Qingdao: China's Key West

One of the things I love the most about living in China is the amount of holidays and days off they throw your way. At the end of September, we celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival and in the beginning of October (literally a week later), we celebrated National Holiday (basically our 4th of July). I was lucky enough to not work on Fridays or Mondays so I did not have to make up any classes for this holiday. The meaning? I had an eleven day vacation. After a quick visit from a family friend (thanks, Chris!), I hopped on a plane with The Adams and we headed north to cold weather, clear blue skies, and beer--the city of Qingdao.

At one point the city was occupied by the Germans and the Japanese but it is most known for Tsingtao, its beer and brewing company.

If I had to choose an American city that closely matched the culture and style of Qingdao, I would probably go with Key West down in Florida. At first I thought maybe Las Vegas but the city is so much more laid back than the manic, wild Vegas strip. In Qingdao, there is a very specific culture and I would call it (with confidence) a beer culture. The city has the Tsingtao brewery and they have come to embrace that fully. With it's sea food, beautiful coast, and excessive amounts of beer, I have decided that Qingdao is China's Key West.

 

Beer kegs are tied to street signs and every restaurant is incomplete without at least four huge kegs of beer. The Tsingtao brewery towers over Beer Street (yes, there is a street called Beer Street) and beckons both lushes and tourists alike. I would recommend this tour to anyone who comes to Qingdao whether you are a fan of beer or not. It offers you a look at the history and culture of the city you are currently visiting. You look at the history, the methods of brewing beer, you can look in at the actual factory, they have the "Drunken House" that is similar to an illusion/fun house that is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud, and everyone gets a glass of their unfiltered Tsingtao beer. I admit that before I got to China, I didn't have much of a relationship with alcohol outside of rum punch, wine, and martinis but I thoroughly enjoyed the factory tour with The Adams and I've come to have a loving relationship with the beer in China (though I am still not an alcoholic... please believe me...).

Besides beer, one of Qingdao's specialties is sea food. Where Cangqian and Hangzhou have "chicken", veggies, and sausage, Qingdao has squid, fish, and crab. One of the foods I have wanted to try for years now is starfish. If you guys remember Samantha Brown from the Travel Channel TV show, "Passport to Europe," you might remember that she had a show about Beijing during the Olympics. One of the foods she ate while she was here in China was starfish and since then it has been on my (official) unofficial bucket list. Last time I was in China I searched for starfish and never found any... this was most likely due to the fact that I was here in the dead of winter in December. My broken heart of nine months was healed when I arrived in Qingdao. Starfish is EVERYWHERE. You can get it cooked on a stick and just wander around with it or you can order it at a fancy restaurant. And that is exactly what I did.

  If I had to describe starfish I would say that it is very difficult to eat with not a lot of meat on the inside. The meat is green (like our beer!) and it had the same consistency as flaky crab meat with a hint of fishy seaweed. I liked it enough to eat the whole thing but I don't think I would go through the work of breaking it all open to try and get to the meat ever again. The rest of the group was very adventurous with their culinary choices as well--we shared the starfish along with sea urchin. Up north, apparently donkey is pretty popular and (my) Adam was determined to get us to try some. After searching for a while, the restaurant we ended up at did have donkey... intestines... served cold... Still not sure how I feel about that!

I had to try and not look at how intestine-like this looked... >_<

Devouring our seafood like champs. BOOM.

Another great thing besides the beer and the seafood in Qingdao is the fact that it is right on the coast, looking out over the Pacific Ocean. I imagine the shoreline of Qingdao is similar to those of the Pacific Northwest in the US--very rocky and jagged with small tide pools here and there. Of course, since we are in China, it was ridiculously crowded but that did not stop us from joining the hundreds of other people climbing over the rocks to get down to the (cold) water. Throwing off our adventure boots, we rolled our pants up (#skinnyjeanprobs) and splashed in the water for a bit. A great perk of being in a country that doesn't give a damn about littering? Sea glass was EVERYWHERE!!

 

When I travel, one of my favorite things to do is just sit and watch people and let me tell you: in China, it is always entertaining!! We walked along the ridiculously crowded beach (seriously--we didn't go anywhere near the water), I collected some sand for my dad, and we found a nice shady table and decided to set up camp for the rest of the day. Lost in translation a bit, we accidentally ordered three full pitchers of beer so we stayed where we were for a few hours. Putting aside the fact that we are convinced we saw someone die (sorry guys), it was such a nice time sitting, getting to know each other more, joking with each other, and watching the sun set. Eventually, the beach cleared out and we were some of the only ones left... I love it when you are in a strange place with new people and you completely lose track of the time--one minute it is lunch time and the sun is shining and it is hot outside and the next moment it is late at night, you missed dinner, and the sun is long gone. In my opinion: THAT is living.

