More Chinese Food & A Lesson in Tea

So tonight I went out to dinner with Molly, (one of the teachers at school, who I went out with last night, pictured above) and a few of her friends. We ate at a place right next to school that I didn't even know was there!! It was really good. I tried cow stomach, weird kinds of mushrooms, this strange rice soup/porridge (which was excellent) and some other more normal things like salad and chicken. Although here they cook the chicken whole and just cut it up and serve it (head and all), it is a little tricky trying to eat around the bone using chopsticks. But I'm getting better! Also it is said that the head is left for the father out of respect because the head has the brains of the animal and eating this will make you smarter. I don't know about the smarter part, but I'm all for leaving the head for someone else!

One of Molly's friends owns a tea shop right near school and we went there after dinner. Usually at tea shops they ask you what kind of tea you want and you can taste different ones but their ultimate goal is to sell you some tea. Here we just sat around drinking tea. There was no pressure to buy anything, just enjoy the tea and the company of the other tea drinkers. You use little cups to drink the tea, this way you get to taste it and it stays hot the whole time you drink it. You also use little tea pots to brew the tea in. One region in China, Yixing, has a special kind of clay that is not found anywhere else, it is referred to as 'purple clay' as when it is fired it looks purple. There are many shades of purple depending on what temperature you fire the clay to. Teapots that are made in this region with this clay are not glazed. When you use one of these pots the clay absorbs some of the scent of the tea as it is used over and over again so that eventually all you would have to do is add hot water and the water would taste and smell like the tea you have been using. (Shown above is a typical tea tasting area)