Going Out with the Panda#
This post was originally meant for last week, but I started working as soon as I got home last week, which left me with no mood to write.
The panda was bought at the Hongshan Zoo, and it was so cute hanging on my bag. However, I usually don’t take bags when going out, but the panda wanted to go out, so I hung it on my hand and took it with me.
There aren’t many places to play in Changsha. Speaking of places like Jiefang West, it’s just okay if you don’t go to bars; I can’t comment on bars since I’ve never been. So during my free time in Changsha, the places I visit the most are the library and the university town.
I took the panda for a stroll around the university town.
University Town#
There are quite a few delicious places in the university town, and there are a few fixed spots that I must explore.
First is "Xianfeng Bread," which is hard to please everyone; this bread is known for having no flavor, some like it while others don’t.
And then there’s a Hong Kong-style restaurant across the street that I’ve always wanted to try, but I didn’t eat there this time. Mainly because I arrived too early, and it wasn’t mealtime yet.
And the infamous "Stinky Tofu."
Traditional Hunan-style stinky tofu is benchmarked against the stinky tofu from Huogongdian, with a black outer skin, crispy texture, salty, fresh, and spicy, mixed with garlic and soup, focusing on the aroma. Other versions often play with the sauce's spiciness or cooking time.
For example, "Wuyouzi Stinky Tofu," which is highly recommended by locals, is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, spicy and hot. It’s the kind of small stall set up at an alley entrance, and business is great; then there’s "Black Classic," which I personally find the flavor very industrialized, even though it looks freshly fried, why does it taste so industrialized? And there's "Dong Shuntao Stinky Tofu," which has recently produced a small-sized stinky tofu, with good flavor and spiciness, its uniqueness lies in its small pieces.
Changsha's stinky tofu is not lacking in innovation; this "Stinky Tofu with a Bad Reputation" uses white tofu (yellow tofu?), and the sauce is served in small cups, both of which differ from traditional Hunan-style stinky tofu, resembling the kind of stinky tofu you’d find in Nanjing, but combined with local methods, making it completely different in texture. The stinky tofu has a crispy exterior and a soft interior, tender without being greasy (even if it feels greasy, it comes with side dishes to relieve the greasiness). Overall, it’s quite tasty, but usually, there are too many people in line, so it’s not necessary to queue up for it.
The really delicious stinky tofu is actually the kind sold from a cart, with each stall having its unique flavor. This unique flavor comes from the chef's life experiences; it’s the taste of the world. So personally, I don’t like the industrialized taste of Black Classic; of course, industrialization can ensure food safety, but the elderly often say that if it’s not clean, eating it won’t make you sick (big fog).
I also went to "Awei's Dessert Shop," which is known for being cheap; every bowl of dessert is crowdfunding for Awei's little villa and Ferrari. I don’t know if Awei is a Cantonese joke, but when I watched "Under One Person," Feng Baobao also had an "Awei Eighteen Styles," even though no one in it was named Awei... Anyway, I didn’t take photos; the inside had few seats and was quite cramped, as if I was drinking dessert in Hong Kong? I finished it in two sips and left; if I go again next time, I’ll take photos and write a review.
Houhu#
There’s a Houhu near the university town, which used to be a fishing ground in Hunan. Due to cheap rent and being backed by the university town, many art training institutions were established here, but Changsha is a place lacking in planning, and this area later turned into a muddy pond. It wasn’t until the urban renovation in 2015 that strange buildings started to rise, and it began to become artistic, becoming a place for many young students to hang out; now it can almost be said to be the backyard of the university town.
Houhu is particularly romantic under the summer night sky, but not in winter.
I took a shallow walk around Houhu, with many cafes and seemingly trendy restaurants.
The seemingly luxurious decor and the vintage architecture, of course, as I mentioned earlier, this place was a stinky ditch before 2015, so this building could only have been built after 2015, with a deliberately aged design.
However, other shops were quite crowded, and not wanting to wait in line, I tried this shop.
Near the university town, this shop's prices are relatively high, but the taste is extremely bad.
The meatball pasta is even worse than IKEA's; the meatballs are greasy and not fresh, indescribably bad, and the pasta has no texture at all.
These chicken wings are also puzzling, using four different levels of doneness, from right to left: 110%, 80%, 60%, 40%, I tried them all from burnt to medium.
The only passable item was the fries. The ketchup seems to be Heinz, and the tangy taste of the ketchup is quite acceptable. The fries were fried well enough, but they are far from being delicious (the others were just too bad), comparable to buying a pound of frozen fries from the supermarket and throwing them in an air fryer (it might even be better), this was soft and at most I’d give it 4 points.
In summary, I highly recommend not eating here, but thinking about it, it makes sense; in such a remote place, surrounded by poor students, who can afford a great chef? They probably hire students to work part-time, and the premium is all in the decor, while taking photos inside is free.
Snow#
Under Lushan#
I really didn’t eat well on Saturday, so on Sunday I went to eat at "Under Lushan." It’s quite strange why it’s called "Under Lushan" when it’s located near Zhongshan Pavilion. This restaurant operates on a membership system, and it’s best to make a reservation in advance.
