Drunk and Feeling High

Shandong is the land of Yi Qi 义气!

Now, let me explain this to all non-Chinese alike ( Kevin etc...). There's been a lot of debate going on about the English equivalent of Yi Qi, but if I'm to sum it up, it really just mean total respect, loyalty and sense of duty to your fellow friends, eventhough it means giving up your life or your wife! If you still can't get it, you can try to get the hang of the meaning of Yi Qi by watching John Woo's "Better Tomorrow" - 英雄本色 - a Yi Qi version that requires a lot of bullets and blood!



But, really, it's freaking brotherly love.

Shandong people not only want to kill us Southern bastards by overdosing us with Sodium Chloride, but also alcohol.

Why do I say that? You will know indeed if you've been to a Shandong dinner hosted by an enthusiastic Northern brother, my friend.

In Mountain East (Shandong), buying expensive dinner for foreign visitors, especially their 'long lost' brothers from the South, is considered showing the virtue of Yi Qi. Well, of course, you won't be seeing bullets and blood in a typical Shandong banquet, but instead they bestow a frightening number of dishes and alcohol that refill itself incessantly.

Now, my Malaysian colleagues had already been to many welcoming dinners before I arrived. So they sort of already knew what will happen. But this was my first time.

Loaded with excitement, I couldn't wait to fulfill my eager tounge a Mountain East feast!



My teacher brought his supply of WU LIANG YE 五粮液 hard liquor (claimed to be a top-notch liquor) and started the dinner by proposing a toast that require us to gulp down that scary glass full of fuel looking liquid in 3 go.

I know curious folks like David or Yisa must be asking already, so allow me to tell you, this liqour is made of fermented Sorghum, rice, glutinous rice, wheat and corn 高粱、大米、糯米、小麦和玉米 and the alcohol percentage is 52%.

So, what's so scary about it? you ask...

This thing was harder to gulp than any liquor I had tasted before. It's like drinking thinner. My first sip burnt right down to my throat and fueled right up to my nose instantly. (Yes, imagine yourself drinking concentrated wasabi paste. And then imagine having to drink 3 glass full of it in 9 go!)

I felt like a dragon who could release fire through my nose and mouth.



Right after the first toast, I quickly dugged into this premium meat fried with button mushroom that will help me fight off the torturing 'thinner' that was lingering in my vulnerable stomach. The dish was no doubt the best among all that night because it reminded me of nice Bak-Kut-Teh. But then, Malaysian pork was never as good. This was tender and cooked at the right temperature with propotional fat and flavouring. If there's EVER one thing Malaysian cooks need to learn, it is the control of heat and correct timing.



Then I searched from the sea of food in front of me again something that's good for my stomach. Oh, thank god they ordered bittergourd. Hold on, it's fresh! Oh, you're supposed to dip into this thick sweet pumpkin and orange juice! Wow..... how intriqing! I've never tried combination like this before!



I was sort of lost what to try next from all these food in front of me. This was only half way through the dinner, you know? There were 7 more dishes later!!!! And 4 watermelon!



I really love this. I have no idea what they fried this with, it didn't taste like soy-sauce to me. And the texture was perculiar... it's soft yet crunchy. I couldn't help but to think how top-notch Mountain East cooks are. They know the language of good food. They know how to make ordinary dishes taste superb.



The whole night was basically like this:
1)Eat.
2)Drink.
3)Talk nonsense.

Repeat all randomly 40 times.



I must have been too eager to try all the food that I didn't realise the fellow sitting next to me was not taking the hard liquor well until he couldn't talk and could only afford to give me this look that was so familiar from the psychedelic era.



Realising how serious this could go, I quickly found myself another dish that could save me from disgracing the woman species: Lotus soaked in Honey and Orange Juice to be eaten with sweet vinegar and garlic. Again, don't you think it's an awesome marriage of taste?



I beg your pardon. I was really feeling dizzy bizzy that I couldn't take any better photos... ha!



Jesus, when I was just about to feel real proud of myself for drinking 3 glass full of Sorghum hard liquor, my glass refilled itself with beer! Damn it! Don't they know the rule of cross mixing different alcohol? It's definitely no, no!



When the waitress told us we had finished 2 bottles of Sorghum hard liquor and 2 boxes of beer, I looked to my right, and faces were beginning to look funny.



I freaked out and found another dish to save me from any possible embarrassment act later that would be performed by my body but not my brain. This corn dish might look ordinary to you but trust me, it tasted very different from what you expect. It's Corn fried with Pine Nuts and Wolfberries. They used honey as flavouring. Oh, exactly what I needed!

By now, 3 of my colleagues were D O W N. One was vomitting blood, another was asking if I wanted to join him in smashing all the cars in Mountain East, and the other lady was having rashes all over her body and felt asleep.



I was pretty full by now but my teacher asked me to try this. I think you can find this in Malaysia but then again, the way it was fried was just nice and perfect. I could basically feel the tenderness and the juice of the sea squeezed right through my teeth when I bited into it.

Oh... heaven!