Dumplings....mmmmm!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Morning

Had a morning meeting with a potential customer this morning. He arrived for the meeting about 45 minutes late because of the traffic—which, I’m learning, is pretty normal. Everyone we’ve made an appointment with at our office has been at LEAST 20 minutes late, and usually more. You’d think that they would figure out how to get somewhere on time, but a strong part of their culture seems to be that the meeting starts when it starts. <sigh> Anyway, afterward we went to lunch with him to the local Shanghai Restaurant. I love the Shanghai style of food—it’s much sweeter than the typical Beijing food (which I think is yummy, if you haven’t picked up on that by now!).

Afternoon

Well, I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that I remembered my camera, so I could take pictures of the mall from yesterday! The bad news is that we didn’t get a chance to go back today—we had an audit scheduled for 4:00 pm to review our petty cash balance, and Angela needed to get ready for it. So, we’ll try again after our Shanghai trip. When I got home, Tracy had a small pizza waiting for me—it was pretty good. But she decided that she wanted some fried dumplings from Gourmet Street, so off I went. It’s only a five minute walk/elevator ride to the mall, but when I got there, they had just started a new batch, so I had to wait about seven or eight minutes for them to come out piping hot. But that wait will give me time to tell you about the different dumplings. J  There are boiled, steamed, and fried—fried seem to be the best. They are filled with everything you can think of, but there’s this one specific kind of meat that seems to be the best (and most common, fortunately!). Beijing is known primarily for its steamed dumplings, and their not bad at all—when you come out, we’ll take you to Din Tai Fong, and you’ll see what I mean. But the fried part adds to the taste, just like fried chicken tastes better than broiled. Broiled is good—fried is better (just not better for you!). So, two orders of fried dumplings and a side of fried rice tasted really good beside the pizza. How can we not love this country?