Classic Jacket Potato
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. This year we eschewed the fancy restaurants and opted for a cosy evening at home. We made jacket potatoes, to remind us of a classic meal we made many times during the food-scarce days of the Shanghai lockdown. (And also because Americans find it kinda hilarious that British people call baked potatoes “jacket potatoes”.) 🧥🥔
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Cultural Correlation and Conflation
If you look beyond religion, and approach being Jewish also as a cultural and racial identity (which most do), then there’s a correlation between being Jewish and being Chinese. If you see a Han Chinese person on the street, all you see is their race. You don’t necessarily know if that person is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China. And even if they are, you cannot equate them with the actions of Xi Jinping and the Chinese ruling classes. Likewise being Jewish is not the same as being Israeli, which is also not the same as being Bibi Netanyahu. Yet in both cases it’s extremely common for people to conflate race, nationality and government into one amorphous blob.
Where the analogy ends of course is that you don’t see people calling for the annihilation of all Han Chinese people based on the actions of a government that corresponds to their race. So yeah howzabout we don’t call for the annihilation of anyone as an appropriate response to any government’s treatment of a minority or neighbour. Let’s debate the opposing acts of aggression which led us to this point; the actions of governments or militia purporting to act in our name; and the ways in which we’re all individually complicit or not. But can we at least all agree on the bit about annihilation?
It’s uneasy times for all of us. But for just one day, I forgot these thoughts as I celebrated the Jewish new year with a lovely group of close friends in Shanghai. And with one of their 9-year-old daughters having hand-made challah like this, how could we not have a little hope in our hearts? 🌈 Here’s wishing everyone שָׁנָה טוֹבָה (Shanah Tovah), and I hope we can all find something to celebrate this year. 🙏
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Imperial Eccentricity
Happy Thanksgiving from Shanghai to everyone who celebrates it!
Clearly the thing for which I’m most grateful is my American husband, because our marriage gives me the excuse to have a massive meal tonight, with all the trimmings. 🦃🇺🇸
In the spirit of our transatlantic union, I’m posting this graphic which I found online. To those Americans who are proud of their eccentric adherence to imperial measurements… this Thanksgiving, just be grateful you’re not as eccentric as the Brits. 🤪🇬🇧
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Touchdown Tokyo!
東京にタッチダウン🗼‼️
Touchdown Tokyo!
I’m back in the country where my love affair with Asia first started back in 1999. 😳
And what better way to spend the day than people-watching in Shinagawa, kaiten-sushi in Shinjuku, scramble-crossing in Shibuya, and a coffee date in Akasaka with the beautiful Sonya Ito. 💜👫💜
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I’m So Sorry, Bugs Bunny
As part of a Mosaic of China podcast recording in Chengdu back in early March 2022, I was told by my delightful guest that 300 million rabbit heads are eaten in Sichuan Province every year. So I figured… I should at least try it once.
I’m so sorry, Bugs Bunny. 😵🐰
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For the Mosaic of China version, see here.