The decor of this restaurant is decent, many people come here to take photos, and the atmosphere is nice. Everyone around is taking pictures, while I’m here to eat, feeling out of place.
However, to be fair, the taste of this restaurant is quite good; the first time I came, I had a Tom Yum pasta, which was quite good. The flavor of Tom Yum was preserved, and surprisingly, the pasta texture was also good; the second time I came, I was turned away because I didn’t have a reservation, so I went to eat Liling fried noodles; this time I made a reservation early, and even the rain couldn’t dampen my enthusiasm to come here.
I had an American burger set, which also came with a portion of fries, feeling very American. The burger looks small but is quite tall, impossible to finish in one bite, and the juices ooze out; it has everything: egg, tomato, lettuce, and cheese. A complete burger was cut into two halves, even so, I didn’t know how to eat it, I just stuffed it all in my mouth. The texture was quite rich, with rich meat juices, the aroma of the rice flour bun paired well with the vegetables, but unfortunately, the meat was too crumbly, scattering everywhere with each bite.
The most annoying part was that the egg was burnt, resulting in a bitter taste... This is actually a sign of poor preparation; if I were someone who liked to cause trouble, I might have asked them to make me a new one. However, by the time I bit into the egg, I was almost at the end, and I wouldn’t be able to eat it if they made me a new one.
The price of this burger is not much different from Burger King; Burger King's beef is real, but I can’t tell what meat this is, maybe pork. The fries were on par with the ones from the previous day, objectively scoring maybe one or two points higher (given that other dishes were quite good, this one didn’t seem that outstanding). Personally, I think it’s not as good as the Tom Yum pasta from last time, so I’d give the burger a score of 7, just because I didn’t want to eat pasta again after the terrible one I had the day before, so I changed the flavor.
This pasta isn’t traditional pasta; it’s straight noodles. I’m not a big fan of noodles, but I tried a bite, and the taste was surprisingly good. Although it’s not pasta, its texture is not inferior to traditional pasta, and it doesn’t have the dryness of traditional handmade noodles. It has a chewy texture, is refreshing and smooth, and I’d give it a score of 9 for deliciousness.
As for this dessert, I have to say it doesn’t have any major flaws, but I feel it can’t get a high score. The ice cream is delicious, the cream is also good, and the waffle doesn’t have any significant flaws, but if I had to nitpick, it might be a bit hard and dry. It’s at a level of being unremarkable.
Next time I want to try the roasted spring chicken; the name sounds tempting.
First Snow#
After eating, I originally planned to go home, but thinking that I had come all the way to Zhongshan Pavilion, I decided to take a walk after eating.
I strolled around Chayan, bought some snacks, and then went to Gudemo to buy some food.
I initially wanted to check out the two-dimensional shop in the pedestrian street, but ended up wandering around Guojin Street for half a day.
Coming out of Guojin Street, I saw it starting to snow.
Because a few days earlier, the Hunan meteorological department had started to warm up, saying that on the night of the 21st, there would be a "heavy snow," with a thickness of 10cm, and even the trains seemed to have temporarily stopped running. However, the temperature in Changsha in the days leading up to it didn’t show any signs of heavy snow, so in the past few days, Changsha netizens had been clamoring online.
Things like "If it doesn’t snow on Monday, we’ll see you in court," "If it snows, I’ll lick from the foot of Yuelu Mountain to the top," "Lick from Wuyi Avenue to Songya Lake," and other fierce statements were being shouted. Southerners get very excited when they see snow; it’s somewhat ingrained in their DNA, having heard "A good year is heralded by a timely snow" since childhood, snow signifies good things to come (though in reality, there are more news about snow disasters).
The snow fell for a whole day.
The next day, Changsha was already dressed in silver, looking exceptionally enchanting. My friend from Hunan meteorology can be trusted; if they say 10 centimeters, it’s 10 centimeters, no discounts, and even more.
I braved the wind and snow to take photos for over an hour; the photos looked good, and my mood was great. (From a historical perspective, the snow over these two days made me sick for several days; snow is bad!)
Changsha's infrastructure couldn't handle this level of snow; branches were weighed down by the snow, and many roads became impassable. After the snow stopped, people began to come out voluntarily (or perhaps it was called for by the neighborhood committee) to shovel the snow, clearing the blocked roads. A city without snowplows operates in such an orderly manner.
Treat yourself to "First Love," brew a cup of hot tea, add some honey, and watch the snow.
Hmm. This is what adult life is like.
Xiong Guang said: Life is inherently painful; it’s the existence of certain people that becomes the painkiller.
Boiled Meat#
On the first snow, I had to eat something good, so I decided to make boiled pork slices.
The chili used in the boiled pork slices is the spiciest "Brazilian Chili" from the supermarket, paired with Sichuan peppercorns, making the entire dish fragrant and spicy, with a numbing kick; the pork is selected from "premium" pork tenderloin, presenting a tender texture, with the soup soaking into the meat slices, making it delicious; the vegetables used are bok choy and bean sprouts as a base, providing a rich and refreshing texture; the soup base is made from a boiled fish cooking package, so there’s not much to introduce.
