Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

So it’s been awhile since I posted a recipe!

I’ve probably mentioned before how hard it is to find meals that use ingredients I can find here in China. Any recipe that includes canned anything (vegetables, soup, beans, etc) automatically needs to be tweaked, for example. This makes cooking challenging, but I’ve become very good at adapting recipes to become China-friendly.

Tonight I made vegetarian black bean chili. Mind you, these are soy black beans that I used; however, with the right seasonings you really can’t taste any difference. I kind of threw this together using a mixture of different recipes I found, and the result was pretty good! It is almost 100% China-friendly; there are a few spices you can’t find here (but I brought them from home/had them sent to me) and you need a blender.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil (or vegetable oil to be China-friendly)
• 1/2 large onion, or 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 c. corn kernels
• 5-6 mushrooms, quartered
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tbsp chili powder (possibly could use ground Sichuan pepper as an alternative?)
• 1 tbsp (ish) adobo
• 70 g tomato paste
• 3/4 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 c. cooked mung beans
• 1 1/2 c. cooked black beans
• small handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• salt to taste
• cayenne pepper to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a large pot. Add in onions, tomatoes, red pepper, corn and mushrooms. Saute until onions are translucent, about 10 minutes, on medium-low heat.
2. Season with cumin, black pepper, chili powder and adobo.
3. Stir in tomato paste, stock, mung beans and black beans until well incorporated. Add cilantro. Simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes.
4. Pour half of the mixture into a blender or food processor and puree. My blender is really cheap and weak, so I didn’t puree mine until it was nice and smooth (as you can see in the photo). I like the way it turned out, though – nice texture. Add the pureed mixture back into the pot.
5. Stir everything together. Season with salt. Enjoy!

The whole shebang took me less than an hour (I had the beans already cooked). This yielded about 3-4 portions.

Coming up next – photos from the Ebony Museum here in Leshan!

Happy May(Day)!

How is it already May 1st? I cannot believe how fast my last semester is going!

May 1, also called May Day, is International Workers Day. The holiday is celebrated in over 80 countries, including China. As a result, classes are canceled today. Bonus: we also had Monday and Tuesday off.

On the flip side, in China, whenever there is a holiday, you are required to make up the days you miss on the weekends. So I had to teach on Saturday. It doesn’t make any kind of sense to me, but it’s a necessary evil all teachers (and students) have to deal with.

In any case, I took advantage of my day off yesterday and finally went to the Thousand Buddha Cliffs, located in Jiajiang, Sichuan, about 45 minutes outside of Leshan. It was an adventure a year in the making; last spring I tried to go there with a few friends but we failed miserably. This year, I was smarter and did a little more homework before the adventure began.

From Leshan my friend Beckie and I hired a car to take us straight to the park – 25 rmb each. It was super convenient and definitely worth the extra rmb. At the gate, you have to walk about 10 minutes before you reach the actual park. The entrance fee is a mere 5 rmb. We took the bus back to Leshan, which was almost as easy. From Leshan, take a bus to Jiajiang from the Central Bus Station (8.50 rmb, 40 minutes). From the station in Jiajiang, take Bus No. 1 to the end of the line (1.50 rmb, 25 minutes). This will take you to the gate of the park – you’ll know it because there is a big map of the park and I believe the sign also has English on it.

Truthfully, there isn’t a whole lot to see there. There are the cliffs, into which are 162 niches carved. In the niches are over 2,400 Buddhas carved. The carvings began during the Sui Dynasty and were completed in the Tang Dynasty. The site is pretty well-preserved, however, many of the Buddhas’ heads were bashed in during the Cultural Revolution. I haven’t found very much information on why this was done, but it was really cool to see.

Apart from the niches, there is a small mountain to climb (all stairs!). The views are really nice, especially on a clear day like yesterday. The park is on a very peaceful river, with crops growing alongside. The park also advertised a handmade paper museum, but we couldn’t find it and/or it was closed. Possibly the best part about this place, though, is that it was uncharacteristically uncrowded. Most tourist places in China are PACKED – people pushing and shoving everywhere, barely any room to breathe. Thousand Buddha Cliffs, though, not a whole lot of people. It was a really nice and peaceful afternoon.

