Live Food

by Neil Woodburn on

Occasionally I pop on over to Deep End Dining to see what’s cooking–or in this particular case, what’s alive and kicking and sitting on your plate about to be eaten.

Consuming live food is an Asian delicacy that is starting to make inroads here in the United States. Eddie, one of the writers for DED, has penned a rather sick and alarming account of consuming the live and twitching at a restaurant in Rowland Heights, California.

Although I love seafood and sushi, I had problems stomaching his review. For those of you with stronger stomachs than I, Cat-Gut Eddie dove into live lobster sashimi and drunken shrimp. Although the lobster didn’t twitch enough to his liking, the shrimp, on the other hand, were a bit too feisty, flopping off the table and on to the carpet in a mad dash to escape Eddie’s ravenous pie-hole.

The scene of the crime occurred at Seafood Village–a popular restaurant in the suburbs of Los Angeles that specializes in Chiu Chow cuisine. According to a thumbs-up review in the LA Times, Chiu Chow cuisine originated in Hong Kong and is “filled with exquisitely light yet assertively flavored dishes and is punctuated with the occasional peppery punch.”

Despite certain live elements, the majority of dishes are actually deceased and properly cooked. Chiu Chow cuisine is very trendy and popular in Hong Kong these days and as a result, Seafood Village draws quite a large crowd from Los Angeles’ Chinese population.

The Science Behind the Tibet Railroad

by Neil Woodburn on

After posting yesterday about the maiden journey of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, I ran across the following article in Wired Magazine.  As you might suspect, the Wired article focuses on the technological advances that were necessary to build what is perhaps the most unique railroad in the world. 

Chinese engineers faced two major problems; 342 miles of permafrost upon which portions of the track were to be built, and the thin Himalayan air which passengers would have to breathe during the journey. 

The article is a fascinating testament to Chinese technology and the science that went into engineering a train journey that takes place between 13,000 and 16,000 feet–which is, as writer David Wolman points out, “cruising altitude for some commuter flights.” 

Making such an environment hospitable involved, among other things, UV coated windows as well as breaking down air from outside the train to be consumed within. “Nitrogen and other gasses are released back into the atmosphere, while the concentrated oxygen, mixed with some outside air, is pumped throughout the train.” 

Wolman also discusses the steps taken, such as circulating liquid nitrogen through vertical pipes along the rail line, to insure that the weight and heat of the train does not melt the fragile permafrost and sink the tracks.  While everything seems to be in order right now, global warming will possibly wreck havoc on the lines in the next 10-20 years if the system is not improved to accommodate warming temperatures.   

Better go now before the Qinghai-Tibet Railway goes the way of fishing villages upstream from the Three Gorges Dam. 

Lhasa Train is Chugging Away

by Neil Woodburn on

We’ve posted a few times already about the controversial railroad the Chinese government has been building to Lhasa, Tibet. Well, now it’s a reality. The first train pulled into Lhasa on Monday and with it came the first rolling stock of Chinese gentrification that will undoubtedly change the region forever.

The train, hermetically pressurized to keep out the thin air of the Himalayas, presented a few surprises on the maiden voyage. Despite the sealed cabins, the change in air pressure blew-up packaged goods, the ink tubes in ballpoint pens, and even the “tiny airbags” in laptops and MP3 players that are designed to cushion the internal parts. Some passengers faired equally poorly, throwing up as the train chugged away at 16,000 feet.

Hmm… maybe this gentrification thing will take a bit longer than expected.

Word for the Travel Wise (06/30/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Another day, week and month has come to an end and I’m as tired as ever. No pointless chatter tonight.

Today’s word is a Mandarin word used in China:

zai jian – bye

Mandarin is the most widely spoken of the Chinese language and can be a bit difficult to learn, but there are many sites online that can help get you started. The best will probably cost a small amount of money and the links are many so for sources pointing to additional sources check out About and Mandarin Tools. Mandarin tools is good if you’d like to add pinyin tools and other Chinese text files to your computer. Zap Chinese is free and has small dictionaries of common words with audio. Mei Wah is an awesome and funny site on becoming more aware as an eater and learning Chinese by way of menus and restaurant signs. China Language online is another excellent site I recently stumbled upon providing info on Mandarin, Cantonese and Hakka. In addition to these past recommendations check out the Hong Kong Language Learning Center (HKLLC) for study abroad in Hong Kong or Beijing. Qi Journal has a section dedicated to Chinese culture and language study.

Past Mandarin words: zhu ni hao yun, guo nian ha, mu di di, hao, xiang zi

Pandariffic!

by Erik Olsen on

Brace yourselves everyone, I’ve got some delightful news for you. Contrary to what you thought, that there were only four or five pandas left in the world…two of them at the Bronx Zoo…there are actually many more…well, a few more. According to this piece on (yes) happynews.com, a group of scientists used DNA samples to determine that their estimate of the wild panda population in a nature sanctuary in China was off by half. Good news for pandas everywhere. So how many are there…in this reserve? Looks like there are between 66 and 72 pandas in the Wanglang Nature Reserve. Wow, 66, they are breeding like flies.