LONA MANNING
  • Home
  • Books
    • Shelley Novella
  • Research
    • About Shelley
    • Peterloo
    • Kitty Riddle
    • 18th C. love poetry
  • Jane Austen
  • Blog
  • About Me
    • Publications
    • Teaching Philosophy

Birthday weekend

11/23/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
You're looking at the highlight of my birthday weekend -- a traditional Western breakfast prepared by my talented husband on a very balky one-burner hotplate with a mind of its own. 

Why would I blog about something as prosaic as poached eggs on toast? Because obtaining and assembling the ingredients for Western meals takes a bit of effort here. We found that bottle of Heinz ketchup at a newly-opened mall and it has pride of place on the table like it's the latest Beaujolais or something. The bacon is very lean but it smells and tastes like bacon. The hash browns are made with red onion instead of white onion, which is harder to find around here. 

Picture
Speaking of Western food, I took this picture a while ago. But this is stupid. Why am I showing you a picture of a baguette? You know what a baguette looks like.  Because this is a baguette, with butter, in a second-tier city in China, that's why. We have to take two buses to get to the store that sells these. 

Bread is readily available here, but it is all slightly sweet, so we were glad to find bread that tasted more like Western bread and crust had the right chewiness. 

There is no good cheese to go with this baguette, however. They sell something called "cheesecake" but it's more like a soft spongecake than cheesecake. 

PictureSmogeriffic
Another reason we didn't do much for my birthday is that for the last two days, we've been covered with a heavy smog. The pollution index was as high as I've ever seen it, well into the "hazardous" range, so it was a good time to cocoon in the dormitory. Even going outside briefly made my throat feel sore again.

For almost the last two weeks we had the bluest skies I have ever seen in Zibo. This is because the APEC conference was being held in Beijing and the government ordered all citizens to strictly limit the use of their personal vehicles, to cut down on the pollution levels in the capital. This order even applied to Zibo, several hours away from Beijing. I surmise that the heavy smog of the last two days is the result of a lot of coal-powered plants and factories firing up again after the visitors have left. 

Other than brunch, we didn't do anything especially for my birthday. I am just getting over a two-week cold and laryngitis, so I was not up for anything much. It was very nice to get birthday greetings from friends and family on the other side of the world, and also kind wishes from my students.  

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    About the author:

    I blog about my research into Jane Austen and her world, plus a few other interests. Welcome! My earlier posts (prior to June 2017) are about my time as a teacher of ESL in China (just click on "China" in the menu below). More about me here. 


    Categories

    All
    18th Century Novel Tropes
    Authoresses
    Book Reviews
    Books Unreviewed Til Now
    China
    China: Sightseeing
    Clutching My Pearls
    Corvey Collection
    East & West Indies & Slavery
    Emma
    Humour
    Jane Austen
    Laowai At Large
    Mansfield Park
    Northanger Abbey
    Parody
    Persuasion
    Postmodern Pushback
    Pride And Prejudice
    Religion & Morality
    Sanditon
    Sense And Sensibility
    Shelley
    Teaching

    Archives

    August 2023
    July 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    January 2019
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    January 2017
    April 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014


    RSS Feed

    © Lona Manning 2023
Proudly powered by Weebly