Below are some pictures – Enjoy!!

Student Work

Midterms week is officially over! I am proud to say that my students all did pretty well on their exams and presentations. Maybe they are learning something from me after all!

Today I would like to share some outstanding student work. Every week, I start class off with a journal question for my students to answer. This is a great way for them to get in the English mindset for the rest of class, practice their writing and use creative thinking skills. In most of their classes, English or Chinese, they aren’t really expected to do anything but sit there and listen to the teacher. Or not listen, as it were. Not in my class!

Last week’s journal question was: “If you could travel back in time, what year would you travel to? Why?” I got some extremely interesting and creative answers. Usually journals are boring to read because they are kind of are the same…that was not the case this time.

Here is what Jeff wrote:

I would like to travel back to 1970 in USA then I can buy some guns. There is nobody will stop your buying not like now. At that age, people feel free and relax, Maybe I will go to the navy. the ship will take me somewhere and the gun will help me to kill monsters in the sea. After work I can feel the sunshine in the beach with wine and write a letter to my lady. On weekens I can ride my motor to go to home. If I have a boy I will play baseball with him and I’m glad to call him “the team captain.” And I hope him will become a fireman to save people in danger.

This is by far the best journal response I have ever read. It really makes me wonder what kind of American television he’s been watching, or what books he’s been reading.

Here’s a sadder one from a girl named Went (but you can call her Jane). She is one of my best students and has remarkably neat penmanship.

If I could travel back in time, I want to go back in 1999. Because my grandfather died in 1999. If there will be one thing which can last forever, I’m sure that’ll be love. My grandfather was a responsible doctor. He helped a lot of patients and almost everyone in our town knew him. Of course, he loved me deeply. In the year 1999, he got a cancer and couldn’t go to work. So he just stayed at home and waited me to back home after class. Furthermore, he gave his money to me to buy thing I need. I’ll never forget the teardrops on his face when he was dying, and I’ll remember his love and spirit.

I can’t lie, this one almost made me tear up. So thoughtful and sweet. A lot of my students wrote that they wanted to go back to when their grandparents were dieing, but this one was by far the most eloquent.

Finally, another entertaining one. This one has many more grammar mistakes than the first two, but you get the general gist of it. This was written by Jessie.

I would like to back on 1st April, 2003 and I will take the airplane to arrive in Hongkong, take a taxi to stop at WenHua Hotel’s gate to avoid my admire star, ZhangguoRong, not jump from. Because he is the famous and talent singer and movie star which I seen, and I love his movie, enjoy his voice so I do not want he leave the world.

Another thoughtful response. As I said, many more mistakes than the first two, but I don’t grade these on their grammar, rather the content.

This is definitely something I will miss about China. My students can be so sweet and endearing. Last week, I told my students that classes next week would be canceled because I have a conference in Chengdu, and one class was actually very disappointed! They said that they’ll miss me when I leave and so didn’t want to miss any of my classes. It was very touching….but I have to say, I still appreciate when I don’t have class 🙂

 

 

Pictures from Indonesia

Here in Leshan we’re almost at midterms (yay!!) and the countdown to June 18, my last day in China, is definitely ON!

While I was in Indonesia in February, my waterproof camera broke on me. While snorkeling. Evidently, it was one snorkeling trip too many for the little guy. I did manage to get a few shots of the MANTA RAYS I saw – hands down the coolest part of my trip.

Here are the pictures I took before my camera died. Enjoy!

Making batik in Yogyakarta

Making batik in Yogyakarta

Sultan’s palace in Yogyakarta

People playing music at the palace

Borobudur, ancient Hindu temple in Yogyakarta

Ashley and me at the top of the temple

grounds of Borobudur

View from the top of the temple

Bromo Volcano in Java – sunrise hike

Volcano is smoking!

