Salt, Books, and A Big Party

I'm starting out strong. Only seven days since I last sat down to write a post.

I'll be better, I promise.

Since last Sunday not much has happened.
Tuesday evening held another episode of Game of Thrones for me, which I watched while eating what should have been a really yummy home cooked meal, but turned out to be just waaaay too salty. I had a small pork loin that Super Husband had defrosted on Sunday, but that we hadn't cooked so I decided to braise it in a little garlic soy sauce, which was a good idea until I also threw my vegetables in there. The entire meal had so much salt that when I woke up on Wednesday I had to drain my hands and feet by holding them up in the air like a cat looking for a tummy rub. The meal did have one high note, though. I tried a recipe for baked french fries that has a lot of merit. The fries weren't as crispy as I like, but that had more to do with the fact that I didn't follow the directions for the recipe exactly. I also made some zucchini "fries" that were amazing.
I've been on Pinterest a lot lately and it has been both fun, and torturous. I'm really looking forward to having a fully stocked kitchen again. But I'm also looking for recipes that I can make here, with my limited access to ingredients. My search has been fruitful, like the french fries, and zucchini fries, but it also makes me long for the days when I could make anything under the sun after a 15-minute trip to Fiesta.
Wednesday held another night of Lush Pub Quiz. It was the last quiz of the ten-week leader board and we held our own, coming in third overall. So now, or at some point, we get a pizza party at Lush's sister restaurant, Pyro Pizza. I hosted a guest round that night on books that have been adapted for the big screen. It proved to be a difficult round, but not the most difficult of the night. The round on obscure historical events was easily the most challenging, and had us all wracking our brains, or even saying "I've never heard of that".
I very much enjoy writing guest rounds, though. It forces me to look up events and information that I wouldn't have necessarily been as interested in otherwise.

On Friday the power went out at the school, interrupting what should have been a lovely afternoon watching Over The Hedge. Instead we shuffled the kids outside to play around on the swing sets. They might have actually preferred that. Their capacity for sitting still and watching a 90 film is less than a tired teacher might hope.
After work we all headed to a party hosted by two coworkers, where drinks, games, and dancing flowed freely throughout the evening. Everyone was very impressed with Super Husband's sketch book, which he was forced to show everyone, while much ooohing and aaaahing ensued. I was very impressed with one coworker's ability to salsa, and his bachata was pretty sound, too. I tried to teach my Polish coworker to bachata, but he might have had one too many Cuba Libres to do anything but salsa. (Haha, see what I did there. Cuba libre - salsa... ... So maybe it's only funny to me. Whatever. I laughed in my head)
That reminds me; on Friday morning I was alone in my classroom before the official start to the school day and Café Tacvba's La Ingrata came on. I started dancing around, watering our class plants, tidying my desk and didn't really notice that one of my students had come in until she said "WHAT YOU DOING?" (We're still working on correct grammatical structure. They're only four. "What are you doing?" seems to be one of our higher hurdles.) Anyway, I don't think she accepted "dancing" as the correct response, because she turned around and said "No... May I go to the bathroom?" She couldn't even stand to be in the same room as whatever odd flailing of limbs she perceived my dancing to be.

Saturday was the tenth annual Beijinger Bar and Club Awards party, and as both Lush and Pyro Pizza were nominated for a number of categories Super Husband and I had no choice but to go out and show our support.
While the party officially began at 4pm, a few of us met for a late lunch at Home Plate, a small but delicious bar-b-que restaurant near Sanyuanqiao subway station. Super Husband had the chop beef sandwich, which he was most pleased with, while I opted for a corn dog and a salad. Yes, I had a corn dog. Don't judge me. It was homemade, and delicious. Especially when dipped in their bar-b-que sauce. Mmmm.
From there we took cabs to the Galaxy SOHO, a very new, very modern building that will become a shopping mall/office building/apartment complex, but is still a vast empty space with very, very cool architecture.

Galaxy SOHO - Day

Galaxy SOHO - Night

Neither of those photos really do justice to buildings, but they're what I've got. 

The party started in earnest around 4:45, with drinks sponsored by Jaegermeister and Heineken, food from Ganges, and sorbet from... some place. 

Lush and Pyro were nominated in a total of 11 categories, and they took home an award in all but one. Lush got Best Wudaoko Bar, Best Pub Quiz, and a bunch more that I can't remember off the top of my head. I do know that together Lush and Pyro got Best Manager, which is quite the accolade. 

That party ended at 9pm, but riding the wave of success, the "Wu Crew" headed to 3sums for celebratory drinks. I'd not been there before, I think it's relatively knew. It's a hamburger joint that also serves drinks. The highlight for me, however, was not on the menu, but hanging from the ceiling. 

Swings! In a restaurant! SWINGS!

You can bet I availed myself of these particular pieces of furniture for as long as I could. 

Alas, the hamburgers we thought we'd be getting were not forthcoming so from 3sums we headed to Four Corners, which is owned by a Houston transplant, and is set up in a pretty cool venue. There's patio seating, a large stage, and a back room filled with comfy chairs and couches for lounging in large groups. Alas and  alack, their kitchen closed two minutes before our arrival at 11:02, so after a long respite filled with lots of conversing and some horseplay we all adjourned to Lush, where we new the kitchen didn't close until 4am. After a cup of coffee and some delicious pancakes for me, and a bowl of granola and yogurt for Super Husband we decided it was time to call it a night, and bid our friends adieu at 3am. 

Today, Sunday, with sore feet from dancing and no desire to do anything but lounge around we're perfectly happy to have nothing more strenuous on the agenda than catching up on New Girl (and if I can convince him, maybe Criminal Minds). 

Let the doing nothing commence!