I think I forgot to mention that crispy duck was served at the wedding. That was by far my favorite dish, and was something I really enjoy. It was cut into bite size pieces. The shin had the texture of a thick potato chip. It was great. The flesh had bones and cartilage mixed in, but it was worth the trouble. The skin was very tasty, and the texture was perfect. The reason I brought it up is there was some crispy duck in the boxes of leftovers Vivian brought me.
The weather is a bit cooler today, and there is
a very light drizzle. Perhaps it is remnants of the typhoon that passed by off shore. I got back on my schedule. Read at the library on my way home. Got home about 16:30, had a snack of wedding leftovers, practiced my chess. They have good looking green salads at the cafe where I play chess, so I plan on having one there.
The ShenzhenStuff website has been down all week. That is where Mirko puts up notices of the chess club meetings. Since there has been no notice, I am not sure if anyone will show up.
LATER
Just got back from chess night at La Casa. Coincidentally, there was an article about La Casa in today’s Shenzhen Daily. It profiled the owner and talked about the menu. There was even a mention of the chess club meeting there. The story mentioned there is a foreign language book exchange at the cafe, and I saw some shelves of books on the back wall. I intended to have a look at the titles, but forgot to do so in all the excitement.
The evening began badly. I took a short nap before going to the cafe
and overslept. I woke up at 18:45. The meeting was scheduled to start at 19:00. So I jumped in the shower, threw some clean clothes on and headed to the bus stop. As I turned the corner, I saw bus 73 pulling away. I had to wait 10 or 15 minutes for the next one.
I finally got to La Casa around 19:30. Mirko was eating at the bar. Umberto, his friend, wife and daughter were sitting at a table having dinner. We were the only players there. Umberto and his friend had two really nice, large chess sets. They proved to be very popular. Umberto also had a chess clock. I have never played a timed game and wanted to try one, but it was not to be this night.
After hellos, I sat at the bar and had a Greek Salad for dinner. It was 35 yuan (about $5.25 USD). I had been looking forward to a green salad since they are hard to find in Shenzhen. But this Greek Salad had no lettuce and no feta cheese. It consisted of three kinds of sweet peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and maybe some other veggies. They were
covered in a light oil and topped with what I think was Romano cheese. It was good, but I wouldn’t call it a Greek Salad.
While I was eating I watched the owner making a white pizza. It had four kinds of cheese including bleu. One of my many weaknesses is for bleu cheese, so even though I wasn’t all that hungry I ordered one for 60 yuan (a little less than $9.00 USD). It was great. I will definitely have another. I had two draft beers during the evening at 25 yuan each (about $3.75 USD). I can get a six pack at Everybody and Supermarket for 21 yuan. I wasn’t real happy with the price, but understand because the cafe is in a very high rent area.
My first, and only game was against Mirko. After giving away a knight at the beginning, I was able to come back and win. The game lasted over and hour and a half. During the game a couple more people drifted in and everyone was playing.
By this time it was close to 22:00. I said my goodbyes and left. Bus 73 stopped running at 21:30, so I
got a taxi home. God knows why, but I stopped at the night market and got a bag of peanuts. I think I ate 3 when I got them home. It was an expensive evening, costing almost $25.00 USD, but I enjoyed getting out.
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