"Would you like a fork topping to go with your chopsticks?" asked the Swiss waiter.

Leave it to the Swiss to think of inventive alternatives to standard cutlery sets. Jacob and I ate with another friend at the Swiss House last week, one of the few Olympic houses open to the public. On the table when we sat down were fork heads and chopsticks to attach them to.

Nevermind that none of the food on the menu, including fois gras terrine, charcuterie, and spätzle, is typically eaten with chopsticks. They seem to be out simply as chinoiserie, a tiny homage to the host country, perhaps. (Like the orange rice paddy hats some Dutch fans are wearing at their Holland House, except less likely to be misconstrued.) But the novelty kept us amused and snapping photos for the first part of the evening.

Dried-fried green beans is one of my favorite side dishes to order in Sichuan restaurants. In contrast to crisp haricot verts or mushy microwaved diner-style beans, Sichuan-style green beans are blistered and well-cooked without being bland. With Sichuan peppercorns and dried chillis adding spice and smokiness to the flavor profile, this dish becomes positively addictive.

However, no matter how many times I tried to recreate the dish at home, I ended up either burning the green beans before they got cooked, or dumping some water in order to save the beans, the latter which defeats the purpose of dry-frying. For help, I finally emailed Kian from Red Cook. He said that his method is using a ton of oil and constantly stirring the beans to get them cooked without burning. Almost like deep-frying. No wonder the green beans in restaurants taste so good.

My good-enough-for-publishing recipe in this post can be considered vegetarian, depending on whether you consider dried shrimp meat. (Or maybe I'm just turning incredibly Chinese: "Oh, you don't eat meat? Don't worry...it's just chicken.") Some versions use minced pork in addition to dried shrimp, and some avoid both. For dried shrimp, make sure to get the kind that's bigger, pinkish, and more expensive, not the cheap itty bitty gray ones. 

The Olympics are well under way, and the opening ceremony taken place yet. Yesterday we attended a US vs. Japan football game in Tianjin, half an hour from Beijing on the new bullet train. (Which, with a fast speed of 350 km per hour, still pales in comparison to TGV and Shinkansen trains. But a great development nonetheless.)

The stadium at Tianjin is brand new, enormous, and quite impressive. The crowd was mainly Chinese, almost all of whom were supporting the US; unfortunately, historical resentment of Japan still prevails. Behind us sat an adorable Japanese family whose toddlers were waving Japanese flags and whose dad had a straw hat with both the US and Japanese flags poking out. There were a few Americans in the 35,000-person crowd, about 15 of us scattered around. This is what happens when you come from a country where nobody plays soccer after the age of 12.

I was sitting in the nosebleed section; the telephoto lens came in handy as binoculars.

Although Japan was the favorite coming into the match, the US ended up winning 1 to 0. A few Americans ran around shirtless, much to the amusement of the Chinese.