Exploring China... Beijing Birthday!

Day One: Hungry, sick tired, all I want is soup. We turned down a hutong near Tianemen Square and voila - soup! noodles! rejuvination! While recognized the broccoli, noodles and beef I had no idea what kind of mushroom I was consuming...

Shaun picked a different dish - sort of a Chinese version of bimbibap, minus the spice.

 And oh ya - spring rolls!

 My birthday dinner was at the notorious Da Dong. We learned the hard way that making reservations in China was difficult, accidentally making them for what we thought was Da Dong, but not.  We ended up with no reservations but at the correct place. Waiting we drank. Above is a maleculour gastronomy mojito.

 Appetizer. Peas with pork, and a minty bubbly drink to go with. One bite, but damn it was good.

The fixings arrive for our peking duck: hoison sauce, scallions, cucumbers,  salt, crushed nuts all wrapped up in tiny crepes, or a thicker pita.

Our other appetizers: fried shrimp. Excuse the mayo. Not my favourite.

Mushrooms with bokchoy and crispy scallop. There was only a hint of scallop, but nonetheless it tasted divine.

Our duck arrives. When we entered the restaurant you could see them being put into a similar oven as used for Napolese pizza.

Exhibit A: the crepe like roll

 Exhibit B: The pita like version.

Lychees on dry ice.

A VERY happy birthday girl! My cake was a hollow chocolate bomb. The sparkler, or whik, served as my candle stick. When the sparkler got to the base, our server popped a balloon behind his back to make it sound as though the bomb exploded. The bomb then cracked open to reveal cocoa powder mixed with "rocks" candy, the kind that erupts on your tongue.