A Chinese private kitchen

Place: A private kitchen, Beijing.
Chinese ham with bun and honey, white cabbage with a ridiculous amount
of chilis and spicy oil, fish braised in wine sauce, smoked duck
(樟茶鴨).

I was introduced to this private kitchen, located near Yonghegong
(Lama Temple) in Beijing, by a friend who lives nearby and who, upon
discovering the place, has been treating it as her kitchen away from
home. Knowing her epicurean standards, I was quite certain that, if
she could be a repeat visitor, I was up for a good treat. To be sure,
the food was not jaw-breaking spectacular, but I was impressed by how
a restaurant with a non-descript and minimally-equipped kitchen could
serve up some of the trickiest dishes in Chinese cuisine. For example,
the smoked duck, if properly made (and, in my opinion, it was), had to
be first smoked using a specialized blend of tea leaves, tree barks
and tree stems. Then, it had to be re-marinated with Chinese wine and
vinegar and steamed in order to cook through the meat, and then deep
fried to yield a phenomenally shiny skin. The result was a sumptuous
offering with plenty of delicate smoky flavors, hints of a sweet
floral wine, and a robustly crisp shell.

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Pearl's de luxe

Place: Pearl's de luxe, San Francisco.
Burger: The Mini, with cheese
Bun: sesame, lightly warmed on grill
Architecture: bun, cheese, beef, bun; all condiments on the side
Dressing: none.
Drinks: water.

Located just off Union Square in downtown San Francisco, Pearl's is an
award-winning burger joint, and, in my opinion, one mean grease
factory. The meat, ordered medium, arrived just as I wanted, with
flavorful juices dripping all over the place. This was all the more
impressive since I ordered a measly quarter pounder, leaving not much
room for error (in terms of getting to the right temperature without
overcooking). Coarsely ground, the meat had a granular, chewy texture
that was surprisingly pleasant. The cheese, most certainly machine
produced and sold in wholesale slabs, nevertheless screamed Stars and
Stripes -- with a tenderly mildness that reminded me of cafeteria mac
'n cheese from the college years.

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Yue Opera: 梁山伯與祝英台

Date: October 13, 2009.
Venue: Changan Theater, Beijing.

Mao Weitao (茅威濤) plays the principal male character. While Mao's voice
shows signs of her age, she remains a tour de force on stage, with a
commanding stage presence and an air of self-confidence.

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Nessun dorma, at the Bird's Nest

The National Stadium, home to the drama-filled Beijing Olympics and an architectural masterpiece, plays host tonight to a different kind of dramatic and architectural device: Puccini's Turandot, staged by famed Chinese film director Zhang Yimou. When I have more time I shall write a more detailed review of the performance. But for now, here are some photos:

The stage, spanning across the 400m and 1500m starting points.

Getting ready for Act I.

A stadium of opera goers.

O giovinetto.

Tenor Dai Yuqiang (戴玉強) gave a solid performance of Nessun dorma.

The modified finale.

Cosi comanda Turandot.

The whole evening was marred by bad acoustics, but I found a winning alternative with good visuals and better acoustics -- at least in Act I: Montserrat Caballe's stirring and heart-melting rendition of Liu's signature aria...on my iPod.

Burger and cocktails in Shanghai

Place: Park Hyatt, Shanghai.
Burger: The Burger, with cheese and bacon
Bun: sesame brioche, warmed but not toasted
Architecture: bun, bacon, cheddar cheese, beef, butter layer, bun; all
condiments on the side, including a pickled cucumber
Dressing: none.
Drinks: Bloody Mary, Margarita, Darroze 10-year Armagnac.
 
The patty was ordered medium but arrived at medium well. The mishap,
while not insignificant, was uncontroversial as it was masked by a
juicy patty, which exploded with flavors upon mastication. The butter
layer, which was well melted but not so much as to linger in a
pellucid state, added that extra beefy zing to accentuate the flavors
of the burger.
 
While the burger portion was just good enough for a healthy
mid-morning snack, the three cocktails, on the other hand, were not
for the faint-hearted. The Mary was excellent, with a strong initial
bite and a lingering vodka finish. The cracked pepper was so fresh
that if the alcohol didn't wake me up initially, the pungency of the piperine
certainly did. The Margarita showed that Park Hyatt would not skimp on
the alcohol, as a healthy portion of very aged Don Julio was liberally
mixed with fresh limes. The Armagnac had a sweet nose with a healthy
mix of flavors (orange peel, charred wood) and a caring finish, but
did not have that kind of strong, long-lasting aftertaste that I
expected from a Darroze.

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Hainan Chicken Rice

Place: a private kitchen. Beijing.

Good chicken, excellent presentation.

Burger at Danger Doyle's

Place: Danger Doyle's, just off Workers Stadium East Gate, Beijing.
Burger: The Burger
Bun: soft brioche
Architecture: bun, cheese, patty, bacon, fried onions, cheese, bun;
lettuce on the side
Dressing: none.

 The patty was delivered medium with plenty of charred, smoky flavors.
The onions were fried and caramelized just enough to offer a subtle
sweetness to counterpoint the robustness of the charred proteins. The
cheese was listed in the menu as a mozzarella --an interesting and
rarely procured choice that caught my attention while browsing the
menu --but it tasted, at least on the day of my visit, like white
Cheddar...may be a Colby. Perhaps due to carmelization of the onions,
the composition was slightly sweeter than I'd like. Nevertheless, the
end result was a formidable pub grub and welcoming entry to Danger
Doyle's menu.

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