Still in Shanghai

I know, I know. It's been a week since my last post. Not a lot to report for most of the week until today (Sunday, October 21), but I need to fill in the rest first. So we left off after my physical exam, introduction to minor stardom on the Bund, and dinner in Italy (well, close enough). 

The next two days (October 10 and 11) I spent at a work event in Zhangjiang, about an hour drive southeast of the hotel. Zhangjiang is an industrial area outside Shanghai, and it is the location of a sprawling campus owned by COMAC (the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd.), a state-owned company specializing in research, manufacturing, and flight tests for large passenger aircraft and regional jet programs. The reason I am here in China is because UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS), my employer, has set up a joint venture in Xi'an to develop and manufacture electrical systems for the COMAC C919 program, and the JV needed a trade compliance manager (i.e., me).

Four of my new colleagues at the JV participated in this work event as well, so little by little, I am meeting my new work family. We even got to eat l lunch together in the facility's two cafeterias! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures at lunch during the first day, but we ate in the smaller cafeteria (basically what you'd expect an on-campus work cafeteria to be) and had rice, cooked greens, sauteed lotus roots, and some type of soup. The second day, we went to the big "noodle" cafeteria (they serve noodles there, and it's two floors) and I had this:

Huge bowl of noodles in Zhangjiang.

Most of you know I'm a vegetarian, so that's why the chicken pieces are collected together and pushed to one side. Although there were three options for noodle dishes, none were vegetarian, so you make do. The rubbery-looking white thing in the upper left of the bowl is some sort of cooked egg--it was pretty good. This was probably the best meal I've had in Shanghai thus far--no joke. (The glutinous rice balls still win for best dessert though.)

As far as dinners have gone, two of my colleagues were staying at the Westin as well, and they introduced me to the wonders of the Westin Executive Club Lounge. 

Jellyfish tank at the entrance of the Westin Executive Club Lounge.
There are colored lights at the top of the tank that make the otherwise
white jellyfish turn various colors.

For an additional daily fee, anyone staying at the Westin can have the privilege of dining in the lounge for breakfast, midday snacks, cocktails, and dinner--all self-service. There are other benefits that come with WEC access (such as free broadband Internet, one free dry-cleaning of a suit/dress, discounts on hotel spa services, etc.), but the breakfasts and dinners have been great--still Asian food, for the most part, but it's nice to not have to worry about finding a restaurant every night.

Here's a sampling of some dinners:

Dim sum (in bamboo basket); tofu; mushroom and mung bean bruschetta;
cooked greens; cooked mushroom caps; mango juice. 

Dim sum with cooked greens; asparagus; mung beans; cooked mushrooms.

Interior of the dim sum.

Dim sum; salmon; cooked greens; snow peas; zucchini and squash
cooked in fragrant oil (that's really what it was called).

A variation on glutinous rice balls with sesame paste!
These were warm and bathed in rice wine, wolfberries (the
oblong red bits), and chopped fruit. Wow.

The sesame seed paste.

More dim sum; sushi; bead curd wrapped in seaweed; green beans;
cooked peppers; and chicken leg mushrooms (that's really what
they were called).

My favorite dim sum (with shrimp and a lighter wrapping);
my new favorite fungus (enoki mushrooms); more sushi;
more vegetables.

My first pu'er tea in China.

The ice cream is supposedly homemade at the hotel.
A selection of green tea, blueberry, and strawberry topped
with dried fruit. Very tasty.

Vanilla, toffee, and blueberry ice cream.

I really have been doing things other than eating (I'll get to that in the next post). But I think food can tell you a lot about a culture, and it's such an important part of life, not just for the nutrition part, but for bringing people together. So food will continue to make an appearance in my posts. 

Before getting back to the non-food related sights of Shanghai though, I tried out some new snacks this week at All Days, the local convenience store.

I can't wait to learn more Chinese so I can tell you what these are.

All I can say is that they are a little like Rice Krispie treats, only
not as sweet. I think it is some kind of puffed rice treat.

If you think these are like goldfish crackers in the U.S. (like I did), think again.
These are salmon-colored puffed rice crackers, about twice the size of
U.S. goldfish; as the package says in English, they are seaweed flavored. 

All this talk about food is making me hungry, so it's off to dinner!