More of the volcano

Me at the volcano

Coffee plantation at Ijen, Java

Tiny village surrounding the plantation

Sunset at the plantation

Hiking up to a sulfur mine in Ijen – workers carried baskets of sulfur like this 5k up and down the mountain

Going up the mountain for more sulfur

Volcano in the distance

Top of the mountain at the crater where people mined sulfur

Smoking crater! You have to go early; if you go past 11 it’s too hot and dangerous to go down to the crater. Workers start mining at 3am

Ashley and me at the crater

Made it to Bali! At Nusa Lembongan

Sunset at Nusa Lembongan

On the snorkeling boat

Manta Ray! These guys were HUGE!

Manta Ray! It was incredible getting so close to them

Manta Ray! One of the best parts of my trip!

Long Overdue

Many apologies for such a long hiatus. After the holidays/school finals, I jetted down to Yunnan with one of my friends to see the breathtaking Yuanyang Rice Terraces.

Sunrise

sunset

sunset

toddler in traditional garb

just some cattle rolling through

thatched-roof cottages

Sunrise

The pictures really don’t do the place justice. It was very quiet, very peaceful, very beautiful. The rice terraces are surrounded by tiny villages of Chinese minority people – the Yi, Hani, and Miao people. Many people, especially the women, continue to wear their traditional garb on a daily basis. From what I could see, the people live quite primitively with little to no electricity or indoor plumbing.

The best time to see the terraces was sunrise and sunset – yes, I actually rolled out of bed early enough to see the sunrise! The views were incredible. In fact, the rice terraces are quite a famous spot for many photographers, both amateur and professional. The viewing platforms were crowded with tripods every morning and evening.

One of the best parts of the trip was the fresh air and seeing a sky full of stars at night. Getting out of the pollution and smog gave my lungs a much-needed break. And the stars! It had been more than a year since I’d seen such stars. Just wonderful.

Of course, no trip in China is complete without its share of travel blunders. For example, I missed my overnight train from Kunming to Leshan. After making a run for it. In tears, I begged the ticket lady to let me in, but she wouldn’t; the train was scheduled to leave in about five minutes.

Still, I can look back and laugh…now. I seem to have a knack for getting myself into trouble, no matter where I am or what the occasion might be. What would life be without a few embarrassing stories?

After Yuanyang it was Chengdu for two weeks of IST, followed by 19 glorious days in Indonesia. I will add photos from Indonesia some other time.

Now I’m back in the saddle and back in the swing of things here at school. It’s nice being back into a routine and knowing my way around. I’m way more comfortable in front of the classroom than I was my first semester and a much better teacher. I continue to have a love/hate relationship with my students. They drive me crazy and then make up for it by doing or saying nice things. That said, the countdown to go home is definitely on (roughly three months!).

Last but not least, spring is here! The weather has been unbelievable lately. Sun peeking out from behind the smog, relatively good visibility, and t-shirt weather. Couldn’t ask for more.

Stay tuned – photos from Indonesia!

To Warm the Soul

Well, it happened.

Winter has come to Leshan.

I know, I know, it’s been winter for awhile, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I pulled out the long underwear, mittens and hat, and the works. On the bright side, I’m a week and a half away from being done with the semester!

What’s next? An eight week break from school, during which I’ll be hitting the beaches of Indonesia..but that isn’t until February. Until then, I’ll be trying my hardest to stay toasty. Because I’m always looking for good soups during the winter, I’ll share (another!) one with you that I whipped up all on my own today for lunch.

I had half a head of cabbage and half an onion I needed to use up before they went bad. I decided to experiment a little and throw them together in a soup…turned out fantastic!

Cabbage Soup

• Half a head of cabbage, shredded
• Half an onion, minced
• 1 T oil
• 1 T butter (can omit)
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken (or veggie, or whatever) stock
• 1/2 cup uncooked rice
• Splash of soy sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. In a large wok, saute onion in butter and oil until soft. Stir in shredded cabbage and garlic, let cook for a minute.
2. Add in stock and soy sauce. Stir. Turn heat to low and let simmer for about 15 minutes.
3. Add in uncooked rice and let simmer another 10-15 minutes, or until rice is cooked through. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Enjoy and feel warm(er)!

