We're two months into our stay in Beijing and we've all concluded pretty much what Dan concluded within the first few months of his arrival: we don't really love Beijing. It's not something easily pin-downable, just the sense of having to slog through everything here. Maybe we can just put it down to the fact that none of us are city folks. I think lots of people (foreigners included) like living in Beijing, but we're not really included in that group.
I've gotten used to being in Hangzhou, I think, where people are a little more laid back, friendlier, less likely to gape. In the first week it was a bit of a shock, how people stare - and it was all the more strange since there are lots of foreigners in this neighborhood due to the university, so it's really not like we're a novelty. I found I adopted a habit of not really looking at people, there was just too much pointedness in people's looks. Blech. Service is pretty unfriendly as well. Ah well, there you have it, life in a big city.
We'll be heading back to Hangzhou for a long weekend in a few weeks, which will be great.
The good thing to come out of this realization, though, is that we've been working to find things we like about being here. Surprisingly we came up with quite a list that, though it doesn't take all the blech out Beijing, at least reminds us that it's not all worth complaining about.
Stay tuned for some of the positives...
August 31, 2008
August 24, 2008
The Poor People's Olympic Event
Even though we might have had a chance to buy tickets to Olympic events (last year, when they went on sale), we never really committed to trying to get tickets to anything. Last week we did walk by the volleyball stadium which is about 4 (big) blocks away - there were lots of people asking if anyone had tickets to sell so we gave up any thought of obtaining some and checking out an event.
Anyway, last Sunday we actually tried to get out for the Women's Marathon but had figured it would be later than it actually was. The noise of 4 helicopters got us out of the house quickly, but it was pretty much done by the time we got there. We hung out a little and cheered for the last place runner, though.
This morning we went out and watched the Men's Marathon as the runners passed by the front gate of the university.We were early enough to cross the road and stand on the side where the runners were running. Stationed just a bit past the 22 mile mark, we were all surprised that there was such a small number of runners (maybe somewhere around 70 or 80 by the official count but several did not start or did not finish).
There was no real "pack" except for the few groups of 5 or 6 who'd go by periodically, so it never seemed like there were that many. I think they all passed in about 15 minutes.
I observed that the crowd was extremely lackluster. We hollered for everybody (sometimes in the runner's own language if Dan happened to know how to say "hi"), and gave an especial cheer to the runners from countries that are home to some of our friends (Mexico, Brasil, Tanzania, Japan, Korea, Israel). We couldn't tell where a lot of the runners were from, but we whistled for them all. 
The crowd only perked up when a Chinese runner came by (I think there were only two), though toward the end a few other people started yelling, "Jia You!" to anybody who passed by. I don't think I would've expected anything else, knowing how things work here, but it would've been nice for the crowd to cheer all those hard working athletes on. Ah well, I'm an idealist.
August 18, 2008
The Kingdom of Really Good Popsicles
I do believe we've found the popsicle holy-land, here in China. We never knew what was possible, being from the land of something as weird as Otter Pops. Having given up on popsicles in the U.S., other than the ones we made ourselves (coconut/pineapple juice with banana - yum!), we've been converted!
Here's what we've found so far:
Hawthorn - tart and sweet
Cantaloupe/Honeydew (two flavors, two colors, swirled)
Sweet Red Bean (Dan's favorite)
Sweet Mung Bean (surrounded by vanilla ice)
Yogurt (tangy sweet)
Green Apple 'Jello' - as it melts it's actually jello-y
Yogurt with dried pineapple and raisins
Pineapple with icy crunches in the middle
Orange - with orange flavored ice on the outside and 50/50 style orange & cream on the inside
Orange and honey with chunks of orange-y ice and orange zest throughout
Purple taro root - admittedly, not that tasty
Strawberry
Coffee ice cream
Coconut
Bubblegum flavor
Iced Honey Peach
Kiwi
Milk - kind of like sweet milk (ice milk maybe)
Cake (like a white cake)
The smart things: the icy coating on some keeps the softer 'ice-cream' in the middle from melting too quickly and contains it when it does start to melt; the icy chunks in the middle are tasty and fun to crunch without being too hard.
posted by all of us.
Here's what we've found so far:
Hawthorn - tart and sweet
Cantaloupe/Honeydew (two flavors, two colors, swirled)
Sweet Red Bean (Dan's favorite)
Sweet Mung Bean (surrounded by vanilla ice)
Yogurt (tangy sweet)
Green Apple 'Jello' - as it melts it's actually jello-y
Yogurt with dried pineapple and raisins
Pineapple with icy crunches in the middle
Orange - with orange flavored ice on the outside and 50/50 style orange & cream on the inside
Orange and honey with chunks of orange-y ice and orange zest throughout
Purple taro root - admittedly, not that tasty
Strawberry
Coffee ice cream
Coconut
Bubblegum flavor
Iced Honey Peach
Kiwi
Milk - kind of like sweet milk (ice milk maybe)
Cake (like a white cake)
The smart things: the icy coating on some keeps the softer 'ice-cream' in the middle from melting too quickly and contains it when it does start to melt; the icy chunks in the middle are tasty and fun to crunch without being too hard.
posted by all of us.
