Mei, Me, & Mei Yi Ling
Like every adventure, this musical weekend started with a feast. I met up at Baby Doll with Mei, my coworker, and her cousin, Mei Yi Ling.
Baby Doll
Studded leather booths with red lanterns broadcast the restaurant’s peculiar fusion of Chinese food with Western presentation. Pictured above are papaya and chicken soup (lovely combination), goose liver, and the house specialty, Baby Doll (not sure what went into this one).
Baby Doll
When this red splattering arrived, I was afraid that I may have to sit through the meal facing a fetus, but it was fish. Both the look and taste didn’t appeal to me.
Fruit Tea
After the green tea was brewed, the waiter poured it into a glass teapot filled with apple, kiwi, and orange slices. Hot fruit tea was the delicious result.
Baby Doll
Iced kumquat juice at the far end supplemented the hot beverage. Mei’s hand rests on a dish with the consistency of lasagna but made of tofu with a little bit of cheese. The large plate in the foreground holds a giant sushi roll with fake crab and fruit at the center.
Fresh Sugar Cane Juice
Mei’s cousin and I then set off to find erhu lessons. I learned that his firm consults for electrical power companies. As a result, he gets to travel to different provinces to give training presentations on risk. On our way to the music shops, we had some sugarcane juice from a street vendor. The machine attached to the back of a bicycle grinds the cane stalks on spot.
Growing up in North India I loved fresh sugar cane juice from carts like the one pictured here. It was one of my favorite drinks and I looked forward to it every summer till I got hepatitis and the doctor thought it may have been caused by the poor hygiene at a sugar cane juice cart.
They had the same sugar cane vendors on the streets on Cairo when I was there in 1973. Since it was so hot and dry, I stopped often for refreshment and loved the flavor. Luckily did not get sick from that. I loved your photo of the fish dish – can’t understand why you didn’t eat it all up!