WEATHER IN BEIJING
Clima en Beijing


El Testamento del Paisa

25 November, 2010

101 Greatest Simpsons Quotes


Taken from somewhere else as many of us Bloggers sometimes do to keep our audience a bit interested on whatever we write-edit-paste here, for you all, the 101 Greatest Simpsons Quotes!
  • Homer:
    D’oh.
  • Ralph:
    Me fail English? That’s unpossible.
  • Lionel Hutz:
    This is the greatest case of false advertising I’ve seen since I sued the movie “The Never Ending Story.”
  • Sideshow Bob:
    No children have ever meddled with the Republican Party and lived to tell about it.
  • Troy McClure:
    Don’t kid yourself, Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he’d eat you and everyone you care about!
  • Comic Book Guy:
    The Internet King? I wonder if he could provide faster nudity…
  • Homer:
    Oh, so they have Internet on computers now!
  • Ned Flanders:
    I’ve done everything the Bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!
  • Comic Book Guy:
    Your questions have become more redundant and annoying than the last three “Highlander” movies.
  • Chief Wiggum:
    Uh, no, you got the wrong number. This is 9-1…2.
  • Sideshow Bob:
    I’ll be back. You can’t keep the Democrats out of the White House forever, and when they get in, I’m back on the streets, with all my criminal buddies.
  • Homer:
    When I held that gun in my hand, I felt a surge of power…like God must feel when he’s holding a gun.
  • Nelson:
    Dad didn’t leave… When he comes back from the store, he’s going to wave those pop-tarts right in your face!
  • Milhouse:
    Remember the time he ate my goldfish? And you lied and said I never had goldfish. Then why did I have the bowl, Bart? *Why did I have the bowl?*
  • Lionel Hutz:
    Well, he’s kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace “accidentally” with “repeatedly” and replace “dog” with “son.”
  • Comic Book Guy:
    Last night’s “Itchy and Scratchy Show” was, without a doubt, the worst episode *ever.* Rest assured, I was on the Internet within minutes, registering my disgust throughout the world.
  • Homer:
    I’m normally not a praying man, but if you’re up there, please save me, Superman.
  • Grandpa Simpson:
    My Homer is not a communist. He may be a liar, a pig, an idiot, a communist, but he is *not* a porn star!
  • Mayor Quimby:
    I stand by my racial slur.
  • Comic Book Guy:
    Oh, loneliness and cheeseburgers are a dangerous mix.
  • Homer:
    You don’t like your job, you don’t strike. You go in every day and do it really half-assed. That’s the American way.
  • Chief Wiggum:
    Fat Tony is a cancer on this fair city! He is the cancer and I am the…uh…what cures cancer?
  • Homer:
    Bart, with $10,000 we’d be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like…love!
  • Homer:
    Fame was like a drug. But what was even more like a drug were the drugs.
  • Homer:
    Books are useless! I only ever read one book, “To Kill A Mockingbird,” and it gave me absolutely no insight on how to kill mockingbirds! Sure it taught me not to judge a man by the color of his skin…but what good does *that* do me?
  • Chief Wiggum:
    Can’t you people take the law into your own hands? I mean, we can’t be policing the entire city!
  • Homer:
    Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It’s what separates us from the animals…except the weasel.
  • Reverend Lovejoy:
    Marge, just about everything’s a sin. [holds up a Bible] Y’ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we’re not supposed to go to the bathroom.
  • Homer:
    You know, the one with all the well meaning rules that don’t work out in real life, uh, Christianity.
  • Smithers:
    Uh, no, they’re saying “Boo-urns, Boo-urns.”
  • Hans Moleman:
    I was saying “Boo-urns.”
  • Homer:
    Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.
  • Homer:
    Here’s to alcohol, the cause of — and solution to — all life’s problems.
  • Homer:
    When will I learn? The answers to life’s problems aren’t at the bottom of a bottle, they’re on TV!
  • Chief Wiggum:
    I hope this has taught you kids a lesson: kids never learn.
  • Homer:
    How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?
  • Homer:
    Homer no function beer well without.
  • Duffman:
    Duffman can’t breathe! OH NO!
  • Grandpa Simpson:
    Dear Mr. President, There are too many states nowadays. Please, eliminate three. P.S. I am not a crackpot.
  • Homer:
    Old people don’t need companionship. They need to be isolated and studied so it can be determined what nutrients they have that might be extracted for our personal use.
  • Troy McClure:
    Hi. I’m Troy McClure. You may remember me from such self-help tapes as “Smoke Yourself Thin” and “Get Some Confidence, Stupid!”
  • Homer:
    A woman is a lot like a refrigerator. Six feet tall, 300 pounds…it makes ice.
  • Homer:
    Son, a woman is like a beer. They smell good, they look good, you’d step over your own mother just to get one! But you can’t stop at one. You wanna drink another woman!
  • Homer:
    Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that’s even remotely true!
  • Mr. Burns:
    I’ll keep it short and sweet — Family. Religion. Friendship. These are the three demons you must slay if you wish to succeed in business.
  • Kent Brockman:
    …And the fluffy kitten played with that ball of string all through the night. On a lighter note, a Kwik-E-Mart clerk was brutally murdered last night.
  • Ralph:
    Mrs. Krabappel and Principal Skinner were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and then the baby looked at me.
