food – Page 4 – HurricaneMaine

Friends and the week before Christmas

I am grateful to have a variety of friends and activities to keep me occupied during this holiday season. Even though it really does not feel like Christmas and just another week in this crazy ridiculous year that was 2020, it helps to keep my mind off the fact that I had planned to be home in the US this holiday season. Of course now, no one really should be getting together in the US as the virus cases are out of control.

I am equally blessed that my family is healthy even if my brother was potentially exposed at work. So grateful that his covid-19 test came back negative.

The combined Christmas concert at school featured choir, band, and orchestra. As usual it did not disappoint.

My legs were better midweek after the marathon to play in the girl’s teacher-student basketball game. It was called the Christmas chocolate classic. Teachers wore ridiculous clothes. To make it fair, teachers had no rules. We could do anything. We still lost. It was a blast though. Even though my legs didn’t hurt, they didn’t want to run back and forth across the court either! But honestly, those girls can sprint.

The coach is so fun and everyone was great as a team!!

Book club was held where I used to live in Clifford mansion. Tatz made a carrot cake for my birthday, we swapped books for Christmas gifts, and we were surprised by carolers!

We closed out the end of school for the holidays at a 90’s themed holiday party. It was fun despite losing my voice voting (screaming) for my friend Trisha and Dan to win best couples contest! They won and I did win the trivia contest as well.

The first weekend of break I decided to relax. I was originally supposed to travel to Chengdu to go hiking with my friend Morgana before traveling to Shanghai. Unfortunately, Chengdu went red with a covid-19 case that infected multiple places (a young person going from bar to bar…). I cancelled that part of the trip. Money was refunded easily.

Instead I stayed in Guangzhou and ate food and other things. Brunch at a Christmas market and movie on Saturday and dim sum on Sunday with Jack.

At the lobby of the grand international hotel where we ate dim sum.

After dim sum we took a walk around Tianhe park.

Artist who is famous for depicting the mood of the times.

Soldier who led the battle against the Japanese and is buried in the park.

Jack had never tried stinky tofu. It is fermented and has an off smell but tastes like regular tofu. Very spicy sauce.

Great start to my two week vacation. Next on the agenda is Shanghai to visit a friend and then off to Harbin. I really have no plan and am just winging it for this vacation.

Active weekend with a surprise exclusive visit

The weekend started out with Japanese food with a couple friends. I played it safe on the food but did have sake. I was to travel the next morning to run a fun half marathon with friends for charity and needed to be good with what I ate. We ran so that a few new runners could set a goal of running their first event and then we added raising charity for food banks. My friends Trisha And Daniel had this great idea months ago and I was keen to join in!

The next morning I drove with two friends, Jack and Claire to Huadu which is the north part of the city. I attended my last class for the leadership assessment class as we drove using zoom. It was beautiful sunshine but much colder of late.

We ran through the ecological park that connected with other parks. I couldn’t help but stop and take a couple pictures. My time was still 2 hours and 7 minutes trying to take it slow. However I made a wrong turn and ended 2 km away from where I needed to be so had extra amount of running.

We went afterwards to a nice restaurant (Sean was gracious to let us shower at his apartment.)

After the lunch Jack drive to the Imperial Springs. It is a hot spring resort that is pretty pricey. 400 USD for a standard room and much more for the villas that have their own hot spring in the residence. Jack had a personal connection to one of the dignitaries in charge and we were given permission to enter. It was beautiful but it had much more history than its beauty.

It also has a presidential palace that dignitaries use when they visit. We were allowed to walk in the upper floors. The actual loving areas need an elevator to go below. The top buildings are meeting rooms and in the typical Chinese style of the Tang dynasty. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have stayed here (Obama after he left office.)

A video of the view off the balcony of the main meeting room over top of the presidential quarters: https://youtu.be/wx7yFMRG2u4

We ate at the hot pot buffet restaurant. Pricey but very good food.

