We were invited to a "Welcome Potluck" sponsored by the foreign teachers on the main campus of Shandong University on Saturday. We took a wonderful dish called Chicken with bean sauce. Of course, we took rice with it that Carolyn prepared, and, being American, served the chicken over the rice. It was loved by many.

While we waited for our to go order at this really quite nice restaurant (fancier than Red Apple-everybody eats at big tables) we watched the servers bring trays of food out of the kitchen and prepare them for the table. One dish was especially beautiful. A fish, about the size but probably not the species of a good sized trout had been fried. It had been prepared in a shape where the head and tail were both pointing skyward. You know, the position often shown for a big fish caught on a line as it jumps out of the water trying to throw the hook. Then after the customer saw and approved the artistry of the presentation, the fish was carved to be actually available for picking up with chopsticks. It was still beautiful, and the tomato in the mouth was replaced, the fish pieces lined up on the platter and the tail rested playfully over the edge of the platter. Here cuisine is more than flavor, though I am sure the flavor was great as well. Here the chef is a true artist. Presentation counts,

After picking up the food, we went to the bus stop and got onto good old bus 16. Sitting across from us was the cutest little 5 year old, out on a Saturday afternoon time with Daddy. Of course, we struck up a conversation, Carolyn and I with our two-year-old Chinese and her with her 5-year-old English. She was winning, but of course, she had help from her Dad, who had graduated 20 years ago from Shandong University Technical College.

They decided singing was easier, and with Dad's help on a few words, she started singing "Beauty and the Beast." That got our attention, so she decided to follow up with a favorite Chinese song. Any way, it did not sound like any English song we knew. If the link works like I hope, here is a cell-phone video of the experience: