good times...

so my local bar of right now is galway hooker right around the corner from my apartment. the reasons i like it are many, but first and foremost is the staff. so today i'm giving shout-outs to my favorite people there. gavin & rob, two of the bartenders, are the friendliest guys around. they're engaging and lively and full of spunk; they make you want to stay. it doesn't hurt that they're attractive. and duckey is one of the owners, and he's almost always there in the evenings, and he works the room like nobody's business. if you haven't been, then you should check it out.

and the perfect time to check it out is... for their music night this tuesday (10/30/2007)! they have ANDY CLAYBURN + CAREY SCOPE: The Classical Rockers playing, and these guys are good. they played in august, and i had only stopped in to ask duckey a question about a party i was hosting there thursday, but i ended up staying for the entire show!

galway hooker
7 east 36th street btwn madison/5th avenues
new york, ny 10016?
212.725.2353

shanghai eating part ii

my mom and i decided to begin day 2 with a delicious hearty meal since i had a lot of walking in store. i chose wujiang lu for some sheng jian at Yang's Fry Dumplings. sheng jian is basically an upside-down soup dumpling that's fried instead of steamed. they're marvelous to watch being cooked and served. and they're even better as they're being EATEN! (no photos because i have some in my first post re shanghai.)

most impressive was the woman sitting next to us who didn't spill or spurt any of the yummy hot liquid anywhere. my mom and i got it everywhere, and shanghai isn't exactly the kind of place the offers napkins freely. but at 4 dumplings for 3.5RMB, you might understand why nothing is free.

after our meal, i brought her to the 38th floor lounge at the JW Marriott for a bird's eye view of all of shanghai. she was speechless.

we walked from there to the bund, making numerous stops (my favorite places are markets; i like to see what they sell in shanghai, since it's so differen from NYC). and she was awestruck by the bund, with the huangpu river and oriental pearl tv tower views... it was worth it.


we took another break at New Heights Cafe on the 7th (top) floor of the Three on the Bund, and noshed on smoothies, fried calamari and french fries. it's just as, if not more, amazing to see the bund from this perspective. plus, the buildings along the bund are so diverse, the juxtaposition of old and new, New Heights is a good place to check it out.

after a massage (details to follow) and shower, it was time for dinner. i tried to go to this place chen, which had been raved about on chowhound, but there were no reservations available. so my next choice was Mao Long (another chowhound rec).

this place is tiny with maybe 7 tables. the owner is an older woman, very kind and helpful, but does not speak ANY english. since my mandarin is practically nonexistent, it was difficult to communicate (plus the menu is only in chinese, and i certainly can't read chinese). fortunately, a young woman in the restaurant offered her assistance, and we sampled delectable shanghainese food. i don't know what anything is called, but we ordered the braised pork (house special), sauteed whole shrimp, sauteed pea shoots in a wine sauce and fish steamed with chilis.

everything was incredibly tasty, particularly the pork; the shrimp were too messy and difficult to eat many without an endless supply of napkins. my mom thought the pork was a little sweet and that the sauce on the pea shoots tasted too much of wine.

we walked by chen as we were leaving, and there was only one full table. but it was a perfect twist of fate because mao long was wonderful.


yang's fry dumpling
54 wujiang lu between maoming lu and nanjing lu (near people's square)
shanghai

new heights cafe
three on the bund, 7th floor
17 Guangdong Road (at the bund/zhongshan lu)
shanghai

mao long
134 jinxian lu (near maoming nan lu)
shanghai

the band of now

i checked out this band last night at this little club in the east village, club midway, and to my surprise, they'd lost their beverage license -- all they served was soda & juice!


but it was cool, because the band RRRROCKED (you have to watch the keyboardist eric gonzalez -- he jams and throws down)! they're called RED DATSUN, and they just released their first album, self-titled. i'm probably not the best judge of music (i generally like top 40-style pop, hip-hop and rap), but you can decide for yourself: a few songs are on their myspace page, and the album is available on iTunes. i already have a couple on my ipod -- i dig "freakscene" and "gorgeous day" as workout songs!

