Lingbo Li
Help, my dinner has tiny claws and tiny brains.
a frightening cross between lobster and jumbo shrimp, 13 yuan, about $2 USD
a mutilated crustacean
You know, it’s funny. I’ve eaten brains and balls and everything in between, but even I was really intimidated by these puppies. I kind of stared at the tray and asked the waiter for help on how to approach them. Do I eat the head? Rip the shell off, eat the tail, and get a little bit of the head, he instructed me. They gave me a bowl of vinegar and plastic gloves to handle these, which were cooked with super-hot whole chilis and left a scum of fiery orange oil all over my gloves.
I preferred the mutton kebabs they also served. Those were just plain delicious – crackling and fatty, sprinkled with cumin and chili lakes.
The waiters were all from Henan province. One waiter’s family was still there.
Why are you in Shanghai? I asked.
Why did your parents go to America? he asked, laughing. To make money.
Fair enough.
What are your hours? I asked him. He said they worked from 6am until 2am, staying open to make more money. He had a dinner of noodles. They were all fascinated that I came from America, and asked me how much my plane ticket was (an unimaginable sum of money). I gave them all the extra change in my backpack as an introduction to the American practice of tipping.
No Twitter in China :(
I just arrived in Shanghai last night after a series of minor mishaps. More pressingly, I cannot seem to connect to Twitter. This is obviously upsetting. Even my remote Twitter program cannot connect to Twitter.
After just googling “china twitter blocked,” I have to say, I am deeply saddened. I knew about YouTube, but this?
Ok, now figured out that Tumblr is blocked as well. How am I supposed to overtake the media industry if I do not have access to major websites?
I will go eat something weird for breakfast to make my social media butterfly self calm down.
The price of being cultured
I think my father is convinced I will be robbed blind once I land in Shanghai due to extreme poor planning and naivete. Well, here’s the rundown of my preparation thus far:
– 3 painful immunizations, $108, termbilled to parents
– malaria meds, in case i travel through rural China: $30
– hotel booking (and subsequent rescheduling because I misread my itinerary, typical), $68
– 4am taxi ride, anticipated $45
– stupidly lost ID, charlie card, keys, almost full BerryLine card, valued at $55
– two months rent on sublet, Y3600 (approx. $600)
– gut busting breakfast at Harvard Square diner Leo’s Place, $7.95
– other anticipated expenses, $1500, or until I run out of cash
– GYM MEMBERSHIP???
– amount of money earned doing temp barbacking: a lot more than standing around should merit
– getting free bull testicles from KO Prime predeparture: priceless. The video is coming soon.
Balls!
I got an email from my waiter at KO Prime which began, “hey! the eagle as landed.” I have only tomorrow night to eat the dish that I suggested (artfully prepared bull testicles), and I’d love, nay, require some adventurous company. Harvard and Bostonian friends, let me know if you’re up for it: lingboli [at] fas.harvard.edu
Little insects make your honey. No, really.
It's good I am not scared of bees, since I took this closeup.
Read my article at GoodEater.org about the joys of beekeeping wearing funny looking suits.
I’ve still been working on my little jar of Mike Graney’s honey, produced in Boston’s Jamaica Plain. I’ve now mixed it into my nonfat plain Greek yogurt from Trader Joes, along with some Bola granola (see last post), a pretty damn awesome combination. Bizarrely, I kind of like my yogurt to be kinda thin and watery, though.
I also eat it with torn off bits of ciabatta dipped straight into the jar. Hygiene highly questionable. But delicious. Mmm, honey.
Lana Lingbo Li
I'm a world traveler / enthusiastic eater who's now blogging and producing videos over at HelloLana.com. Visit me there!
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