  • Apu:
    Please do not offer my god a peanut.
  • Homer:
    You don’t win friends with salad.
  • Mr. Burns:
    I don’t like being outdoors, Smithers. For one thing, there’s too many fat children.
  • Sideshow Bob:
    Attempted murder? Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?
  • Chief Wiggum:
    They only come out in the night. Or in this case, the day.
  • Mr. Burns:
    Whoa, slow down there, maestro. There’s a *New* Mexico?
  • Homer:
    He didn’t give you gay, did he? Did he?!
  • Comic Book Guy:
    But, Aquaman, you cannot marry a woman without gills. You’re from two different worlds… Oh, I’ve wasted my life.
  • Homer:
    Marge, it takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen.
  • Superintendent Chalmers:
    I’ve had it with this school, Skinner. Low test scores, class after class of ugly, ugly children…
  • Mr. Burns:
    What good is money if it can’t inspire terror in your fellow man?
  • Homer:
    Oh, everything looks bad if you remember it.
  • Ralph:
    Slow down, Bart! My legs don’t know how to be as long as yours.
  • Homer:
    Donuts. Is there anything they can’t do?
  • Frink:
    Brace yourselves gentlemen. According to the gas chromatograph, the secret ingredient is… Love!? Who’s been screwing with this thing?
  • Apu:
    Yes! I am a citizen! Now which way to the welfare office? I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I work, I work.
  • Milhouse:
    We started out like Romeo and Juliet, but it ended up in tragedy.
  • Mr. Burns:
    A lifetime of working with nuclear power has left me with a healthy green glow…and left me as impotent as a Nevada boxing commissioner.
  • Homer:
    Kids, kids. I’m not going to die. That only happens to bad people.
  • Milhouse:
    Look out, Itchy! He’s Irish!
  • Homer:
    I’m going to the back seat of my car, with the woman I love, and I won’t be back for ten minutes!
  • Smithers:
    I’m allergic to bee stings. They cause me to, uh, die.
  • Barney:
    Aaah! Natural light! Get it off me! Get it off me!
  • Principal Skinner:
    That’s why I love elementary school, Edna. The children believe anything you tell them.
  • Sideshow Bob:
    Your guilty consciences may make you vote Democratic, but secretly you all yearn for a Republican president to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king!
  • Barney:
    Jesus must be spinning in his grave!
  • Superintendent Chalmers:
    “Thank the Lord”? That sounded like a prayer. A prayer in a public school. God has no place within these walls, just like facts don’t have a place within an organized religion.
  • Mr. Burns:
    [answering the phone] Ahoy hoy?
  • Comic Book Guy:
    Oh, a *sarcasm* detector. Oh, that’s a *really* useful invention!
  • Marge:
    Our differences are only skin deep, but our sames go down to the bone.
  • Homer:
    What’s the point of going out? We’re just going to wind up back here anyway.
  • Marge:
    Get ready, skanks! It’s time for the truth train!
  • Bill Gates:
    I didn’t get rich by signing checks.
  • Principal Skinner:
    Fire can be our friend; whether it’s toasting marshmallows or raining down on Charlie.
  • Homer:
    Oh, I’m in no condition to drive. Wait a minute. I don’t have to listen to myself. I’m drunk.
  • Homer:
    And here I am using my own lungs like a sucker.
  • Comic Book Guy:
    Human contact: the final frontier.
  • Homer:
    I hope I didn’t brain my damage.
  • Krusty the Clown:
    And now, in the spirit of the season: start shopping. And for every dollar of Krusty merchandise you buy, I will be nice to a sick kid. For legal purposes, sick kids may include hookers with a cold.
  • Homer:
    I’m a Spalding Gray in a Rick Dees world.
  • Dr. Nick:
    Inflammable means flammable? What a country.
  • Homer:
    Beer. Now there’s a temporary solution.
  • Comic Book Guy:
    Stan Lee never left. I’m afraid his mind is no longer in mint condition.
  • Nelson:
    Shoplifting is a victimless crime. Like punching someone in the dark.
  • Krusty the Clown:
    Kids, we need to talk for a moment about Krusty Brand Chew Goo Gum Like Substance. We all knew it contained spider eggs, but the hantavirus? That came out of left field. So if you’re experiencing numbness and/or comas, send five dollars to antidote, PO box…
  • Milhouse:
    I can’t go to juvie. They use guys like me as currency.
  • Homer:
    Son, when you participate in sporting events, it’s not whether you win or lose: it’s how drunk you get.
  • Homer:
    I like my beer cold, my TV loud and my homosexuals flaming.
  • Apu:
    Thank you, steal again.
  • Homer:
    Marge, you being a cop makes you the man! Which makes me the woman — and I have no interest in that, besides occasionally wearing the underwear, which as we discussed, is strictly a comfort thing.
  • Ed Begley Jr.:
    I prefer a vehicle that doesn’t hurt Mother Earth. It’s a go-cart, powered by my own sense of self-satisfaction.
  • Bart:
    I didn’t think it was physically possible, but this both sucks *and* blows.
  • Homer:
    How could you?! Haven’t you learned anything from that guy who gives those sermons at church? Captain Whatshisname? We live in a society of laws! Why do you think I took you to all those Police Academy movies? For fun? Well, I didn’t hear anybody laughing, did you? Except at that guy who made sound effects. Makes sound effects and laughs. Where was I? Oh yeah! Stay out of my booze.
  • Homer:
    Lisa, vampires are make-believe, like elves, gremlins, and Eskimos.

