Street Meat

-or-

Barbecue, Shanghai Style

Neal (Shanghai Sound Guy) came over to our corner (a/k/a The Dark Side) as we were packing up to leave last night.
"Hey- you up for some barbecue?" he asked me.
Constant Readers who know me will affirm that I'll eat a half-cooked mouse if there is enough cumin and coriander on hand.
"Sure." I said.
I checked with SpongeMark to see if he was interested-
He said he'd take a pass. He and Olivier headed back to the Mayfair as I left with Mal, Michelle and Neal, heading to what was being billed as "Street Meat. You know, Meat on a stick."

We drove up into the neighborhood near Hongqiao airport around midnight...
There was a sweatshop where little Chinese women were cranking out Michelin Man parkas, and right next door on the sidewalk there was a large refrigerated case full of skewered goodies.
(To tell the truth, I was a little surprised to see the refrigerated case. I'm used to seeing the piles of kebab meat just sitting on a plate on a table, exposed to the elements and/or worse.)

The "restaurant" was a 10' x 10' room off lit by a TV set showing a Hong Kong police drama. There were 4 tables inside this space each holding 4 to 6 Chinese diners.

The Larder

The case of...things to eat.


Neal & Michelle picking out our dinner.


Eggplant, fungus, potato & lotus kebabs.


More goodies-
Corn on the cob, fish on a stick and mystery meat.


You give your bin of groceries to the girl...


...and she puts it in the queue to be cooked by the GrillMaster.


The Grillmaster slathers on chili oil or some dry spices as he cooks the Street Meat...
Everything gets the same treatment...Enoki mushrooms get the same treatment as potatoes, the same for fish or lamb or any of the other items.

A table inside the "restaurant" cleared out and the four of us moved in to await our dinner. We ordered 2 large bottles of "Snow Beer" and waited for our food.


Dinner begins to arrive.
Shrimp, lamb, chicken wingtips and octopus...


Cauliflower, eggplant, bread & potato chips.


Mushrooms, eggplant and potato chips.

One thing about the food... Since it is all cooked the same way, and the spices are used the same way for everything, it all pretty much tasted the same...
The only difference between the lamb and, say, the mushrooms is the texture...


I had a great time... and since I'm at work with no ill effects, I'm either starting to get immune to the Shanghainese food-poisoning bacteria, or maybe the restaurant was just cleaner than the average hotel kitchen and dining room.
(A distinct possibility. Unlikely, but possible.)

TBG out-

Food for thought

Over breakfast at the hotel-
Olivier: These pancakes are awful.
SpongeMark: He says that like it's a suprise.

I don't think I'm going to tell him that they weren't pancakes.

TBG out-

Event food - Shanghai 2007

-or-

"What does that sandwich have on it?"

They have food brought in for staff during setup out here at Qizhong.
We really appreciate the effort since until the actual event there is no food service within 5 miles.
The sandwiches are interesting, to say the least...
They are labeled "Chicken Salad", "Roasted Beef" or "Ham and Cheese".

This one worried me...


I had to ask "So... Is this really made out of truck driver?"
Because in China, you *have* to ask, otherwise you might be in for a rude awakening.

TBG out-

Check, please.

"I'll throw the teapot on the floor, then slam the beer bottle against the wall.
Then I pull my wallet out and wave money around.
That's how *I* ask for the check.
The teapot to get their attention, and the beer bottle to show I mean business."
-Spongemark Squarehands, at the end of dinner tonite.

TBG, wow.

Miss Communication.

On Thursday the Gearhouse Guys(TM) told us the bus was departing the arena at 6:00 PM. When we arrived in the TV compound at 5:20 we saw the bus turning the corner heading back to town.

SMS message to GG Big Cheese: "Dirty bastard."
GGBC:"Oh. I forgot about you guys."

How do you forget the two biggest guys in this *country*?

We spent the next hour trying to flag down a taxi. Not the easiest thing in Minhang the week before the tournament...

On Friday, SpongeMark went out to TV to check out the bus schedule...
"So, what time are you leaving us behind today?"
Said he wanted to ask in person just to see Boundsie's face.

We missed the bus that day too.
No taxi this time. Ian & Bruce set is up with a Mercedes.
Nice.
TBG out-

Fun on the Menu - Di Shui Dong

A few evenings ago I posted a pic via my Crackberry of a menu entry at a restaurant here in Shanghai.
SpongeMark and I returned there on Thursday Night to sample the delicacies of Di Shui Dong, a Hunan restaurant on Maoming Lu near the Shanxi metro stop in Shanghai.

Di Shui Dong serves....Wait for it...

...Although I think they need to use a different word here.


There were several goodies on the menu here...so in no particular order...

