Pomegranate Magic
If I had to choose one food to represent the meaning of delayed gratification, it would be the pomegranate. A disproportionate amount of time is spent opening and prying the fruit from the sticky, bitter white interior for the enjoyment of eating just one tart seed at a time. No longer! Just in time for pomegranate season, introducing the procedure that shall hitherto be referred to as “the magic pomegranate paddle method.” Thanks to Justin for sharing the idea with me. The inspiration came from this youtube video, but for those who can’t access, a recap below.
Step 1: Cut the pomegranate in half along the “equator”, so that flowering end is left intact. Don’t cut the flowering part in half! It sometimes contains bugs and pollen that will fall into your bowl if you do. You can put some tape over it to make sure nothing unpleasant gets shaken out. Note, in the video he just scores the outer edge and then twists to open so he doesn’t cut through any of the seeds, but if you feeling lazy you can just cut directly in half.
Gluten-free treats in Beijing
As a relatively gluten-sensitive person (a.k.a no bueno for my digestive track) I’m constantly on the look out for non-glutenous treats in Beijing. Below are some of my favs. Not all necessarily “healthy”, but good for a bit of indulgence 
Traditional Treat (Tsinghua University)
I can’t remember this restaurant name, but it’s right inside the Tsinghua campus near 双清路. I marked it here on Baidu. This dessert is basically roasted steaming hot sweet potato topped with coconut milk and crushed peanuts. So simple, yet so delicious, also extremely healthy as as far as desserts go. They might sneak some croutons on the plate for garnish so just remember to ask to leave it off.
My recent obsession with Bean House’s soymilk fro-yo inspired me to post after several months of blogging MIA. For all of you non-dairy people out there who have been missing ice cream, this is definitely worth a try.
Icy Cool Non-Dairy treat for Beijing's summer
Mrs. Shanen’s – A Local, Organic, Sustainable Beijing brand
Lejen Chen, the founder of Mrs. Shanen’s, shares tips on organic farming, finding healthy food in Beijing, and what it takes to serve up high quality, organic food at her restaurant in Shunyi.
Lejen in her Shunyi Restaurant
新年快乐！Happy CNY!
Happy Spring Festival….
元宵节 Lantern Festival….
and here’s crossing our fingers that our apartment buildings don’t burn down tonight:
The only rule for setting off fireworks in Beijing - there are no rules.
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