Wednesday, September 29, 2010

#332 Bajiu With Max

We had a guest named Max from the Motor Grader group in Brazil visiting this week. Last night was his last night in town, so it was time for the requisite Chinese business dinner with 20 dishes on a round table. We had a fun group of folks for Hong Kong cuisine at an SIP restaurant called Zen.

Per Chinese tradition, we topped off the meal with a bottle of baijiu which is a rice-based alcohol like grain alcohol. It seems every culture has their version of after-dinner kerosene - Italy has grappa, Greece has ouzo, and so on. I am an old China hand now, so I have learned to never swallow baijiu. I fake the shot and dump it in my teacup, or hold it in my mouth and expel it into my beer. Sounds disgusting, but I can assure it is less disgusting that drinking 6-8 shots of baijiu and living with your body for the next 24 hours. Poor Max is on a 15 hour flight now back to Chicago and certainly still tasting baijiu in the back of his throat.

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