in an effort towards full disclosure, i must note that 3/5 of the band went to college with me, and that my sister and i set the drummer up with his current fiancee. but they really are awesome, and it's not just because all of my girlfriends thought the lead singer was hot when i was a freshman.

their next show is at otto's shrunken head (538 e 14th st btwn A/B) on fri, 11/2. check them out!! and best of luck to club midway in getting their liquor license back!

club midway
25 ave b btwn 2nd/3rd sts
new york, ny 10009
212-253-2595

celebs in da house!

last night i went to an engagement party for my good friends eva & tom. it was at soho house in their private library room. i generally dislike the meatpacking area, especially thursday nights, because it's a zoo down there. and although i love the cobblestone streets, i just don't get how girls walk on them! stiletto heels and cobblestone streets are not a match made in heaven.

anyhow, i never have celeb-sightings (usually because i don't recognize anyone), but last night i had TWO!

1) while at the engagement party, bobby flay and his wife stephanie march walked into our private room. bobby looked around for a few seconds then grabbed his wife's hand and left; they were obviously in the wrong room (soho house has all those nooks and crannies, it's a wonder everyone doesn't get lost). stephanie march is prettier in real life. he looks exactly the same. i wanted to challenge him to a throwdown, but the only thing i could imagine having a chance with was "champagne guzzling".

2) after we left, we walked by pastis, and at the farthest outdoor table from the door, alec baldwin was hunched over a table, chatting with the three people sitting there. he was broader than i thought he would be. he looks leaner on the commercials for 30 rock.

all i could think after seeing these people was "i should email gawker stalker."

shanghai eating part i

last time i was here, i ate deliciously, but thanks to gary soup, likealocal and other avid shanghai eaters, this trip has been scrumptious.

i love food. and i particularly love xiaolongbao (aka soup dumplings).

since the typhoon finally passed, my first stop this morning was Jia Jia Tang Bao (which has gotten praise from the reviewers out there).

the place is small but cute, and they have a notebook with the English menu. i love that they're actually back there making your dumplings... TO ORDER! my mom wanted the crab & pork (19.5rmb) and the shrimp & pork (9rmb), so i let her choose.

the dumplings themselves had perfect skins. they were thin, almost transluscent, and not doughy or gummy. however, i have to say that i was disappointed with the crab & pork -- there were many little bits of crab shell inside, and the flavor wasn't as i'd hoped. the soup was more fishy than i expected.

the shrimp & pork was a delightful surprise as they were exactly what i'd hoped the crab would be: flavorful, delicate yet rich and magnificent.

jia jia tang bao
90 huanghe lu (near fengyang lu)
peoples square
shanghai, china

efficiency

last night on our way out of the hotel for dinner, we found a note under the door (see image, to come). since it was in all chinese characters (as you can see), i went to the front desk to ask what it said. "close your windows; there's a typhoon coming."

who needs to check the weather when you can get notes slipped under your door??? chinese efficiency.

in sync

on my flight to Shanghai on monday, i awoke towards the tail-end of the flight to some bells and chimes indicating that there would be an announcement, which was this (slightly paraphrased): "After your long flight, please take a moment to stretch your body." Then on the screen, a video comes on with a full stretching routine. But the best part was the majority of the passengers actually did the stretch! SYNCHRONIZED STRETCHING ON A FLIGHT??? it rocked.

of lore and legend

the S.O. called in a favor and got Giants tickets for today's game v. the Packers. i tore open the hand-messengered envelope when it arrived to find the golden tickets. i'd never seen tickets so big and gold-trimmed, but i was confused. row Y??? i was convinced that the rows at Giants Stadium were numbered. then i confirmed with my friend who's a die-hard Giants fan that the rows are numbered.

