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Post by Fantomette on Jul 31, 2006 11:10:35 GMT 7
Hi guys, it seems the general tendency nowadays is of people coming over to China. I'll be doing the opposite in a couple of months... wish me luck. If I remember correctly, a few weeks ago people were talking about reverse culture shock - I'm trying to get ready! I found great web links about this and intend to blast through that shock just like I did the original culture shock (well, screaming and crying, mostly). Just wanted to share that and get my post count up!  By the way, home is Montreal, Canada. And the return is supposed to be only for one or two years, after which my partner and I will either come back to Shanghai or move to another international destination. Depending on how badly we miss (or not) this place, the food, the weirdness, etc. So this is not goodbye, as I expect to need this forum for sanity even more AFTER I return home. I know it was that way after Korea in 1996. Nobody understands, nobody cares, so you go back to your little community of weirdos that do understand and care! ;D (don't be offended: as I always tell my students, weird is GOOD!) (they always call me weird, I don't know why). |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 31, 2006 12:45:56 GMT 7
Ugh, going "home". I don't even like to think about it...although I guess the day will come. Ugh.  While you're here. please get up the road to Suzhou! Easier than getting across town! |
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Post by Fantomette on Jul 31, 2006 13:18:52 GMT 7
Hey, not a bad idea! I took several day trips to Suzhou over the last few months... but I've never met anyone from the Saloon - yet! Just tell me when!  And by the way, I'm not really "going home", but rather "visiting home for one or two years"! I think we need to process our 3 years in Shanghai by going "home" and seeing for ourselves what we've become... other than slobs when we eat. Argh. |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 31, 2006 13:57:05 GMT 7
Fan,
any time. Some of us are visiting home now; others will be doing that through mid-August. But really, any time you're ready.
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woza17
SuperDuperBarfly! 
Posts: 2,203
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Post by woza17 on Jul 31, 2006 14:15:15 GMT 7
Fantonette what will be the first thing you will do when you get back homw that you have been looking forward to?
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Post by Fantomette on Jul 31, 2006 17:27:05 GMT 7
Woza, the only thing I can think of right now is having a "poutine", which will be meaningless for 99.99% of Saloonites... It's a French-Canadian fast-food that consists of soft French (freedom, ha!) fries (NOT the McDonald's type) covered in cheese curds, with gravy on top. The ultimate Quebecois comfort food. I know it sounds disgusting. Here's what it looks like:  Seriously, though, I think I'll be going to cafes and just hang out. And BOOK SHOPPING!!! Ohmyg... |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 31, 2006 18:13:54 GMT 7
It's a poor man's chili cheese fries. A VERY poor man.  Fantomette, have you had the poutine at KABB in Xintiandi? Not like at home, I guess, but maybe better than no poutine at all... 'Course, here in Suzhou we can get chili cheese fries.  |
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Chian
Upstanding Citizen
Cool Raoul, Relax Max, Lucky Mary, ...
Posts: 120
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Post by Chian on Jul 31, 2006 19:58:20 GMT 7
...they always call me weird, I don't know why.... Your students are cool |
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 31, 2006 20:13:12 GMT 7
MONTREAL!  If I settle in Canada again, I sure hope it's there. Don't blame you one bit for planning to linger there. I'm going back to Calgary from Aug. 19 to the 28th. Any chance you'll come to Suzhou before or after that? here in Suzhou we can get chili cheese fries.  ...which is a decent consolation for when they're sans putine. I've only latter the latter in China once, and they didn't get it. They served it in a deep bowl, with a vaneer of melted cheese along the very top that vanished with 85 percent of the fries still untouched. And NO GRAVY!!!  |
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 31, 2006 20:26:42 GMT 7
No, there was gravy...just not enough. Like the cheese, it just hit the top layer of the too-deep bowl.
I had half the bowl, remember?
This was the poutine at KABB in Xintiandi. Probably the best (and only) restaurant poutine in China.
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nolefan
Barfly
Quod me nutrit, me destruit!
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Post by nolefan on Jul 31, 2006 20:36:22 GMT 7
The first time I had poutine was back in like 1997 in the city of Hull ( don't even ask what i was doing there). I completely forgot about that evil dish until i moved to beijing.
We had a little local called "pub de quartier" ran by two lads from Quebec and they had perfected their own version of the poutine: French fries covered with marinara sauce and boatload of melted mozarella/cheddar.... It was gooooooood
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 31, 2006 20:41:26 GMT 7
Oh, yeah. And that was NOT poutine. Cheese 'n gravy should provide the swamp, not the treetops. Boy, leaving Suzhou in 8 days for the airport. Fantomette, I remember the culture shock waves in this order: 1. Watch where you smoke (blessing in disguise- I'm up to 2 packs a day!) 2. Nobody glances at you on the streets. 3. First time you buy something.   4. First time you drive a car. 4a (if you didn't eat at Western restaurants here). Using a fork and knife for the first time in a year.  Then there's a 2 week lapse where you visit everyone, until your stories of the Middle Kingdom run out, and you're just Back. 5. Discovering the real value of your savings.  6. You often have to phone for a cab. 7. Decent jobs don't grow on trees.  8. Rent is a fortune. 9. DVDs are expensive. 10. Nobody finds you inherently fascinationing- to be entertaining, you have to BE entertaining.  |
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woza17
SuperDuperBarfly!
