New logo!

Working on an all-new website, hosted by Squarespace.  Very excited to see the text and graphics starting to come together!

Main site is offline for now

After Apple discontinued hosting support for its iWeb-authored sites, I moved weninchina.com to the RageSW service, where I was satisfied for the past several years. However, there've been an increasing number of spoof emails appearing to come from my domain in the past two years. The Rage folks didn't seem to think there was anything I could do about it from my end & they never shared any advice / offered help on their end. Well, last week there was another attack, and this time, they told me to get lost.

So.  It was probably time for a site rebuild anyway, and this time I'll leave out all the mail links to my domain.

I'd also like to integrate more of the social-media that I've been active with and rely less on static pages (that always need editorial updating). And yes, try to figure out some e-commerce because I'd like to make this a real business.

For now, I will post more frequently here, and you can find weninchina on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest, with an Instagram account getting set up right now.

Dragon Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota

Dragonboat races aren't just for China and the coastal cities: for 12 years the Dragon Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota has been celebrating the vibrant and growing Asia-Pacific culture here in the Midwest.  This year's event took place July 12-13, right in the thick of Minnesota's festival season. The venue as always is Lake Phalen Regional Park, where a number of dragonboats are permanently stationed for practice through the warm season.

The Twin Cities area is home to a number of businesses and educational institutions with deep links to Asia, and many of them sponsor dragon racing teams, such as Wells Fargo, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Seagate, Hormel, and Target. There are also community and family groups who participate. My daughter's school, Yinghua Academy, also had a team this year!

Team booths

The racing is really a chance to get friends and family together for a day at the lake 

Many corporate sponsors also set up advertising tents. Political candidates' teams were out in force, as well as local cultural centers and gift & bookshops.

Wells Fargo makes a really strong / cute effort to tune its messaging to specific cultural audiences.  The company has also just recently opened its first office in Beijing & they brought materials used to kick things off there to show folks here in MSP.

In addition to the boat races and vendor / sponsor booths, there were also a number of stages for performances and fun-fair activities for kids.

The festival has consistently advertised and gotten PR from local media - free events are always popular but it is nice to see strong turnout from the general Twin Cities population (also helped by the diverse participation among the racing teams.)

Practice sessions took place during morning hours, and competitive heats in the afternoons.  Competitive matches would be between two teams, two races each, best time overall advancing to the next tier. There would be four boats on the water at any given time so you would get to see a race every five minutes or so; one pair racing while the other pair paddled back to the starting point and rested... 

From the shore it was easy to hear the drumming and chanting of the race teams

And plenty of excitement for each heat!

Food of course is terribly important when celebrating Asian culture! I think back to our first visit in 2006 and being disappointed at the range & quality of offerings -so was thrilled at the diversity available this year!  Food trucks are catching on in MSP & were here, as well as a half-dozen local East and SE Asian restaurants.  Two different places selling bubble tea! 

We need to get some of these guys into the Minnesota State Fair! They all certainly proved they could crank out high-quality tasty dishes for a festival crowd.

Chinatown, Manhattan, NYC

Had the opportunity to spend a few hours walking around Manhattan's Chinatown last month; here are some photos from my trip:

Easy access from Midtown on the subway; exit on Canal Street. 

The district has been steadily growing west and north - I saw signs in Chinese for blocks beyond the traditional boundary! 

Last time I was down here was in 2000; passing through to dinner in Little Italy. I distinctly remember this fishmonger's shop! Glad to see it's still there and doing well!

The vibrancy on the street and of course the signage reminds me so much of Hong Kong...

I had dinner at the Great N.Y. Noodletown on Bowery - just a come-in-sit-down place; family run for sure.  In Hong Kong style, sat at a table with three other groups!

I wanted something simple but authentic - ordered the Beef Chow Fun.  Excellent chewy rice noodles, the beef was nice and tender. Nutty smoky flavor.  Far more than I could finish and no fridge in my hotel room so no leftovers for breakfast :(

Scalding hot glass of tea in the upper left corner, just like in HK.  Plastic cup that almost burnt my hand the stuff was so hot ... but I knew the drill, hot drinks cool you off on a summer's day.  And once it cooled off a little, was a nice flavor complement to the noodles.

Try getting a giant plate of food for THAT price anywhere else on the island!

Was wishing I could have had several more dinners that night...

