Mountain bbq and ma jiang

This past weekend, Yuri's friend invited us along on an outing with her fourth-year accounting class at the university. To celebrate the start of the Chinese national holiday (because of which I have no class this week), they had planned a bbq on top of a mountain just outside of town. Of course this wasn't your American burgers and hot dog bbq. It was a Chinese version roasting a huge variety of things, from meat to tofu to lettuce, which we first all worked together to put on metal skewers.

Climbing Xujiashan

Preparing eggplant and potato skewers

Cutting tofu skin

Wrapping tofu skin around lettuce and skewering it just right

So that it looks like this

And this

Finished skewers of lettuce wrapped in tofu skin, plus rice cakes

Tofu and potatoes

Waiting for the coals to get hot

After dipping them in oil and various spices, including hot pepper, everyone grills at once

Lots of hands :)

Most of what's on the side looks like tofu, with some rice cakes and hot-dog like meat in the center

After most of the food had been eaten, we started grilling bread and then spreading a spicy oily paste inside. The girl on the right is Yuri's friend Zhouye.

Yuri enjoying a grilled, spicy crab stick

Learning ma jiang, with the help of the guy on my right


After the meal, everyone relaxed to play games of cards and ma jiang. I can't tell you how excited I was to find out that ma jiang is basically a complicated rummy-like game. It's so nice to learn a new game/skill that you know you'll enjoy working on and getting better at for many times to come.

View of the Yellow River and power lines on the way down

Finally back at the bottom, taking a rest with Bin gui