The Happiness in Health

Scotland the Great

Ω December 5th, 2011 Ω Tagged 1890s mountaineer, Ben Nevis, black pudding, callanish stones, cullins, Edinburgh, Edradour distillery, haggis, Isle of Harris, isle of lewis, isle of skye, Luskentyre Beach, old man of storr, Scotland, Talisker Distillery, travel, Uig Beach, whiskey Ω 34 Comments

Before we get to the greatness that is Scotland, I’d like to thank all of you for your insightful comments in my last post about eating “real” food. I enjoyed reading about your food philosophies – a selection of comments (bold by me):

While I am a huge fan of many processed foods (ahem, peanut butter, canned beans, canned soups, etc) I thank my mom for getting me started young at taking whole and fresh ingredients and cooking with them and using them any recipe. I honestly think it’s lack of cooking skills that prevents so many people from buying fresh foods, and resorting to packaged pre-made foods. It’s tough when you’ve never learned how to even use a stove! (The Candid RD)

I heard [Michael Pollan] speak about two years ago, and I really liked that he was “real” and admitted to not being “perfect.” He also made a real big point about cooking real, healthy, and cheap foods like beans, etc. I think too often people say eating healthy foods is too expensive and too difficult. But it really doesn’t have to be. (Andrea’s Wellness Notes)

I have something more to add in the food philosophy question: eating while relaxed and calm is hugely important to me. I never have lunch in a hurry or standing or at my desk while working if I can avoid it (and I am planning my day in a way that I can), because the time pressure and stress make me not eat well at all. (Christa)

Keep the great comments coming!

On to today’s post: Many moons ago (and by “many”, I mean “three”), my family and I traveled to the west coat of Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides. Why did I wait three months to share my pictures with you, dear reader? I’d like to write that in the midst of various projects of dubious importance and uncertain relevance, I lacked time; but, the truth is … I forgot. Oops.

Let’s look at those pictures!

I didn’t realize that the knee-high leather boots I brought to hike in were so unusual until we were hiking down Ben Nevis (the tallest mountain in the British Isles) and a man who had passed us earlier in the day came up behind us and commented, “There’s the lady with the great boots!“  I thought I looked pretty snazzy myself – or, as my sister D said: “You look like a 1890s mountaineer.”

[source]

[source]

Yeah, okay, I guess I can see her point.

A few more highlights of western Scotland and the Outer Hebrides:

Gallan Head, Isle of Lewis:

Luskentyre Beach on the Isle of Harris (yes, Scotland has wonderful beaches!):

“Cave” on Uig Beach, Isle of Lewis:

Near the Old Man of Storr, Isle of Skye:

On the Isle of Lewis:

Yes, I went inside the abandoned stone house – in retrospect, perhaps that was a poor idea (note the collapsing stone roof – I won’t post pictures from inside the house, because I want to preserve the illusion that I have some common sense (hint: see gallery below for evidence that I do lack sense)):

Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis – unlike Stonehenge, you can actually walk up to these (as evidenced below):

A gallery of more Scotland images (Note: The pictures should have captions, but apparently they don’t show up unless you click the “i” icon in the upper right corner of the gallery):

And, a gallery of what I’m sure you’re most interested in: FOOD! I’ve noticed that whenever I travel to a new place, many of my travel plans revolve around trying local foods – what better way to learn about a new locale than to sample its delicacies? For more examples of eating my way through new locales, check out THIH’s Travel Page.

As seen in the album above, I sampled several Scotch whiskies at the Talisker and Edradour distilleries and found that after a dram or two, all whiskies taste pretty much the same. I also had the opportunity to try both black pudding and haggis (black pudding = delicious! haggis = okay). Recently, I acquired some canned haggis (yes, canned) so that I can cook it up over the holidays with some neeps and tatties (that’s rutabaga and potatoes, cooked and mashed separately). Stay tuned for my disastrous attempt at cooking haggis!

In the meantime, click through the album below for some delicious meals I enjoyed while in Scotland:

Finally, during our Scotland trip, I had the opportunity to swing down to London and meet a dear friend with whom I’ve corresponded for seven years, but never met in person until this past summer.  Hi, Christa!

Take care, gentle reader!

Q: Have you been to Scotland? (I know YOU have LeQuan ;) ) Have you ever tried black pudding or haggis?

AND

Where is your dream place to visit?