I usually have some ginger on hand, but today I didn’t. However, it would have been a nice addition. Crush it up and throw it in along with the cabbage and it would have been even tastier.

好吃!

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Getting in the Spirit

I know, I know. It has been a long time since I last wrote.This semester just flew by – I can hardly believe that there are only three weeks left of the semester!

I’ve been busy finishing up lesson plans, grading mountains of students’ papers, cooking, working out, traveling to other PCV’s sites, hanging out with students and friends here in Leshan, and, my newest undertaking: trying to get an English Resource Room started.

My school gently suggested that I do this for them last semester, but I avoided the subject and kept putting it off until this semester. The reason I was (and still am, a bit) so hesitant about this is because I knew it would be a lot of work and I had a hunch that my school wouldn’t really help me out. Making it even more work for me. That proved to be quite true, until my program manager visited and had a chat with school officials about their role, and mine, in this project.

Since then, I hashed out some more details. My office will be used as the room, which is a pretty good space. Not too big, not too small. Then I made a list of things that the room will need (sofas, bookshelves, books, etc.) and a list of things that need to be done in the room (clean, scrape old paint, put on fresh paint, etc.)

After my list-making session, I assembled a group of about 15 students to help me out. Together, we got the office spic and span and ready to be painted. Then we started brainstorming ideas for the theme of the room. Here is what they came up with:

• Christmas
• Spring Festival
• Nature Room
• Happy House
• Sun.Inn
• Dream House
• Ocean Room
• Big, Big World

Not the most creative bunch. After voting, they narrowed it down to three: Happy House, Dream House, and Nature Room. I tried to get them to think creatively and find a good name (or theme) that combines all three of those…but no dice. So I vetoed all of them and asked them to think more about it and have fresh ideas to bring back to the drawing board. They did agree on a color: green.

That’s where the project stands now. The room is cleaned out and ready to be painted, but we have no supplies. My Chinese counterpart teacher has said that he would push the matter forward with the Foreign Affairs Office this week, but who knows. Getting things done in China is like pulling teeth. My goal is to have the room painted by the end of the semester so that it has plenty of time to get the paint fumes out of there. Fingers crossed we can stick to that goal!

In other news, I put up my Christmas tree.

Maybe a little Charlie Brown-esque, but I like it. Paired with some Christmas music, or a movie, and nice bowl of soup and it’s almost like I’m back home.

Speaking of soup, I made some really good soup tonight. I got the idea from one of my favorite Thanksgiving/Christmas dinner side dishes: Broccoli Cheese Casserole. I was really craving this dish the other day, but I have no oven so casseroles are pretty much out of my cooking range.

So I hunted the internet for broccoli/cheese/creamy/whatever soups. I found a bunch of different recipes and kind of threw them together to make my own, China-friendly version (if you can find cheese, that is, which the Wal-Mart of Leshan now has!!)

Broccoli Cauliflower Cheddar Soup

Ingredients

• 6-8 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 head of broccoli, chopped
• 1 head of cauliflower, chopped (try and find one the same size as the broccoli)
• 1 small potato, diced
• 4 oz cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup milk (can use cream if you have it)
• salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a large pot, saute onion in oil until soft (2-3 min). Add garlic and saute another minute, or until fragrant.
2. Add broth, broccoli, cauliflower and potato to the pot. Depending on how big the heads of broccoli and cauliflower are, you might need more or less broth than instructed. Just make sure that there is just enough to cover the vegetables.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat, cover, simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Remove broccoli and cauliflower, set aside. Remove 1 cup of broth, set aside. Cook remaining broth and potatoes 10 minutes longer.
6. Chop up cheese in a blender. Add milk and a small amount of broth (make sure it has cooled down a bit so the milk and cheese don’t curdle). Blend until very smooth. Set aside.
7. Continue to blend the rest of the broth until everything is pureed.
8. Return pureed soup (and cheese/milk) to pot. Add reserved broccoli and cauliflower and heat through – be careful you do not let it boil or the milk and cheese will curdle. Season generously with salt and pepper.
9. Enjoy!

