Hometown Cafe...

Normally when I do these restaurant reviews, I like to post pictures that I have taken. That is impossible today as I left my camera in a taxi. After this disappointment I decided to drown my sorrows in sweet, blueberry goodness.

The restaurant- Paul's American Steak and Eggs- Several years ago, fresh from selling his diner in Florida, Canadian native Paul and his wife Yang Yang decided to take an extended 6 month vacation in China. They had plans to return to the U.S., probably California, and open a new restaurant. While in Beijing, Paul began craving the western food he missed from home. He realized he couldn't find it in China and what western food there was here was only in hotels and was overpriced. He saw a need for an American style diner restaurant that offered good American comfort food at reasonable prices. After finding an old bar in the Jianguomen foreign embassy area that was for sale and renovating it, Paul's American Steak and Eggs was born. While it is not the only game in town anymore (competitor Grandma's Kitchen is just next door), Paul keeps packing in hungry expats looking for a taste of home and Chinese people looking for western food at a decent price now in two locations. When Paul is not barking orders or working in the kitchen, you can find him chatting with his customers. He is also an accomplished dessert chef serving up the best western desserts you will find in Beijing. If its western food, chances are Paul has it on his menu. He obviously specializes in hearty breakfasts (steak and eggs, country fried steak and eggs, ham and eggs and the heart attack special: eggs, biscuit or toast, with ham, sausage, AND bacon.) Beyond that he has an extensive menu of appetizers, steak and chicken entrees, pastas and pizzas. Rounding this out is a full bar with cheap cocktails and imported American soft drinks. (Yay Dr. Pepper!)


Here is a picture I was able to find on the internet. Yes that is Paul's face on the sign.

Ambience- Picture your favorite home owned restaurant in any small American town and you know what this place looks like. Everything is simple here: decor, chairs, etc. Clanging of plates and dishes can be heard from the kitchen. People are smoking and the smell of fresh coffee is in the air. It reminds me of Hometown Cafe in Bruce or Martha's Menu in Corinth, in other words, Perfect!

Service- Service here has never been lacking and is always quick. Paul works his staff hard and it pays off in satisfied customers who never have to wait long for anything.

Food- After church on Sunday is the perfect time for a late breakfast. I opted today for the pancake breakfast with blueberry and whip cream topping. The meal came with three large cakes covered in blueberries and what tasted like homemade whip cream. On the side were 2 scrambled eggs and 2 thick pieces of bacon. My only complaint would be that it would have been nice to have the eggs on a separate plate. When the blueberry syrup runs off the pancakes and mixes with the eggs, they turn green. Maybe I should have had ham instead of bacon? The pancakes were large but fluffy, the bacon greasy, and the eggs cooked well. A Dr. Pepper on the side helps me to cope with being away from home. The food here is basic comfort food. It is not fancy, but it tastes good and fills you up.

The Price- My total bill came out to 70 yuan, about 10 dollars, a small price for such a filling meal. Paul's is the best deal in town.

Total Sweet Potatos- 5/5 I have never been disappointed here, definitely my favorite restaurant in Beijing.

A Photo Tour Of Wal-Mart...

Wal-Mart, that necessary evil that destroys small town business and offers us everything you could imagine at amazing prices. They have them in China too, although they are a little different from what we have come to love and hate in America. For starters, instead of being one massive floor, the Wal-Mart in my neighborhood takes up three stories connected by flat escalators with grooves in the track that keep your shopping cart from running away. Here is a tour of my recent visit. Please keep your arms inside the vehicle at all times, off we go.

The Entrance

Okay, looks like a Wal-Mart

Smaller but well stocked electronics section.

Let's go down to the grocery section, watch your step and don't run on the escalator.

Fresh Fish- You actually take them home swimming in a bag where you kill them and cook them.

Turtles Anyone? Remember this is not the pet store, this is the grocery section.

A Chinese Staple- Jiaozi- Dumplings

Whole Dried Ducks To Take Home For Roasting- At Least You Don't Take Them Home In A Cage.

Here is something I don't understand. Why is half of the imported section taken up by Danish butter cookies? I like them, but when I go to the grocery store, these ususally aren't on my list. Are there a lot of Danish expats living here? I haven't met a one.

I'd much rather go to the regular cookie section for Strawberry Oreos! Never seen these before!

Don't forget your Ritz Crackers!

Adult Milk Powder Bow Chicka Wow Wow (I need help.)

One major difference is the extensive wine and liquor section. The only time I have seen a similar section in the U.S. is in Branson, MO. Why does China, one of the most conservative nations on the planet and Branson, one of the most conservative family towns on the planet have the largest liquor sections in their Wal-Mart?

That's the tour. Hope you enjoyed it!

This Is A Public Service Announcement WITH GUITAR...

Legendary punk band MxPx will perform at Mao Livehouse in Beijing during their first ever mini tour to China. After the disappointment of Oasis getting canceled, let's hope there aren't any snags here. Over their expanisve career, MxPx have always been positive in their lyrics (never even a drop of profanity), for the most part non contoversial, and have avoided political issues (except for some anti American capitalist songs, mostly written when they were fighting with record label Tooth and Nail Records, the label which they are currently signed to again).

