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November 13, 2005

pizza hut!

Britt & I were walking through downtown Tianjin the other night and found a Pizza Hut! Now, Pizza Hut is something we would NEVER, EVER, NOT IN A MILLION BILLION YEARS eat back home. But, for some strange reason it had a certain charm about it on this particular night. I suppose, after hours of perusing through the Chinese clothing markets, seeing something so "American" at that very moment was a bit of a relief. (The culture of the Chinese market, by the way, merits an indepth post of its very own!) Our stomachs were rumbling, so Pizza Hut it was...

First of all, when have you EVER had to put your name on a 1/2 hour waiting list to eat at Pizza Hut?? Ok, so they finally take us back to our seat and we pass a salad bar along the way. SALAD!?!? Gasp! Now THAT sounds like a great idea! After 3 months of starchy noodles, dumplings, wontons, heavy greasy dishes, and ALL things NON ruffage, a salad sounded absolutely heavenly! So, we took a look at the menu, giggled at some of the pizza topping oddities (ie: squid, deep sea eel, szechuan beef, dumplings, etc.!) and chose the spicy chicken... and 2 salads! We were immediately instructed about the One Trip salad bar policy. Now, for 28RMB per salad, at first that seemed like a rip off, but at this point, we were both drooling for crispy lettuce and all the fixins. Little man ran away with our order, came back with our kula's (cokes) and our salad bowls, with yet another reminder of the One Trip salad bar policy. Ok, ok... one trip, we get it, no problem.

Britt & I pounced with joy over to La Isla de La Ensalada where we were instantly taken aback by the Guiness Book of World Records Monster Creations! See, Chinese people get the most for their 28RMB by balancing high-rise edifices compiled of precariously placed cucumber slices, apple chunks and orange wedges. The method is this: use the chunky building blocks to raise the outer edges of the bowl, sometimes up to 5 or 6 inches (depending on your salad balancing skills, which neither of us seem to have) Then, put the small non-balanceable squooshy things (ie: peas, corn, noodle salad, etc.) inside the newly created structure. and then pile MORE building blocks around it and put MORE stuff in it and around it and in it... until you grow tired of the tedium and finally decide to slow-step your way back to your table, all the whie, balancing so as not to lose a single pea.

Overall, I was pretty proud of my creation, but I just know I could have done better! I wanted to take a picture of one of the fancier and more experienced salad creations, but, not knowing the language, sometimes you just have to let things go and take a mental snapshot. Another one for the mental gallery...

Posted by daiseykat at November 13, 2005 07:00 PM

Comments

When you can build a salad tower like that, one trip is all you need!! What an amazing creation that was.

Posted by: mom at November 16, 2005 11:36 AM