The next day I went for a hike with my friends Joanna. We started at baiyun and found the elevated walkway to the 5 rams park. It was beautiful and we passed through some parks I had not been to yet. The elevated paths connect the parks and then you walk through portions of the parks.

One of the parks that we went through was the Sculpture Park. We only walked along the part of the park that took us to the next section of pathway. There were quite a few sculptures in this part alone.

We also enjoyed noodle soup for lunch with handmade pulled noodles. So yummy and good on a cool day after walking.

a great weekend and my legs felt great as I have been lowering my weekly amounts to keep my hamstring healthy. It was great to spend time with friends!

Thanksgiving 2020

This year for Thanksgiving I did not host a dinner like last year. Killian instead hosted at his place on actual Thanksgiving day. I had PD that day as well as a fall celebration so made cornbread and pies as my contribution. I think these were the best pies I have made.

The Thanksgiving dinner was great. Killian has an 0ld but cool apartment in Dongshankou which is a historic area of the city.

The Thanksgiving celebration before the holiday weekend was fun with corn hole tournaments, food and drink and live music with a teacher band.

We may not have had Thursday off, but we did have a three day weekend. Of course, I scheduled doctors appointments and tests for that day! But before that, I ran 17 km to train for the marathon I signed up for then went to my appointment. After leaving the Imaging center where i had a mammogram, I walked through Martyr’s park that commemorates those who fought for the current form of government. Even if it was communism it was better than the Qing Dynasty which ruled before that. Martyr’s Park is really beautiful and many people writing poetry with water and practicing TaiChi.

I took the subway to the sports center as it is a beautiful walk around there. My friend Elaine messaged me, so I went to see her at PoPark to grab lunch and walk around before my next appointment.

I’ve been eating out more than before… there is so much good food here! My favorite is Thai food and there is a great place in PoPark near the East Railway station. A good vegetable soup, Pad Thai inside a thin egg omelette with coconut jelled dessert.

We walked around and visited some of Elaine’s other friends that had rescued kittens. They are so adorable.

Over the weekend I also met with some other friends to hiking in Baiyun. I had not seen Joanna in some time! Morgana is also very busy at the Canadian school. Whenever we can make schedules work, it is amazing.

Afterwards, we traveled to Dongshankou to go to the Owl’s Nest whcih has a really nice brunch and coffee shop.

This is really reminiscent of the types of houses in the area at that time. Very romantic and beautiful.

It was a great holiday weekend and the start of the week was pretty spectacular too. Elaine, Killian, and I met near the river for Vietnamese Pho and then walked along the river to look at the light show. Some of it is paid entrance (in the amphitheater), but the rest was the pedestrian area of Huacheng Square.

It also was the first time that Book club met in person now that more of the teachers are back in China. Yummy food of grilled vegetables, an eggplant dish, and rice. The discussion was of the book Lizzie Borden which had some great analysis of all the past information about that famous persona.

November, 2020

It is easy to let multiple weeks go by without writing everything down. This year which is the longest year ever. Covid-19 had made this the most ridiculous year ever. No big travel trips this month but many little outings as school returns even more to normal and all students are on campus. We are almost back to the normal schedule. This has less to do with the virus itself but with finally having most of our teachers back in China. I’m also taking a leadership class on Saturday mornings (virtually …)

One of my really good friends here is Elaine from Canada. She and I live close to each other and we go out to eat every Monday. Sometimes Killian, my other good friend goes with us too. She works in an English language school so she works nights and weekends. Monday is our one day to catch up.

This portobello burger is amazing and the little restaurant is so retro.

I am still running to get ready for some races. My favorite place to run is along the river.

I also attended the AmCham ball. It is the American chamber of commerce. My school is a member and has a number of tickets. It was a great night with my colleagues. The food was amazing and the Garden Hotel never disappoints with atmosphere and food.

We also found a Poutine restaurant. It has original Poutine and also different nationality themes. Delicious!

