Sunday Brunch

One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday is to hang out at home with David and make a fabulous brunch, complete with cocktails and wine.  And that was the plan for today until we sat outside on the front porch with our morning coffee (as we do every morning), and saw what an absolutely gorgeous day it was.  It just seemed a shame to stay inside, especially after the not particularly entertaining week we'd had.

Since we needed to go to Raleigh to pick up a cargo carrier that David had ordered from Northern Tool, we decided we'd do that and make our monthly Costco run, in spite of the fact that I absolutely hate to do that kind of thing on Sunday when all the poor slobs who aren't retired are forced to run their errands.  Usually our Costco run involves lunch at Brio or the Black Cat Cafe, and a walk through the mall, but the truck needed to be washed and the gas light had come on yesterday afternoon, so we decided to take a slight detour to fill the tank at Sheetz and our tummies at one of our favorite Greenville restaurants, Starlight Cafe.

Of course, brunch is not brunch without a Bloody Mary, and Starlight serves a nice spicy one, garnished with huge olives and pickled okra.  After all, we are in the South.

The owners of Starlight have a farm.  That's right;  they grow the food they cook and serve.  Not all of it, of course, but what they don't grow is carefully sourced from local providers.  Every Sunday, their brunch menu features the Egg of the Day, the egg portion of that dish being organic eggs laid by their own hens.  It's almost always what I choose.  Today's selection was a ginger-fried North Carolina flounder fillet served alongside fried rice with cabbage and sweet corn, topped with a sunny-side-up egg.  Decorating the plate was a delicious spicy aioli which was the ideal sauce for the incredibly crispy fish.  The egg was cooked perfectly, and the yolk provided a delicious sauce for the fried rice.

David's not an egg fan, so today he chose the Chicken and Waffles.  A buttermilk-fried boneless chicken breast is perched atop a delicious and crispy cheese waffle and lightly "sauced" with honey butter.  We are not generally fans of fried foods, but Chef Tobias knows how to get a delightful crispy crust without leaving any oiliness in the finished product.  Both David's chicken and my fish are incredibly crispy and light.

On proofreading this, I realize that I've overused the word "crispy".  No, I really haven't....

Dessert at Starlight is often their homemade ice cream, but today's featured dessert is the Elvis.  It's a banana cake, filled and frosted with bacon and peanut butter frosting and drizzled with grape jelly sauce.  Nah...not me, although I must admit that up until the grape jelly part it sounded good.

Pizza from Chef and the Farmer

We rarely eat pizza here at home, because we're not fond of the typical "American style" pies that you get in most places. The one exception has been Rucker Johns (a small chain of three restaurants that started at the beach and now has a location in Greenville), who makes a nice thin crust pie with interesting toppings.

Chef and the Farmer is a highly-acclaimed restaurant in Kinston, which is an oxymoron in itself, as Kinston is definitely not a fine dining mecca.  Chef Vivian Howard grew up in nearby Deep Run, and after living and working in New York City, she and her husband moved back home and opened their restaurant.  The restaurant offers innovative cuisine using fresh local ingredients, and all of the dishes have a decidedly Southern flair.  Some of you may have seen Vivian on the Today Show last week, when she did a segment showing how to make her mother's chicken and rice, and then transform it into meals for the rest of the week.  She was also the subject of a PBS series entitled "A Chef's Life" that did a wonderful job of showing her commitment to using fresh ingredients sourced from local farms.

Year before last, a kitchen fire burned the restaurant to the point where they were closed for several months.  During that time, they kept their staff on the payroll, to ensure that they still had quality help when they reopened.  One new addition after the fire was a wood-burning pizza oven, and they offer the pizzas as a menu item in the restaurant, as well as for carry-out from the wine shop that's attached to the restaurant.

So last evening, after having spent the day doing particularly dirty, sweaty work with a back that was already sore, I sent David to pick up a pizza for dinner.  I didn't even look at the menu online, leaving him to make the decision; and he rightly chose the Crookneck Squash Pizza with roasted garlic, parmesan, Benton's bacon, and dill.  The crust was thin but still had a nice chew, unlike some thin crust pizzas that have an almost cracker-like crust.  The squash was thin lengthwise slices made with a vegetable peeler, the dill was fresh, and the roasted garlic flavor pungent and sweet at the same time.  I usually leave the ends of the crust on my plate, but much to David's chagrin I polished off every tasty bit.

Chef and the Farmer has become a destination restaurant for folks all over the state.  We're so lucky to live fifteen minutes away!