August 12, 2008
Aikido in Beijing
Devin and I were really hopeful that we'd find Aikido in Beijing. It exists. It even exists relatively close to our house, I came to find out. It has, however, suffered under the Olympic preparations that have gripped this city and is temporarily not happening. Apparently the space this particular dojo uses for practice is being rented out for the duration of the games (as well as during the Paralympics that are in September). So, we're out of luck for now. I don't know what we'll be doing in October (there seems to be travel in our future), but if we're in Beijing for any length of time, hopefully we'll have a chance to continue with our practice.
Hong Dou Baozi
I used to make these back in the U.S., but figured I wouldn't be making them much, once we got to China. It turns out, though, that they're not very common in our neighborhood. We used to get really great ones in Hangzhou - very fluffy and packed with sweet red-bean paste. The little shop that sold them also sold really good vegetable buns as well as pork buns. I assumed we'd find pretty much the same thing in Beijing, but though northerners are known for their diet that includes more wheat, there's a serious lack of good steamed buns in our immediate vicinity.
The supermarket carries one version of hong dou baozi, but we all agreed that they were mediocre: too much dry bread and not enough smooth, tasty bean paste.
I foundpackages of dousha (the sweet red bean filling) on the supermarket shelf so knew success was close behind (that was half the battle, just finding that there actually was adzuki bean paste available). I have a recipe for dousha though I've never made it - it's available at the Korean store (Kim's Mart, which is owned by our friends/former neighbors) and it is cheap and easy to just buy it.
Anyway, I never really learned an official version of hong dou baozi, I just modified a bread recipe I used to use - you could use any recipe you're more familiar with if you wish.
This time, since I don't have my baking utensils, I just measured by eye - it turned out just fine, but I'll give you the measurements so you have an idea of what you're working with.
Bread recipe:
1/4 cup warm water (not too hot)
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp yeast
Mix these three ingredients together in a small bowl - let sit for about 10 minutes, so the yeast can proof.
In a large bowl add:
2 cups water
2 Tbsp oil
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
Mix these. After the yeast has proofed, add it to the liquids in the large bowl.
6 cups of flour can be gradually added to the liquids. Eventually it'll become dough and be very sticky. Keep adding flour until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Keep stirring, trying to incorporate as much of the flour as possible early on.
When it becomes too stiff to stir, flour your table surface well and put the dough on that. Flour your hands and start kneading, adding more flour as the dough reveals its true stickiness.
You may need to add an additional 1/2 cup of flour or so. No worries. Just keep kneading, until the dough is supple and smooth which will indicate that the gluten is well developed.
At this point I wash the large bowl and then coat it lightly with vegetable oil. When I'm sure I've kneaded the dough long enough, I set the dough ball in, upside down, flip it over (so it's gotten lightly oiled all over) and then cover it and leave it to sit. Your rising time will vary depending on how warm your house is. Let it rise until it's doubled in size (more or less) but not so long that when you stick your finger in it it gives a big sigh and collapses completely.
Deflate the dough gently, then let it sit for about ten or fifteen minutes - it would be fine to take it out of the bowl and let it sit on the table.
Divide the dough into four equal pieces - set three of the pieces aside and cover them with plastic wrap so they don't dry out. Make a "snake" of the one other piece (a very very thick snake with about a 1 1/2 to 2 inch diameter) and cut it into rounds so that when you roll them in your hand they'll end up about ping-pong ball sized (or maybe like a golf ball would be ok). Roll them all into balls and let them sit, covered, while you work with each one.
Now you're ready to make the baozi.
Take a ball and roll it out with a rolling pin so that it maintains its circular shape (not elongating into an oval). The Chinese way to do this is to hold the dough in one hand and the rolling pin in the other (Chinese rolling pins are like dowels with curved edges, so you can use it one-handedly) and the hand holding the dough rotates it after each stroke of the rolling pin so that all parts of the edge get flattened. The middle usually ends up a little thicker. The point here is that you should just do what works best for you.
When you have a nicely flattened round that's about 1/4 inch thick, take a spoonful of the dousha and put it right in the center.
At this next point I can't pretend I'm any good at making baozi - Real Chinese Baozi-Makers are impressively nimble-fingered and they turn out beautiful creations. Amateurs like me - well, I'm a little slow and I always end up saying, "Yep, they're ugly but they still taste good."