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13 November, 2010

Denunciamos la Minería en Colombia!



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03 November, 2010

Beijing’s Weirdest and Wackiest Food


Beijing is famous for its strange foods. From scorpion to penis hot pot, CW taste tests it all and dares you to expand your palate. Here are fifteen palate adventures… if you dare. By City Weekend Beijing

Rabbit Head
Fear Factor: 5/5
Taste Factor: 5/5

One of hundreds of delicious snacks to come out of Chengdu, rabbit head takes pride of place on the menu at Shuangliu Laoma Tutou, arguably Beijing’s best Sichuan restaurant. The heads (¥8 per head) arrive skinned, with eyes, teeth and brain intact. It is cooked in either a five-spice or mala sauce. To get the maximum amount of meat, diners separate the rabbit’s upper and lower jawbones, bite out the tongue, gnaw away the cheek meat, crack open the skull and suck out the brains, being sure to vacuum up any excess meat along the way. While those not fond of bones in their food should probably sit this one out, we found that the interesting textures of the tongue and brains complement the tasty tenderness of the flavorsome cheek meat to make a dish whose only fault is its size—each rabbit head is only as big as a tennis ball.
Find it: Shuangliu Laoma Tutou (48 Third East Ring South Road, 48号东三环南路, Tel: 6540-5858)