Chef and the Farmer Website

Reflections

As we have now come full circle, a little reflection.  On this trip, we learned a lot about ourselves and how we will travel in the future.  We've learned that organized tours aren't really our thing, and that it really is about the food.  While we enjoyed most aspects of our vacation in China, and are definitely glad we went, it's not the type of vacation we're likely to repeat.  Flying from city to city and moving four different times during two weeks did not make for a relaxing vacation.  In the future our trips will revolve around doing something that one or both of us enjoys, like cooking, eating, driving exotic cars, watching auto races, or lying on the beach with cool drinks.  Those activities may involve traveling to Europe, or Canada, surely the Caribbean; or maybe just a short drive down the road.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, in reverse order:

The Ugly: 

Without a doubt the experience of our trip home was the ugliest part of the vacation.  I have written a letter to United Airlines and have not yet received a response.  I'll follow up if I don't hear back with satisfactory compensation within the next week.  There's no excuse for Business First Class passengers traveling roundtrip to China to be given a non-existent hotel room at a budget motel when the missed connection was clearly the airline's fault, and coach passengers are lodged at the Hyatt Regency.

The next ugliest thing about our trip was the pollution which we encountered everywhere.   It was worse in the big cities, but was bad even along the river during the cruise portion of the vacation.  I had burning eyes and a scratchy throat the entire time we were there.  I felt so sorry for the children who will live their entire lives never seeing really blue skies.

The Bad:

Smoking is commonplace in China, and there are very few no smoking areas.  In one of the hotels, apparently the smoking floors were all full and smoking guests were placed in rooms on non-smoking floors.  This did not stop them from smoking in their rooms.  Smoking is also apparently allowed on tour buses, and the bus we used in Xian had a horrible odor of smoke which permeated everything on the bus.   

While the food wasn't memorable, in most cases it was quite good.  The exception was the box lunches, which were just awful.

The Good:

While flying from city to city wasn't particularly fun, it was necessary in order to experience as much of China as we did.  Viking has this process down to a science, and made it as painless as possible.

Our hotel accommodations were nothing short of spectacular.  Every hotel was a five-star accommodation, with wonderful amenities and great restaurants. 

But the very best thing about our trip was the group of friends that we made during the two weeks.  These are people who I know will be friends for many years to come.  In fact, a reunion has already been scheduled with six of the eight of us!

Chinese Acrobats

Still May 19, 2014

After dinner at a local restaurant, we boarded Jack's Bus for the last event of our tour:  a performance by the famous Chinese Acrobats of Shanghai.  Again, Jack outdid himself by getting us seats in the center of the auditorium where we had a perfect view of the spectacular show.

The show combined beauty, athleticism, incredible balance, and comedy in a most entertaining manner, and it was the perfect finale to our vacation.

The Bund, The Carpet Factory, and Lunch in a Local Restaurant

Still May 19, 2014

Shanghai was my favorite city, and during our short time there we experienced more of the local architecture and city life than in any other place we visited.  After our tour of the Gardens, we had an opportunity to shop in a local silk market, where I picked up a couple of gifts.

Somewhere in there we had the opportunity to visit the Bund area during the day.  It's not as pretty as at night, but I'm still struck by the contrast between the old and the new architecture.  This area is popular with Chinese tourists as well as foreigners.

Jack's bus then delivered us to a local carpet factory, where we saw beautiful carpets being hand-made, with the opportunity to purchase (at a special discount, of course).  There were also beautiful hand-embroidered pieces available, some of which were just phenomenal in their dimension and realism.  The one of the tigers pictured below was so realistic that I wanted to touch the smooth fur of these gorgeous animals.

Lunch this day was on the first floor of this same carpet factory, where a huge Mongolian Barbecue restaurant was located.  As we entered, we split into two lines on either side of a long buffet, where the uncooked ingredients of our meal were chosen, along with sauces and a salad bar of sorts.  There were pork, beef, chicken, and lamb;  along with every imaginable vegetable (yay!), noodles, rice, and different sauces.  I selected a little pork and chicken (extremely thinly sliced in order to cook quickly), lots of veggies, and the combination sauce (augmented with a little ginger sauce and hot sauce), and took them to the smiling chef who tossed them around with huge chopsticks on the Mongolian grill until they were perfectly cooked.  We've all been to these grills here in the US, but it just seemed a little more authentic here.  Maybe it was because the guys wielding the chopsticks may have actually been Mongolian.  The food was delicious, and I went back for seconds and washed it all down with a somewhat cold Tsingtao.

After lunch, our bus took us along the Bund to another museum tour.  Several of us were "museumed out" so we asked our driver if he could drop us at the Westin, and he graciously complied.  In fact, only six of our group of thirty actually took this last museum tour.

Four of us decided to visit Nanjing Road, a famous shopping district near our hotel.  This road is closed to vehicles, and both sides of the now-pedestrian road are lined with stores of all types.  We stopped into a couple of brand-name stores where it was obvious that the products were counterfeits, albeit good ones.  In addition to high-end jewelry and clothing stores, there are also street vendors chasing us down to sell us toys for our grandkids.  "How many grandkids you have?"  "They love this!"  Jack's Chinese lessons served us well, as we smiled and said, "Bu Yao."