Dog
The classic - Dog. Shitzu or Great Dane, I don't know.
But only in cold weather. Why?
We surmise it's easier to catch the dogs when the weather turns colder.
They just leave the kitchen door open and the pups come in to get out of the cold.

Paw
I don't know which is more unappetizing.
Chicken Paw or Shredded Pig's Ear.


Braised bullfrog.
Not frogs legs... Just plain bullfrog.


Tripe tip or Fried Bullfrog.
(They have lots of ways to prepare bullfrog at Di Shui Dong.)


(Sorry about the focus)
Spongemark: "I don't care how many ways they flavor it. I'm not eating it."


Stinky tofu.
Truth in advertising.


Pig Bone.
No Meat. Just bone.


Matrimony vine?
I guess if you can get someone to eat blackbone chicken, you would have to marry them.


It wasn't so lucky for the pumpkin, was it?


Human...Pickles.

Wow.

Now, I don't want you to think that the entire menu was a horror.
Actually, it was some of the best food that I have found in Shanghai.

Hunan cuisine is very spicy... Lots of garlic, chili, peppers and chili oils.

Some of our dishes from dinner on Thursday...


An awesome fried rice... Fried egg, pork, green beans, mushrooms, green chilis, red chilis, a hint of chili oil and other spices.


Green beans with pork belly (a/k/a Bacon) and chili oil.


Fried Eggplant with peppers and chili flakes


Shrimp with fried garlic and chilis.
After the shrimp were gone, SpongeMark ate an entire spoon of the garlic & chilis all by themselves. Of course, about 5 this morning he was regretting it...


Get a close look at all this garlicky goodness... the fried shrimps, the chili and green onions. Oh. My.


Fried corn in chili oil with pine nuts.
This was great...


My favorite dish... Spare ribs.
You have to see a close up of all the spicy goodness...


Look at all the goodies here... Peppers & chilis, caraway, cumin, coriander...
I could eat 3 plates of these all by myself.


And at the end of the meal... Toffee Bananas...
Battered & fried banana slices with a crystallized toffee glazing.
Crunchy and hot and sweet and amazing.

Oh, we're going back... even if they *do* have dog on the menu.

TBG, dining out-

Another trip to the airport in Pudong.

Like I'm not having enough fun riding an hour to get to Qizhong and an hour or more -depending on traffic- to get back to the hotel, now I get to go out to the airport *again*, this time to pick up Olivier L.

I just made this trip the other night when I went to pick up SpongeMark Squarehands.

(Constant Readers will remember SMSH from our days in Italy during the Torino Olympics.

It's a twelve minute ride to the Maglev station, a minimum wait for the Maglev to start, then eight minutes to the airport.
Much better than an hour each way in a taxi.

If there are no delays with immigration or customs we should be able to catch the last Maglev back to town.

Let's hope for the best, shall we?

On the Shanghai Metro.

Signs of the Apocalypse

Be gentle indeed!

Shanghai by the Numbers

8 seconds

That's how long the doors are open during the average metro stop on the Shanghai subway.

No wonder these people are in a hurry to get on and off the train.

I mean, 8 seconds is a long time if you are bullriding. It is less lengthy if you are among the 20 people trying to squeeze through the two meter door opening on the train, half getting on and half of them getting off.

TBG, riding the rails-

Shanghai Maglev

267 miles per hour.
That would take a bite out of your commute, eh?

Back on my feet again.

My "week off" in Shanghai, which I had intended to spend sightseeing and doing fun stuff became a week of lying abed and draining my sinuses.
I was barely able to make it over to the pharmacy over at the Portman and get a pile of cold meds to try to get well, as being sick next week would suck.
I went down to the Big Bamboo to have my one real meal a day- otherwise I was surviving on Vegemite on toast and Tylenol Cold medicine.

Later in the week the weather took a little turn to cool... Temps in the 50s during the day. Nice, but like the ben dan that I am, I neglected to bring a jacket.

Three of the waitresses at 'Bamboo took pity on me and on Friday, as I was finally getting up and about, they dragged me down to Nanjing Lu to help me find a jacket.

(I knew this to be a lost cause as I have never found ANYTHING in my size in this country.)

It was quite a sight as the 3 twenty-year-old Chinese girls dragged me from one department store to another, leading me around the mens wear asking the sales clerks if they had anything at all for someone my size.
Most of the time we were just brushed off with a hand wave, but sometimes there was a bit of derisive laughter as they said no.

