Photo Friday: 1800
There are too many posts on the FLB to count, so I have to trust the WordPress dashboard. It tells me today we’ve reached 1800. Yowzers. We’ll celebrate in six months or so when hopefully the blog will pass the 2ooo mark.
That will either feel like a tremendous accomplishment or a colossal waste of time.
Today, instead of sharing news from the community, I’m just going to put up some pictures. But before I do, I’ll tip my hat to a few community events.
Tonight The Cheese Traveler is having a cookout from 5-8p at his shop. I can never seem to make these, but they look fantastic. There’s a also tasting at fin – your fishmonger on Thursday, June 18 from 5-7p to help Dora and Pete find their new fish taco. That’s only $7 and I’d totally be there if I didn’t have a prior commitment.
But now onto the photos.
The Kids Are Alright
Friday I found out something interesting. One of the teachers at our local elementary school reads my blog. Hello Mrs. H! Like everyone else on the blog, we’ll keep her identity a closely guarded secret.
This fact arose on a field trip to the Bronx Zoo with Young Master Fussy while standing in line for the monorail. It was actually a highlight of a very, very long day. We boarded buses early in the morning, spent the day at the zoo, and came back just in time for a nasty snarl of traffic heading out of the Bronx.
But there were other interesting tidbits to come out of that day. What I enjoy about the zoo field trips is being able to observe all the different species of animals. The children especially. Now I’m keenly aware that my kids are tribal outsiders. We Bermans aren’t like most folk. What I didn’t realize was just how different we are.
Room At The Farm
Tomorrow is CSA Day!
Yes! Yes! Yes!
I may be a wee little bit excited. This year I found a partner to split the share with me. I didn’t ask if he wanted to be a silent partner or not, but I hope he’ll chime in here with periodically with tales of his take. Regardless, I’m thrilled to go halfsies with someone in order to slow down the ongoing influx of amazing farm fresh vegetables.
Really, I blame the kids for not eating their share. They are perfectly happy forgoing dessert and eating around the vegetables that have been deemed undesirable. But there’s no begging or cajoling. Dinner isn’t the time for a power struggle. We’ve got rules and systems in place. Yet somehow, I continue to fail to get the children eating most of this amazing produce.
That said, even the little ones look forward to the snap peas and Roxbury’s corn on the cob. And I can’t even believe I’m going to say this… I’m actually looking forward to the salad greens.
Day 4: Cramming It All In
By the last day of the trip, I had found my bearings, mastered the subway system, and gotten my first taste of Peking duck. I visited ancient temples, caught glimpses into everyday life, and enjoyed my deep exploration of the menu at my local dumpling shop.
Still, this was barely even scratching the surface of the city.
This last day would be very very different. Mrs. Fussy was done with her conference, and we had plans with CC and her family. They all live in Beijing, but CC spends some of her time in Albany, and the whole gang was eager to show us around their country.
But an adventure of this nature cannot begin on an empty stomach. So first, we had breakfast. However, breakfast today would be a departure from my typical morning fare. Instead of visiting the dumpling shop, I accompanied Mrs. Fussy and her colleagues to the Beijing Breakfast Buffet at the hotel.
Day Three: Da Duck at Da Dong
When I went to Paris I had what turned out to be an achievable goal, and that was to eat two loaves of bread and two different cheeses each and every day. It wasn’t easy, but it was amazing.
The Beijing trip started out with an entirely unrealistic goal, and that was to eat a duck a day. Not just any duck mind you, but the city’s signature dish, Peking duck. Before I left for China I printed out several lists of the best places to get Peking duck in the city. And all of them had different top picks, but many of the names were similar across the board.
I suppose there was duck on each of the four full days we were there. I had the cold sliced duck on day one and the duck wrapped in a fried pancake on day two. But time was running out, and I was determined that I’d get Peking duck on this third day.
There was just one problem.
Day Two: Beijing Bearings
It was great to have a native Chinese speaker pick us up at the airport and show us around on our first day, but CP had to get back to her everyday life as a graduate student at PKU (which I’m told is like the Harvard of China).
Here’s the interesting thing. When we took cabs with her, there was a lot of conversation back and forth during the trips between her and the cab driver about locations and directions. The only reason I mention that is because on this second full day, I would be traversing this giant city, and my plan involved both the subway and cabs. Without speaking any Chinese, this would be an adventure.
For any good adventure, it’s best to fuel up, so I made my second stop to my new favorite dumpling shop.
Little Adventure in Big China
Writing a travelog was never part of my plan. But yesterday, half of the comments were asking to hear about some of the adventures from my recent trip, so I’ll share and try to make it as interesting as possible.
To do that, I’ll need to break it up into chunks. So I’m going to have to move rather fast. The major takeaway from the trip is that Beijing is huge. Having just returned from the city, it’s still hard to wrap my head around just how huge it is. And there is really nothing on its scale in America. It makes Paris, London, and New York seem like charming small towns.
But it’s not just the city that’s huge. Everything about it is big. The malls are gigantic. The streets are like raging rivers. The parks, temples and monuments seem to go on forever. With the size and scale of everything, the Great Wall is remarkably well proportioned for the area. Which, by the way, also has a history and a culture that is equally vast.
I came to town knowing very little. There were a few sites I wanted to visit, a few things I wanted to eat, but I was really hoping to explore for myself and get a better understanding of the place. So much went undone. So many foods went uneaten. So many parts of the city went unexplored. So I’m going to have to go back.
Let’s start at the very beginning.
Back From Beijing
Today is starting later than usual. The trip back from China was longer than expected, thanks mostly to a flight cancellation in Chicago. That meant the span of the day, from waking up in Beijing for our Sunday morning flight, to falling asleep in Albany was about 33 hours.
So, thank you for cutting me a bit of slack.
It was a fantastic trip. One of the most fortuitous parts of the journey was that on the very first morning I stumbled onto a local mom and pop dumpling shop that was so good, I decided to start four out of the five mornings in the city fueled by their steamed buns. And since we’re starting out late, I thought I’d tell the story in pictures.
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