Silkworm Cocoon
Fear Factor: 3/5
Taste Factor: 1/5

Even when deep fried, the bulbous head of a silkworm cocoon threatens to hatch something nefarious and wiggly. We hunted down this Yunnan delicacy down at Chuan’r Bar, which specializes in skewering everything from bovine heart valves (¥3) to whole chicken heads (¥4). The silkworm chrysalis here (¥3) thankfully comes with a generous layer of cumin and chili, masking its true taste. Despite rumors of a “nutty” flavor, the spongy interior of our cocoons tasted like a shoe insole smells. More disgusting is the texture, which was very close to what a shoe insole feels like. Brave or inebriated diners can fortify themselves with the knowledge that silkworm cocoons are said to have powerful anti-aging properties. The faint of heart or sober can cheer from the sidelines with a tasty hot pot of skewers and a solid selection of veggie kebabs.
Find it: Chuan'r Bar (5–3 Dongzhimen Neidajie, 东城区东直门内大街5-3号, Tel: 6303-5678)

Fish Head
Fear Factor: 2/5
Taste Factor: 4/5

Sichuan restaurant Yu Xin serves some of the best steamed fish heads (¥58) in town. A classic Chinese dish, the steamed head of each yongyu carp is cut in half, then both halves are served cheek-side up on top of a bed of chili peppers and hot oil. The white eyes, believed to improve vision, are popular with diners and contain lots of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Chinese diners will often fight over who gets to eat the eyes. The fish face, however, is the star of the show, as it contains the creamiest meat of the fish, the texture of which often resembles cream cheese. The small fish brain, a ball of transparent Jello-like substance connected to the eyes, has a very fishy odor and melts in the mouth. And yes, some believe it will make you smarter. Perhaps that's why in Chinese culture, the fish head should always be served so that it faces the most distinguished dinner guest.
Find it: Yu Xin (1/F, Jingtai Bldg, 24 Jianguomen Waidajie, 建国门外大街24号京泰大厦1层, Tel: 6515-6588)

Penis and Testes
Fear Factor: 5/5
Taste Factor: 1/5

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), eating a specific animal organ will improve the health of that organ within you. If this is ever proven, Guolizhuang, aka Beijing's "penis restaurant," will become even more crowded with middle-aged men than it already is. Guolizhuang serves penis, and lots of it: dog penis, horse penis, donkey penis, ram penis, deer penis ... Snake penis is rumored to make men particularly virile as snakes have two penises, allowing copulation with two partners at once. We suggest the penis hotpot (¥988), which includes all the penises mentioned above. The hotpot broth is served with an entire turtle in it, which, according to TCM, produces longer lasting erections. The actual meat, lean and jerky like, has almost no flavor. Its presentation, however, makes it much more exciting to eat than Viagra. All seating is in private rooms, so call ahead for reservations.
Find it: Guoli Zhuang (Dongsishitiao B34-3, 东四十条乙34-3号, Tel: 6405-5698)

Weird Wines
Fear Factor: 3/5
Taste Factor: 4/5

Though China amuses tourists with snakes, animal penises and geckoes floating in bottles of everclear alcohol, only one of this nation's strange brews has a taste worthy of its oddness: Fermented mare's milk (¥45). A Mongolian alcohol made from fermenting and then distilling horse milk, the elixir tastes like a sweetened baijiu with a creamsicle aftertaste.
Though it may sound disgusting, most expats we've drunk it with have enjoyed the taste and even bought bottles of their own. We suggest picking some up at the Menggubao Chaoshi across from Little Sheep Hot Pot on Ghost Street. The Inner Mongolian foods store serves other Mongolian delights, including a range of spiced jerkies.
The fermented mare's milk is served in a yurt-shaped bottle, which also makes for a nice gift.
Find it: Caoyuan Xuri (158 Dongzhimennei Dajie, 东直门内大街158号, Tel: 8404-8518)