Boiled pork slices paired with a bowl of rice is simply perfect.
Postscript#
The day after the snow, my throat hurt badly, and dragging my tired body, I worked for the whole morning. The sun was shining brightly, so I went out for lunch.
During the meal, I overheard three men and women at the next table secretly discussing national affairs. I thought, how could our great nation be secretly discussing national affairs in private? When certain topics were mentioned, they spoke in hushed tones, and when they mentioned "you know who," it was almost a whisper; it was truly ridiculous.
I stared blankly at the winter branches outside, with leftover snow still on the trees, resembling clouds stuck on the branches. The wind blew, making the clouds sway, the sky was blue, and the clouds floated lightly. Because of the snow, the city seemed less noisy, and time seemed to slow down...
But this moment of tranquility actually made me feel annoyed because I still had to work; without work, there would be nothing to eat. This tranquility made me feel pain. And when I realized that this tranquility was making me feel annoyed, I felt disappointed with my life.
About Blogging#
For me, the word "writing" is the absolute opposite of the word "waiting." If you don’t want to wait, just write.
——Roberto Bolaño
I saw this on Dudu, and I never thought that the opposite of writing is waiting, but I have repeatedly persuaded people around me to write blogs together, to record beautiful lives; starting a blog is quite simple. It often involves waiting, as if one has to wait for a beautiful moment to start recording.
I started writing blogs in 2015 and have been writing intermittently until now. During this time, I have collected many personal blogs, including those who joined the "Ten-Year Agreement" alliance, but the environment for Chinese blogs is like this; most blogs don’t last more than a year. I haven’t persisted for long either, and I’ve maintained it intermittently (which is why I started writing weekly journals). The blogs I collected before either are static blogs that can still be opened but haven’t been updated for years, or the domain names are gone. Over the years, only a few people have continued to maintain their blogs.
The original intention of building a blog may vary, and the purposes may also differ. My blog doesn’t have a comment board (mainly because I don’t want to start one), and I don’t keep track of how many people have viewed it (too many is stressful, too few is annoying), focusing on self-appreciation. Now, I’m also uploading my blog to xLog and sharing it on Dudu, still focusing on self-appreciation, but some people have said I’m interesting; some have said my life is exciting; some have said that although my writing is average, it feels interesting.
From a selfish perspective, I hope more people write so I can read more of their wonderful lives and gain some nourishment; to put it philosophically, writing a blog allows others to understand you, even if you think you are a boring person, there will still be people who find you interesting.
At first, I was always embarrassed to make my blog public because I felt a sense of "shame" when others read my words. Now that it has been public for so long, it actually feels okay; many people have given me other recommendations based on my interests, and some have come to broaden my horizons.
This may gradually become my motivation to keep writing weekly journals; it doesn’t matter if there are no visitors or clicks (after all, I haven’t kept track), I am my first reader, and undoubtedly, the most loyal one. Looking back at what I wrote years ago, I feel like I was a fool, but so what? Every piece of writing showcases my current self, whether it’s foolish or an interesting soul; if I don’t display it, how can I attract other foolish/interesting souls?
Doppelgängers attract each other!
We Live in Nanjing#
This is an online novel; perhaps because I went to Nanjing a while ago, big data started pushing me related content.
This book is a hard sci-fi web novel, with a core setting somewhat similar to a certain American drama, where the sheriff's daughter communicates across time with her father who died many years ago through a radio. This book is about 20 years later, where only Hanxia is left; she connects with the male lead Bai Yang from 20 years ago through the radio. Of course, this kind of setting exists in many works, like "Your Name" and "Interstellar," but this book stands out because the initial three laws are relatively rigorous, plus many HAM terms, which feels quite cool. I recalled that in middle school, there were radio direction-finding competitions; I didn’t have the money to play, but I watched other classmates play, and perhaps if I had played, I would have walked a different path in life.
There are a few things I’m not quite satisfied with in this book. When the male lead first demonstrates that the radio can communicate with the future, according to our country’s nature, it should have been taken away immediately for research, rather than waiting until the third volume to take it away; the second point is that since this is a web novel, the writing is relatively humorous, which leads to a lack of atmosphere; the third is that the macro control is lacking; since the state has intervened, it’s inappropriate to make it seem like a small skirmish. For example, in the third volume "Meteor Like Summer Fireworks," it seems like a lot of things were done, spending a lot of money, but it was just to set off a firework show 20 years later. Of course, to say whether it’s good or not, it is, but this...
A pleasant surprise was when Hanxia arranged "HI" on the ground during the first satellite image transmission, greeting the male lead from twenty years ago.
Overall, it’s okay; it can be finished in a day, but there are quite a few watery parts, and the ending solution is quite rough, blowing up the swordsman with a nuclear bomb, and all problems are solved. But one can imagine that after blowing up one, there are still tens of thousands left; what will you do? Let the female lead go to the base to send a black box, and the black box repeatedly says, "Do not reply, do not reply, do not reply." Then the people from twenty years ago chose to indefinitely pause their replies, the world line converged, and the light cone reset.
However, considering that this hard sci-fi novel must have consulted a lot of information, the scope is still a bit small, BBQ rating 7.3/10.