Pastimes

It is interesting to watch the simple pleasures that one gravitates towards when placed in unfamiliar surroundings out of their comfort zones.

Caro told me she has rarely seen a bigger grin on my face then when we ate at the Brazilian Steakhouse the other night. I am always a fan of a good steak, and this was a wonderful reprieve from our otherwise "new" diet. After my 8th or 10th type of meat (multiple helpings of each type of course), brought to me tableside straight from the kitchen by Chinese waitors dressed like cavemen in boots, and a pile of scraps and bones heaped on my plate, I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be at that moment in time. Honestly, who could turn down succulent all-you-can-eat meat for just over 7 USD per person!? (Yes, I'm sure my sisters and other vegetarians could quite easily, but as the saying goes, "I didn't fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.") About the only thing that would have added to the experience would have been for waitors to roll up a cot to the table so I could have slumped right into it after shattering those USDA recomended daily allowances.

My tai tai (that's wife in Mandarin) on the other hand, seems to reach a state of pure bliss, dare I say a little possessed, with the inordinate amount of shoe shops here in Shanghai. Now I must agree there are probably more shoes for sale here than every city in the US combined. But I find it instantly overwhelming and it makes my head start to spin. Who'd of thought there could be that many designs for sandles even mathematically possible? Regardless, Caro somehow seems to conjure up some previously unknown energy to window shop each and every last one of them. And she is rarely happier than after a hard days work of shopping for shoes.