Spinal Chord
Fear Factor: 5/5
Taste Factor: 1/5

Ghost Street is crowded with hot pot restaurants specializing in a classic delicacy: sheep's spinal cord hot pot. One of the best is found on a small alley just east of Dongzhimennei Beixiaojie. The Huayang Jinxing Sheep Spinal Cord Hot Pot Restaurant is full of baijiu fumes and red-faced diners gorging on the dish, which is literally called "sheep scorpion" (羊蝎子) because the spinal cord looks like the poisonous insect. Anything cooked with a bone tends toward savory and hearty, and sheep spinal cord is no exception. The meat itself tasted somewhat like ribs fresh off the bone, but the texture and size of the spine itself was daunting. After you pick off the meat, bite into the spine's soft tissue and cartilage. Suck in the marrow for extra credit.
Find it: Huayang Jinxing Sheep Spinal Cord Hot Pot Restaurant (North side of Beidongxiang, east of Traktir), 东直门北小街路口北东巷内 (近北新桥派出所, Tel: 8406-0609)

Pig Brains
Fear Factor: 5/5
Taste Factor: 1/5

Kong Liang is one of Ghost Street’s most renowned hot pot restaurants, and regularly pulls in a large crowd of foreigners and Chinese, although its excellent reputation no doubt comes in spite of its pig brain dish rather than because of it. While ancient Chinese literature warns against eating brains (particularly for men), modern nutritionists claim they contains more calcium, phosphorous and iron than regular pork. Kong Liang serves a trio of raw pig brains (¥14), ready to be broiled in a mala hot pot (from ¥36) and dipped in satay sauce. Luckily, the mouth-numbing broth does a good job of covering the slightly rotten meaty taste of the brains, although it is powerless against the disagreeably squishy texture, which is likely to appeal only to fans of equally sludgy "tofu brains." There’s a saying in Chinese that says “eating brains helps the brain,” but we certainly didn’t feel any smarter after eating this.
Find it: Kongliang Chongqing Hotpot (218 Dongzhimen Neidajie, 东直门内大街218号, Tel: 8404-4906)

Scorpions and Beetles
Fear Factor: 5/5
Taste Factor: 2/5

Though crawling live scorpions and long-horned beetles will not catalyze a rush of digestive enzymes into your stomach, a good deep-frying will sedate your desire to run away. After that it’s all or nothing: close your eyes and bite in. You'll find that, thankfully, any nuance of taste has disappeared. Both scorpion and beetle tastes like a good old fashioned potato chips with a little extra grease. Perhaps your next Halloween costume can be superhero “Venom-man” with eating scorpions as a party trick? Culturally, scorpions and beetles have a long history of being ingredients in magical concoctions that treat everything from epilepsy, rheumatism, tetanus and cancer. But be wary: one vendor teased that the large scorpion variety is imported from the United States, while another reassured that they are indeed a local delicacy. Regardless, one is still left to question the medical righteousness of these bizarre skewered creatures.
Find it: Wangfujing Night Market (Just northwest of the south entrance of Wangfujing Pedestrian Street)

Pig’s Feet
Fear Factor: 2/5
Taste Factor: 3/5

A lively painting of a drooling, rabid-looking pig adorns the doorway of the “Duck Intestine Restaurant,” advertising its most popular dish: pig’s feet. Although the chef swears his trotters are cooked according to a home recipe from Yunnan, the flavors (honey roasted, hot and spicy and sour lemon sauce) bear a suspicious resemblance to pub-style chicken wings. Trotter pork is embraced by a thick blanket of fat and best eaten by biting confidently into the gelatinous flesh around the knuckles. In TCM, pig’s feet are said to beautify the skin and to help women with recovery after giving birth. We got our glow on by pairing our plate of trotters (¥36) with some braised cow feet (¥38) for virility.
Find it: Duck Intestine Restaurant (Yachang Hutong, 252 Dongzhimen Neidajie, 鸭肠胡同, 东城区东直门内大街252号, Tel: 158-1083-2956)