my poor S.O. got stuck working, so i brought my girlfriend chani who supports the Eagles (i still like her though). we arrived at section 133, and i showed my tickets to the usher, and he told me to walk down to the 2nd usher. the 2nd usher? i've never heard of such a thing. umm... the 2nd usher is at the very bottom of the steps. and row Y... is the FIRST ROW!!! turns out these seats are called the Legend Seats, and my first game of the 2007-8 season is legendary.

do not turn Giants Stadium row Y or Z down EVER.

friday night cocktails!

yesterday, the S.O. realized he could get out of work to have dinner with his high school buddy (a real estate tycoon AND model in from dallas for a weekend). they left choosing the venue in my capable, but overplanning, hands. the criteria: people watching, outdoor option, food the picky S.O. will eat. after lots (and lots) of thought, i settled on morandi, keith mcnally's (balthazar, pastis, schiller's) somewhat newish italian joint in the west village.

basically, it was perfect: a sweet, adorable hostess; a not-offensively-crowded bar to wait at (we didn't have reservations); a generally attractive crowd, plus a celeb-sighting (carla gugino); opened french doors leading out to a quasi-sidewalk cafe; and who doesn't like italian?

the food was fine. it didn't impress my standard outlets (New York magazine, the New York Times, Chowhound), but the S.O. and his buddy really liked it. the baccala fritti, their take on fish & chips and a friday night special, was delicious (actually the fries were just average, but the salt cod... YUM!).

the space was great (rustic, warm), there were cocktails and good wines (i loved the negroni and the S.O. loved the Tuscan red), and never a shortage of people to watch.

plus it was walking distance to horrible buddha bar. i wouldn't have gone except it was the birthday boy's choice. we had two bottles, and i requested another carafe of soda water. our waitress (a petite blonde idiot) flat out said, "No." i asked the DJ to play better dance music. he might as well have said no ("i don't play commercial crap"). we walked around TWICE looking to recruit attractive girls for the birthday boy, and the best we found were these cheezy blondes, both wearing trashy-cheap outfits. the only ok parts were the guy at the door who was actually friendly rather than stoic and aloof. and the guy who showed us to our table, who maneuvered around buddha bar's ugly patrons with major skillz.

morandi
211 waverly place between seventh avenue south and charles st
new york, ny 10014
212.627.7575

buddha bar
17 little west 12th street between ninth ave and washington st
new york, ny 10014
212.647.7314 (but why you'd want to call is beyond me)

photo credit: Robert Presutti for The New York Times

hidden gem

i went to college in baltimore, and when the weather starts to warm up, i start to crave delicious Old Bay-seasoned Maryland blue crabs. i rarely get back down there, especially during the summer (it's hot enough in NYC!), so my friends and i always look for places a bit closer to home that may serve these delicious treasures.

there actually are a few places in NYC that serve crabs: Clemente's in Queens near JFK (but is that really close?); some spot in Long Island City; Mara's Homemade in the east village supposedly has them (but i've never heard anything good about the restaurant, so can i trust the crabs?), and most recently, The Hideaway.

i finally found a winner in The Hideaway, not just because of the Monday night crabs (which they plan to suspend until next summer now that it's September), but because of the space. it's cozy and comfortable with a big wide bar. there are a couple tables, but not too many. and you have a view of a TV from practically every table or seat in the place... which is perfect for FOOTBALL. during my transient days, i lived in a sublet in tribeca for a few months, and i wish this place had been open then. a cool bartendress is an added bonus.

if they had wings, i'd think i'd died and gone to heaven.

