As an educational consultant for McGraw Hill, I have always particularly enjoyed the aspect of my job that takes me back into classrooms to work with both teachers and students alike. This provides invaluable insight into current learning trends and instructional shifts that may be happening within education that I wouldn’t otherwise be aware of, or understand as well, if not having been directly in the classrooms…
Distance Learning in Music Education →
I recently interviewed ten music teachers around the country to learn a bit about their experiences this school year, and the challenges they’ve faced due to the world health pandemic. Much of what I learned confirmed my predictions: some surprises, but also amazing stories of resilience and creativity…
Breakfast in Shanghai
It’s been said that the best living comes by eating breakfast like a king, lunch as a prince, and dinner as a pauper. For those living in, native to, and visiting Shanghai, this approach to eating is certainly in good order.
Knowing this prior to my trip in November 2018, I was prepared to have no shortage of food in the early mornings each day, determined to explore what the local streets had to offer. As my brother, who’d been to Shanghai himself, told me: “If you’re awake at 5 am, you should go out and see what food is on the street.” That I did.
Finding local cuisine is an essential part of any trip to Shanghai (or most any foreign city, for that matter.) If you’re going yourself, and are interested in exactly where I found any of the myriad of selections below, feel free to ask. They don’t come from sit-down restaurants or traditional storefronts, but rather nondescript pop-up windows, rough-looking food carts, and back-alley hole-in-the-walls run by grandmothers who have been making their food for decades.
Jiangbing is very popular and can be found seemingly everywhere. It’s like a large, rich crepe – egg batter, laced with a hoisin sauce, chilies (optional), green onions, an egg, and some sort of pastry inside. It gets folded up, cut in half, and you’re good to go- eating a Shanghai breakfast burrito as you head off to your next spot.
Also easy to find is Cong You Bing, or fried scallion pancakes. Pretty simple- flaky, buttery, and delicious. Walk around and look for the ones with more filling than others.
Shanghai Shao Mai are little pork and sticky rice dumplings that are small and tempting but very rich. If you’re on a mission to try a lot of food over the course of one morning, or even day, stick with just one of these. They’re both sweet and savory, but one is enough.
Tea Eggs look like they’ve been warming in a pot for hours, and that’s exactly the case. They’re boiled to start, then sit in a metal tank as you see here, that’s traditionally full of water, soy sauce, tea bags, cinnamon, sugar, and anise. You crack them just as you would any other boiled egg. If you want with more of the unique flavor, select one that has more cracks.
Finally, dumplings of several varieties abound, and are one of the things that makes Shanghai such a fantastic destination. Xiaolongbao (or XLB for short), are small, steamed dumplings filled with both a scalding hot broth and a meat of some sort, usually pork or crab. In doing some research before going, I found that one of the best spots for XLB is Jia Jia Tang Bao. I found the place, and sure enough, all I was wishing for was a larger appetite. The line out the door was about ten deep, and once inside, you order then just take a seat at any table, even if there’s others already at it. In around ten minutes, my ten pork dumplings arrived (they’re made to order), then vanished quickly. They must be eaten carefully – bite into the top or side, slurp out the hot broth, and then devour the dumpling.
Farther down the same road was another spot I’d wanted to try that served Xiao Hun Tun, or dumpling soup. It’s a total hole-in-the-wall and was a bit challenging to find, but inside were several patrons already enjoying the savory soup and other offerings. The husband and wife owners were quiet and hard at work- he in the back “room” (no larger than a bathroom stall), mixing the ground pork, while she sat up front, quickly and methodically stuffing the wonton dumplings. I videoed her work as she sat there, and later calculated her pace at around 2 seconds to fill and close one wonton. Amazing. And amazingly delicious. I wish I’d been able to go back.
There’s plenty of other food to talk about, I could go on and on. The hot pot is a famous dish here, and I got to experience this with a colleague I later met up with. Chenghuangmiao Old Street is one of the most famous food streets, let alone streets in general, in Shanghai. Many options for mid-day snacks, I found myself in a worthwhile line for Sheng Jian Bao (pan-fried buns stuffed with pork), and another for more steamed buns at the famous Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant.
Whatever you do, and whatever you try, enjoy. Look around, watch the locals. While you’re eating, gaze at the hundreds of old folks you’ll see doing Tai Chi (many in groups and clubs), enjoy the bamboo broom-pushers, and watch out for the bicycles and scooters coming at you in every direction. Happy eating.
Teaching Cultural Awareness Through Music →
Music Education as a Space for Social and Emotional Learning →
My hotel room - a stark contrast to the rugged landscape just outside
Beyond Old Faithful
In October of 2017, while on assignment in Bozeman for the Montana Music Educators Conference, I had an opportunity to break away for several hours and do something on my own. Being only 90 mins away from the North entrance of Yellowstone National Park, coming here was the obvious choice.
My hosts at The Lark Hotel (a beautiful, simple, modern boutique hotel that was a nice break from the Hilton chain of hotels I usually find myself in) suggested this entrance, and then to drive south, perhaps to Old Faithful, then back up and out the Western entrance. I did just this and it was a perfect 5-6 hour trip. Relaxed, unbelievably (literally) scenic, and given the time of year, quiet – none of the bumper-to-bumper sightseers, photographers, and wildlife-gawkers this place might otherwise be filled within the peak tourist months.
Beautiful Stepped Creek, Yellowstone
What struck me the most were the extreme colors, heat, and billowing of the many geysers and hot springs that line the highways. Perhaps naïve, I wasn’t prepared for this, and even if I’d happen to catch Old Faithful at its eruption time (I was an hour early, and had no desire to wait for it), it wouldn’t have compared to what I got to see all along my drive.
A roaring hot spring - Yellowstone
Heated deep underground, water rises through buried limestone, then deposits the mineral calcite above ground. As the hot spring water flows, trees, grass, “thermophiles” (heat-loving organisms that both are born and die here), and even the boardwalk that guides the viewer along these hot springs… all eventually are buried and vanish! I certainly don’t understand it, but it’s obvious to see how Yellowstone’s hot springs are among Earth’s most extreme environments.
Bibimbap Bowl - at Whistle Pig Korean
Chef's view of Bisl Food
Also of note, I wanted to share are a couple food spots in Bozeman that shouldn’t be missed. The bowl is the Spicy Bibimbap Bowl (carrots, spinach, mushrooms, bean sprouts, fried egg, a spicy paste called gochujang, and kimchi over rice) from Whistle Pig Korean. The other photo is a Chef’s Bar view from inside Bisl Food which drew me in twice in two successive nights – and ranks high on the best meals of the year.