Shot of Starbucks taken from the front door of a Chatime - yes the corporations and franchises are all over the place but then so they are back in Asia. That makes them just as culturally appropriate as anything else!

Sadly, no NYC Chinatown insulated tumblers at Starbucks - so I didn't buy anything there.

Great family-travel destination whether you have a couple hours or a whole day; there were plenty of shops I'd have loved to look around in but most specialty stores close around 7 pm.  Groceries & eateries of course open much later.

Lovely holiday lights in Tokyo

Asian cities really "get it" when it comes to nighttime lighting, and when the winter holidays come around, there's nowhere I'd rather walk around.  Also, this is Tokyo in December 2013 and there's no snow on the ground (unlike my home of Minneapolis...)

Takeshita Dori in Harajuku, Tokyo

Another delightful video walk-through in Tokyo (love this guy's work):

"A Passage to China" at the Mall of America

For six years now in April, the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN has hosted "A Passage to China," a 2-day festival put on by Minnesota's Chinese Heritage Foundation and local newspaper China Insight. This year's festival involved over 45 organizations & businesses - some there to sell merchandise, others to talk about programs they put on, and others to grow membership.

There were demonstrations of cooking, dance, martial arts, singing, painting, calligraphy, and many other crafts - kids received a "passport" and would get a stamp at each booth they visited, then redeem the stamps for a necklace or bracelet.

It was great to see so many Asian faces and hear so much Mandarin in one place here in Minnesota - and it was heartening to see so many non-Asian faces watching the performances with interest and walking through the booths with their kids!

My dear daughter had a fine time, of course. Now that she's a little bit older and able to speak in Chinese for herself, she got a lot more out of this year's presentation:

Having the Starbucks in the background makes it more authentically Chinese ;)

Moulding-your-own Terracotta Warriors

Little Warriors for sale...  we're holding out to get a life-size one for the garden in the backyard

We stayed for a number of vocal performances and dance numbers

Paper-cutting, a traditional folk craft from Shaanxi province - it can get amazingly intricate.  (She did not pay any attention to the American Girl shop just beyond :)  )

Cherry Blossom time in Tokyo!

This videographer's work is always top-quality; I love how he takes you through the neighborhoods just as you would as a tourist.

Cherry-blossom viewing in Shinjuku, Tokyo

Here in Minnesota we are still knee-deep in snow, with the real start of Spring still weeks away. Videos like this give me hope that warm weather and the return of life to our northern tundra will actually happen!

Updating...

I've just posted an update to our Atlanta airport guide & am halfway through revising the Minneapolis/St. Paul entry. With these changes I'm tweaking the website's navigation buttons for easier reading - and also starting to change the tone of the entire weninchina effort.

When I started weninchina in 2008, I was thinking mainly of the 4,000+ families who traveled to China each year to complete child adoptions. While international adoption still takes place, the time and expense has dramatically increased (and not just in China), and the number of kids finding new homes overseas has plummeted. Even the number of adoption agencies here in the US who work overseas has dwindled. So the target market I originally was talking to has really shrunk!

Meanwhile, interest by families of every kind in learning about and traveling to East Asia is growing steadily - kids play the videogames and watch anime and want to learn more about the cultures that created the media they enjoy. And the availability of airline service between North America and Asia continues to improve, making it easier to take that trip.

So, I'll be gradually re-writing content across the website to de-emphasize the adoption-trip angle and write more from the point of view of a family going on vacation or for learning experiences, and also adding even more content from outside China/Hong Kong. This process will take some time - but it should also help me find more to write about, as well!

Thank you for reading my work over these past five years - I hope to bring you more and more in the times to come. I'm grateful for your feedback, story suggestions, and contributions!

Cheng Heng restaurant, St. Paul, MN

There's kind of a running joke in the Twin Cities about restaurant reviews in the local media that all the places to eat here are located in Minneapolis or rarely its western suburbs. On the St. Paul side of the line, there's nothing except the same five joints that our grandparents went to when we were kids.

While it offends the civic pride of those of us on the eastern side of the fence, it has meant that there's more seating available for us at some really exceptional places. However, starting next year our downtown-to-downtown LRT goes live, and I suspect a lot of people are going to discover the gems scattered along what we call the Midway district, and in particular the "Little Mekong" neighborhood just west of our State Capitol building.

One such restaurant we've recently tried is Cheng Heng - a family-run place featuring Cambodian dishes.