The Hideaway
185 Duane Street between Greenwich and Hudson Streets
Tribeca
New York, NY 10013

let the games begin!

the S.O. and i bought a Nintendo Wii this weekend. i've played before, and i've heard hilarious stories involving this game, but i was anti-purchasing because i know me and my obsessive tendencies.

i'm a changed girl.

the Wii is addictive, but you have no choice but to stop playing after a little while because it's exhausting! and today, my arms, shoulders, upper back and obliques are sore. i didn't need to go to the gym all weekend because i was running around my living room lunging for those corner shots in Wii tennis. it may not take the place of cardio, but it's far better than sitting on your arse watching tv... which is what i would've been doing. and since i didn't invest in a gym membership this year, the $300 splurge doesn't seem too bad.

the price of beauty

i love to pamper myself, even though i rarely have time to do it. i've learned, through experience, that the best services are not always at the nicest places.

my family lives in San Francisco so i visit quite frequently (especially since i have the cutest nephew and niece ever -- more on that another time). i received a DailyCandy before one trip about an inexpensive facial at Urban Beauty Skin Care. i made an appointment to check it out. Sandy's business is in a makeshift backroom of a nail salon (don't expect the Four Seasons), but my oh my, the facial is WONDERFUL. she'll tell you it'll be 1 - 1 1/2 hours, but she's wrong. i'm almost always there for 2. it's a nap, facial and massage all rolled up into one. and it's only $35. i usually add the collagen mask for $10. and Sandy is ADORABLE.

but i can't keep traveling to San Francisco for facials, so i started researching facials in NYC. my friend who grew up in Chinatown recommended Corina's Beauty Centre, and who was i to object?



it's a similar set-up as Urban Beauty (with prices that are a bit higher -- it is NYC after all). Corina's son is playing on the computer in the front room, and four tables are in the back room. it's not always quiet: the phone rings and it's answered by either Corina or her co-worker, and there may be a chatty Chinese woman receiving a facial on the table next to you. but they cleanse, steam, extract, cleanse again, massage and moisturize for two hours! and you head home with your skin feeling like butter.

facebook -- it's not just me

i'll admit that i'm minorly obsessed: facebook is my absolute favorite social networking site.

my friend ali, who works for facebook, posted this Why Facebook is the Future on her page, and it made me feel better.

Shanghai - July 2007

Day 1

After sleeping 13 ½ hours on the flight (China Eastern direct to from JFK), I awoke with announcements that we were would be landing at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport shortly. My flight landed before 5am, and the flight attendant announced that it was 84ºF… AT 5AM! As I disembarked along the short jetway, I could feel the heat. It was sticky… and almost wet. The airport wasn’t much of an improvement. Air conditioning is not powerful.

With my minimal Mandarin language skills (from listening to Pimsleur’s Mandarin Chinese Units 1-11 for two months), I made my way to my favorite budget hotel ever, Motel 268 (and a bit nicer than it's sister hotel Motel 168). I felt awake but needed a good stretch to refresh. I met my co-worker Margot for a day of non-work fun. We got into a cab and made our way to the Urban Planning Museum, which depicts how Shanghai will be developed in 2020. It’s pretty amazing to see the plan of growth and modernization, especially when the residents have modernized so little.


I will advise anyone heading to Shanghai to have some Mandarin under their belt. Most people, even hotel and tourist attraction employees, do not have, even minimal, English language skills. My Mandarin, sad as it was, got us pretty far. We found a vegetarian restaurant Godly at 445 Nanjing Xi Lu (it's really called Gongdelin Su Shi Chu) about five blocks from the museum. It felt like hours getting there. The heat was just unbearable, especially on your first day.

We ordered hot & sour soup, a spicy noodle dish and a tofu & mixed vegetable sauté. It was delicious and an enormous amount of food at only 61rmb (at time of visit, conversion was about $1 = 7.55rmb). We lingered over the food for almost two hours, dreading the thought of going back out into the heat.

I wanted to go to H&M because I was curious to see if they had a different styles than H&M in NYC. We accosted a young girl on the street, and fortunately she spoke English and wrote the cross streets for H&M in Chinese on paper, which we, in turn, showed to the taxi driver. Huaihai Lu & Sinan Lu (I think - the address is on the H&M website). Anyway, they did have different styles, and the sizing was different as well. I am generally an 8 in H&M – here I’m a 10-12. I bought a shirt and some much needed hair clips (to keep my long hair off my sticky, sweaty neck) for 99rmb.

