Zhoumo kuaile!

The weekend is off to a great start. Mike is the new owner of a beautiful custom Factory Five track bike, and even though he doesn't look it in this photo (courtesy of instagram.com/factory5), he was as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning last night when he brought it home.

And today, I found this restaurant review, written by yours truly (!), published in City Weekend, a leading expat mag in Shanghai.  

I had gotten in touch with the editor and got the opportunity to officially review my first restaurant. Here's to my next assignment!

P.S. Aren't these office reminders great? Take them as a hint about a big decision I recently made, which I'll disclose next week... 

Down with DOMA

"This bill is a slap in the face of the Declaration of Independence. It denies gay men and women the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Marriage is a basic human right. You cannot tell people they cannot fall in love. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used to say when people talked about interracial marriage and I quote, 'Races do not fall in love and get married. Individuals fall in love and get married.'" 

- Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) from the Congressional debate on the DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE ACT, United States House of Representatives, July 11, 1996 

Noah Berger / Reuters

Strange China News

In today's headlines:

U.S. businessman: China workers are holding me hostage in my own factory

Beijing purging all 'large and vicious' Labs, collies and retrievers

What perplexing and terrible stories.

Zhoumo kuaile!

We're taking this weekend at home to catch up on errands: filling an empty fridge with food and a not-so-empty closet with summer threads (the kind you can throw out come fall because you've worn them out living in a summer sweat lodge). 

You may have seen this already, but I wanted to repost because I loved it so. How lucky I am to have had two of these grandmas of my own (and their delicious dishes)! What I wouldn't do for some "tolma" and "kuoshry" right about now... 

http://www.demilked.com/delicatessen-with-love-gabriele-galimberti/

Beating the Heat

I can't believe the stifling heat is back again. It's been pretty miserable the last few days, the kind of weather in which there's no other choice but to coexist in sweat and stink and stickiness. Here's how Chinese men cope. 'Tis the season of big bare bellies!