Artsy shot to document the epic mistake we made... epically beautiful mistake...

Perhaps some of you have seen the show on Travel Channel (I am a fan of this channel if you couldn't deduce that on your own), "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern." For those of you who know me, I am obsessed with that show and I love Andrew Zimmern. Half of the things on My Life List are things that I have seen on that show. Now supposedly, there are only two things in the entire world that Andrew Zimmern attempted to eat on his show and could not swallow. Stinky tofu and durian. Lucky for me, BOTH of these delicious morsels can be found on the streets of China. Now I know that I cannot get stinky tofu anywhere near my face in order to actually eat it (if you smelled it, you would understand). HOWEVER, ever since I saw the episode with Andrew and the infamous slice of durian, I wanted to try it and it was thrown down onto My Life List. After a few failed attempts at actually finding the spiky green fruit, I bought two small slices and was determined to eat it. 

Clearly I was not a fan.

I've been told that the taste/smell (the smell will get you) is similar to a mixture of rotten onions and turpentine. Personally, I felt like it tasted like rotten eggs. I knew going into it that it would be bad--both The Adams warned me about it and refused to try it again with me. I kind of feel like trying durian is a sort of initiation the foreign teachers make each other go through when they first arrive in China. Well, I've tried it (though I don't foresee myself trying it again any time soon) and I can cross off #158 from My Life List!!

Now, I've been told that the best way to get rid of the taste of durian is beer. Okay, so that is a lie but we were in Qingdao, the capitol of beer in China, and there was one more aspect of the Qingdao culture that we had yet to take part in--beer in a bag. Yes, the people of Qingdao will take a pitcher of beer and pour it into a plastic bag for the lushes of the city to walk around Beer Street, sipping on their beer through a straw that is poked through the side of the bag. If that is not ridiculous, then I don't know what is. That being said, of course I got a beer in a bag and I loved every sip of it (somehow beer just tastes better coming out of a bag than the same old can or bottle)!!

The Adams with their (first) bag of beer

When in Qingdao, I suppose...

And so with bellies filled with seafood, sea glass in our pockets, a deeper knowledge of the German history and the beer culture of Qingdao, and our bags of beer, we packed up our backpacks and headed up north a little further to the city of Dalian...

To be continued...

Until Next Time,

Amanda

Bizarre Foods with Amanda Woomer

I think we all know (if not LOVE) the show on Travel Channel with Andrew Zimmern, Bizarre Foods. It's one of my favorite TV shows and after I got to meet him (very) briefly while working down in Disney World, I loved him and his show even more. Every time I watch his show, I ask myself, "Could I eat that?" and so far the only thing that I know I could never do is the fertilized chicken eggs in the Philippines. I like his philosophy of, "If it looks good--EAT IT!" and especially when I am traveling, I like to try and remember this each time I sit down to eat.

Well let me just tell you that living in China is definitely a culinary adventure. Everyday when I go out to try and find a place to eat, it is a difficult task (if they don't have an English menu) and so I have been reduced to choosing my meals based on the photographs of them on the menu and hoping for the best. The first time there was only one picture on the menu of some kind of soupy noodle dish with pork (which ended up being delicious) and yesterday was a major success with rice, veggies, and (I think) beef {I know that's really something you never want to say but it was very good so I am going back to Andrew Zimmern and standing by my choice to eat whatever type of meat it was from whatever part of the body because it was delicious}.

Delicious pork soup... 好吃！

Going into restaurants and just ordering food based on how they look in photos (that are designed to make them look the most appetizing) is a bit like playing Russian Roulette. Sometimes it's a win and sometimes it is a big, fat loser. So far I am two for two and I hope to keep it that way.

Apart from getting to explore the culinary delights of the restaurants found in downtown Hangzhou, I have gotten three home cooked meals since I've arrived, all of them compliments of my former college roommate, Miaomiao, and her family.

Saturday, I spent the entire day at Miaomiao's house with her husband, Chenzhi, and her parents (who I met at her wedding) and her grandfather (who, despite the fact that he knew I couldn't understand him, decided to have a constant conversation going with me). I arrived just in time for lunch and found myself ready for a home cooked meal (I guess I've been spoiled my whole life by my mom's cooking). We had crab, noodles, rice (of course), bamboo (which I might have eaten half the plate), green beans, soup, and some meat.

We sit down and begin eating and after we get passed everyone praising me on my chopstick skills (I don't think I will ever tire of that), we began to dig in. I've found that it can be best not to ask what you are eating until after you have already tried it, deemed it to be good or bad and then go from there (either a second helping or going on to something safe and recognizable, like, you know, vegetables-- and that is what I was sticking to for the first few bites of the meal: bamboo, green beans, and spinachy greens). But then Mama Huang went in for the kill.