We started to walk to find a taxi, but cold air wafting from the doors of mini malls lured us inside, and I ended up finding an adorable pair of flats on sale for 249rmb (about US$32). We finally found a taxi, and I came back to my well-air-conditioned hotel room and showered. Twice.

That night, our fabric dealer, a born and bred Shanghainese fellow, offered to escort us to dinner at a delicious spot Jade Garden, in a hotel on Yan’an Lu (1121 Yan'an Zhong Lunear Huashan Lu, Metro Line 2 Jingan Temple Station; 延安中路1121号近华山路, 地铁2号线静安寺站). It was bustling, and the food was delicious. We started with cold jellyfish which was perfect texturally, with both a chewy and crispy bite, marinated in a light sauce, and drunken chicken, a steamed chicken marinated in Chinese wine and then chilled, which was also light and fresh. He ordered some xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), which is one of my favorites, and these were good, with a good thin skin; however, the soup inside could have used a bit more flavor. We had a spicy beef dish with peppers that was rich with heat, and although I don't actually love the taste of peppers, I loved this beef that was perfumed with these peppers, plus a dish called thousand-layer pork, which was basically thinly sliced pork belly wrapped around pork and veggies in the shape of a pyramid, and braised until the fat is practically melting off. It was gluttonous, but I enjoyed every second of it.


Day 2

I got a bit sad that it was Independence Day, and I was in a city that really didn’t care. If I were home, I would be sailing with friends, BBQing and watching the Macy’s firework show from my (or someone’s) roofdeck. Instead it was hot and rainy, and I scoured the streets surrounding my hotel on a rampant search for good street food.

I walked along Jiangsu Lu to Xuanhua Lu, and found a teeny restaurant that had pictures of dumplings outside of it. I went in and there were a number of people seated inside, most of whom were not eating. I tried my poor Mandarin, but it was sad. The older woman, however, was determined to help me, and I pointed to a delicious-looking bowl of dumpling soup and said “Yi”, which means 1. I was served, and I requested “La gio ja” which means chili sauce, and that impressed her. She also gave me some vinegared soy sauce, and I was golden. The soup was quite good, but the dumplings tasted overpoweringly of hot dogs, which began to make me ill. I left some dumplings behind, but finished the soup and paid the elderly woman who was so helpful “san quai” which is 3rmb, approximately US$0.40. Afterwards, I wandered into a bakery, partially to get out of the rain, partially to check out what I could find. Now I know why China's my kind of place... they sell bacon
at the bakery. Delish.


I walked on, and took a little side street into a market where I found a guy rolling dumpling skin rounds and filling them with a salted cabbage mixture. I watched for a while, until I got the nerve to ask for some in my really bad Mandarin. I pointed to the dumplings, and asked for 6 (lio), but somehow I got 12. While they cooked, the younger boy asked me if I was Chinese, and I said in Mandarin that I was Korean, so he greeted me in Korean “Ahn young ha seh yoh” and then we both smiled, since it was nice for him to try to communicate with me. I paid my two quai for the dumplings (see photo) and was off. I ended up somewhere around Dingxi Lu, where I saw a stand where my beautiful xiaolongbao were being steamed. Again, I only wanted 6, but they gave me 12. Plus a small scallion biscuit, all for only 5 quai (approx US$0.65). I had yet to eat any dumplings so I made my way back to the hotel, with a minor unintentional detour along the way – basically I got lost.

I ate like a dumpling queen in the cool air of my room, and then Margot called and asked me to accompany her to lunch. Although I wasn’t hungry, I thought a walk would be nice, so we found a nearby vegetarian restaurant Wu Guan Tang Su Shi on Xinhua Lu, but I barely ate the mushroom noodles, the gross pumpkin soup and the rather good vegetable curry (Japanese-style) -- the food wasn’t very good, certainly not like Godly, which must be the most famous vegetarian restaurant in Shanghai, since everyone I asked knew about it. I did drink about 30 glasses of tea though, and I was brimming of tea and heat by the time we left.