It took awhile to prepare, but was well worth it. And, like I said, it’s kind of China-friendly, what with there being cheese. You could easily get rid of the cheese, though, and it would still be pretty tasty.

The final product was better than I anticipated – so good! Easy, too, despite the preparation. It definitely reminded me of the Jones family traditional Broccoli Cheese Casserole.

Happy Holidays 🙂

National Holiday

Well hello!

I apologize for not updating sooner. I have been surprisingly busy since National Holiday, which was the first week of October. National Day is officially October 1, but we got the entire week off! My friend Nate and I headed to Western Sichuan for this little break.

As Sichuan borders Tibet to the west, Western Sichuan has a pretty significant Tibetan influence. For foreigners, going to Tibet is a huge hassle. You need to get a permit, a visa, pay for a guide everyday that you’re there and more. This is all provided that Tibet is actually open to foreigners; it’s not uncommon to hear reports of monks setting themselves on fire in protest of the Chinese government. When unrest such as that happens, Tibet is closed to foreigners.

Anyway, going to Western Sichuan is as close to Tibet as you’ll get if you’re like me and don’t want to pay a ton of money to get over there. Also, Kangding, the biggest city in the area, is technically supposed to be eight hours away by bus.

Technically.

I met up with Nate in Chengdu and from there we hopped a bus to Kangding. I had been warned that it would take much longer than eight hours, and it was. We got to Kangding around 11 1/2 hours later. What caused the delays? First, there is only one road through the mountains to Kangding. One road, two lanes, and a ton of construction and/or landslides. As a result, we stopped probably every hour or two to wait for the road to clear…or something. It was a pretty miserable ride and, to add insult to injury, it was pouring rain and cold and 11:00 p.m. when we finally made it.

Thankfully, we found a hotel pretty quickly that actually wasn’t too expensive. Here’s our view from the hotel room window:

Next day was Sunday and we headed to another town, Tagong. Tagong is a small town about 3 hours away from Kangding. It is almost completely Tibetan; I think the only Han Chinese people we saw were tourists. Surrounding Tagong were monasteries, tons of prayer flags, and many nomadic herders’ camps. It was another side of China that I hadn’t really seen before. We hired a car to take us there for 40 rmb each.

To give you an idea of the ride, Kangding has an altitude of about 2,600 meters and Tagong has an altitude of about 3,700 meters. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was great….for a car ride! It didn’t stay sunny and blue for long. At any rate, here are some photos from the ride:

There’s a famous song in China called the Kangding Love Song – that’s what it says on the side of this mountain

Tibetan architecture

Once we got to Tagong, we randomly ran into a few other PCVs who were getting ready to go on a five day horse trek. We couldn’t afford that, but did agree to hike with them until we found a camping spot.

15 minutes into the hike, it started to rain. And then it started to hail. Miserable, Nate and I headed back to the hostel to dry off, warm up and wait for the rain to pass. Thankfully, it did. We walked around the tiny town and found a spot to set up camp for the night on a cliff on the side of a mountain.

The main square of the town

Prayer wheels that lead to the outskirts of town

I think this is a monastery, on the outskirts of town

More prayer wheels and prayer flags on the side of the mountain

En route to our campsite…the other side of town

Monastery that we camped close to

Gorgeous snow-capped mountains in the distance

Our campsite!

World’s smallest, flimsiest tent

Our neighbors, some yaks hanging out

It was a terrible night’s sleep. On the bright side, it didn’t rain. Which is wonderful because we didn’t have sleeping pads and the tent didn’t have a rain fly. Still, it was extremely uncomfortable and awful. We woke up the next morning ready to get out of there and head back to Kangding, where  we’d meet up with other PCVs for more camping.

The driver we hired this time was a big, burly Tibetan mountain man. He was nuts. Before we got on the main road to Kangding, he took us off-roading for a good 45 minutes to pick up another passenger – a small Tibetan woman who had a very unsteady stomach. Poor girl puked about six times throughout the ride.