Ma Doufu
Fear Factor: 3/5
Taste Factor: 5/5

The first time we ate the quintessential Beijing snack ma doufu, we weren’t sure what we were digging ourselves into. It looked like chunky hummus and tasted like rotten blue cheese—but we kind of like rotten cheese. When a faint-of-heart friend nauseously told us we had ingested mashed fermented soy beans stir-fried in mutton oil topped with dried chilis, we were neither shocked nor regretful. However, when we learned that ma doufu is the filtered residue left in the creation of douzhi, an incredibly gross lao Beijing dish if you ask us, we did have second thoughts. Like most fermented foods, ma doufu is healthy, strange and polemical. Get full on a warm plate at the cozy courtyard restaurant Liu Zhai Shifu for a mere ¥15 and decide for yourself. While you’re there, take your nose to its limits with China’s answer to wasabi: jiemodun (¥8), cabbage marinated in a whole-grain mustard so potent we cried just looking at it.
Find it: Liu Zhai Shifu (Meishuguan Dong Jie, 8 Jiang Jia Dayuan Hutong, 美术馆东街, 8蒋家大院胡同, Tel: 6400-5912)

Duck Blood
Fear Factor: 3/5
Taste Factor: 5/5

Hua's Restaurant (Huajia Yiyuan) is a favorite among expats for its sublime Beijing duck and gorgeous courtyard. But those willing to explore the menu more deeply will find a few exciting, odd Chinese delicacies among the restaurant's expat-friendly Chinese classics. We recommend the maoxuewang (¥48), literally "bubbling blood," which is served in a large bowl of mala broth and a range of animal organs, including cow stomach and pig intestine. The duck blood itself is very pleasant, with a soft tofu texture and salty flavor vaguely reminiscent of black pudding, its bloody Western cousin. The small, dark, congealed cuboids of duck blood are high in red blood cells, iron and various amino acids that the human body is unable to synthesize on its own. It's perfect for the adventurous and the anaemic. The spicy red soup may be a little overpowering, but a cool glass of plum juice swiftly put the fires out. In celebration of our "Weird Food" cover story, Hua's Restaurant is giving away a specially prepared weird meal for two, including "beef tripe and duck blood in spicy sauce," "marinated chicken claws with pickles," "sauteed whelk with green beans," "Hua's Chinese cabbage" and two glasses of plum herbal tea. Click on "Win Stuff" at www.cityweekend.com.cn and enter before November 10 for your chance to win.
Find it: Hua's Restaurant (235 Dongzhimennei Dajie, 东直门内235号, Tel: 5128-3315)

Lizard
Fear Factor: 3/5
Taste Factor: 2/5

Have no fear: eating lizard won’t leave you cold-blooded. Take away the heads, and the lizard on a stick served at Wangfujing Night Market could pass as a bourgeoisie fan that matches your in-vogue snake-skin patterned boots. The flying bat-like position provides easy access for munching on the deep-fried, fishy-chicken flavor with a slightly pungent undertone. The head is a little daunting to swallow, but any feelings of stress are balanced by its supposedly blood pressure-reducing properties. The lizard's ability to remain motionless for hours on end has led some to believe that it can even cure insomnia. Overall, the taste isn't bad, but it isn't great either. The dry, crunchy meat and brittle bones have little taste. Lizard on a stick looks pretty cool, and it might impress or disgust your date, but it isn't going to do anything for your taste buds.
Find it: Wangfujing Night Market (Just northwest of the south entrance of Wangfujing Pedestrian Street)

