th, 2008
I’ve been meaning to get a photo of this crazy fruit since we first saw it, but here’s one from Tomato Egg Noodles:
Tomato Egg Noodles also has this to say:
The mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana)????? is a small, round purplish fruit native to Malaysia. To eat it, one must remove the thick outer skin to reveal the […]
Nuren Jie
April 6th, 2008
Yesterday, Stick and I went exploring at the famous Lady Street (Nuren Jie). They have some gorgeous flower stalls, manicure and massage places, and lots of clothes shopping. The shopping was kind of like a less pushy, more expensive Silk Market. I saw a couple cute t-shirts and sundresses, but I wasn’t too impressed and […]
Illiterate At Best
February 24th, 2008
I’ve hit a frustrating plateau with my Chinese-speaking. When I speak, I give the tones a good shot, and hope for the best. If I can’t get the tone of “glass” right, hopefully the rest of the sentence, usually “I’d like one of beer” will make my meaning clear. Unfortunately, my vocab’s hitting a point […]
Snacking With Trimalchio
February 8th, 2008
When I lived in Yantai, I believed I had been offered every bit of sealife imaginable. Like most theories I had about China, this turned out to be inaccurate.
I think the seahorses might have been a novelty item even for locals, but we saw three or four people chowing down on starfish kabobs.
It was […]
Russian Mirage
February 5th, 2008
Stick and I went exploring down the Russian street between the Ritan Park Jenny Lou’s and The Place. It’s at the eastern end of Ritan Bei Lu, where it meets Dongdaqiao Lu. The last time I was at The Place, it was all done up for Christmas. I thought it was fairy-light overload then, but […]
Wangfujing Snack Street
January 13th, 2008
It’s time for another trip to Wangfujing to visit the foreign-language bookstores! I’ve read everything in the house at least twice (Except for Scarlett, because seriously, once was more than enough.) and needed to restock, and Stick was looking for a German-English dictionary because he’s decided to learn German instead of Chinese.
On our way to […]
OK Computer
January 11th, 2008
Chris Anderson , the editor of Wired, is interviewed on 123-reg blog about what Anderson calls the long tail effect, that is, our shift from a few major mainsteam products to a “long tail” of smaller niche products. The shift from bestsellers to blogs is interesting, and really encouraging for a small-time writer, but I […]
Sunday Afternoon
October 14th, 2007
This afternoon, Stick and I took a long walk to our new favorite restaurant. Our new spot isn’t very different from any of the other little not-dumpling restaurants in the area, but the differences are significant ones. The tables and plates are clean, and the staff are friendly. The first time we went, I asked […]
Not The Same
October 8th, 2007
This is Stick about to eat hot pot (did I mention how awesome hotpot is? ‘Cause it is. Unless it gave me food poisoning…) We went to Da Bu Tong, apparently it’s pretty famous for varieties of hotpot broth and ingredients to put in it. (Da Bu Tong or Not The Same is on […]
Beef Noodle Shop
September 20th, 2007
Last night we went to a little restaurant a few blocks from the school. From the Arabic on the sign, and the lack of pork on the menu, it’s probably a Muslim place. (This is always reassuring to me because they tend to have really clean kitchens, something that is not always part of […]


