Dinner Out

Dinner last night was sooo good. We went to dinner with Spencer and Andy, some foreign teachers from our school that we've hung out with a couple times. Do you want an exact account of our evening? I thought so. I can't give you that, but I can do my best!

We left at 5:00. We decided we were going to go to a restaurant in the Fuyang International Trade Center Hotel. It's is FANCY! We started walking to the main road, with the goal of hailing a cab. No such luck. We walked a ways and repeatedly got waved away by cabbies when we tried to get them to pull over. They all go to dinner at the same time. You'd think some would catch on and go "Oh, I can make big bucks at 5:00!", but no. We finally found a tuck-tuck willing to bring the four of us. That's a lot of weight in a little tuck-tuck. We tucked ourselves into the little box in back and then chugged our way across town.

The hotel is gorgeous; right on the river. We went up to the restaurant. The first thing we did was pick our meals. They have models of every dish sitting out on display in some rooms. There must have been at least 100! We settled on some and went to the dining room. Gorgeous furniture, tableclothes, pottery, crystal, etc. It was definitely swanky. We sat down, drank our Coke out of wine glasses, and ate our dinner. When in a group, you normally eat the food in a specific way. You order several dishes, and everyone shares. They get put in the middle of the table. If it's a big group, it's on a lazy susan. With just 4, it wasn't. You use your chopsticks to reach for what you want, and pop it right in your mouth. There is a small plate if you want it, but normally it's just to put a few pieces of meat or veggies on it. The food was sooo good.

We had 2 cold dishes (you normally start with these). There was one with wilted greens, and one with edamame (soy beans). Then, our entrees came. We had 4 dishes.

Pork ribs: bite sized chunks of pork ribs. They were so tender and yummy.
fried potato bites: Fried in breading. They tasted like tater tots!
Little sandwiches: You could use your HANDS! They were about the size of a McGriddle at McDonalds... mmmm.. McGriddles... anyway, they had lettuce on them, and there was a side of bacon to put on them.
Eggplant: This is the BEST DISH IN CHINA. It's sliced into small pieces and served in some sort of brown sauce. mmmmmm.....

Then, after we were finished, they brought out a fruit plate. Watermelon, cherry tomatoes, and longens (little cute fruits that you peel). Afterwards, we slowly walked home. I'm not sure if we MEANT to walk instead of find a taxi, but why not? We looked in a couple musical instrument shops, and talked. We also were in search of a "Walls Ice Cream" freezer. Apparently, they have these everywhere. Spencer and Andy wanted to show us. We finally found one, and each got an ice cream bar. We got home around 9:00 (it must have been a long long walk!).

That wasn't nearly as exciting as I wished it was...sorry. You had to be there!

The weather in Fuyang is really irking me right now. It is pouring rain. Again. On friday. All week, it was sunny, warm, and gorgeous. And, like clockwork, the weekend comes and it rains.I don't really mind the rain normally; I actually like it. But on the weekends, we can't eat at school. So we have to either go out to eat, or walk to the supermarket to buy groceries. We normally do a mix of both; but there are puddles everywhere! The streets are narrow, and you get splashed! Arggh. I think it's rained every weekend so far. Well, hey. At least they sell umbrellas at every corner :)