The phrase "hole in the wall" definitely applies - it's in a tiny strip mall on the south side of University Avenue. There's a small parking lot next to the building and a few on-street spaces - but the Western Avenue LRT stop is a half-block away and that's going to be extremely convenient for visitors staying in either downtown.

There's nothing pretentious about the decor - but it reminds us of so many places we've eaten at in Asia: a small shrine in the entryway, hand-painted murals, wood carvings from the old country. There are two good-sized seating areas, and they were both almost full at lunchtime on a Saturday! Lots of families, and a nice mix of all the different people who live around here coming in. They have a case of bakery items and cold plates for take-out, and the sit-down service was speedy (we were getting plates within 5 minutes of ordering.)

Prices are very affordable - my wife, daughter, and I had lunch for less than $30.

I had the Banh Hoy - steamed rice noodles with stir-fried beef and shrimp. The beef melted in my mouth and the shrimp were very fresh.

My wife had the Chha Mekatain - with the chicken and brown sauce (they also do it with a curry which also looked wonderful.) The fun noodles were perfectly cooked and the Chinese broccoli was crisp and clean.

We look forward to eating here again and bringing friends - a couple years ago I would never have considered even getting out of the car in this neighborhood, but I'm glad to have put away my skepticism. From talking with the restaurant owner, it's plain to see the determination of these businesses to not just survive but succeed - and with the imminent start of the train service, I think this area will be the new pride of the Twin Cities!

Yummy nougat candy from Taiwan

For Chinese New Year, we have a tradition of getting together with the other Minneapolis-area families who were in China to adopt their kids at the same time we were. It's always fun to see how all the kids have grown and what the similarities and differences are as more of their lives are spent in the States. It's a potluck dinner, and I always try to bring a few unexpected treats.  I came across this charming little box of candies at United Noodles - I didn't need to know the character for "milk" to know what was going on here...

Given the size of the illustration on the box, I had thought that perhaps the nougat-with-peanut bars were going to be a bit bigger, more like a "fun size" Snickers - but as you can see in this photo they are closer to Tootsie Roll size. However, the carton was packed full of them and all the families and kids were able to have as many as they wanted.  The texture is semi-hard but it softens up after just a moment in your mouth, and then it tastes just like a Snickers but without the chocolate and caramel...  Everyone liked them & I only had a handful to bring back home :)

New Year meal: Obento-ya, Minneapolis

I took my wife out to Lunar New Year / Valentine's lunch yesterday at our local Japanese izkaya Obento-ya. The food was wonderful and the service super-prompt and attentive.  (They were having a rough patch this past summer but the operation seems to be back on top.) Business has picked up for them, too - if going to dinner you'll definitely want to make reservations.

Prices are quite reasonable - we got all this and a pot of tea for just $30:

This is the "house ramen" - as you can see this is a pho-sized bowl with lots of kelp and noodles, and a generous amount of pork! The tea egg is extra & was done perfectly; beautiful golden yolk that blends perfectly with the broth.

This is the Makunochi bento - their "combo" platter showing off all the wonderful things they can do to protein. The yakitori beef could be put on a bun & put Arby's out of business... the salmon was crispy on the outside and wonderfully chewy inside... shrimp the perfect combination of savory and sweet.  In the upper left corner - Japanese potato salad, creamy like mashed potatoes with Qupie mayonnaise and bits of apple (!) in it.  They could sell this by the tub.

The bento combo comes with a cup of their miso soup, too; just the thing on a cold wintry day. So simple but it gives me such joy to smell and taste this!

Travel Haiku

Inspired by a post by @japantouristjp ...  #trahaiku are travel-themed 5-7-5 syllable poems about travel, Japan / East Asia, or the intersection of the two...  Here are a few I wrote today:

Coffee, cream, sugar

Waiting for the boarding call

Clouds swirl in my cup

Yamanote Line

brings me where I need to be

and circles back home

Narita Airport

All laid out so precisely

Model, or real life?

Lunar New Year blooms

with fireworks, laughing, smiles, and

 hope flowers again

United Noodles' Unideli, Minneapolis MN

Have often tweeted ( I'm at @weninchina ) about the great food being served at United Noodles' own Unideli.  Here are some more photos from lunch our family had there a couple weekends ago:

The Unideli is open for lunch and early dinner.  Most items are cooked-to-order so expect about a 5-minute wait after ordering at the counter.  Find a seat & they'll call your name when your food is ready.  

