Back in the U. S. of A.

After a long week of work across the pond, I'm glad to be home with my family again. It was a safe and smooth trip home, but long nonetheless - about 26 hours from hotel to house! Here are a few pics I took along the way.


Bye bye China! Yes, as a matter of fact, I was on a slow boat...


Say good bye to my harbor view room in Hong Kong


That's a big plane!


Sunset over the Sea of Okhotsk


Midnight in June on the Bering Sea (Crossing the International Date Line)


The mountains of eastern Alaska


Boston from the air- Welcome home

Quirks of Life in the PRC

Let me share a few quirks and idiosincrycies of Chinese culture with you:

- Apparently, for some unknown reason, it is very popular with the young Chinese guys to grow out the fingernails on the thumb and pinky, while keeping the others trimmed neatly. I'm talking like 1/2" to 1"+ long! These things are sharpened and kept handy should the need for a pocket tool arise.

- Somewhat related, there is one fine young man who has made it his life mission to grow the longest set of mole hairs ever in the history of earth. He has a cluster of about half a dozen 4-inchers hanging off the side of his face.

- In a show of typical Asian politeness, our hosts always insist that we are the first to try some new food. After all, they are buying it for us and it would be rude of them to do so and then hog all the food. From the western culture standpoint, we would hope that they will go first so that we can know that said item is palatable and safe.

- There is an unwritten rule that says something to the effect of, "Keep the food as fresh as possible and prove it to the customer." This is usually accomplished by a showcase of fish tanks and animal cages when you walk into a restaurant. Also, if possible, keep the head on whatever meat you are serving to let you know it was 'real.'

Whachoo lookin' at, pigeon?

- It is common for people to randomly belch out loud at the dinner table. No one bats an eye. Even the women do this.

- For some reason, no one thinks twice about throwing fruit trash on the ground, wherever they may be. This morning, I saw a crowd of people walking on a street with about 30-40 banana peels strewen randomly up and down the street. Walking up the steps in the factory today, I noticed these funny pieces of debris on the stairs - lychee skins and pits! Ever heard of a trash can anyone?

- Ahhh yes... The Chinese toilet - if you can even call it that. Hope your quads and hammys are in prime shape for the squatting marathon. Fortunately, there are also Western toilets in about 75% of the places I end up going to. Of course, when faced with the chance to have a new life experience... Let's just say that I have developed a surefire way to survive this experience. It all boils down to Pants Management and Height Control. There's no nice way to say this, so please, be an adult about this. Pants around the ankles are a recipe for getting whatever is on the floor onto your pants. Not cool. Pants must be bunched around the knees for optimum protection. In general, but for guys especially, aim is of the utmost importance. Squat height - Too high and the trajectory and splash are uncontrolable. The continuous clenching of the quad muscles at this height is also problematic. To low and you might make contact or worse, fall in. Unfortunately, the exact height must be determined with trial and error. Good luck.

Which would you choose? Take the one on the right, and the story ends. . Take the one on the left, and you stay in Wonderland and find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

- As if this situation wasn't bad enough, most bathrooms do not have toilet paper in the stalls! Make sure to bring your own, just in case.

- As you may remember from before, I have not stayed at a hotel yet that leaves an iron in the room. But every hotel makes sure to set out a nice pair of slippers for you.


By the way, a special shout out to my brother Jeff and my good friend Brent. Thanks for calling my cell phone and waking me up at 3:30AM and 5:30AM. You guys are the best!

Peace out for now.

Back in the Saddle Again: Dinner at Spoon Hong Kong

It seems like only yesterday, and yet here I am in the People's Republic once again. It's a little scary how much quicker the flight goes by each time. I barely had time to watch half a season of Alias, eat 2 meals, and get a couple of hours of sleep before we were getting ready to land. It feels so routine now. Having spent almost 5 weeks here in the last 7 months, it has become (not so much to the liking of my family) a home away from home.

Oh, please wait a moment (Qing dang yihuir) - someone's knocking on the door. I bet it's my iron. (yeah, I tried asking again in Mandarin). Let's see what I am getting here...

Booooyaaah! I'm so good. This one is even free of cracks and leaks. I will no longer be forced to scare the Chinese with my wrinkled trousers. I can't say the same of my butchery of the language however.

This trip, I was fortunate to have a night in Hong Kong on the way in - this time with a colleague who shares my interest for culture and unique experiences. We had dinner at the acclaimed Spoon restaurant created by uber-star chef Alain Ducasse. It is a blessing and a curse when a restaurant has a reputation like this - the bar is set pretty high. The dining room was located in prime realty with full window views of Victoria Harbor and the skyline on Hong Kong Island. This, by the way, is reason enough to stay on the Kowloon side - a truly fantastic view! The decor was a tastful modern art motif, with blown glass spoons covering the ceiling and an open kitchen to let the guests see the action.

Decor is all well and good, but let's face it - we came for the food. Upon sitting down, we were greeted with a small cup of delicately seasoned, lightly seared tuna over romain lettuce. Now that's a classy welcome gift! Freshly baked mini bread loaves went down too easy as well. We opted for a surprise and ordered the appetizer tasting sampler - the chef's choice of some of the more popular items. We ended up with 4 interesting items.

1. Duo of soups featuring a cold gazpacho and a rich consomme. The gazpacho was mostly smooth, but the blender was stopped in time to leave a bit of texture. A subtle spiciness lingered in the background.
2. Uni (sea urchin) custard with crab. I bet if I didn't tell you, you would think this was made with some tropical fruit. Give uni a chance!
3. Lobster salad with mango, bitter squash, avocado and mint salsa.
4. Steamed foie gras with a fruity soy-ginger sauce. This was the first time I really had foie gras (besides the canned stuff that tastes like cat food *bleck!* and the dried shavings I had at Bo Innovation). The texture was so soft and silky, it was almost like a mousse. The sauce was a perfect compliment, but I struggle to describe what the taste was like. I always feared that a strong liver flavor would overpower any goodness (yes, I am a liver haytah), but there was no hint of this at all. Final verdict: Enjoyable and delicious, but doesn't quite live up to the hype. There are many things I would rather eat like...

My entree was Wagyu rib steak with rosemary jus, potatos, and romain lettuce. Yes, that's the same Wagyu breed of cattle that are raised as 'Kobe beef' in Japan. This particular specimin came from Australia. Perfectly medium rare, the deep beef flavor exploded in my mouth. If you've never had the chance to try Wagyu beef, I will issue a word of caution. Once you have savored it's succulence, you will be ruined for life.

Mark had the pistacio crusted Chilean seabass which was also outstanding - such a delicate and moist preparation of the fish that left all the robustness of its' signature flavor intact.

I enjoyed every bite of this meal, and was surprised by a few new tastes, but ultimately, I have to say that I was not blown away. In this case, the curse of great expectations had won out. I will always remember the dinner I had last night, but I probably will not eat at Spoon again. There are simply too many great places to try here.

Just a part of the stunning Hong Kong skyline

Spoon me up a few starters

Mmmmm... Wagyu beef.... ....... Sorry, spaced out there for a minute

Perfect Seabass