Cook The Rice
Beijing, China
June 08, 2009
It was already raining when we woke up at 7:30. We showered and watched Jagged Edge.
For breakfast I had a pork dumpling, chicken sausage, whole wheat toast, poached eggs, brie, fruit and tea. Bill had poached eggs, croissant, fruit, juice and tea.
We put on our raincoats and took the subway to the Yonghegong stop. It was a 20 - 30 minute walk to the cooking class. We took the scenic route and went two Hutongs too far. We can not take the blame for this blunder, the street name is different at the street we were walking on and it was not indicated on our map as being a different name. Why does that happen? Why can't one street just have one name??
When we were close to the class the Hutong was really nice
. There are lots of shops, cafes, restaurants, bars and a hostel.
We found #3 Shaijing Hutong, but we did not think we were in the right spot. We expected a restaurant front or at least some signage, but there wasn't any. So, we wandered around in the rain a bit longer and I was ready to give up when we spotted Chunyi. She led us back to the spot we had found and took us through the alley to her home/cooking class.
One other person is taking the course with us, Renee from Baltimore. She is a great girl, her hubby is taking a law course here for a week or two and they are also touring a bit of China. They have a 2 1/2 year old daughter and a pit bull. She told us quite a bit about Baltimore, it sounds fabulous. We are going to have to check it out one day. I wonder if the Tigers are playing there some time in the near future
...
Bill was in charge of making the stirfry pork with garlic shoots. I was in charge of making the sweet flour pork stirfry and Renee was in charge of making the fish flavour (not actual fish) shredded pork stirfry. Chunyi also showed us how to prepared stirfry spinach with dried chili and hot sour soup with egg (normally tofu, but she could not get any at the market).
The class was pretty good. I think I can make a mean stirfry now. It really is simple in theory, but requires you to be prepared and you have to work fast once you begin adding things to the wok. We took a lot of video, so I should be able to take a stab at it when we get home. Most of the time during the class I was chatting with Renee, so I had a lot of fun.
We walked with Renee after the class, around 2:00 or 2:30
. It was still raining, but not as hard. We popped into a couple of shops and I bought some bookmarks with some fierce-looking, traditionally dressed men for 3 yuan each ($.50). I will make good use of them in a scrap book page.
At last we spotted Renee's husband (at least she seemed pretty sure this time!) and parted ways.
We walked toward the post office and mailed our final Nigel letter. The lady said it would take one week. We will see if that holds true (I seriously doubt it). We then walked around the lake, Beihei.
I popped into Starbucks and ordered a misto. We crossed the street and hailed a cab. Our driver did not understand English, so Bill handed him the guide book and pointed to the National Art Museum. He had no idea what we were talking about, but to his credit, he jumped out of the cab and went into a nearby store
. He found someone inside who could read English, he came back and took us there.
It was 20 yuan each ($3+) for the tickets and 10 yuan ($2+) for the audio guides. We went left and looked at some modern artwork by Chinese artists. At the end was a shop and we bought Annie and Molly a gift (from Ella).
We walked back and explored the right side. There was some more work by Chinese artists - water colours, landscapes and mostly portraits.
We went to the second floor - it was closed.
On the 3rd floor we began exploring the Joseph Mallord William Turner collection. The Turner collection has been loaned by the Tate Museum. Turner lived from 1775 - 1851. He was one of the greatest landscape painters of Western Art. His has his first exhibi when he was 21 years old.
Here are some of the works that we saw and the years that they were painted:
1794 - Old London Bridge
1796 - Fishermen @ Sea
1798 - Oxford: The interior of Christ Church...
Butlermere Lake
1799 - Self Portrait
1802 - The 10th Plague of Egypt
The Lower Glacier, Grindelwald with the Eiger
The conflict with the French 1805 - 15 had an influence on his work, as did the South coast of England. He became a professor of perspective in 1807.
1806-8 The Battle of Trafalgar... Naval Engagement
1809 - London from Greenwich Park; urban vs rural
1812 - Snowstorm, Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps
1813 - The Plym Estuary from Boringdon Park (West of England)
In the 1820's he moved away from earthy tones to a bright and forceful range of colours. There is a nostalgic and patriotic pride in his works.
1825 - Ancient Rome and Agrippina
Death on a Pale Horse
1827 - Claudian Harbour Scene...
1828 - Regulus
1833 - Distaster @ Sea
1840 - Sunrise with Sea Monster
1843 - Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory) Shade and Darkness - the Evening of the Deluge
1845 - Norham Castle, Sunrise
1846 - Angel Standing in the Sun (transcending human misery; Moses recording Genisis; Adam and Eve
In one room there was a video playing. A man, Michael Chaplin, was demonstrating and explaining the techniques that Turner had used. It was incredibly interesting and gave me a much deeper appreciation and understanding of Turner's work. I was impressed with the variety of mediums and styles of Turner. I really enjoyed the display.
I was disappointed that there was no much to the museum, really only the Turner exhibit... I found it hard to figure out the flow of the exhibit (no maps) and we would have been really lost without the audio guides. I would have liked the exhibit better if it had been ordered chronologically (it was to a degree, but I found I was jumping around a bit).
We closed down the place at 5:00 and we took a cab back to the hotel. The rain had stopped, yeah!
We had beef, pork rolls, mushrooms, fruit, nuts and raisins, a raspberry dessert, soda and coke and Johnie Walker scotch at Happy Hour.
We used the internet until 9:00 and then went to bed.
We watched Reservation Road and two Sopranos Episodes until 12:30.