A typhoon and another culinary experience!

Tonight I met up with Ed (an expat from my office) for dinner. We headed to an area of Shanghai known as the French Concession. We had a choice of restaurants to pick from. However, we were a bit concerned as the rainy weather likely meant the restaurrants were going to be packed and we did not have a reservation.

Thankfully our first pick had room. We had dinner at a Cambodian restaurant. Immediately I thought of my friend Angela; she is the only person I know of Cambodian descent. (Hi to Angela -- See I am thinking of you while I am here!)

Following the tradition of sharing different plates we ordered a variety of dishes including ginger beef wrapped in rice noodles, chicken curry, a side dish of pumpkin and snow peas and a green mango and cashew salad. I enjoyed most of it but would pass on the ginger beef next time. I’m slowly realizing that I am just not a fan of ginger – especially in large (overpowering) amounts.

Ed also introduced me to a new drink. Havana Club Rum and Diet Coke – YUM! For all those who like Captain Morgan I’d vouch that you’d also like Havana Club. This rum is from Cuba so can not be found in the US. Aside from tasting good the other nice thing is it is equal to the “bar rail” liquor so is extremely cheap.

I also experienced a bit of the ExPat night life at Zappatas; one of the few Mexican restaurants in town. It features a huge outside patio and good dance music. I can imagine it’d be a great place to waste away an eveningt. Unfortunately we could not do this due to the rain.

Oh about that rain….

We are currently getting hit by a large amount of wind and rain due to a typhoon that is in the area. Being a Midwestern girl the two severe weather systems I’m most familiar with are blizzards and tornadoes. I am also familiar with hurricanes due to Katrina and Rita

I had to actually look up the definition of a typhoon.

Definition: A typhoon is a violent cyclone that occurs in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Typhoons feature heavy rains and winds that maintain speeds equal to or greater than 74 miles (119 kilometers) per hour. Similar storms that occur in other parts of the world are called tropical cyclones or hurricanes. The word typhoon comes from the Chinese term tai-fung, meaning great wind.

Pretty much the next 24 hours could bring some interesting weather. Unfortunately. looking at the 10day forecast the rain does not bring with it a break in the warm weather. Our highs for the next ten days are all in the 90s.