To eat Bird Food

One of the winter traditions when I was a child was that we bought Bird Food (sunflower seed) and feed the birds with.

This childhood memories popped up in my mind when I started to spend time with Chinese in home environment, and find out that its often are standing a bowl of "Bird Food", which means Sunflower seed on the table, and the Chinese eat it like candy. They open the seed with there teeth and throw the shell somewhere around them, and then eat the very small core inside. It use to be a bit messy, since it will be seed shells all over the place.

I tried it from time to time, but for me it is like eat air. Much work for almost nothing - the core is so small.

In China, this "Bird Food" is sold based on weight together with raisins, peanuts and a lot of other nature candy that I dont know what it is. The Chinese do not think it is funny when I call it Bird Food. ;-)

Bird Food....och Chinese candy, is sold everywhere in China.

LAN Club

There are lot of real fancy places in Beijing, and LAN Club, 兰会所, is definitely one of them. LAN Club have a complete entertainment concept with a combination of restaurant, bar, lounge and nightclub with live music.

So far I have only visited LAN Club during daytime, so I can not comment the nightlife. The real characteristic for the place is that it is big and the decoration and environment is EXTREMELY hard designed, in some not easy defined style. It is a mix of classic and modern style, but the classic part is in majority. For example the roof is covered by paintings, and there are a lot of wall hanging, or floor standing, paintings that after a closer look turn out to be big TV-screens that slowly changes the image in a sober way.

When you enter the LAN Club, it is easy to get the feeling of a "Crazy Expensive" place, but you can afford it with an normal European salary. The cocktails is around 70 RMB, and the food and the rest of the drinks goes in the same level - but for sure the place belongs to the higher price range in Beijing.

The service level dont deliver what can be expected in a place like this, so here is definitely room for improvement. This is a phenomenon that is way too common in the luxury places in Beijing: The environment is fantastic, and the service dont reach the same level.

The menu hold a wide range of dishes, both for Chinese- and West style food, so I believe all can find something good here.

The main reason to visit LAN Club is definitely to experience the environment. LAN Club fill up the compete fourth floor of the base to the two lipstick shaped towers that is located just south of The Silk Street next to the subway station Line 1/YONGANLI

4/F Twin Tower, B12 Jianguomen Waidajie,

建国门外大街B12双子座大厦4层

Tel: 5109-6012/13

Take notice of the paintings in the roof, and the "living" painting on the wall.

LAN Clup have several private VIP-room for individual dining as is standard for nicer Chinese restaurants.

The toilets in LAN Club follow the cool design from the rest of the place. Note the armchair with "The China Daily"-paper.

15 days of bombing has reached its end

Yesterday it was the 15:s day of the Tiger Year, and the Chinese Lantern Festival, 元宵节, (Yuánxiāojié), is hold when the first full moon of the year is celebrated by hanging a lots or red lamps everywhere. The day is also called the Small New Year's Eve, and is the completion of the big new year celebration.

You also eat "rice-flour-balls" with different stuffing. The balls is called Yuanxiao, 元宵, in north of China, and the south have there corresponding Tangyuan, 汤圆, that is a bit smaller.

Yesterday was the last day that it is allowed to shoot fireworks in Beijing, and it was of course an explosive termination, and I can really say that it is a comfortable feeling that 15 days of continues shooting has reached its end.

A Chinese saying tells that extreme happiness demand sadness, and every year many tragic accidents happens because of the fireworks. The glad news for this year is that the death victims only become half related to last year. The biggest fire scandal for the year was that they succeeded to burn down the 1 600 years old south city gate of Zhengding, 正定.

The 1 600 years old south city gate in Zhengding was this years most discussed victim for the new year fireworks.

Yuanxiao, 元宵, (also called Tangyuan, 汤圆, in south of China) is traditional rice-flour-balls that is eaten as a conclusion for the celebration of the new year.

Get smarter - Eat Pig Brain

I have previous heard Chinese persons full series state that you will run faster if you eat chicken feet. Recently I was informed that you will be smarter if you eat the Brain of a Pig. Obvious a Chinese friend think I was in need of it, so now I have also eating this "delicacy".

Chinese HotPot, 火锅, (huǒguō) is more or less the same as we call Fondue, which means that you by your self cock the food in some spicy broth, and this was the way I was eating the Pig Brain. After boiling for a while, it become gray and easy fall apart.

I am bad to describe different tastes, so my report will be a disaster:

The "meat" consistency is like an extreme small particular powder that pressed together to become a solid paste. A maybe sick comparing is that is some way was similar to Goose Liver, or even also Tooth Paste(!).

I have some kind of psychologic defense that I have to pass when I shall try to eat extreme things - like Brain, and my spontaneous feeling is often that it tastes awful, and so also for this Pig Brain - but next time it will be more easy. (The first killing is the hardest)

It is not so usual to find Pig Brain in the menus in Beijing, but from time to time you run into "offsiders" like this. If you like to eat extreme things, then the south of China is the place, with its maximum in Guangzhou, 广州.

Grishjärna, 猪脑, (zhūnǎo). A "delicacy" that makes you smarter?

Long or Short menu?

To make a big generalization of the west world, you can say that the more nicer a restaurant is - the less dishes in the menu. The physical menus in real nice restaurant also use to be in the minimalistic spirit, so sometimes just a simple white paper, or a writing on a blackboard. Pictures of the dishes are also totally forbidden in a high class west restaurant, and is only to find in low class tourist restaurants, that also have obvious more dishes in the menu.

In China, this things is the totally opposite. In the to of line line restaurants, the menu is like a book with an impressive huge number of dishes. The presentation is often in a leather frame with art-like pictures of the food. Only the real simple small restaurants have menus without pictures, and also not so many dishes. Totally the other way around compared to the west world.

The saying "I would never eat in a restaurant with pictures in the menu" maybe can be valid in China also, but then likely told by someone in the lower salary level. (The restaurants with no pictures is the cheapest)

Ping, with an example of a real nice menu at the "The Dazhaimen Restaurant"