I use a method for wrapping them up that is more akin to dumpling wrappers, but it works - it holds the dousha in for the amount of time it takes to steam and eat the bun. I don't know if it'll translate well as a written description, but here goes:
Holding the dough round (with it's dousha in the middle) in my left hand, I use my right thumb, index and middle fingers to pinch the edge of the dough like I might to make a pie crust edge. Pinching it tightly, I walk my fingers forward to make another pinch - effectively making small waves in the edge of the dough as I go around the circle, pinching each one to the one previously made. Around, around, and at the end I just pinch it some more.
You migh wish to follow Merlin's instructions - " close it up into any shape, just make sure it's closed." That's what we normally do when I have help - we end up a with a hodge-podge of shapes that we then try to identify after steaming ("oh, that's the cranky bull-dog!" "look, there's your purse!").
When you have enough to fill your steamer basket... oh yeah, you need some steaming apparatus, generally a large pot, a tray to set all the baozi out of the water, and some sort of perforated dish or something like that on which they can be lowered and lifted out of the pot. I've used bamboo steamers, vegetable steamers, and the like - a colander might even work.
Ok, when you have enough to fill your steamer basket, go ahead and set them with a little space around each bun. Then put them into the pot and turn the heat on. Steam them for 10 minutes - start timing once you see actual steam coming out of the pot.
At the end of ten minutes, turn off the heat and remove the buns to a rack to cool. They're edible as soon as they're handle-able.
This recipe makes a bunch (it's enough dough to make four loaves of bread) but we end up eating them fast - and I usually take a good portion of them, after they've cooled, and stick them in the freezer. They make for a fast, easy breakfast because they just need to be re-steamed for a few minutes (maybe 5?) to defrost and be ready to serve.
I think the packages of dousha I usually buy only end up containing enough for 3/4 of the dough.
This time I experimented with the remaining dough and found that indeed you can bake bread in a toaster oven. I baked it as though I was making pull-apart rolls simply because I knew the toaster oven would have the tendency to overcook the outside and leave the inside gooey. This way, with spaces in the middle and fewer thick areas, the dough ended up baking evenly.
Yummy!
The supermarket carries one version of hong dou baozi, but we all agreed that they were mediocre: too much dry bread and not enough smooth, tasty bean paste.
I foundpackages of dousha (the sweet red bean filling) on the supermarket shelf so knew success was close behind (that was half the battle, just finding that there actually was adzuki bean paste available). I have a recipe for dousha though I've never made it - it's available at the Korean store (Kim's Mart, which is owned by our friends/former neighbors) and it is cheap and easy to just buy it.
Anyway, I never really learned an official version of hong dou baozi, I just modified a bread recipe I used to use - you could use any recipe you're more familiar with if you wish.
This time, since I don't have my baking utensils, I just measured by eye - it turned out just fine, but I'll give you the measurements so you have an idea of what you're working with.
Bread recipe:
1/4 cup warm water (not too hot)
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp yeast
Mix these three ingredients together in a small bowl - let sit for about 10 minutes, so the yeast can proof.
In a large bowl add:
2 cups water
2 Tbsp oil
2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
Mix these. After the yeast has proofed, add it to the liquids in the large bowl.
6 cups of flour can be gradually added to the liquids. Eventually it'll become dough and be very sticky. Keep adding flour until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Keep stirring, trying to incorporate as much of the flour as possible early on.
When it becomes too stiff to stir, flour your table surface well and put the dough on that. Flour your hands and start kneading, adding more flour as the dough reveals its true stickiness.
You may need to add an additional 1/2 cup of flour or so. No worries. Just keep kneading, until the dough is supple and smooth which will indicate that the gluten is well developed.
At this point I wash the large bowl and then coat it lightly with vegetable oil. When I'm sure I've kneaded the dough long enough, I set the dough ball in, upside down, flip it over (so it's gotten lightly oiled all over) and then cover it and leave it to sit. Your rising time will vary depending on how warm your house is. Let it rise until it's doubled in size (more or less) but not so long that when you stick your finger in it it gives a big sigh and collapses completely.
Deflate the dough gently, then let it sit for about ten or fifteen minutes - it would be fine to take it out of the bowl and let it sit on the table.
Divide the dough into four equal pieces - set three of the pieces aside and cover them with plastic wrap so they don't dry out. Make a "snake" of the one other piece (a very very thick snake with about a 1 1/2 to 2 inch diameter) and cut it into rounds so that when you roll them in your hand they'll end up about ping-pong ball sized (or maybe like a golf ball would be ok). Roll them all into balls and let them sit, covered, while you work with each one.
Now you're ready to make the baozi.
