BEIJING - the food

These pictures will probably be boring to you, but it will illustrate my culinary experience in China. I was too busy enjoying the food to take good pictures. . .

This night we ate with professors and new friends at a southern China-style restaurant. I love the family style of eating here because you get to try everything - in this case, lamb with some amazing tea leaf-like spicy topping, beef noodles, chicken noodles, spicy fish stuffed with mushrooms, tofu dishes, bite sized creamy desserts with some kind of fruit inside. Jealous yet?

After hiking the Great Wall, we went with Sabrina to a Sichuan-style restaurant. It was SO spicy. I love spicy food, but it was almost too spicy for me. My favorite thing in this dish though were the rice noodles. They even had a contest to see if you can eat four of these tiny peppers. James only got one down... He said it barely brushed his tongue and it was painful.

Andy and I went on a date night to our favorite Hutong (traditional alley) called Nanluoguxian. We ate on the roof top with a bottle of wine and three dishes to share: beef stir-fry with bamboo shoots and other veggies, pork and cabbage, and pumpkin fries. Yum. Yum. Yum. And romantic! :)Wangfujing Snack Street was right next to Andy and I's hotel. We only went twice, which was not enough! Our favorite snacks were sprout wraps that were grilled, lamb kebabs, this amazing bread that had spices inside of it and was hot, and of course, cheap beer.

This meal was so good I didn't even take a picture until we were finished. :(
My favorite dish was zi ran beef. OMG - I am going to learn how to make it. Our friend Fushin took us to this place before taking us clubbing in Beijing. Very fun night!!

Another night with Fushin and a WashU Alum, Wen Cao (nickname Cotton) and her husband, at HOT POT. This might have been my favorite meal - because of the food and the company. Nick, Willie, and James had already been to this very same restaurant with Fushin before, but felt it was worth returning to.


Finally, Cotton took us to this secret snack area that I never could have found on my own down an alley for traditional Chinese snacks. It was crazy how many people were there, but we got a table and enjoyed several things I had never had before.