That night, we decided to head to Xintiandi, a relatively recently developed area filled with many foreigners, for some non-Chinese food to commemorate the 4th. We went to Kabb, and sat outside, since it had cooled down with the rain, where we enjoyed the sounds of different languages, primarily English. French fries, Mediterranean dip platter, cheese quesadilla and spinach pasta were a nice celebratory meal (even though nothing actually tasted good). We met an Aussie couple who had been here for 4 years, and they were kind and entertaining. And even at this nice restaurant in an affluent area, dinner with 2 drinks each still only cost 430rmb (approx US$56).


Day 3

Our American factory rep, John, met us the next day and brought us back to Xintiandi to Wagas for sandwiches. Then we walked to Starbucks and did some work, taking advantage of their air conditioning. While we waited for a cab to go back to the hotel, we saw this sign on a busy city street.
That evening, we met my friend Caleb who lives in Shanghai at the Four Seasons for drinks, where we nibbled on risotto balls while sipping strong cocktails. We then headed to the CJW Jazz Club on the 50th floor of Bund Center where the view was exquisite and drinks were expensive, even by NY standards. But it was fun, and we soon were headed off to another spot, The Velvet Lounge on Julu Lu near Changshu Lu, where we had a few drinks more and then ended up calling it a night.


Day 4

Awokened by a terrible hangover, I started my day with a lot of water, Emergen-C and ibuprofen. I was famished so I went down the street and got a meat bun, with what seemed like meatball with gravy inside. It was good enough, and I wasn’t about to ask what kind of meat was inside. I also picked up potato chips for me and Margot, and we tried to recover until John came to get us for our meeting.

We headed back to Xintiandi to a restaurant I’ve heard so much about: Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese-based restaurant chain that serves famously amazing xiaolongbao. And although expensive by Shanghai standards, the food was delightful. The crabmeat and pork xiaolongbao were delicious and delicate. I generally like intensely flavored broth in my soup dumplings but because the crab was so tasty, it was a nice balance to have a light broth in these soup dumplings. The skin was the most impressive part of the dumpling, since it’s so common to find thick skin housing the soup and filling. This skin was quite thin, almost translucent, which made the difference. Other food was also good, a cold chopped bean curd and greens dish was wonderful. Noodles with preserved vegetables and pork hit the spot, although if I were not hungover, I may not have enjoyed them as much. We had a lot of sautéed greens, which were good, but common. Margot said the veggie dumplings were quite good, but I found them to be bland in comparison to other veggie-only dumplings I’ve had in the past. The xiaolongbao was really the centerpiece of this meal, as it blew away all of the other xiaolongbao I’ve tried so far here.

After a long day at the factory, we had dinner on our way back at a Korean restaurant in Hongquiao, I think called ChunWun Garden. Our Korean factory rep called ahead and requested a dish I had been wanting, kalguksu (noodle soup); it was very kind of him to ask and very accomodating of them to make (it's not on their menu). They made all sorts of special requests for vegetarian Margot. And we ate like kings and queens again. I had a banchan that I’d never tried before: sautéed bamboo shoots, thinly julienned. It was delicious.


Day 5

We had an all-day meeting, and I was hoping John’s Chinese staff would order delicious Chinese specialties for us. Instead, we received Pizza Hut. Gross. I ate it only because I was hungry.

When we finally concluded our meeting, we found out that John had made a reservation for us at Lan Na Thai, the restaurant on the 2nd floor of the Ruijin Hotel Guest House. I left the ordering in the hands of John and Ling Fei, since I eat everything. We had some veggie spring rolls, which were greasy, but tasty. And beef satay, the sauce for which was good, but the beef was kinda weird. I ate it because I feel like my protein consumption has been minimal here. Then we went on to seafood red curry (delicious); pla Keow sam rod, fried Garopa fish topped with a sweet & spicy sauce (OK but kinda gross and sweet at the same time); and deep fried cuttlefish (better than I expected). It was nice to have a Thai meal, but I was still missing Chinese food.