Check Them Out:




www.mxpx.com

www.toothandnail.com

Chongwenmen Christian Church...

This morning COGS had a visiting Baptist church choir from Alabama performing for the service. Since I will only be in China a short time and can hear a Baptist choir whenever the urge hits in the U.S. (as you know it often does), I decided to take this chance to worship with the Chinese. The following is a church visit report in the style of The Mystery Worshipper from http://www.ship-of-fools.com/

Church Exterior

Church Interior

The Church: Chongwenmen is the oldest Protestant church in Beijing originally founded as Asbury Methodist Church. Like most religious sites in Beijing, it was once active, then destroyed, then rebuilt, then destroyed again. Worship in the present structure resumed in 1982. One of their claims to fame is that they hosted former President Bill Clinton during a state visit back during his administration.

Denomination: China Christian Council, the official governing body of Protestant churches in China

The Cast: A young man the service sheet listed as Pastor Li Hua led the service and a young lady listed as Pastor Zhen Cuihua was the preacher.

Date And Time: Sunday, March 15, 2009, 10:30 AM

Name of Service: 10:30 Service

How many in attendance: The church claims to be able to hold 2000 and my guess would be that it was full to bursting including the outside overflow area where people watched on tv.

Did anyone welcome you? I received a very warm welcome from Daphne, a translator. She gave me books, an English service sheet, and a headset for the tranlsation service and helped me find a seat in the foreign translation section.

What about the pew? Wooden pew with a thin worn piece of padding. It was not very comfortable. That could have been because I sat on it so long due to getting there an hour early. I arrived shortly after 9 and had to join a line to get in. At around 9:15 the 8 am service let out and we were allowed in. I know from experience that if you don't get to church early in Beijing you don't get a seat.

Pre Service Atmosphere- Extremely quiet. One of the pastors came out and led the congregation in some prayers as well as practice in an unfamiliar hymn.

Exact opening words: The words of Exodus 15:11-18

Books? I was given "The New Hymnal" bilingual edition, a Revised Standard Version Bible, and an English service sheet. I was glad to have these due to later technical difficulities so at least I could sing the songs and follow the scripture readings.

Musical Instruments? piano

Any distractions? Yes, the headset I was given was supposed to tune me in to an English translation of the service. I hate to be pessimistic, but as soon as I was given it the first thought that ran through my mind was "I bet this won't work." (it comes with living in China) and it didn't. The three laowai sitting behind me seemed to be enjoying the service through their headphones but mine wouldn't work! On the plus side, it really made me think hard about the day's Old Testament reading from Genesis when God scrambled all the languages. Maybe there is something in there I am supposed to learn!

Worship Style? The church seems to have retained its Methodist roots. There was an excellent choir, several scripture readings, and traditional hymns.

Sermon Length: 40 minutes

Sermon Topic: The topic was peace and used verses from John 14 and 16 as the text. She seemed to be an engaging speaker, I just wished my headset had been working.

What was like being in heaven? As with my previous visit to a Chinese church, it was great to see Chinese Christians worshipping openly and freely after so many years of being unable to do so.

Anything you didn't like? The non working headphones.

Anyone speak afterwards? No, but during the peace people were very cordial. At the end you have to make a mad dash to the door to avoid being trampled.

Would you make this your church home? If I lived closer and thought I could get to know people, probably. The Chinese churches are so few so therefore they are so large. The only weakness I can see in churches like this is there isn't much time for one on one attention so there probably isn't much fellowship time.

Did this service make you glad to be a Christian? Absolutely, worshipping in such an historic and beautiful church was great.

What will you remember most? HEADPHONES! At the end of the service when I returned them I told the usher that I could not hear the translations. He sincerely said he was sorry and that if I come back to please let him know if I had the problem again. I will probably visit again so I can hear a sermon and will make sure to do this.

Dinner For Three...

After a dissappointing visit to the Natural History Museum (except for the dinosaurs, hard to believe at 30 years old I am still as amazed with them as I was when I was 3 and first saw the dinosaur Reading Rainbow episode), I was able to meet up with Clifton and Rozanne Cornelius, Corinth natives who are in China for 2 weeks to adopt a baby girl. See my link I posted earlier to their blog to read about their trip.

We decided to go to the Quan Ju De Beijing Roast Duck Restaurant, one of the most famous Beijing duck restaurants in the city. After ordering the roast duck dinner for three we spent some time getting caught up on what was going on in each other's lives and then the food started to arrive. I had no idea we ordered this much food. The meal started with a couple of cold appetitizers followed by a bowl of soup made with mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Shortly after that the duck arrived followed by beef and peppers and a dish of mushrooms and asparagus. Just when we thought we were through, a plate of shrimp showed up at the table followed by duck soup (after they carve your duck, the carcass is taken back to the kitchen and boiled, the result is a broth similar to chicken broth) and finally a light dessert plate and fruit platter. At the very end of the meal we were presented with a certificate telling us what number our duck was based on the number of ducks they have served since opening. (It was well over 800,000, have you ever seen 800,000 ducks?)