Our driver, this crazy man, decided that he needed a car wash before dropping us off in Kangding. So he pulled over and hosed the car down while we waited inside, not knowing what to think.

Then, mountain man tried to drop us off somewhere outside of town. This thoroughly confused us. We had no idea where we were. He tried to tell us we could walk to Kangding from here, but after some arguing and choice words he conceded and took us to where we wanted to go (which is what we paid for).

The weather was amazing. Perfect temperature, sunny, blue skies. Everything that China usually isn’t. We went on a hike up Paoma Shan, a mountain right in town clustered with tons of prayer flags.

Pride Rock!

So that was our hike! It was really nice, even though it was all stairs. We seemed to be the only ones on the hike, too, which was even better.

That evening, we camped with some of our friends. It was marginally better than the first night. We had a campfire, good company, and even fixed up our tent situation a bit:

Umbrellas as a rain fly…worked out excellently!

We stayed in Kangding for one more night after that. It was another terrible night of camping, truth be told, but at least we saved money!

The journey back to Leshan was long and terrible. It took 14 hours. It was hell, really.

All in all, Kangding and Tagong were beautiful. It was a great experience, despite a few pitfalls here and there. If nothing else, they add to the adventure. Right?

Where technology goes to die

Ohhhhh, China.

Let me review the problems I’ve encountered with electronics here:

• My old ipod, part one: During PST, my old ipod broke. Or so I thought. I got the sad ipod icon one day, cried about it, then scoured the internet to figure out how/if I could fix it. Turns out, I could. And I did. And the ipod lived for another nine months! Hurray!
• My old ipod, part two: In April, or around then, old faithful stopped being so faithful and that mean sad ipod icon returned. This time it could not be revived. I tried everything. I even wrangled two students into taking me to the most trustworthy Apple store in Leshan to see if they could fix it. They could not. I cried about it and then went out to the store and bought a new ipod, this one a nano.
• My old, old computer, part 1: I bought my laptop the summer before I started freshman year of college. That’s 6 years ago, which in Mac time means I’m working on a dinosaur. The OS on my Mac isn’t compatible with the new ipods, i.e. the one I bought. So, I had to painstakingly transfer music from this one to the school-issued desktop PC so that I could actually use my brand new ipod. It was a headache and a half but I did it and the little thing worked like a charm.
• My Nook: It broke. I have no idea how or why. It just stopped working one day. The screen is forever frozen on some scene from nature. It’s back home now where it can continue to be dead in peace. Also, I will never, ever buy a Barnes & Noble Nook product again. The customer service department is terrible and dealing with them (trying to, rather) was a nightmare.
• My old, old computer, part 2: A few weeks ago I was on my computer and I spilled almost an entire cup of water on it. Once again, I cried. Then I shut it down and bought 20 kuai worth of rice and stuck it in there for a few hours. On first inspection, the keyboard wasn’t working. So I shut it down again and stuck it back in the rice overnight. On second inspection, it turned on and the keyboard works! Everything besides the caps lock key, left shit key, control key, letter z, and all of the arrows except the right one. The dinosaur isn’t extinct yet, thank goodness!
• My new ipod: Today while running, I took quite a fall. I have no idea how it happened; one minute I’m running along in my own little running world and the next minute I’m on my stomach on the ground. I skinned both knees and have a bruise on my hip bone. Well, I clip my ipod onto the waistband of my shorts, so when I fell I fell on top of it. Now the screen is messed up. It still plays music and the touch screen still works, which is the most important thing. Now I will have to wrangle another student or two to take me to the Apple store once again to see if they can’t fix the screen. Otherwise I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.

China, where technology goes to die. At least the technology that I use.

Other than my latest hiccup, all is well in the city of the Grand Buddha. My school is having some issues renewing my visa, but hopefully that will all get sorted out. If it doesn’t get sorted out by this weekend, I won’t be able to go on vacation to Western Sichuan…and that would be another tragedy to add to the list. Keep your fingers crossed for me!