She picks up a piece of meat from the bowl and places it on top of my rice. I don't have to tell you that (obviously) I eat it; this is due to A). my (sometimes untimely) adventurous spirit and B). a desire to not offend the mother of one of my dearest friends who, no doubt, made said questionable meat. So I pick it up with my chopsticks (yes, I've begun to pick up heavy-ish things!!) and take a bite.

What is with the Chinese and their obsession with anise flavored things? First the chicken feet from Hefang Street last year and now this?!? *sigh* Other than that, what did it taste like? Chewy. Fatty. Sticky. Not exactly sure how I felt about it but I guess I enjoyed it enough to keep going without even knowing what exactly I was eating. It wasn't until Miaomiao had the grace to let me know, that I wanted to put my chopsticks down and start to cry.

She turns to me and asks oh- so innocently, "Do you also eat pig feet in America?"

Say what?!?

If I ever doubted my acting abilities prior to this moment, those doubts were immediately washed away. I informed her that, while pig feet is available in the United States, it isn't one of the more commonly consumed parts of the body. Dodged that bullet.

Chenzhi, Miaomiao, and me--notice the full bowl of pig feet in the middle of the table

 

 

After a trip to THE West Lake (which is so much more beautiful in the summer than December) and looking at Miaomiao's wedding album, we came back to her house for round two.

 

We had a delicious soup with eggs and tomatoes, asparagus, rice (duh), some more crab, and guess what reared it's ugly head again? Yes, indeed... those little pig feet. Trying to be polite bit me in the butt... I tried to pick the smallest one out of the batch and as I tried to lift it up, realized that it was much heavier than it should have been. Mama Huang in her helpful state, picked up that very piece and placed it in my bowl once more. How sweet...

 

This thing was a monster! I tried to bite into it, my teeth basically bounced off of it. Yum. I tried dropping it and putting it back in my bowl and it stuck to my fingers. Oh boy! As I turned it around, little hairs from the piggy's little feet where there. Oh boy, am I full!!

 

Needless to say, that was quite the culinary adventure. The only thing that made up for the pig feet is the yangmei, or waxberry, we got to eat for dessert... SO YUMMY!! <--and THAT is not sarcasm.

 

So you might be thinking, "Amanda! You can't possibly think that eating just pig feet is enough to compare yourself to the great Andrew Zimmern!" and I would tell you that you would be correct.

 

Which is where last night comes into play.

 

After another lovely day at THE West Lake and after we got so lost on the bus that I finally had to break down and hail a cab and find the nerve to tell him in Chinese where we needed to go, we arrived at Miaomiao's house to eat dinner with her and her two coworkers.

 

Shufei, Shuhua, and good ol' me

 

I walked in and saw the dinner table all set. There was bamboo (yay!!), green beans, "eggs and grass", crab, chicken nuggets (love it), and cicadas.

 

No, no. You read that right.

 

Those loud, obnoxious bugs that keep you awake at night in the summertime. Cut in half, the bugs covered the plate and it was quite intimidating. I won't lie, I freaked out when I saw the plate and started to laugh like a crazy woman which made everyone in the apartment thoroughly entertained.

 

I went through all the other dishes and knew that it was time to face the cicada. Miaomiao liked to peel them open and just eat the insides but her friend Shufei liked to eat them whole because "he has a strong stomach." I couldn't help but think of how some people eat sunflowers seeds in America--a lot of people like to bite them open and just eat the tiny seed inside but myself (and at least my father) like to eat them whole... I guess that means we have strong stomachs. Hey dad! When you come to China, we know that you can totally eat cicadas now!

 

I spent a fair bit of time trying to decide which bug I would devour and even more time just staring at it between my chopsticks. Just like the chicken feet, I wasn't exactly sure how to approach it. But finally with Shufei's encouragement and Miaomiao's laughter, I popped it in my mouth with a war cry.

 

And you know what? It wasn't too bad!

 

If I had to try and describe what it tasted like, I would say it tasted like breakfast sausage dipped in maple syrup. Bizarre and unexpected but I liked it enough to eat 6 altogether (for a total of 3 cicadas).

 

You had better be impressed my this!!

 

 

I can say that I never thought that I would have the opportunity to eat a bug and actually take that opportunity. I like to think that local cuisine is one of the best ways to get to know a culture. Yes, you can visit the sites and see the different mountains, lakes (like THE West Lake), monuments, etc. but that is what every tourist who visits every country can do. Sometimes it takes you stepping out of your comfort zone a bit (or a lot) to help you transform from the tourist and into the traveler.

 

I think by just closing your eyes and going for it (and sometimes screaming while doing so can help), you find that maybe some things aren't as bad as you had originally thought. And even if it is... Well... at least you have a good story to tell after it!!

 

With a full tummy and a bit of a boosted ego (now I know how Mr. Zimmern feels!) and Until Next Time,

Amanda