jolly pong and compound potato

Yes, someone pointed out that many of my posts are about food. Well, food has been a challenge, to say the least. I get home from work after it's dark. It's not easy to take pictures of people without being rude, in the dark - cause you have to get up kind of close for the flash to work.

I find food to be one of the most fascinating things about different cultures. Here's what I had for a little snack tonight before I head out for dinner with another GM employee who is here for about the same time as me. Jolly Pong brand stuff that was almost identical to Sugar Smacks (or whatever the politically correct way to say 'puffed wheat with liquid sugar sprayed over it). I simply had to buy this one. Why, well one of my college housemates called me 'Mr. Pong' from the day that I met him - I think because of my Lake-heritage somewhat Chinese eyes. So, this snack food was for me. By the way, it was delicious and hit the spot on the walk home from the subway station last night.

The things in the pringles can are "THE NEW TASTE OF COMPOUND POTATO". Hey, when I read that, I had to try it. Who can resist "COMPOUND POTATO"? I also had to get the apple flavored soda - since it seems that the only place in the world you can't get your hands on some apple soda is the good old USA - unless you hit the Mexican stores like we do now and then.

The guy I'm going to dinner with tonight has been to Shanghai many times, so he knows his way around and which restaurants are good. Supposedly the place we are going to tonight has an English menu.

Signing off.

Oh, by the way, I added a photo of a window sign that turned me off to the dumplings at Yu Yuan Garden to Sunday's post. If you didn't read it it states, in English:

"Dumpling stuffed with the ovaries and intestinal glands of a crad" Yes, Crad is supposed to mean Crab. However it's spelled, I'm not up for eating the ovaries and intestinal glands of anything.

Last night walking to the Jin Mao tower area, I followed a guy with a shirt that read:

"Kentucky Straick Bourbon Whisket" on a perfectly good looking T-shirt. Someone had spent the time to make a silk-screen with those misspellings on it.

Update: Back from dinner - at a pretty fancy place called "Shanghai Uncle". Here's another photo for you - one of the dishes we had tonight featured a tasty fish-head staring up at us. It actually tasted pretty good - the fish in the soup, not the fish-head; that we didn't touch.