Disaster Comes in the Form of Chili Powder

Last Friday, I went to Pizza Hut with my colleagues and it was an interesting experience. It was not only interesting because of the Pizza Hut itself, but because of the conversation I had with my colleagues. It is always interesting to hear the Chinese perspective on things, from their views of Taiwan down to their views of the disabled, and the latter is very interesting, but I will discuss that in a second; I am trying to talk about Pizza Hut right now. In terms of there pizza it is as gross or maybe grosser than Pizza Hut in the States. I hope nobody is under the delusion that Pizza Hut is quality pizza, even though my Chinese colleagues think it is, which was fascinating to find out. They definitely expressed there views on how they detested Italian pizza and thought pizza hut was better, they like it better because the crust is thick. Anyway, the Pizza Hut is much nicer in China than it is in the States. It is actually a nice sit down restaurant that you would take a date too. And if you did she (in this case she is a native to China) would probably be impressed, because it is expensive. The things they serve are much different than in the states or I assume they are different because I have not been to Pizza Hut in years, but they are different in the sense that Pizza Hut serves up an array of fried food here, anything from fried fish to fried onions. Having sufficiently discussed my impressedness of Pizza Hut in China, my colleagues opinion of disabled people might shock and or awe people. They basically see them as a burden on society and say that the Chinese government doesn't do enough to help them, so disabled people have terrible lives in China, which is why they are a burden. China definitely is not a handicapped person's paradise considering one they are looked down upon and two I have only seen one handicapped accessible place in all of Beijing, and that was at my number two favorite restaurant in Beijing. But the thing that was most shocking that one of my colleagues said to me, well let me preface this, one colleague told me that many Chinese people kill their children when they are babies if they see that they are handicapped, just because the life is so hard for the children and society doesn't except them, then I asked my colleague if she would kill her baby if she saw that it was handicapped and without hesitation or flinting she said she would. And that was the end of the lunch and we headed back to work.

After work, I went to my number four favorite restaurant in Beijing. It is a Taiwanese restaurant near Dongsishitiao. It is my number four favorite just because they easily make the best salads in all of Beijing, if not all of Asia. It is by far the best salad I have ever had in Asia. We went because my MCIA friend is leaving for 50 days to take a "trip" across southeast Asia, but we know what he is really doing. And after that we went to Passer By Bar. It is a really nice bar in the heart of Nanluoguxiang, it is not good enough to crack my top five favorite bars/lounges, but it was still nice and cozy, and the long island I had was not bad, but it wasn't good either.

Anyway Saturday, I did pretty much nothing except find my number three favorite restaurant in all of Beijing. My number three favorite restaurant in Beijing is called Mare. The atmosphere is really nice there and it would be a good place to take a date, if you wanted to impress her. It would be much better than going to Pizza Hut for either a local or foreign girl, even though Pizza Hut does have a brand name behind it. The service is good and the food was pretty good too. The thing I live about the restaurant is the Tapas, it is a Spanish restaurante by the way. They have a large variety and the selection is not bad either. We had the chicken and potato tapas very good. We also ordered the Paella, which requires at least two people and takes 40 minutes to make. The paella was good, not the best in the world, but good for Beijing Dining. But this restaurant, called Mare, definitely has been vaulted in to my number three favorite spot. I think the thing that my have put it in to number three is the lemon honey water they have. It was so good and helped to sooth the pain in my throat from the dry ass Beijing air.

And on Sunday, I got to go to My number two favorite restaurant, the Dim Sum place near the Lama Temple. There I got an interesting new concoction of boiled coke and ginger, and not the kind you sniff but the kind you drink. It was pleasantly good. It first has a sweet taste of cola and a strong spicy after taste of ginger. It doesn't go well with Dim Sum but it was good. The lemon honey water at the Dim Sum place is not good don't even try it. If you want Lemon Honey water go to Mare. I might just go to Mare to drink lemon honey water. After Dim Sum, I went to help my roommate find stuff to decorate my apartment. If any of you have been unfortunate enough to see my apartment before my roommate arrived, you would be shocked by the amount of stuff that has been added since her arrival. My apartment no longer looks the bachelor pad of someone who doesn't care, instead it looks like the crazy diabolical scheme of a French fiend. Sometimes you can find art and peacefulness in emptiness. Anyway, I spent the whole day trying to help her pick lights and curtains for the apartment and in the end we end with nothing, except this Christmas light thing that I had to buy, because I have the mind of a child. But even though, I have the mind of a child, I purchased my first power tool right after. Yeah, its a big MANLY drill. I started to just drill random wholes in the wall, just to show how MANLY I am. Lets see them call me gay now, I will put a power drill in their ass.

On Monday, I had Papa Johns. Not as good in the us but way better than Pizza Hut (I could be bias because in the US Papa Johns is my favorite pizza of that variety). Anyway, if you need to order Pizza and you can't get the Kros Nest to deliver, Papa Johns is the way to go. They even give you jalapenos. And the onion rings are probably good too, if they don't come cold to your house.

And two day I cooked chicken tacos. I must say some times in life you fail miserable at it and you just have to chalk it up as a failure and then move forward amicably. A word of advice don't put too much chili powder in your tacos, it makes the tacos taste like chili and gives you taco flavored kisses.