Take a ball and roll it out with a rolling pin so that it maintains its circular shape (not elongating into an oval). The Chinese way to do this is to hold the dough in one hand and the rolling pin in the other (Chinese rolling pins are like dowels with curved edges, so you can use it one-handedly) and the hand holding the dough rotates it after each stroke of the rolling pin so that all parts of the edge get flattened. The middle usually ends up a little thicker. The point here is that you should just do what works best for you.
When you have a nicely flattened round that's about 1/4 inch thick, take a spoonful of the dousha and put it right in the center.
At this next point I can't pretend I'm any good at making baozi - Real Chinese Baozi-Makers are impressively nimble-fingered and they turn out beautiful creations. Amateurs like me - well, I'm a little slow and I always end up saying, "Yep, they're ugly but they still taste good."
I use a method for wrapping them up that is more akin to dumpling wrappers, but it works - it holds the dousha in for the amount of time it takes to steam and eat the bun. I don't know if it'll translate well as a written description, but here goes:Holding the dough round (with it's dousha in the middle) in my left hand, I use my right thumb, index and middle fingers to pinch the edge of the dough like I might to make a pie crust edge. Pinching it tightly, I walk my fingers forward to make another pinch - effectively making small waves in the edge of the dough as I go around the circle, pinching each one to the one previously made. Around, around, and at the end I just pinch it some more.
You migh wish to follow Merlin's instructions - " close it up into any shape, just make sure it's closed." That's what we normally do when I have help - we end up a with a hodge-podge of shapes that we then try to identify after steaming ("oh, that's the cranky bull-dog!" "look, there's your purse!").
When you have enough to fill your steamer basket... oh yeah, you need some steaming apparatus, generally a large pot, a tray to set all the baozi out of the water, and some sort of perforated dish or something like that on which they can be lowered and lifted out of the pot. I've used bamboo steamers, vegetable steamers, and the like - a colander might even work.
Ok, when you have enough to fill your steamer basket, go ahead and set them with a little space around each bun. Then put them into the pot and turn the heat on. Steam them for 10 minutes - start timing once you see actual steam coming out of the pot.
At the end of ten minutes, turn off the heat and remove the buns to a rack to cool. They're edible as soon as they're handle-able.
This recipe makes a bunch (it's enough dough to make four loaves of bread) but we end up eating them fast - and I usually take a good portion of them, after they've cooled, and stick them in the freezer. They make for a fast, easy breakfast because they just need to be re-steamed for a few minutes (maybe 5?) to defrost and be ready to serve.
I think the packages of dousha I usually buy only end up containing enough for 3/4 of the dough.
This time I experimented with the remaining dough and found that indeed you can bake bread in a toaster oven. I baked it as though I was making pull-apart rolls simply because I knew the toaster oven would have the tendency to overcook the outside and leave the inside gooey. This way, with spaces in the middle and fewer thick areas, the dough ended up baking evenly. Yummy!
August 11, 2008
Sunday "baking"
We made hong dou baozi, which are steamed red-bean buns. To make them you first make a dough ball.
You knead it for about 20 minutes. Be sure to put flour on the table so it doesn't stick.
Let it rise. When it is done rising divide the dough into small balls then put flour on your spot on the table and flatten out each ball one at a time with a rolling pin.
Then, using the red bean paste that you have, put a spoonful into the flattened out dough and close it up into any shape, just make sure it's closed.
Then, steam it.
I like making hong dou baozi. I like to eat them too.***************
posted by Merlin
recipe to follow...
August 07, 2008
Olympic Colors
I keep hoping to have a chance to sit down and write something reflective, but the daily schedule involving learning Chinese and Tibetan, the homeschooling and housework all keep the day so full that I hardly get a chance to sit down. So, the reflection will just have to wait, I guess.
Most days we're at home (or in a classroom near Dan's office, working on languages with Jabeh). But when we do get out, the extent of Olympic preparations is obvious.
The city is looking festive and clean. We had about two weeks of oppressive air - muggy, hot, unpleasant - I felt like I could never get a deep breath; but it finally rained two days ago and we've had clear, sunny days since then. Here are before and after pictures (update: you can reverse these to after and before photos, now, since the air has reverted to haze):
In addition, we've taken a few outings (including the Foreign Language Bookstore, where Devin and Merlin were able to stock up on at least a week's worth of books). Here's what we've seen:
Bright and Shiny
Construction is masked with banners.
Some run-of-the-mill armored vehicles...
Astute observers will note something odd about this building... any guesses?
Mid-day, mid-week stroll.
"Tong yi ge shi jie, tong yi ge meng xiang."
or
"One world, one dream"
August 03, 2008
Tibetan dances
These are short videos I took with the digital camera during the Makye Ama floor-show... amateur, with people walking in front, but they give you an idea of what was going on.
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