Stuffing Our Faces In Shanghai

I admit it. I am 100% guilty of being a blog neglector lately.
Do I have a good excuse? Yes! I was eating, sleeping, and watching Netflix! Nope.
I do want to document how Curtis and I spent our very first wedding anniversary, though.
So that's what this here little post is gonna be about.

As I was saying, a few weeks ago, my marriage turned the big O-N-E.

Curtis and I really hadn't talked much about how we were going to celebrate even though this past year has given us lots to be happy about. I mean, in addition to getting hitched, we had a beautiful home built in KC and got to enjoy living there for a few months. Curtis totally healed from his broken ankle fiasco. And of course, we moved to China and have pretty successfully navigated all the crazy-weird-awesomeness that has come with THAT.

So yeah, I thought maybe a nice dinner was in order.

Then I got a text message.

It was sent by Curtis, who was sitting two feet away from me on the sofa at the time. It said that I should look inside my favorite decorative green teapot for a surprise.

Sitting inside the teapot were high-speed train tickets to Shanghai for the weekend. AND he booked us a room at a fabulous hotel... the kind where you get to pick what kind of pillow you want from a "bedding menu," and then sneaky elves leave chocolate on your selected pillow each evening when you're not there.

If I've said it once, I'll say it again: I am a good husband-chooser.

Since this was our second trip to Shanghai, we decided not to bother too much with sight-seeing, and instead focus on one of our shared passions: eating everything in sight.

The following photos document our shameless gluttony in all of its glory.

First stops: Yang's Dumplings for fried shrimp and pork soup dumplings, and Jia Jia's across the street for steamed versions with pork and crab. Here you can see Curtis demonstrating cautious dumpling-eating behavior since he overzealously dove in last time, only to have the hot soup squirt out and burn his nose.
No more risky dumpling eating for THAT guy.

We met up with my old college friend for a delicious dim sum lunch at Tang Court in the Langham Hotel. Poorly pictured here is a shrimp roll, turnip cakes, and slices of roasted pork belly. Not pictured at all because I was too busy pigging out were custard buns, spare rib soup, a cold mango puree dessert, and a whole lot of other dishes I somehow managed to stuff behind that stupid restrictive bow on my dress.

Goodfellas was a little gem of a restaurant I found on good ol' Tripadvisor. The lasagna (bottom left) isn't much to look at, but with layers of fresh pasta, cheese, cream sauce, and bolognese sauce, it was pretty much heaven in my mouth. Fantastically, they offered a complimentary digestif of limoncello (yum!) or sambuca (eewww.).

Calypso is a gorgeous restaurant with a chef who is so authentically Italian that I could not understand a word he said when I asked him what the soup of the day was, but it was still fun listening to him talk. Far and away, the shining star of the night was the Margherita Pizza. The crust was perfectly chewy and salty, and I coulda drank a vat of that red sauce with a straw. I don't know if I can ever eat at Pizza Hut again. (Just kidding, Pizza Hut. Nobody does a super supreme quite like you.)

When we occasionally looked up from shoveling food into our mouth-holes, Shanghai made sure to show us a few of the other beautiful and/or strange things it had to offer. Very notable were the bags of fruit juice that were being sold in IV bags for vampire wannabes (left middle), and the grown women wearing giant light-up bows on their heads (bottom middle).

So yeah-- it was a pretty great first anniversary. I'm already kinda looking forward to seeing what we'll be doing and where we'll be celebrating next year.

Food! Food! Food!

There's one thing that moving to China hasn't changed a bit: 

My inability (or umm... lack of desire) to cook. 

There are many reasons for this, but right now I'm going to blame it on the fact that we only have butter knives in our kitchen. We cannot find a good knife anywhere! I cut up an enormous, juicy mango with a butter knife just yesterday, and it was not pretty at all. 

For the record, that mango deserved better. 

Thankfully, Beijing has about 10,000 restaurants. That is not an exaggeration. Restaurants are EVERYWHERE, and Curtis and I have decided to make it our personal mission to try as many of them as we can. 

