How to Make Love to a Pineapple

On Wednesday it was my friend's last day here, so she decided that she wanted a night out that involved live jazz music. I was obviously was not against the idea. The night started out at my number two favorite bar in town, Centro. The jazz band that was there the last time I went was there again. I think they were better this time than last. But more importantly, I have decided that I need a signature drink, a drink that defines me. A drink that when I go out, people associate that drink with me. A drink that says power, intelligence, success, balls. A drink with a name something like "Max Power" or Money. So if anyone has any suggestions let me know. In the mean time, I have tried two drinks at Centro that no one should ever try. The first and the worst drink ever is the Tian Mi Mi, what makes this drink so bad is the beans the put in it, it is the same beans the use to make Dou Sha, you know the purple ones. And it has this foam stuff on the top, anyway, it is disgusting. The next drink I had was a lychee Caipirinha. A Caipirinha is a good drink, just not with lychee, if you get it still with the lime version.

After Centro, we went to Purple Haze Bistro and surprisingly the food was good this time. Maybe I was feeling the effects of the drinks from Centro, but the food was outstanding. We had shrimp on sugar cane that was delicious, but looking back, the part I enjoyed the most was chewing on the sugar cane more than the shrimp. The pad thai was bangin'. Last time it didn't taste that good, but this time the sprinkled some crack in it or something. And the other thing I had was the pineapple fried rice, it was probably the best I have had in China (my friend loved it so much he wanted to make love to it), and I don't think that was because of the alcohol, it was just done really well. I was quite impressed with it. However, the things that were not as good as last time were the kiwi mojitos (me pretending to drink one in the picture) and the live music. I was so disappointed with both. Normally when they make the kiwi mojitos they put a lot of kiwis this time they added a lot of kiwi flavoring that made taste overly sweet and artificial. And the worse part was the music, I wanted to hear jazz, but instead they had some folk singing people, on some Sarah Mclachlan, Jodi Mitchell tip. At one point they played "No Woman, No Cry" and I almost cried because of how they butchered a great song. But overall the night was good and multiple mojitos were consumed by all.

Yesterday is probably one of my best days I have had in China. It even started off great with my walk to work. It doesn't happen often because of one of two things happens the first of which is I have my ipod blaring in my ears and the second he is just not there. But today I heard the old man in the underpass on my way to work playing his flute. Even though I don't hear it often when ever I hear it, I love it. Not enough to drop a few dollars in his bucket. But it always uplifts my mood on my way to work. And after work, it was snowing, it was only the second time it has happened here this year. It was nice to finally see some snow fall. It was good to walk home watching the snow fall while listening to jazz on my ipod.

The thing that made the day great was the dinner I made. I don't cook often and the only reason I did cook is because I lost a bet, something that seems to be happening to me a lot. For some reason I can't win a bet here, I need to stop making them. Anyway, I ended up making Chicken quesadillas that a paired with a nice Chilean chardonnay. Actually the chardonnay was too strong and it didn't go very well with the quesadillas. Or maybe I just didn't like the chardonnay, it will probably be the last Chilean chardonnay I buy, I will stick with there sauvignon blancs, I always like them. The dessert was really good and simple, for dessert we had dove chocolate with a bottle of Italian Moscato d'Asti. It is an ambrosial dessert wine and gets my platinum star of scrumptulescentness. It is not as good as my favor wine, muscat, but it was still effervescent and flavorful. I first tried a moscato d'asti at One East On Third a restaurant at the Beijing Hilton Hotel. We went there last Sunday because they had a guest chef, Pichet Ong, making his signature desserts. We had a ginger date toffee cake and a walnut crust cheese cake. The ginger date toffee cake was nothing special and walnut crust cheese cake was just okay. The best thing we had there was the moscato d'asti. Anyway back to yesterday, the thing that made the day the even better besides the great food I made and the wine and the snow and the flute playing is the fact that I finally went to bed before 2 am and get a full nights sleep. This morning I actually was not tired and I was shocked. I am going to mark it as the best day here so far.

In Beijing its important to remember that hotel bars and restaurants are places for the rich and ostentatious. So it is important that when you walk in to these restaurants and bars to act like you own the place. Remember to walk in with your chest puffed up and with an air of self importance. Don't look at other people in the room and if you do, make sure that you look at them with a certain distain and/or disgust. And when you talk to a waitress, because these places only have pretty Chinese waitresses, while at least the posh of the posh have pretty ones, make sure that you speak to them like the are stupid and beneath you, I mean they are only waitresses and they are serving you, so in a sense they are your servant. I also make to dress nice and get a seat in front of the band because these places always have live music and if you are not being seen then what's the point?

Tonights line up is dinner at the Taiwanese restaurant and drinks at some bar.

Highlight of the Day so far: Waking up not tired