Entry #9 – What a Great Day!

Wednesday morning was a now typical work day here in Dalian, with a progress meeting in the morning. The main conference room looked sharp with frosted Rockwell logo glass framing either side of the main white board. The friendly atmosphere at the office is really setting in for Mike and I, who are experiencing a very productive and enjoyable week to say the least.

For lunch, the product lead Grace took Mike and I out to a Japanese restaurant that was clearly more for locals than for tourists. Again, we were lead upstairs to our private dining room. For lunch we had an absolutely fantastic tempura (fried vegetables). Tempura has always been one of my all-time favorite foods, but this was easily the best I have ever had. The batter here is consistently lighter than back home, and the taste far surpassed what I have ever tried. Additionally, we enjoyed crab, Chinese cabbage, a bean-type dish with hot peppers (no too hot), and a meat of some sort.

When we returned to the office, the localization team (responsible for testing our multi-language support) delivered us each a cup of cappuccino (I think) from the Starbucks which is located in the lobby. I have actually never ever had Starbucks before as I am not a coffee drinker, but to be polite I thought I had better give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it, and was very appreciative of the very kind gesture.

At about 5:45pm a group of us (about 10) took taxis to yet another restaurant – this one a very nice Chinese restaurant with 5 stories of private dining rooms overlooking the fisherman’s wharf area. The private dining room was not the most elaborately decorated one that we have been to, but I think was the highest class one. The very high quality room had a large rectangular dining table on one end, and a separate couch area on the other. About 5 of us sat on the couches and were soon brought some fruit appetizers, some nuts, and a cup of tea. The couches, located by the window offered the view of the street and also had an entertainment center with a Chinese news service playing on TV. As our hosts surveyed the menu, the staff brought us a similar menu with English text so we can better understand the dishes. The menu was quite classy with a very smooth thick bond paper, adorned with Chinese designs and very high quality photos of all of the food choices. This menu struck us as having many exotic food choices like brain, pickled chicken feet, toad, turtle, blood soup (!), rooster kidneys, intestine, just to name a few. I asked them if they had tried the most exotic ones and was almost surprised to hear that they had not.

We soon transitioned to the dining table where Mike and I actually couldn’t get our knees under the table. The table had 3 separate recessed areas on top, each containing two stainless rectangular pans of boiling sauce. One side is spicy, the other not. This was another “hot pot” type of meal where you put the various portions into whichever sauce you prefer and let it cook for about a minute or so. We dined on shrimp (both in paste and in-the-shell form), sprouts, chicken, and oyster. We also even had some plates of the pickled chicken’s feet. I, of course, first went for the chicken feet, which you eat without using the hot pot. I was surprised when I first tasted it that it is served chilled. Overcoming my initial apprehension, I was delighted by the flavor; however, there is not much “meat” on them – mostly cartilage. For drinks, I chose the local beer which I have been enjoying for the week and a glass of orange juice. Mike, however, went for the Chinese white wine (whiskey). His reaction to it was that it is strong (50% alcohol) but very tasty. I had them bring me a tiny glass – which confirmed Mike’s review – very strong but tasty without the strong liquor aftertaste. It seems that Chinese white wine doesn’t have the initial burn of hard liquor, but does seem to last longer in your throat. Mike, in an effort to gain worldwide notoriety, “punished” about 3 (or more) wine glasses of the drink – frequently slamming it down with a Chinese co-worker. Don’t expect a blog post from Mike tonight as he ended up a bit drunk, with a noticeable slur in his voice by the time we left. We had the best night of conversation all week with many, many laughs and a great time was had by all. As we grow more comfortable with our coworkers, I sense a genuine friendship forming between us. This was one of those dinners that rank as one of my most enjoyable dining experiences that I have ever attended. It has become clear that the Dalian campus is filled with many very intelligent and friendly people that have enjoyed our company as much as we have enjoyed theirs. They most definitely have the atmosphere that reminds me of our ICOM days and the good friends we have in Rockwell in Milwaukee.

At the end of dinner, Grace mentioned that the room has a karaoke machine, but nobody was up to the challenge of singing (I may have if I had as much to drink as Mike, and he was in no condition to sing). We had the staff take picture of our group and called it a night. By 9 pm we had returned to our hotel for the night.