We left stuffed and glad to have been able to spend some time together.

Dinner Together

It's Smiling At Me!

A World Without Rock, Is A World I Don't Want To Live In...

Disappointment, Let Down, Whatever you call it, the recent cancellation of the Oasis concert in Beijing left me a little bummed out. I took a cab over to the Worker's Stadium today to get a refund on my 400 yuan ticket which made things a little better. Oh where oh where can I go to get my rock fix? How about that temple of rock, commercialism, and mediocre food?

THE HARD ROCK CAFE

Ozzy Osbourne's Guitar- Friday night, always a good time for some Sabbath!

Darius Rucker's Guitar (Hootie and the Blowfish)

I can't play the guitar but I can eat hot fudge brownie ice cream sundaes!

After checking out the memorabilia on the walls, I ordered dinner. I opted for the pork bbq with no slaw. The young waitress assured me this would be no problem, guess what, it was! Back to the kitchen the plate goes! I paid the 36 yuan upgrade for onion rings from fries, big mistake. There were 4 very small Sonic style onion rings. I love Sonic onion rings, but these were cold! The bbq was pretty good, just a step above high school cafeteria bbq. However, no one goes to Hard Rock for the food, Hard Rock is about the atmosphere. The Bejing location is a huge cavernous restaurant that is home to some cool guitars and outfits and has an excellent sound system playing rock hits from all the decades. A decent live cover band took to the stage later in the meal as well. I rounded out the meal with the above pictured dessert and it didn't dissappoint!

On the way out I picked up the obligatory Hard Rock tshirt as well as a great bargain. They were having a clearance on Hard Rock Shanghai merchandise and I picked up a gray polo shirt with Hard Rock Shanghai logo for just 30 Yuan (less than 5 bucks!)

I didn't realize how convenient the Hard Rock was, a 20 minute subway ride and short walk got me there (during which I was propositioned by 2 Chinese women offering massages: Sir, massage, Sir, massage from pretty lady and I'm like Do you have any snapple? Because I think they should also sell snapple, because that way they hook you in with the snapple and then they'd be like you know what would go great with that snapple- a massage. They'd be like amazon.com, If you enjoy snapple, you might also enjoy....) They had to have been legit as prostitution doesn't exist here. (Although I was surprised to hear one say in Sanlitun the other evening: Hello sir, sex lady! You learn after awhile to just ignore them and keep walking, kind of like timeshare hawkers in Las Vegas. Although I don't know of any timeshare sales presentations that offer...nevermind. At least neither of the ones I have been to did, and they wonder why I don't buy their timeshare!

The End Is Near...

Wow, is a year really almost over? Just a few minutes ago I paid my final rent payment (rent is paid on a three month at a time cycle here) and gave my official notice that I would not be renewing my apartment lease. It is a little sad to think that in three months time I will be leaving Zhong Guo. Nine months ago coming here felt so strange and foreign, now it feels just as much like home as anywhere else does.

Before that three months is up, I still have a lot to see and do. I haven't been on any of Beijing's roller coasters yet or in any of the museums. I still need to see the Chaoyang acrobatic show and make another trip or two to Yashow to load up on pirated clothing. Mutianyu Great Wall with its cable car to the top is a must. I also promised everyone back home I would do an in depth blog article about the Wal Mart here. April 20th I am headed for a two day trip to Xian to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.

What will I miss about China? Do you have a few hours? First and foremost, my coworkers and students, they have truly made the experience memorable. Occasionally as I am in the classroom, the gravity of what I am doing hits me and I realize how truly lucky I am to be here. I will miss my wonderful apartment that gave me a taste of what its like to be wealthy. Ayi Ling and her weekly cleaning and laundry visits will be missed, she is sort of a Chinese Ms. Garrett. The church family at Congregation of the Good Shepherd will be missed; I am proud to have called COGS my spiritual home for the past year and am glad to call Dan Sandifer-Stech and his family friends. Eating at Chef Paul's Steak and Eggs and seeing Paul's antics has truly been an experience; I will never eat steak and eggs again without laughing about Paul trying to chase fighting cats out of his restaurant ceiling. Walking down Sanlitun, late night pizzas in Wudaokou, and Beijing Duck will really be missed! I could go on for hours but I will stop there.

I am excited about what lies ahead and know that I will never forget what I have experienced this year. For those of you that don't know, this fall I will be teaching high school English at the Desoto School, a small private school in the Arkansas Delta. I don't feel like my career in China is over, just on hold for awhile. I will get my application on file with an international school placement agency and see what happens there and I also have plans to be back to China short term as early as next summer (more on that later). Keep watching this blog as there is much more for you to read about as my adventure in the Middle Kingdom winds down.
Paying My Rent To Jason Jiang, My Real Estate Agent. Since the 100 yuan note is the largest bill in the economy here and paying rent requires 12000 yuan every 3 months, you have to carry around a small suitcase of money.