We were surprised at how crowded the area was for a Monday, when we thought most locals would be working.  It must have been some sort of a holiday, although we never figured out what.

After our shopping time, we headed back to the hotel to pack up for tomorrow's departure. and to get ready for our last evening in China.

Street Food

May 19, 2014

Since the name of my blog is "It's About the Food", you would expect there to be a lot of posts about food, right?  I agree.  Unfortunately in China, the food just wasn't memorable for me.  I'm a bit of a food snob.  But after our tour of the Yuyuan Garden, we wandered around in the markets around the entrance waiting to rejoin Jack's Group, and I was intrigued by the little storefronts selling what I guess would best be called street food.  I wanted to try some, but David pointed out it was almost time for our lunch, so I didn't.  As I learned shortly, it was only 10 AM, and he really didn't want me to try the street food, as he was concerned about the sanitation.  I think the tiny octopus would have been really tasty after dipped in batter and deep fried, and I wish I had tried the soup dumplings (with the straw to extract the soup).  By the way, this place is right next door to Starbucks.

Yuyuan Gardens

May 19, 2014

We left the hotel early Monday morning, as we had been told the streets would be closed because of the economic conference and we'd be stuck there.  The day began with a tour of Old Shanghai, with narrow lanes and the sights and sounds of ancient times.  The juxtaposition of the old with the new is particular fascinating here.

Walking thorough this area, we entered the Yuyuan Gardens, learning that the Gardens were being closed shortly for a visit from some of the dignitaries who were in town for the economic conference.  There was no warning of this, and Jack told us that our group and the one or two other Viking groups that came right after us, were the last groups allowed in that day;  the other Viking groups (6 or so groups of 30) would not be able to see the gardens.  The gardens are absolutely beautiful, and I am so happy that we had the opportunity to see them.  Again, we took hundreds of photos;  following are but a few.

On to Shanghai

May 18, 2014

Following the bells performance, we re-boarded Jack's Bus, where we were provided with our (thankfully) last box lunch, to be enjoyed on the way to the airport.  I had high hopes for this lunch, as it was provided by the ship's kitchen, but my hopes were dashed when I saw the white bread sandwich.  If memory serves me, it was a club sandwich, so I removed most of the bread and managed to eat about half of it.  A granola bar and a candy bar rounded out this meal.

Our experience at the airport in Wuhan was equally as orchestrated as the others had been, and we boarded the plane without incident.  This time, however, David had an aisle seat and I was in the middle seat;  with the window seat empty.  I knew that wouldn't last, and sure enough, a very large (not fat, just tall and big) man, wearing huge headphones and carrying a laptop, danced down the aisle and stopped at our row.  When we got up to let him in, I gave David "the look", and he smiled and took the middle seat, allowing me the aisle seat.  Those who know me have seen "the look", and know what a sweetheart David is.

I've neglected to report that on each of these very short flights, the flight attendants have provided beverage service of sorts.  Usually it's juice or water, but on this flight they serve hot tea.  On two of the three flights they have also served food.  The last flight it was a hot tuna salad sandwich on what looked like a hamburger bun.  That was the flight that followed the completely inedible box lunch, and I truly did try to eat the tuna, but couldn't get it past my nose.  The food on this flight was some sort of sandwich, but I declined.

A couple of photos of Wuhan follow, showing again the horrible pollution that we encountered in every city we visited.

Upon arrival in Shanghai we were immediately struck with the fact that the pollution was not nearly as bad there, and that the city itself was much prettier than the others we had visited.  I finally understood why David had wanted to share China with me.  As we were en-route to the Westin Hotel, Jack's cell phone rang, and after a lengthy conversation in Chinese, he announced to us that there was an economic conference taking place in Shanghai, and that some of the dignitaries were staying at our hotel.  In fact, it was rumored that the Vladimir Putin was in Shanghai, and that President of Pakistan was staying at our hotel.  We had seen a Russian plane at the airport, surrounded by guards, so the Putin rumor may have been true.  In any event, this would mean added security throughout the city and at the hotel.  Each time we entered the hotel, we passed through airport-style security, with our bags being x-rayed, ourselves passing through metal detectors, and being wanded every time.

The Westin is definitely the nicest hotel we've stayed in on our trip, and after settling into our huge suite, we headed down to the restaurant for our first dinner.  This is buffet style, with one entire section devoted to the type of Chinese food that David had expected us to find at the local restaurants:  whole fish, chickens and ducks with their heads and feet still attached, and all manner of unusual sea creatures.  He sampled a little of that, and I tasted some as well, but I'm ashamed to say that I had lost my adventurous spirit by that time, so I mostly ate things I could recognize.

