Nine Turns Intestine 九转大肠
All the time my friend and I were exploring the Dai Temple, she was hurrying my along. It seems like she was in a hurry to get out of the Dai Temple, probably because she has been here too many times back then and she doesn’t find it interesting anymore. Actually, she was rushing because we will be heading for dinner soon. As it gets dark here this time of the year, we needed to find a place to eat before the restaurants close. If the one she had in mind closes for the day, she won’t know where to bring me for dinner.
Home Style Tofu 家常豆腐
It true, Tai’an is a much sleepier city than Beijing, and shops close here quite early. I was a bit surprised by this, since Tai’an is a major tourism city. Shopping malls have barely made an impact here either, so there is nothing much to do here after dark but sleep. The restaurant was about two blocks away from the norther gate of the Dai Temple on the way to Mount Tai. Fortunately, it was still open.
Delicious Chinese Cabbage Shandong Style
I left it to her to order what she thought would be nice. Shandong cuisine 鲁菜 is one of the major cuisines of China. I had a bit of introduction to Shandong food before but this would be my first time eating authentic ones. My impression of Shandong food was that it is supposed to be very salty. I wonder how it is here.
My friend ordered intestines which I had in Singapore before. It was chewy and surprisingly sweet. I always loved this kind of texture. The intestines seemed to be prepared nicely too so there wasn’t any smell to it. The other dishes were a cabbage dish and a tofu dish, which is just homestyle tofu. It was a very satisfying meal, made all the more so since my friend hardly ate! This was a surprise to me since she actually eats more than I do. I’m beginning to wonder who this lady is… Well, since we are all one in a million, this means there are a thousand more copies of my friend here in China!
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