There can be a good line going on weekends, we like to get there about 11:00 before the crowd shows up!  

You could probably have a reasonable meal with just the "appetizers" - here's a couple taiyaki - deep-fried batter (tastes a lot like waffles) with sweet red-bean filling (tastes a lot like chocolate).  These are awesomely great on a cold winter's day.

Takoyaki, served in a little bamboo boat!  Lots of bonito flakes, Kewpie Mayo, and other furikake on top...  The puffs are steaming hot when you get them so give them a little bite to let the heat out, but then gobble down a minute later!  Nice chewy fried texture on the outside, pancake-batter creamy on the inside, with a nice meaty chunk of octopus!

I tell the owner he really needs to get a stand at the Minnesota State Fair to dish up snacks like these; they're totally festival foods back in Asia...

We've been trying different ramen bowls in recent visits - see how creamy that tonkotsu looks that my daughter's digging into!  That's from pork fat that's been boiling for hours and hours!  Man, it's good!

Here's a different recipe, more of a clear broth.  The swirly piece at the top is chewy and meaty (processed fish - kind of like those "crab" chunks) - and check out that nice hunk of BBQ pork on the left ... there are several more pieces like that underneath!  (The vegetables are really flavorful too.)

Impressive updates to the international gates at Minneapolis/St.Paul!

My hometown airport of Minneapolis / St. Paul has been in a constant state of updating, which makes every trip fun to discover what is new.  Our hub carrier, Delta, has made big investments to the international and long-haul gate areas that Northwest Airlines had custom-built back in the 1980s and that re-construction has just recently been completed.

On a business trip last week I was able to check out these renovated gate areas and came away very impressed with how family-friendly they turned out!

The gates at MSP are arranged something like a letter "H", and the international gates and Customs facility is in the middle of the left-hand side of that "H". The short hallway to get to those gates used to have a big McDonald's on one side and a gift shop on the other.  No more McDonald's ... and the hallway runs right through a much bigger retail area (kind of like how Copenhagen does it...)

I had read in local media how this remodeling was supposed to appeal to business and high-end travelers, and I agree that it certainly does that job.  The finish, lighting, and quality of goods & foods make this part of MSP every bit as interesting as what I've seen in Tokyo or Amsterdam - well done! But as soon as I saw this frozen-yogurt self-serve bar I thought "my daughter is going to go nuts here when we go on vacation in March!"

They have those new Coca-Cola Freestyle make-your-own-mix dispensers, which is neat. But as a parent what I really appreciate is the big assortment of healthy and tasty deli food & bottled beverages.  Fast-food has its place (and you can still get your fill of it at MSP just a few minutes' walk from here) but when you're on the road you crave fruit ... vegetables ... fresh bread ... a simple bottle of water.  And you can get it all right here.  (And of course if the kids are eating healthier, they're going to be behaving better on the flight...)

A bit more variety of travel-gear than I usually see at most airports, too, in case you need an extra bag or pillow...

You pass through the retail space into the light-filled gate areas. I wasn't expecting the seating to have changed, but this was a real surprise ... extra-wide chairs with tables and electric outlets all over.  If you're holding an infant or toddler there's enough room on that seating to still be comfortable and not stick halfway out into traffic. 

And of course the iPads.  You can't do *everything* on them - and they're meant first to place orders at the food vendors right behind you - but I've been told there are games on these tablets, too.

I don't know what the kids are going to be doing while you're playing games on the iPad.

This used to be kind of a dumpy wall with a few pay phones and people sitting on the carpet.  Now, wow.  That tile curves all the way up onto the ceiling.  The TVs are there, but you're not being blasted with audio, either.

This is the back part of what used to be McDonald's - a nice bistro with plenty of table seating inside. So people who really want to be "in a restaurant" to eat have their space, and people who want to relax in the gate area have their space, and everyone has power and iPads to play with.

And here's looking back through the retail hallway to get back to the main part of Concourse G and the rest of the airport.  Concourse G has been re-done all the way down to the end in a similar fashion, although the seating areas are the best here in G1-G6.  I see restroom upgrades, too (more about that after our next trip) - and some work being done in other Delta gates on the F concourse.

If you're taking Delta to Asia on the Minneapolis-Tokyo run, these updates will make your family travel experience much more relaxing and fun.

I'll be updating the Minneapolis / St. Paul airport guide on weninchina.com this season to incorporate this fresh information, and with more photos, too.