Posts: 2,203
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Post by woza17 on Jul 31, 2006 21:42:00 GMT 7
So is the gravy one of those instant gravy mixes or a real gravy. I am sure you could gring the dish upmarket. It looks bloody fattening though. But comfort food is what it is, comfort food.
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Post by Fantomette on Jul 31, 2006 22:06:27 GMT 7
OK you guys, stop making fun of my poutine  It's a very respectable dish and THERE WILL BE NO BEANS IN MY POUTINE! (where's the fart icon?) Con, if I make it to Suzhou (no excuse not to, really, as it's barely an hour away!), it should be in September... I'll wait till you're back! Um... I didn't mean to start a poutine thread, you guys   But yeah, I did try the poutine at KABB and was very disappointed. Mind you, that was about two years ago, so they might have improved a tiny bit since then (NOT!). Dry fries and a tiny little bit of cheese with two drops of gravy are not poutine. Thankgod I can eat wonderful Chinese food here! Unlike in Montreal, where I'll have to revert to poutine! (I'm afraid to imagine what they serve at the Chinese buffet, there). Con, thanks for the (scary) tips about culture shock. Well, at least I don't smoke. And I've been practicing eating with a fork, even though it often seems to me like a barbaric instrument and I wish they would just give you chopsticks to eat your spaghetti. |
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Decurso
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Post by Decurso on Jul 31, 2006 22:40:35 GMT 7
Poutine is to Canuckistanians what Vegemite is to Ozzies.IMHO..A&W makes the worlds best poutine.Ate it every day(sometimes twice) when I went back in the motherland this May.
Nate actually took me to a restaurant in Tianjin that served poutine.Not really like the homestyle stuff..but very appreciated and good enough under the circumstances.Ate it in five minutes.
Hong Kong has some damn fine poutine!Damn near choked on it I ate it so fast.
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Post by Raoul Duke on Jul 31, 2006 22:58:09 GMT 7
Poutine is to Canuckistanians what Vegemite is to Ozzies. Mmmm, I can't agree with this. Poutine is edible.  Sounds like the poutine at KABB hasn't changed a bit...  |
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Decurso
Barfly
Things you own end up owning you
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Post by Decurso on Aug 1, 2006 1:26:25 GMT 7
I meant in terms of must -haves.I've tasted vegemite..and never will again.
At leasr Ozzies can get vegemite mailed to them.Getting poutine in the mail is difficult...to say the least.
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Post by Missi on Aug 1, 2006 6:59:31 GMT 7
Cheese on your fries? IMHO Fries should only be served one way, soaked in vinegar (malt is best) a little bit of salt and some ketchup. I am Canadian, and I can't stand poutine. Or some dill pickle chip seasoning. Vinegar all the way. |
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Post by Fantomette on Aug 1, 2006 7:08:58 GMT 7
Ah, salt and vinegar on my fries... that's another one I'll have! (but Missi... no ketchup with that, right?) |
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Post by Lotus Eater on Aug 1, 2006 22:26:26 GMT 7
Nope - chips have to be served with gravy.
BUT ...... here - ganbian toudou rules! Chips fried with chillis and spring onion. Tastes great - and it'll be coming back to Oz with me. I have become addicted to la jiao now.
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Post by ObertonGluek on Aug 1, 2006 22:29:22 GMT 7
Chips, fries... blah! Here is a question... is it possible to find British style chips (fries, grrrr) in America? I've often wondered. I hate fries, but British style chips are just amazing. Especially in the local Chinese take-aways. Fish & Chips with lots of salt and vinegar. Mmmmm!  Yes, in Britain in the 80s, we used to have Fish and Chip shops and it was all English but, slowly, the Chinese opened the same service but with Chinese food. The British style sorta incorporated into the new Chinese style and so you get both, in one. Very rare to see a British run Chippy now.  |
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Post by icebear on Aug 1, 2006 22:41:36 GMT 7
British style fries (chips)?
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Post by ObertonGluek on Aug 2, 2006 0:10:00 GMT 7
Yeh... have you never seen them? Man, most Americans don't know anything about Britain yet we know most things about them!  There, that'll be Fish and Chips (British Fries)... Chips in the UK = Crisps. |
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gengrant
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Post by gengrant on Aug 2, 2006 0:49:30 GMT 7
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Post by icebear on Aug 2, 2006 1:24:57 GMT 7
Those are fairly common in America... something along the lines of 'steak fries'.
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It's a very respectable dish and THERE WILL BE NO BEANS IN MY POUTINE! (where's the fart icon?)
But yeah, I did try the poutine at KABB and was very disappointed. Mind you, that was about two years ago, so they might have improved a tiny bit since then (NOT!). Dry fries and a tiny little bit of cheese with two drops of gravy are not poutine. Thankgod I can eat wonderful Chinese food here! Unlike in Montreal, where I'll have to revert to poutine! (I'm afraid to imagine what they serve at the Chinese buffet, there).