Christmas displays at Parc Central in Tianhe!

I pulled out a Christmas tree I was given to decorate. It may become a cat climbing tower!

Dim sum, Diwali, and TedX

This was another foodie and experience weekend. I’m training (sort of) for a marathon. I can’t train fully as I still have a chronic hamstring issue. But I can run a half marathon and if I go slower I could run the full marathon. At worst, I can run and walk it and still finish in the time limit. It will be my one and only marathon and it is here in Guangzhou. I ran the half there last year. Crazy but up for the challenge.

After my 9 km morning run I had a leadership class on assessment at 8 am. At least I get the class done early enough in the morning. After that I went to dim sum with colleagues at the Luck Win Teahouse. Dim sum is the same in a lot of places. They have the same foods which you share as a table and sample everything. Each dim sum restaurant though has their one special dish you can’t get anywhere else.

You scan the code to order and then also to pay. So convenient.

This was the amazing dish that is a specialty here. A fried dough that is hollow on the inside and filled with a warm sweet coconut milk. Yummy.

Other dishes we ate:

This is fried radish. It was so good. Better than fried tofu or potatoes.

This had shrimp inside and was cooked perfectly.

This was really good. The rice roll on the outside is made with red rice.

Then off to a doctor’s appointment to check on the 4 stitches in my head (I had a cyst cut out the afternoon before. How many do I need in my lifetime?). I walked home and passed this little farmers market. I bought honey. The day before I stopped and bought pumpkins.

I went to a Diwali dinner that night but had to leave to go to another event. Shalini and Sai are wonderful people I’ve been working with while they help until all our teachers are back. A great night with authentic Indian food and spending time with friends and the meaning of the festival of lights and dispelling dark.

The next day was TedX Guangzhou at the Garden Hotel. It was a pretty long day but some great messages from a variety of speakers. They had translator devices we could use. The gardens there are beautiful. (Pictures a few paragraphs below.)

The theme was Embracing complexity. The first session was: It’s about us. It focused on having empathy for our own transformations. Another speaker spoke of the kids lack of connection with the natural world and the result we see in how students and people think about one another and the resources around them.

The second session was Nitty Gritty. One message about climate change is that it is all around us and how small changes in temperature have made large changes where others are not aware. Another speaker spoke of complexity in systems from large scale (Earth) to small scale (cells). The energy constraints on systems are a common property as well as feedback loops. Another speaker spoke of protecting animals, and not just the cute ones. An educator spoke of perception opening hearts and ensuring that education is not indifferent. I like the speaker on the food crisis. She engaged with people to make the point of knowing where raw materials come from, learn recipes, make food, eat, clean up…. It brings up the motto from 4-H: head, heart, and hands….. Know how everything is used and what it takes to bring food to our table.

Lunch was delicious and I followed it with a walk around the gardens.

The third was Full Spectrum. There were many messages here including migrants who want a better life and should be trusted that they are motivated to do just that. It also discussed economics such as inflation and other items that affect society.

I chose a breakout session where we broke in groups to find evidence of various things in a neighborhood. We then moved around groups to look at what each group found and heard interesting stories as each group interacted with people differently. There were some common assessments of the neighborhood and similar stories from the residents.

The fourth session was Onward and Upward. It focused on high density areas that are dealing with high livability issues. It also looked at serious environmental issues and local groups stopping destruction of old neighborhoods and environmental areas.

Food and friends

I am grateful to have a variety of friends from different activities and tours I have been in since arriving in China. They all have found incredible places to eat.

I am eating out more and more and enjoying the amazing delicious food in this city (it is really renowned for is cuisine and variety).

I started last weekend in a Friday afternoon at a golf driving range. I didn’t take pictures but I had such a great time whacking at a ball and talking with coworkers I don’t see everyday over snacks and drinks.

The next morning I juggled a long run with a leadership course in assessment. Of course there was homework, but afterwards I met my friend Morgana and co-worker Dirk for British day. If course there were fish and chips and pints of beer.

