During November, Alison conceives and prints an edition of silkscreen prints, a holiday tradition of more than 20 years. It’s mail art. Check your mailbox soon.
Printing silkscreen edition 2010
Category: Alison
Snow on Two Coasts
Sue Berard
[View some more photos of Sue at this Picassa album.]
Sue loved good food.
Of course Sue loved her family, and she loved Cohasset, Mass (where she grew up), and she loved her work with the Society for Hematopathology, and she loved puzzles and card games (especially Bridge), but she really loved good food, and she loved preparing and serving good food to those people she loved.
Continue reading “Sue Berard”
new hats
We are back from our fantastic trip to Western China and looking forward to some “Chinese” food here in Shanghai before we catch our flight back to Boston on Wednesday. The excellent food we’ve been enjoying for the past week would not be recognized as Chinese food by most of you (except maybe Sue and Cos who had a preview at our house before we left). We’re excited to tell you all about the food and other stuff when we get home. Thanks for helping us get there and back.
Train Trip to Western Xinjiang Province
We loved our 48 hour sleeper train from Shanghai to western China.
Alison and Train Friend
Last Shanghai Morning
Eric left for Beijing earlier this morning (Wed) but not before going out to get some bao, sesame rolls, and shumei for breakfast along with a couple of glasses of soy milk.
A Meal To Remember
At 99 Fuxing Lu (an older restored home in the French Concession now offering “true” Shanghai cuisine); following is the menu with some translation help from our friend Patrick who set it up:
- River Eels with Asparagus
- Drunken Chicken (Zuiji in Mandarin, stewed chicken over ice)
- Kaofu in Sauce (Kaofu, braised wheat gluten with wood ear mushrooms and “golden needles”)
- Fried Smoked Blue Fish (Xunyu, but not the blue fish we know in America, more like a firm white fish)
- Braised River Shrimp (He Xia, braised in a very light sauce and served by themselves)
- Stir-fried Greens (Mixian)
- Red-cooked Pork (Hong Shao Rou, Braised Pork Belly or Pork Leg, ours was the belly)
- Eels in Brown Sauce
- Braised Shad (this could have been a true Shad, and the fish was cooked qing zhen, or steamed with ginger, scallion and a sauce of oil, soy, sugar and shaoxing wine)
- Fish Stomach Soup (Lao Ji Tang, chicken soup with fish stomach and winter melon)
- Lions Head (a light but large pork meatball, ours was served in a broth, but it’s never called soup because it can be served in a variety of context)
- Noodles with Fried Chives and Dried Shrimp
- Fermented Rice with Black Sesame Dumplings (Niang Mi Zhima Tang Yuan)
- Fruit (Shuiguo, we had watermelon – Xigua)
Travelin’ Kids
In the same days that Eric and Alison are getting all the mention, traveling west by train across China, Brian and Sadie are driving west across another continent; North America.
Brian’s Camry sat, virtually idle in Montpellier, France for six years, just waiting for this occasion. They set out from Belfast, Maine on Monday and spent the first night in Pennsylvania. Tuesday, they visited the Hale homestead in Lancaster, Ohio. Wednesday took them to Albia, Iowa, just south of Des Moines. Thursday, they crossed Nebraska and ventured into Wyoming, spending the night in Laramie, a town well known from cowboy movies. Today, they’re on the homestretch to Reno.
Who knew these guys, in a late September week of 2009 would be spanning two continents on opposite sides of the world?
Meanwhile, I have another three-part text message from China to share.
Fri Sep 25 8:02am
Almost 7am and still a ways 2 go in Gansu province (!) just past Jiayuguan. Due in Turpan around 2pm, but train was rnng an hour late ystdy so …
Al here. Train is fun. Scenery is spectacular. Sunrise in desert, now. Our roommate 56 yr o male teacher lives Shanghai, very nice. His colleagues uighur, like 2 sing.
Adventure!. Shaanxi gansu border amazingly beautiful, rivers – mts @ sunset.
Notes from the Train
email from Alison September 22, 2009 7:44:48 PM PDT:
Eric and I are packing for our 6 day train trip to northwestern China. We’ve heard from fellow travelers we’ve met (who have loved the trip) that internet connectivity does not exist where we are traveling, and even cell phone is iff-y. So we will not be sending or receiving email from today through Tues. Sept 29.
We fly home from Shanghai to Boston on Wed. Oct. 1. We’ll be back in touch then.
Just wanted to let you know, if you wondered why blog posts and e-communications have stopped.
Brian, we’re thinking of you as you make your way across one continent, and we cross another.
We’re really enjoying the trip. Eric Lee is just off to Beijing, so we parted ways and we subway to the train this afternoon. 2300 mile train journey west.
That’s it for now.
Text message from Eric Wed Sep 23 4:18pm:
Good morning. We just woke up somewhere in Henan province & I am about 2 eat a bowl of inst noodle soup. It is very cloudy. –er
Wed Sep 23 8:03pm
About 2 x into Shaanxi province. Beautiful hills. We’re supposed 2 b in Xi’an at 12:15pm.
Thu Sep 24 1:36am
Just entered Gansu province; the mountains and valleys are spectacular.
[Editors note: Gansu is a long California-sized province that separates Mongolia (on the east) from Xinjiang. We entered Gansu at the southern edge and traveled 3/4 of the way north which took us 18 hours of continuous train travel, mostly overnight. That is why our communication ends here — we didn’t try to TXT until the next morning, by which time we had entered the “communications bubble” of Xinjiang where mobile phones could only communicate with others inside the province, but not outside the bubble.]
Breakfast in Flip Flops
Noodles with a fried egg, tofu and veg, and a bit of tea egg broth.
RectorSite 