Where does your food come from?
| 15 July 2010
I have recently been able to pry away from the Pavilion for a few hours to pick up some custom tailored clothing and explore the neighborhood next to what is called the “Old City”. This was my true first trip to a complete and total Shanghai urban market. This small pocket neighborhood boasts tons of vendors, most with 125 sq. ft. store fronts with their small one bedroom apartments just above. The streets are covered with food vendors, men engaged in serious card games, counterfeit tobacco shops, antique dealers, motorbike part suppliers and random local markets. Yes, China, this rising country has sent out media messages to their people not to walk around in pajamas all day, clean up, and change their ways of hundreds of years. Shanghai is the New York of China- they have pushed the locals to embrace western ways, which to me is quite a shame. Of course I happen to seek out the real culture of Shanghai behind all the smoke and mirrors that Shanghai officials try to hide.
Grabbed a few photos at a local market- this market made any US Asian market smell like a bed of roses, pass health inspection with an A, and make you feel like you are in a 5 star resort! Unlike most Westerners I don’t look down on these practices, it’s just different…
Makes someone think twice about “where does your food come from”?
Happy Birthday America
| 12 July 2010
This cake will be in many future publications and print all throughout the world- I wish I could have brought in my close friend and dynamic Pastry Chef Christine D’Angeli from Slice Cake Designs!
Pixs from inside the Expo grounds
| 10 July 2010
Here are some updated random shots from inside the Expo grounds. The USA Pavilion is the 3rd busiest pavilion out of 197 participating countries.
The average wait time to enter the show (7 minutes long, then right into the retail store) is 4 hours. Now, the last time I remember standing in any line for that long was to buy U2 tickets back during the Achtung Baby tour… remember those days before the internet!
....I doubt anyone holds your place in line if you need that emergency bathroom break, careful if you're coming to the US Pavilion!
More shots to come...