After dinner our group walked a few short blocks to view the Bund at night.  This area is just gorgeous, with all the skyscrapers lit up beautifully at night. Sadly, I don't have any photos of the Bund at night, as we didn't bring the camera with us.  David thought he had many from his earlier trip, but I can't find them now.  Our friends did take some, and once they send them to me, I'll post them here.

Wuhan Museum and Bells Performance

May 18, 2014

Sunday morning we're up early as our suitcases have to be outside at 6:00 AM.  I do remember now what we did Saturday after lunch;  we packed, of course!  And I did a bit of shopping at the pearl boutique on the ship.  They had the most amazing selection of pearls;  I had a pair of earrings made to match a necklace I had purchased in St. Martin, and picked up a couple of gifts for folks back home.

So back to Sunday.  After breakfast, we checked out of the ship and filed off, passing through another ship that was docked between us and the dock, and on to Jack's Bus for a short ride to the museum in Wuhan.  A lot of the ship's staff is waiting to wave goodbye, and we're able to give Eddie and Lucy the hugs that they didn't get the night before.

The museum is one of the more interesting ones, as it contains coffins of an emperor and his concubines.  Because of their belief in the afterlife, the emperors often took their concubines with them in death.  In this particular case, the coffin of the emperor's wife was not found, and it is believed that she was given permission to bury the concubines with her dead husband, but her life was spared so that she could take care of the children.  The concubines were often buried alive, and they took jewelry and decorative combs with them.

This particular emperor also enjoyed his wine, as is evidenced by the many wine containers that were also found in his tomb:

But the most amazing thing that was recovered from his tomb was a complete set of bells, which were used in ancient times to provide musical performances for the elite.

After the museum tour, we were treated to a performance on a replica of these bells.  It was just fabulous.  I've tried to attach a video here, but I'm having problems getting that to work.  In the meantime, here's a still shot.

Mahjong

May 17, 2014

Again I didn't make it to Tai Chi, enjoying early coffee on the veranda.  During breakfast most of our group decided to skip the planned excursion to the Viking sponsored primary school in favor of staying onboard and playing mahjong.

Five of us gathered in the library, with four playing and the fifth taking over for the winner each game.  As usual, David is the luckiest, and won more than anyone else.  After having played several games and not winning one, I decided David's position was the lucky one, so we changed places, where he proceeded to win again from my unlucky spot.  Still, I find losing at mahjong much less annoying than losing at poker (comment made for two readers who will understand exactly what I mean).  Finally I did win one game, so all was right with the world.

I'm not sure what we did after lunch, other than get ready for dinner.  We may have played more mahjong.  I stopped taking notes over a week ago, and unless I have pictures to jog my memory, it's just not there.

Tonight was the Captain's dinner, so we dressed up and headed on down to our table, only to find it filled with strangers.  WHAT?  On the last night of the cruise, when you're supposed to thank the waitstaff that's served you for the entire trip, others decided to sit at our table, so we're stuck at another table with completely unfamiliar staff.  At least we had Lois to serve our wine, but Eddie and Lucy were busy serving the interlopers.  We never did understand the reasoning behind what those people did, but we didn't let it ruin our last night.

For my entree tonight I chose the black cod, and it was probably the best meal I had on the entire trip.  The fish was perfectly cooked and sauced with a nice buerre blanc, and served with crisp-tender veggies.  Yummy!

Off for one last dance, before an early bedtime, as our suitcases have to be outside our door at 6:00 AM for disembarkation.

Three Gorges Dam

May 16, 2014

Every evening I say to myself that in the morning I'm going to up to the sundeck and practice Tai Chi with Master Tom (not his Chinese name, but maybe it is?  Tom could very well be a Chinese last name), but once I get up and have my shower, the little coffee machine beckons and I can't seem to leave the veranda until breakfast.  Oh well.

So this morning after breakfast we board the most recent iteration of Jack's Bus for a tour of the Three Gorges Dam.  The dam was opened in 2008, and is the world's largest artificial generator of electric power from a renewable source.  In addition to providing much cleaner electricity than coal, the dam created a reservoir that has stopped the disastrous flooding on the river, which in the worst flood, in 1931, caused an estimated 145,000 people to lose their lives.  The dam's construction was not without controversy, however, as it brought about the displacement of over a million people living in cities, towns, and villages along the river.  Additionally, significant architectural and archaeological sites were destroyed, along with spectacular scenery.

We are not permitted inside the dam itself, but we do get close enough to take a few nice shots.

We return to the ship for lunch, and afterwards, David heads up to the lounge for a Mahjong lesson.  I choose to spend a little more time reading on the veranda.  I did get a couple of pictures this time.

Shortly before dinner we enter one more lock, as we sail through the Gezhouba Dam.  After dinner, David and I pass on the Crew Cabaret show and opt for more dancing.  Upon returning to our cabin, we find that our cabin steward, Robert (not his Chinese name) has left us a towel doggie.  Cute!