At night there were long established plans to go to a 2 star Michelin restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental hotel. The restaurant is called Jiang by Chef Fei. It is an amazing restaurant.

Drinks in the upstairs bar while others arrived. They have an unbelievable selection of gin.

Netherlands, Germany, UK, Canada, NZ, Singapore, and US represented here.

Part of the 9 course set meal some chose.

When did arrived and everyone takes pictures!

Some photo shots afterwards. We crowded into an elevator that had a bellman and trolley. He did not know what to make of us squeezing in that way instead of waiting for another elevator.

Downstairs in the Mandarin Oriental.

I also went to dinner on Sunday with my friend Elaine. She knows of a great Thai place in Po Park. The fish curry was amazing. So hungry we forgot to takes pictures. Another highlight was sitting in the Tesla cars in the mall.

Another dinner a day later at a different Cantonese restaurant to start the week.

Apple shrimp, a great mushroom fish, and a casserole with crab roe.

And more window shopping… This place was a one stop shop for a bunch of things. Stationary, snacks, wine (right next to the toys)…

Looking in a clothing store brought back memories of shopping for similar flannels for the kids and I to wear for the holidays….. Miss my family….

Kaiping

I traveled with Global friendship and Pachamama tour to a village outside of Kaiping for day of the dead celebrations. It was a two plus hour bus ride out of the city.

Kaiping area is home to hundreds of unique Diaolou-fortress watchtowers. They were used to protect the city from invaders and we’re built during the second world eat and with conflict with Japan. Kaiping is the hometown to many overseas Chinese many of which have an interest in maintaining and finding use for the many abandoned buildings. The villages are historic and surrounded by agriculture and traditional way of life. The Diaolou and villages are enlisted as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Tangkou village

The TK-SPACE is a communal space for international people to get together and learn and interact in rural practices and developments.

Two old factories were renovated to build this hostel and restaurant. The largest part was an old watch factory and the other made lampshades.

The place was already decorated for Halloween.

We had lunch and settled in then took a walk around the village where the abandoned buildings and diaolous. Many of the buildings the owners cannot be found or descendents won’t spend money to transfer ownership. As all the owners here are from other countries many are not here anymore and are elderly.

The design asking the to of not in concrete but of pressed rice and has survived the years.

Wet painting. While the concrete is wet, the paint is applied and they must work fast. The color stays many decades later.

This old place is like a mansion. So sad to see it empty.

This is the post office and all collect calls in the area came here which means they needed to be arranged in advance.

The Diaolou.

An old Diaolou. There is writing on the wall from 1946 where soldiers used this as a hideout during the war and to keep a lookout for japanese.

In every rice field there will be an altar for good crops and always near a banyan tree which must never be cut down.

The flowers and seeds (rice) in this rice paddy. You know how you cook rice or open a rice package and smell the rice? Standing next to the rice paddy, that is what you smell…

We painted pumpkins or skulls and are mexican day if the dead bread made as gifts to leave for the dead on Nov. 1.

Day of the dead party

Morning run

We ran from village to village for a 10k run the next morning and saw this moon. It was the first full moon that fell on Halloween since 1944. The picture here in the morning is better than the one I took at night.

I also went through a UNESCO area but did not take pictures. Unfortunately we did not go back there later that day.

After breakfast, we toured the crops. This place leases land to villagers and then buys back the produce for their center. They supply jobs and economic incentives.

This rice is within two weeks of harvest.

This bathroom is state of the art for the area and had brought in tourism as a result.

In front of this Diaolou is water chestnuts.

October 2020, the last month

The last month at school has been busy with moving the science department into temporary spaces but also coaching cross country. I’ve been busy with meeting up with people as well and took a few photos along the way.

Dinners. There are so many good restaurants in Guangzhou.

Jojo’s at party pier for Canadian Thanksgiving.

Lombok, an Indonesian restaurant. The ginger rice is amazing.

