Time to eat!

As I have had many questions about what I am eating here, I thought I would spend tonights entry on the food here. Everyone here has been very interested in how I like the food and they are always asking me if I have any special needs. The dining room is a private room just for our team. We each have a tray and bowl and chopsticks that we store on a shelf in this glass cabinet. The slots are labeled so we use our own personal dishes and chopsticks each meal. At the end of the meal we wash our own dishes and chopsticks in one of the three sinks, and place it back in the cabinet which I think has a built in drying system.

The meals are buffet style. As is the Chinese tradition, there are many selections for each meal. It is very different than the American style of one meat, a vegetable and some carbohydrates. Here there is a selection of many of each. Initially, they gave me a fork, knife and spoon with my chopsticks, but I have been eating exclusively with my chopsticks unless a spoon is called for. I am getting very good at using them. I have given my knife and fork back.

At breakfast, I generally have some bread (there is a cinamon swirl bread that is very good). The milk is heated and served in a big bowl. I use it to mix with the instant oatmeal style cereal they have. They usually have some sausage or ham too. There is almost always an egg dish along with some other dishes that I would normal think of as lunch or dinner items.

Lunch and Dinner offer a wide enough variety that I can find something that I like. I eat a lot of white rice which is served at every lunch and dinner. There are usually a couple of types of rolls and bread. There is almost always one seafood dish, but those of you who know me well know I shy away from those. There are usually a couple of meat options, pork, beef, chicken, and I have tried Donkey (it tastes like Corn Beef). I have eatem some tofu also, which just tastes like whatever sauce it is in. There are usually some good vegetable choices, but all are usually cooked in a heavy oil, good taste, not so good for you. They have sprite, a peach juice and a tang like juice to drink usually. Along with a water cooler that dispenses cold an hot water. There is a microwave if you want to heat anything also. The kitchen staff is great an will get anything you need. They also have these strawberry yogurt shake things which you drink through a straw and are very good. Today, they had pasta with a tomato and meat sauce for lunch as one of the options. It was a very italian meal that I think was meant for me, as I did not see alot of other people eating it. Like I said, they look after me.

It suffices to say, I have been eating fine. They give us fruit every couple days to take back to our room for snacks. I have had some bananas, apples, kiwis, a small crab-apple sized fruit that tastes like an apple/pear combo and has a pit in the middle and the other day I got this huge citrus fruit the size of a bowling ball that tastes like a cross between an orange and a grapefruit.

Tonight, I got asked to go out with the guys for a beer or two. We had some shish-kebab type spicy chicken on a stick that was very good and a HUGE pot of of food on a stick that was made of vegetables and mushrooms. Also, we had what equated to about 3-4 beers each (tough to tell as they come in very large bottles that you share). We had 6 large bottles between the four of us. The amazing thing is that the total tab for this night out was about $4.50 in U.S. Money or about 38 Yaun.

Time to rest now. Tomorrow is my first game as an international head coach. We face off against Japan at 6:30 p.m. China Time. Sorry there were no pictures today... signing off from an increasingly colder and windy Harbin...