Food Firsts

In terms of trying new food out here in Beijing, Jason has experienced a lot of food firsts:

Hot Pot
We went out for Hot Pot with a few of his friends from PUMCH (Peking Union Medical College Hospital) one night. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Hot Pot, it basically involves a vat of boiling soup in the middle of the table where you can instantly cook and consume meat, vegetables, and a bunch of other goodies (tofu, wonton, noodles, etc). All the meat is cut into super thin slices so that it can cook quickly. Our pot was divided into three sections, each with its own distinct flavour of soup (curry, spicy, and chicken broth). You can also mix your own sauce to dip your goodies in (I chose a combo of sesame paste and sacha sauce). 

Jason introduced me as the "Hot Pot Expert" (though I don't think I'm worthy of the title) to some of friends, because I've had Hot Pot in Canada quite frequently - both at home and in a restaurant setting. But I did manage to find some differences about this Hot Pot compared to the ones I've had in Canada. For example, the shrimp and fish paste come in icing packets, so that you can squeeze clumps directly into the soup base like a tube of toothpaste (genius!). I have also never cooked miniature dumplings before (the ones we ordered were only slightly larger than a thumbnail), but the size definitely did the job in ensuring our dumplings would cook quickly.

Hot Pot is a great communal activity to enjoy with family or a group of friends, because you can chat while you're waiting for your food to cook. There were three Canadians (Jason, Xiao, and myself) and three Chinese (Xiao Xi, Darren, and Freddy) at the table, so we exchanged a lot of common expressions and slang terms from our respective cultures with one another. Some interesting phrases we learned from the Chinese locals were "Green Tea Bitch" (to describe females who pride themselves in being elegant, classy, and innocent, but who are actually quite malicious to be around), as well as "Taking Someone's Tofu" (a slang word that means sexually violating somebody else). We also compared differences between the youth culture in our respective countries, and even exchanged thoughts on philosophy. Like Hot Pot, our discussions over dinner mixed the flavours of different cultures together, bubbling and boiling with excitement until everyone took a belly full of knowledge home with them.

Korean Barbeque and Peking Duck

During his internship, Jason caught a bit of a mild cold (but he's feeling better now - don't worry!). He rested through that weekend he was sick, but come Monday, he still wasn't feeling at his best. Since he didn't want to infect the patients in his ward, he took a sick day. The upside, was that his sick day just happened to coincide with the day my Uncle Pan and Aunt Sarah took time off work to spend time with me - so Jason joined in on the fun. We spent the majority of our time stuffing our faces with food. My uncle and aunt took us out to Korean BBQ for lunch (where you also cook your own food like Hot Pot, but instead over a BBQ grill in the middle of the table). We also went out for traditional Peking Duck for dinner. It was all very tasty, and we happily fell asleep with food comas.

During our stay here in Beijing, Jason and I have consumed Indian, Italian, Thai, and various other fusion dishes. I've realized that in terms of food, Beijing is a lot like Toronto. As a big city, it is home to a wide selection different cultural cuisines. Luckily my aunt and uncle tried out a lot of restaurants so we were recommended the best ones.