Bone Marrow
Fear Factor: 2/3
Taste Factor: 3/5

Although one expects bone to be a solid and strong structure, inside is the highly nutritious spongy and fatty bone marrow, which is rich in lipids, proteins, vitamins and minerals. Try it at Manchurian Special Flavor Jiaozi Restaurant, where freshly stewed bones are accompanied by a plastic glove and straw (¥15 per bone). You push your straw into the bone and suck in the snot-like gooeyness just as though the pig bone were a juice box. Light in taste with a fatty, bland flavor, bone marrow was important in the diet of earlier civilizations. Some even hypothesize that its nutritional components contributed to the evolution of man’s larger brain. If sucking bone juice doesn’t seem like your thing, the succulent and aromatic meat surrounding the bone will surely please any carnivore. And if you’re still hungry, the Manchurian restaurant also serves up jellyfish salad, "nausea sauce pork" and "Grandpa’s big face sato."
Find it: Manchurian Special Flavor Jiaozi Restaurant (Dongzhimenwai Dajie, A-1 Xinzhongjie, 东直门外大街, 新中街A-1, Tel: 6415-2855)

Dog Hot Pot
Fear Factor:5/5
Taste Factor: 3/5

There is probably no Chinese dish that draws Westerners' ire more than dog meat. Dogs are supposed to be man's best friend rather than
man's best entrée, right? Two millennia ago in the
Middle Kingdom, however, dog was one of the three domesticated meats, which also included goat and pig. In the south, as well as in the northeast, it's still a popular delicacy. It was even served to Chinese astronauts during China's first space mission in 2003. Unable to go to space, we tried the dog hot pot (¥91) at Miao Village House, which carries an extensive menu of dog meats. The broth was a fragrant, sumptious mix of cloves, lemongrass and ginger—along with about four fistfuls of salt. Beneath the soup’s perfumed plumes of steam, unnervingly fatty slices of dog meat floated here and there. The meat had the consistency of overcooked, over-gravied baked steak. When mingled with the mashed potatoes, it tasted even more like Grandma's home cooking. Every thin slice of meat had a strip of drab, military green-colored skin stuck to it, which was a bit unnerving. The dog, the waitress told us, comes from a very small dog breed brought from Guizhou. Seeing that we were a little uncomfortable, she reassured us that this style of dog was a famous Guizhou dish and that many people come here to eat dog hot pot during the colder months. As it's winter and new legislation to ban dog meat in China is now on the table, now is the perfect time for breaking the Western taboo on dog meat—just don't be surprised if your friends swear to never speak to you again afterwards.
Find it: Miao Village House (4/F, 138 Wangfujing Dajie, 王府井大街138号4楼, Tel: 6523-8018)

Stinky Tofu
Fear Factor: 5/5
Taste Factor: 5/5

Everyone knows of the notorious stinky tofu that fills streets across China with a distinctly manure-like odor. Few, however, have actually tried it.
Fortunate are those who follow their noses. This famous delicacy originates in Shaoxing, where soybeans are left to ferment in a witches’ brew of brine for months before they are deep-fried to golden perfection and served with sweet and spicy sauce. On the outside, it reeks. On the inside, it’s all fragrant goodness. Brace yourself and head over to Houhai's (in)famous hole-in-the-wall Tianxia Diyi Chou ("Stinkiest in the World"), which has tormented and titillated for years. Once you bite into it, stinky tofu (¥5) is challenging and rewarding. Don’t turn your nose up at this one.
Find it: Tianxia Diyi Chou (77 Yan Dai Xie Jie, 77烟袋斜街)

By Michael Engstrom, Ola Kowalewski, Mia Li, Mikala Reasbeck, Blake Stone-Banks, Alex Taggart, Joanna Wong

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Un homenaje al folklore y las costumbres de Antioquia La Grande!El Testamento del Paisa, Un homenaje a la raza paisa!

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