Washington DC trip and egg and bacon breakfast

I am just back from the one-week Washington D.C. trip. The last time I was there it was summer, so I underestimated the toughness of its winter. Especially used to the upstate NY climate, I feel everywhere else should be easy to handle. I ended up walking in freezing temperature in the national mall area for hours wearing a thin sweater and a short peacoat. The fourth day I was finally beaten down, feeling nauseous and strong headache. Somehow, meeting the old friends from graduate school  the next day miraculously cured my illness. It's interesting that after graduating people move away, and you tell yourself friends are gone and it's a new phase of life now, but somehow old friends get together again, and you are immediately drawn back to the good old days.We had lots of catching-ups and laughs, and shared the happiness of a new marriage. It was a great time!

Following my friends' recommendations, we tried a dim-sum restaurant near our hotel, in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. Dim sum might still be an unfamiliar food for most American people unless you happen to live where there's a decent Chinatown. It's a Cantonese style brunch restaurant serving all kinds of snack food. Traditionally, people come with friends in the morning. They eat, chat, read newspaper, gossip and eat again. One meal may last up to 3 or 4 hours. Actually I didn't try dim sum until I came to US. and I immediately fell for the delicious food. It became a must eat food whenever I go to Chinatown. The way food is served in such restaurants is also interesting. Restaurant staff push carts full of all kinds of fresh cooked food around to every corner of the restaurant. When they pass you, they stop to let you take a look and take whatever you want to eat from the cart. They write down what you take on a card on your table and when you can't stuff yourself any more, they add up the prices of individual food to come to the total. For two people like us, it costs less than 30 dollars.

left: the outside of the dim-sum restaurant. right: BBQ pork chang fen (叉烧肠粉）--BBQ roast pork wrapped in wide rice noodle, dipped in specially made sauce

upper left: sticky rice with chicken and mushroom, wrapped in a lotus leaf (荷叶糯米鸡）. upper right: BBQ roast pork bun （叉烧包), it's sweet and savory at the same time. A must try dim sum food. Yummy! lower left: deeped fried shrimp balls. lower right: pan fried turnip cake with pork (萝卜糕）

What I ordered here, is just the tip of the iceberg. A typical dim sum restaurant offers tens of kinds of food, coming with a small portion each. So you can sample quite a few each time.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of my new year resolutions is to eat healthy and eat clean, like this brunch: Whole wheat toast + egg + 3 strips of turkey bacon + low sugar mango and pineapple juice (50 calories a cup). A good day starts here.