Puffy Foods

Adventures in food with Mistress Puffy

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Beijing August 8

We spent the day hanging out in Beihei Park - with a white Pagoda, a beautiful Lake and Lotus flowers blooming! We heard people playing music on erhu and pipa as well as some women singing and dancing. There were loads of boats in the lake - paddle boats (with duck heads) and small motorboats. It's supposed to be cooler in Beijing - but it's 100% humidity and around 33 C.

We had dinner in a little place north of our guest hotel - delicious salad of fava and kidney beans, a seaweed salad with chilies and sesame seeds and roast duck (not THE roast duck). We are staying in a guest hotel down a maze of alleyways called Hutongs in Beijing.

Next Day
According to a guide, there are 3 things you must do when you come to Beijing: eat Peking Duck, go to Peking Opera and visit the Forbidden City. (I think maybe the Great Wall should be in there as a fourth). Well, Mr. Grumpypants and I managed the 3 must-do's in one day! We spent the day at the Forbidden City - super crowded, enormous and loads of construction. Mr. Grumpypants was grumpy about it - felt like we were in a theme park. I was awed by the size and particularly the beautiful gardens at the north end of the city.

The Peking Duck was NOT disappointing! On the way to your table in this crazy 4 storey, 140 year old restaurant, you pass the brick ovens where the ducks are roasted. There are stacks of fruit wood logs ready for stoking the fires and you see the glorious birds cooking away inside. When your bird is ready - and we did eat a whole duck - a chef wheels it out to your table and carves it in front of you - the first pieces of skin are deftly removed and handed to you to taste. They use cleavers for the carving and it is precise. The skin is perfect - crisp, fatty, and brown. The meat is succulent! The way to eat the duck is to wrap it in a crepe (called pancakes here), with plum sauce and thinly sliced scallions (white parts only). Though all we wanted was the duck, we did manage a lovely salad of celery and lily bulb as well as some pickles to start.

The Peking Opera was also fantastic. We went to the Huguang Guildhall where opera has been performed since 1807. The space has over the top decoration - bright colours, small landscape scenes and decorative elements filling all space on the walls and ceiling. The tables are crammed in to the main floor with a balcony above. The stage occupies half the main floor, with a yellow silk embroidered backdrop. There were three pieces performed. The live band was great - Mr. Grumpypants thought the drummer was particularly lively. The show is part opera, stories based on the emperors or folk tales, and part acrobatics, so the main players have to sing, dance and be able to do tricks. Audience participation is encouraged - fun!

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Grumpypants must have loved the audience participation part!

8:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mr. Grumpypants was grumpy .......hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

6:27 PM  

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