In the sixth or seventh place we went we finally found an old woman on the mens wear floor who had a lightbulb appear over her head and led us up another escalator...
We had a nice little parade- Old Chinese clerk, Ogre, 3 Waitresses, 2 more clerks just tagging along to see what was going to happen, and a Suit...obviously a manager looking out for his store, all trooping through the store.
She led us to an are populated by sporting clothes and warmup suits, where there were also some good-sized jackets... The clerk in that department took an appraising look at me and dug up a jacket and handed it to me to try on...
By this time we had a good 15 or 20 people watching.
No doubt they hadn't seen anything this entertaining on the 9th floor of this store for a good long while.
I put the jacket on...looked good for about 2 seconds, then it was appearant that the jacket was for a *short* fat guy, not a *tall* fat guy... The sleeves ended at my elbows. Not a good look, even for me.
The laughter that ensued at that bit of embarrassment lasted for a full minute as the clerk kept looking for another jacket...
She finally came up with one that was a reasonable fit...

I got a purchase slip then to go to another desk to pay, and upon returning, the girls were entertaining the crowd, once again at my expense...



Yes... two of them fit comfortably inside my jacket.

No doubt this story will keep many people entertained for day to come...

TBG - Moving to the Mayfair today...

Fun on the menu

I know what *I'm* having for dinner!

Yes... It says "Dog's meat".

TBG, having the chicken.

Studio 188 at Malone's American Bar

Michael, Mal and the boys of Studio 188 played a gig at Malones American Bar on Tongren Lu last Saturday. It would be an understatement to say it was a crashing success.


Pictured: Shun, Michael, Mal and Clayton- not pictured- Kent and Carl... Sorry guys.

The boys were in fine form as the ran through 3 sets from 9:30 until about 1:30 in the morning.
The crowd, as always, was wild and partied until the management pulled the plug at the end of the night...

It was a semi-private gig, so there was food and an open bar for a select guest list of about 80 people, then at 11 we opened the doors to the general public, who streamed in from downstairs until the Loft at Malone's was packed.

As always, it was a great gig....

There was a piece in the Shanghai Daily News about Studio 188 on the following Monday.
Rockers won't quit their day jobs. - SDN

Studio 188 plays again during the Tennis Masters Cup, with the Bryan Brothers...
If it's anything like last years impromptu concert, it will be a hell of a show.

Just a couple more pics-

Mal Collins and yours truly during the sound check before the show...

I don't remember who had stolen my camera to shoot this.

Clean up on table 12!

The fair Yvette and another girl slurping spilled beverage, trying to avoid a spillage penalty during the party.
Notice Yvette can can inhale spilled Jack Daniels and still hold her cigarette.
That is the sign of a classy lady...

TBG out-

More Studio 188 Pics

Just a few more pics from the Studio 188 gig...

Planning session

During the mid-afternoon sound check there was a strategy meeting that took place in the form of a rather boisterous game of quarters. (Or would it be called "Kuai" here?)

During the gig-

Kent and Shun rockin' on.

And least we forget out man on the keyboards-

Carl is King... Let there be no doubt.

More people...


Vance and his peeps... We'll be seeing more of him during the TMC...

During the train ride from Hong Kong I had invited Anna B to attend the gig.

She and her friend Gaby came along for the ride...

More folks from the TMC-

Charles and Nancy...

Don't piss Nancy off...

She'll kick you with her needle-sharp fence-climbers.
(Great shoes, Nancy...)

And one last one...


Yvette and Yours Truly.
Damn... Someone took my camera again. How does this keep happening?

TBG out-

Signs of our times - WanChai Style

Just wanted to drop another photo from Hong Kong on you...

That sign in the middle...

What do you think they sell at that club?

TBG out-

More Shenzhen pics

Just a couple more pics from the side trip to Shenzhen.

The Kowloon-Shekou ferry wasn't quite nice as the ferry to HK from Macao, but it was still better than some boats I have ridden.
The ferry terminal, however, could be a little better thought-out.

You know me, I'm all about getting there early.

If you get the there early, you have enough time to figure out how to get to your boat, even if they have confusing signs.

And believe me, with general admission seating and the way these folks elbow their way tooth-and-nail to the front of the line, you don't want to be lost in the crowd.

This is worse than the line for "Pirates of the Caribbean" at Disney World.

The boat is pretty nice though...

Well designed, aerodynamic, with hydrojets instead of props, which translates to fast-fast-fast. Nice.

Inside the boat is pretty nice too...
About as well-appointed as a typical US commercial airliner.

Legroom is about the same, seats about the same, but you don't have to stay buckled in the whole time. There is also a business class section on the upper deck.
Up there, the aircond works better and there are tables to work at. Pretty nice.

One last thing...

On the way from the LED video wall factory I visited, I got a peek at a Shenzhen auto parts store.
Want to but a steering wheel cover, or a power cord for your cell phone?
How about some maps? Everyone needs maps. Maybe some sunglasses?

Here, they load down a girl with all the pieces and parts a discerning driver might need and turn her loose in traffic.


That's creative marketing. Hello? Pep Boys? Are you listening?

TBG out-