We went to Face Bar downstairs afterwards and shared one drink; we wanted to sit outside since it had rained all day and cooled down a bit, but during our dinner, the storms came back and brought much thunder and lightning.


Day 6

Today was the best day. I woke up late, and we had no work scheduled for the entire day. We planned to go find DVDs, get massages and get eyelash extensions, in that order. But we received bum directions, and coincidentally ended up at the eyelash place. For 99RMB, we got the best eyelashes ever at 57 inside this underground beauty center. We then got manicures and met up with Ling Fei, John's Shanghainese assistant.


Our next stop was this street near People’s Square full of street food where we went to eat tons of dumplings and try my first stinky dofu (see my 1/2 eaten photo).

After stuffing our faces, we walked to our favorite DVD store, Moviestar, where I picked up a few things (I’m not really a movie person), and then we headed to this place near our hotel recommended by Caleb for massage.

YiLi Massage is the best place ever. I took a card, but have since given it away because it’s so good. 50rmb for an HOUR.

Then we went back to the hotel, I showered, and we picked up Caleb and headed to Barbarossa, a lounge-ish spot at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Great drinks, great service, not-so-great food, at pretty expensive prices – this is definitely a foreigners’ spot. Somehow it ended up being really late, and we stumbled home around 2am.


Day 7

Since it was Margot’s last day, we rushed to get massages in the morning, and then we met John to go to the factory. John picked up sandwiches for us from Element Fresh, a tasty spot, but definitely not on my list of places to try in Shanghai (there’s one at the Ritz Carlton, if that says anything about the kind of place it is). We spent the bulk of our day there and rushed back to make sure Margot was able to get to the airport on time.

I was exhausted from the night before so I just picked up some nibbles at the hotel café. Noodle soup with pork and preserved vegetables; bamboo shoots; and some pan-fried leek dumplings. I could only eat the bamboo shoots and dumplings because I was so tired.


Day 8

I worked all morning from my hotel room, and ate leftover cold noodle soup while working. It was storming on and off, and I didn’t want to get lost and caught in the rain like my 2nd day.

John came to get me around 3:30pm and we headed to a different Element Fresh to work (they have free WiFi), and we nibbled on a smoked salmon platter while working.

Around 9pm, John was going to meet with GC on open issues that we had discussed, so Ling Fei and I went for a culinary adventure. Since I am very open-minded food-wise, she took me to a street for local food, which I was very excited about.

We ended up on these streets:
I’m not very sure about prices, because Ling Fei/John treated, but I can tell you, it was inexpensive and amazing! It's a very strange system where you can order from any place on the street (using this menu system) and have the food delivered to the restaurant where you're seated.

We had two baskets of crawfish, stinky dofu, grilled lamb, eel, scallops and oysters while seated in one restaurant.

On the street, despite being stuffed, we couldn't resist some grilled clams.

Everything was fresh and delicious, and the process was amazing. There were so many other food options, and not a tourist (besides me) in sight. This is what I’d been hoping to try since I’d come to Shanghai in April. It was awesome.


Day 9

My last day – it was a fast-paced day since my flight was at 6:30pm, and getting to the airport during rush hour would be a challenge in and of itself. I met with our fabric maker in the morning, and I had a mango “smoothie” which was really more like an ice slushie-type thing. It was eaten with a spoon.

John ordered sandwiches from Element Fresh again so after they picked me up, we headed there to pick up sandwiches and head to the factory again. This day was super productive, and I saw a lot of our SPSU08 samples especially our colored soles, which looked amazing.

We rushed out of the factory, and I made it to the airport in record time, despite Shanghai traffic, and even in enough time to get an order of xiaolongbao at the airport. It was beyond disappointing, after having Din Tai Fung’s.


I’m looking forward to my next trip in most likely September so I can try the other trumpeted XLB spot and continue my trend of eating more local food.