Food. I've heard some people like it. I also hear it's different if you go somewhere else. I'm going to start taking pictures of things I eat. So here's some of that.

The first is a small noodle shop on my street. I really dig this place, because they're open super early/super late, the food is amazing, and a giant bowl is about $2. It's run by a Muslim family with a toddler who is always running about getting into things. It's interesting that because he's so young, I've seen him grow up a lot in my short time here.

They actually have many dishes, but the one I usually get consists of extra wide noodles, with meat, peppers, garlic, and onions all in a delicious sauce. They make the noodles from scratch right in front of you, which is pretty snazzy. Overall, I like this place, and I want to write a review about it on Yelp. Alex Shebar, if you're reading - get on that.



Another interesting place are these little coffee stands all over the city. They sell coffee, of course, but also have things like tea, smoothies, that sort of thing. I had never gotten anything besides coffee before, but the other day I was very impressed with their mango smoothie. They also have a little grill where they make these little crepe things called shou jwa bing. That's not how you actually spell it, rather how you pronounce it. But for a quick snack or breakfast, they can't be beat. A flaky crepe like thing, with seasoned strips of chicken and tomato sauce on the inside. All of this can be yours for the low, low price of 65 cents. They have other varieties like egg, and different seasonings, vegetables, etc.. But so far the chicken one has been doing very well to me.








Also, I've said this before, but America - please steal the Chinese McDonalds. Quite frankly they do everything better than you, and every month or so there is a brand new sandwich to try. Not that I try to go to McDonalds every chance I get, but when you walk by it and see a chicken sandwich topped with bacon and cheese, you try and resist it. Last month it was one that had a tortilla chip on it. On a sandwich. A giant tortilla chip. Before that a burger with mashed potatoes.

The Chinese do fast food better than America - who knew?

Hey everyone! I have some downtime at work, which means bloggity blog blog. I indulged in some narcissism and read my past entries. I saw that a while back I said that I was going to talk about how restaurants work in China. I realize now that I'm a terrible person and never did that.

I mean, the basic premise is the same. You sit down, you order food. Something I have noticed though while dining with Chinese friends is that they're really picky on where they sit. I know some people are in the States, but pretty much every Chinese person I've had a meal with will reject the first seat offered. I don't know if this is some cultural dance I'm not privy to, but they seem to really care about where they sit.

Upon grabbing said table, you get menus, of course. Chinese menus are big on pictures, which is good for me. However you usually only get one menu per table, which I have to wonder if there is some cultural thing to do that - it's certainly not designed for efficiency. Now while you're all doing the dance trying to figure out what to order, your waiter is standing there. Waiting. And waiting. And waiting more. Honestly it's downright creepy, but they don't leave until you've paged through and decided. But then eventually, off they go.

When the food comes, it does not come out all at once. Everything is cooked to order, so the quick dishes with no prep will come out first. It's not customary to wait, so if you ordered the Thanksgiving Day turkey, be prepared to watch a lot of people eat. After that, the waiter disappears, and this is where Chinese restaurants do it better than we do. The waiter doesn't come back periodically, check to see if you need anything, "Is everything cooked alright?", or something like that. They just hang out, and when you need someone, you yell the Chinese equivilant of "pretty girl/handsome boy". And I do mean you yell, because they need to hear you across the restaurant. They come over, you tell them what you need, then they leave. There's no waiting. You get what you need, now. They don't have to constantly check like they're some clingy girlfriend. Really everyone wins, and I promise you I'm not actually being rude.

Oh, and the best part about restaurants over here? All the dishes are shared. Yes I suppose you can be greedy and say "This one is mine", but they go in the center of the table, and everyone has a tiny plate for the food they're about to eat. This sharing is totally awesome, and we should steal it. That's right. I'm advocating theft.

I don't really have a relevant picture this time, so here's a class that put a bow in my hair.