Tao is re-packing his suitcase. So glad I insisted on 2 full sized and a carry-on size. He filled a large one with the clothes he brought, winter clothes his parents bought for the boys, a few small souvenirs and some stuff his mom wanted to give us. Plus Tao bought a huge chinese chess and go board. As it was he had to borrow a carry-on to carry the rest.
Since he wanted to rest before his long day of travel, I took the boys and walked 2 blocks down in the heat to the other small shopping mall with a different department store in it. It was a disappointment. 5 years ago it was all new, every store filled. Now it was under construction, only a few restaurants and the department store was missing a floor. When we went to pay we discovered they do not accept payment via WeChat or Alipay directly. You must use their app or cash. Wasn’t carring much cash, so we put a few things back. Apparently you could set up their app to pay through your WeChat or Alipay but I wasn’t going to go through all that trouble. I just don’t plan on going back there.
While there we did walk through the abandoned hallways due to construction, the only people there possible were the construction worker’s family? We say a guy straddling the top of a ladder and walk it over with out getting down. It didn’t appear to be tied to his feet either.
We took umbrellas with us. Not because of any rain. There was none. But to give us a bit of shade from the sun, it was just too hot. It doesn’t look silly here. Heck they even carry their umbrellas up walking in the shade.
My in-laws said that shopping complex was oringally owned by a British company, now by a Chinese company and on it’s 2nd construction since the change.
Tonight we DiDi it to meet Gu NaiNai and Gu YeYe for dinner. It’s Gu NaiNai’s 85th birthday, so her son and wife are there too. The private room has a seating area so those arriving first can visit and have a snack of melon and tomatoes and some bugle tasting crackers with powder sugar on them. The son arrived before us to order the meal. Then us. The guests of honor were last to arrive.
I commented on the velour or velvet on the chairs and walls. My mother-in-law said that it’s cheap in China, no big deal. But to me it was a fancier restaurant. They had a picture that Jackie Chan had dinned there in the entry way. It was in a hotel. Ironic that the rooms have no smoking signs but I find a burn hole in the table cloth. The plates were huge, the food on them small. Always family style on huge lazy Susan’s. I tried almost everything. I know I don’t care for the vat of pork fat so I skipped that and the bony smoked fish.
I have found the dish I will learn to make this trip: Suan Cai Yu. Szechuan boiled fish soup with pickled vegetables. I am quite surprised I loved it. At first I only took the fish out, but the buttery looking broth begged to be tasted. So I ladled some into by bowl. It did taste buttery to me, along with chicken bullion, spicy fresh red peppers, some capers on a vine, udon noodles, enoki mushrooms and what I thought was hot perperochini(later I found out was pickled mustard greens).
I came home and started trying to find the recipe. Which is hard when you can’t fully access the internet and it goes so slowly. When we get home I look forward to trying my hand at it. My husband thinks I should love more foods so I will want to cook more chinese dishes.
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