Back after Chinese New Year!
Hi to everyone, havent been around much since we went to Shanghai last week for Chinese New Year. It is like Christmas to most Chinese. They love to get their family togather and have food, food and more food!
I thought that I had OD'ed on oranges, pumpkin seeds and other junk foods! LOL! We had several big dinners at the restaurants. The dinners are served very differently than in US. First, there are 8 to 10 saucer sized cold dishes served. They are like little snacks and can be things like cold wine drunken chicken, cucumbers in a special soy sauce, pickled vegtables, sliced cold meats, camphor smoked duck pieces, and other tasty treats. Most are salty but sometimes they order some that are sweet too, like lotus root, with glutonous rice stuffing which is candied in a syrup. Very sweet!
Next comes raw fish shashimi, sometimes in a little boat, or in the shape of roses.... then roasted chicken or Peking duck with the little pancakes and plum sauce. Then a variety of meat and vegtable dishes or tofu dishes are served. Then noodle and rice dishes come and finally a sweet soup and then a large meat soup at the end of the meal. Bowls of rice are not usually served until the end of the meal, something like a filler if you are still hungry. (This is unlike the Cantonese, who have a bowl of rice as a bed for each bite they take onto the plate, (bowl). There are also steamed dumplings and sweet dumplings depending on the area of China you are in.
Sometimes, the chef makes a special dish if you are attending a banquet. One time, the chef made little penguins skiiing down a slope into a tray of fluffy merangue! This time, it was a shallow fried basket of carrot, crispy, with small pieces of melon in it, then covered with whipped cream and decorated to look like a dog, since it is the year of the dog!
Usually it is about 30 to 50 dishes which are served in a large dinner banquet. Each is presented to the table by the server and the name of the dish is announced. Quite a fun experience, but for someone with a small tummy, a challenge not to over eat and be able to stay for the entire 2 to 3 hour meal experience!!!!!
I know that some of you talked about Chinese food perhaps having meats that were something you would not eat, however, mostly Cantonese people eat these things, not folks in the rest of China, and they are considered very expensive and a delicacy so not served at a regular table as a part of the meal. So, don't worry, foods like Dog, Cat or Snake are far too exotic to land on the table when you go to eat Chinese food! LOL!
The best by far is going to eat Dim Sum (LIttle snacks) There is a good restaurant in Houston, if you go there which have the ladies with the steam carts who go around and you can look and choose your snacks to have with tea....Great fun!!!!!!
My elderly mother in law got sick while we were there and now seems to be getting better. We had a good visit and a lot of rest. I mostly watched TV and read, although did buy a few things at the market. Now we are back in busy Hong Kong working......
Thought you might like to know more about life in China.......
Have a great week!
Cheryl
Cheryl 
My husband is a professor and he took a job at the University in Hong Kong. I went along for the ride and within a month or so was also teaching, did a year at the U, then 2 years at one school and 6 years at my current school, teaching Art. Any teachers interested in a teaching job here in HK????? I can give you the info..... It is a good job and the opportunity to travel is great, especially for retired teachers!
How exciting! I am a Speech Language Pathologist and did a few years of traveling assignments around the U.S. I've seen ads in our professional journals for positions overseas. Until now, I didn't seriously consider abroad but now I've heard about your travels I will consider it when my kids are in college.
Thanks,
Elesha
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