Beijing Duck

I take Hugh Grant pretty seriously, especially as the awkward but wise prime minister in Love Actually.  His opening line, "Whenever I start to get gloomy about the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport," has been running around in my head for the past couple weeks, especially as I headed for the arrivals gate at Beijing Airport to pick up my parents last week.

At the Summer Palace

After seven months away from home, it is hard to describe how happy I was to see my parents at the arrivals gate.  We had a full two weeks planned, spanning Beijing and two provinces.  The first thing on the agenda was a visit to the Summer Palace in Beijing.  We had some pretty smoggy weather, but not nearly as bad as it was in January.  Still, the Summer Palace is beautiful in any weather and great for walking and exploring.
Later that day we tried the famous Beijing roast duck. Despite having lived so close to Beijing for over half a year, this was the first time that I tried Beijing duck.  I feel a little bad saying this, but I was seriously underwhelmed.  With all of the hype, I expected Beijing duck to be a highlight of my culinary experience in China.  Instead, it was pretty boring compared to my favorite Chinese foods.

At least the presentation was good.  They carved the duck at our table and one of the waitresses showed us the correct way to eat the duck

Condiments for the duck

After carving the duck at our table, one of the waitresses showed us how to eat it.  We dipped the skin in sugar, and wrapped the meat in pancakes with the other condiments.  It was aesthetically interesting, but somewhat bland.  After we got there, I realized that there Beijing duck was not the easiest first meal for chopstick newbies.  By the end of their time here, my parents were experts at chopsticks (most of the time), but our first meal made it clear that they needed more practice.