» Filed under Favorites, Life, New Foods » 34 Comments

On The Other Side of the World

Ω May 29th, 2010 Ω Tagged Amherst College, Beijing, cat shaving, China, chopsticks, edamame, Hagan Daaz, kung pao chicken, pejoy, Peking University, Pocky, Pretz, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, travel Ω 24 Comments

Hi everyone!  When I last blogged with you, I was exaustedly sprawled across my suitcase. I’ve now lived in Beijing for about a week and I feel like I’m quickly adjusting to life in a Chinese city. I no longer say “I’m sorry” as I push past crowds of people (unless I say “dui bu qi” so I can smirk at my own cleverness), and I did not bat a single sweaty lash when I saw a man shaving a cat in the street yesterday afternoon.

Anyhow, thanks again to my fabulous guest posters Lynn, Joanne, and Melinda for picking up the slack while I was adjusting to new territory! Another somewhat reluctant thank you to Jessie’s Subconscious for making a surprise appearance (a.k.a. Peter … just kidding about the “reluctant” thank you, by the way. The word I’m looking for is “clutching-keyboard-in-China-with-surprise-yet-somewhat-pleased” thank you). THIH has another four exciting guest posters in the queue over the next week and a half, so we have some wonderful posts coming up!! :D

I’m sure you’re all wondering what the heck I’ve been up to over the past week. Well:

Plane lunch. Eaten with chopsticks and a lot of internal cursing. I probably should have gone for the cod meal option.

Flying over Greenland (the closest I’ll ever get!!). Sadly, nothing to be seen out of the windows, as I was wedged into the middle of the plane.

Single-sized portion of vanilla bean Hagan Daaz with built in spoon.

Approaching Beijing 13.5 hours after takeoff from Newark:

Beijing airport:

Bird’s Nest from the 2008 Olympics (I’ll get a better picture for you guys later):

On to some food! Kung pao chicken, served family-style:

I noticed right away that authentic Chinese food is ten bajillion times better than their American counterparts. I remember eating so-called “Kung Pao Chicken” when I was at Amherst College and in restaurants, and those American versions do NOT compare. In general, the food here is lighter and much more flavorful than American Chinese food. For example, what do you get when you toss edamame with a little sesame oil, vinegar, and spicy pepper?

Simply satisfying.

Check out my room!

This is a hole from my room to the outside. Did I mention I’m on the third floor?

One of the Chinese students told me that my dorm (the foreign students’ dorm) is the nicest on campus. None of the Chinese students’ dorms have air-conditioning, and until recently some didn’t have hot water. This study abroad program has been eye-opening in many ways so far.

Gotta provide our own water and toilet paper.

My first breakfast in Beijing was a little startling. For someone who is used to a hearty bowl of oatmeal made with milk and banana, topped with peanut butter, I was a little bummed to order this:

The bun was filled with some kind of generic meat (probably beef, but maybe pork, or a combination of the two). Together, both cost 0.90 yuan, or about 13 cents. Cheap and NOT filling. I quickly abandoned the bun and ate the egg for breakfast. Don’t worry! Jessie didn’t starve.  I’ve been eating a lot of this:

I used to gobble down Pocky when I was a young ‘un. The chocolate flavors are particularly good. I also decided to try the Pretz kind after seeing them on Sophia‘s blog.  The pizza flavor really does taste like pizza!  I also wanted to taste a new kind called pejoy after seeing that one variety was red wine-flavored. Yes, it did taste like boxed red wine.

In the interest of not toying with your patience (and to give way to my laziness busyness), I will present images of my first few days in Beijing without words:

At the Peking University main campus:

So far we’ve spent a good chunk of each day in our Traditional Chinese Medicine and Mandarin classes. I’ll talk about them more in a later post. Other than classes, I’ve been exploring the area around the Peking University Pharmaceutics campus, shopping some and eating lots! I look forward to sharing more with you all later. Until then, zai jian!

(Final note: I’ve been having a lot of trouble getting to all of your blogs. I’ve only been able to load a couple of WordPress blogs, but I can’t download any Blogspot or Blogger blogs, and I’m having trouble with some random blogs, I think because they have a lot of graphics on them, and this school’s Internet can’t handle it. I’ll keep trying to get through, but if I’m not as active in the blogworld, I’m sorry! I’ll do my best :) I also can’t connect to Facebook or Twitter, so I guess I’ll have to go back to the antiquated telephone to keep in touch ;) )

» Filed under Eating Out, Life, New Foods » 24 Comments