Coconut ice cream with mango and grapefruit after window shopping.

Festivals

After a wonderful Indian vegetarian dinner, we learned how to do the sick dance. Many of these people live in my apartment compound.

Sights.

We went to a small festival at tiande center and I found these Jade earrings.

This alaskan king crab in the largest I’ve seen and it’s leg span was immense.

Parks

While waiting for a Tai Chi class to begin, I stopped to read near a wisteria bush. It made me think of my dad and then I realized I do have his nose.

A park on ersha island during a run. The people flowers were beautiful.

Cuddling with a friend’s dig during happy hour after the long days of conferences held online with parents.

Relaxing in Hainan

When I “planned” this vacation, I really didn’t plan it well. There were many places I could go from the well known Sanya to other areas. I didn’t want to be among really large crowds which I would find in Sanya. I really wanted to enjoy a beach without crowds. (*Even though masks are not required here, now that travel is really opened up here in China I thought it still a good idea to go to more remote places like Xiangshui Bay. They are expecting cases to increase again as asymptomatic people move around.)

People who know me also know I generally always keep moving and doing things. A remote area means more time in travel to go places or just learning to relax for awhile. I chose the latter.

This place is beautiful.

The first two days I did go places for part of the day then decided I would stay put. I spent my days reading using my Kindle app, swimming in the pool, laying out by the pool or beach, long walks or runs on the beach, boogie boarding, and taking naps. At first it was difficult to just relax but I’m glad I did. I’m the most rested I’ve been in a long time.

Even my run was relaxed. 9 km/hour.

Boogie boarding here is a bit different than when I lived in VA Beach. There you could walk out far from the beach and still touch sand. Here the water is deep close to shore. But fun nonetheless. It has been a long time since I’ve done that.

Images from a long beach walk:

I found a restaurant off site less than a km away where all the waitresses were nice. I went there every night. One night I decided to buy the live fish and sea urchin and have it cooked for me.

My whole meal was 121 RMB or about $17.70. it was delicious.

Other food I ordered while here:

I will miss this vacation as it was very relaxing. I met some nice people who were very friendly, only three other foreigners the whole time, and enjoyed lounging by the pool. Now back to relax a few days in my apartment before school starts again.

Silk road tour, day 4, Mati Si temple

Originally we were to have a long bus ride with views of scenery along the way. Even though I know that it was pretty I did not want to spend that much time on the bus. Instead, a bunch of us booked a high speed train then hired a driver to drive us to visit the Temple. This was supposed to be in our tour but was taken out.

The people here were very friendly and it was not packed with tourists like other places we have been.

On the way we saw sheep sharing the road and beautiful mountains and plains.

These grottos were built around 317 to 402 AD in the Linsong mountain. The mountain itself is red sandstone. Paths connect caves inside and wind their way up to the temples. This is one of the most important Tibetan Buddhist grottos in China. Legend has it that once a sacred horse left its footprint in a rock here. Mati means horse hoof.

Thousand Buddha temple

Going up the stairs and into cave passages you can get to the statues of Buddha.

The details on the roof carvings are wonderful and amazing.

So incredible the carvings and structures with passageways that connect them.

One passageway you have to climb vertically with footholds. Those brave enough can see a really cool view.

View from the top

I first walked up the many steps to get to the top of the hill and look at the surroundings.

The white stupas. These house ancient relics and have prayer wheels at the base.

Tavatimsa grottos

Then I walked to the temples carved in the rock. There are 7 levels of passages and temples to get to the top.

This was the last passage to the 7th level of grottos and is to bring luck in life.

Outside the Temple grounds we had time to take pictures as they keep track that everyone who visited is accounted for by scanning tickets. The driver was helpful to do all of that for us and herd us around so we would see everything.

On the drive back we saw many Villagers hauling corn.

We had him drop us off at the Night market where we met up with others from our tour.

Yummy food of course and lots to see.