I am no chef, but I absolutely love to eat. 

Eating's my favorite. 

Here are a few of me and the husby's most stand-out Beijing dining experiences so far...

Vietnamese at Susu

This place is ahh-may-zing. The restaurant is in a beautifully restored old Chinese home. They serve up some of the best Vietnamese food I've ever had-- and I've been to Vietnam! Our favorites included the tangy Susu shrimp salad (top left), the rare beef pho served in a rich broth with wide, flat noodles (left middle), and the deep fried spring rolls that were so delicately fried, the wrapper was still a little chewy (right middle). Everything was so fresh, seasoned perfectly, and presented beautifully. Oh em gee I cannot wait to go back!

Chinese-Muslim at Xinjiang Crescent Moon Uyghur Muslim Restaurant (Yeah. Curtis and I just call it "The Tasty Lamb Place")

This is supposedly the best place in Beijing to get the kind of food you might expect whilst traveling the Silk Road. "What does that even mean?" you ask. It means delicious yumminess everywhere. The lamb kebabs seasoned with chili and cumin came out piping hot on metal skewers, and the fried flatbread with lamb was can't-stop-eating-it good. The eggplant was tender and smothered in a thick, sweet-ish sauce, while the green beans were stir-fried with dried chilis until they were crisp on the outside and puffy on the inside. We were also served bowls of smooth and creamy homemade yogurt that I sweetened with sugar and devoured for dessert! 

Thai at Thai Express

This is one of our neighborhood go-to spots. The spicy seafood salad (on the left) was vinegary, refreshing, and flavorful like a green papaya salad, but had a big kick to it that had our eyes watering after a few bites. Top right looks a little weird, but it's just steamed mixed veggies with a very light coconut sauce, which was mild and scrumptious. Bottom right is one of my favorite desserts in the world-- fresh mango with sticky rice, topped with sweet coconut cream. Mmm...

Drinks at Flamme

I know, I know... drinks don't technically count as a meal. But the (Australian) bartender here is kind of a creative genius and mixed us up a few cocktails that were truly memorable. One of the drinks I ordered was served as a mini chemistry set that I got to mix myself! Hooray for fun! Curtis's favorite was the Passionate American (tee hee) which was bourbon, passion fruit, and bitters served with half a passion fruit in the glass (top right). My favorite was the Sichuan Beauty (next to the Passionate American). It had Sichuan peppercorn infused vodka, house-made passion fruit syrup, and fresh lemon juice. I could drink that all summer long...

Korean at a random place we meandered into for lunch

Being half Korean, it is pretty much mandatory for me to love Korean food. And I do! I always order the Bi Bim Bap, which is rice topped with a whole slew of seasoned veggies and a little bit of meat, which is then topped with an egg (bottom left). The corn pancake thing on the bottom right was the winner of this meal. It was like a thick crepe with sweet corn in it, and it came with a sesame seed and soy dipping sauce. That was not a great description. It tasted better than it looks or sounds (according to my bad description). 

Hot Pot at Haidilao Hot Pot

I think this is a perfect meal for friends to share 'cause you're all cooking your food together in one big pot at your table. We thought we'd introduce this experience to John Keeling (fellow Hallmark alum!) and his partner, Colin, during their recent visit to Beijing. We ordered the heaven and hell hot pot (half mild, half spicy) and a bunch of meats and veggies that would be thrown into the soup to be cooked. Everyone's favorite was the Noodle Dance, in which a very energetic guy does an impressive dance while hand-pulling the noodles (what's not to love about this?). I did not capture this well with my photos because I was too busy squealing and clapping with joy. I could not get enough of this dance. (Possible new life dream: To spend the rest of my time in China learning how to be a professional Noodle Dancer!!! Yessss!)  

So there you have it-- a sampling of some of the wonderful food we've been enjoying. 

Fear not, though, our cute little kitchen isn't completely going to waste. Sometimes Curtis feels like whipping up a good ol' American breakfast. 

And that is (still) one of my most favorite things of all.