Back in Beijing

Been back in Beijing for a few days now.  It's taken me a while to get settled in again, but it's great to be back continuing my adventure here.  So many fun things to see and experience in this city.Last night I met up with a friend visiting from LA who's been frequenting China since the 80's.  She and a bunch of other Chinese folks took me to a North Korean restaurant for dinner.  I love Korean food, but I've never experienced North Korean cuisine before.  I was somewhat skeptical from the start since North Koreans are not quite known for their cuisine.  In fact, North Korea isn't known for feeding their people at all.  With all the stories I hear of those poor people starving to death, I was really curious to see what kind of food they'd be drumming up.All of the waitresses and much of the food is shipped in from NK.  The women who were serving us were apparently the best and the brightest of NK.   Having a job outside of the country for them is a great privilege.  Not only do they get to travel outside of their country, they get to eat all the food from the restaurant while their countrymen are back home starving.  I was told that they are all housed together in the same place and each get paid about $15/month.  They are not allowed to roam about the city freely, but instead have military escorts whenever they go outside of their living quarters or restaurant.The interior of the restaurant was sparse and dated.  Lots of formica tables and walls decorated with scant fake flowers and other cheap looking items.The meal started with a sort of sweet mochi with sweet bean paste inside.  I wasn't expecting to get desert before the meal but I guess that's what they do in NK.  Then we got a buttery rare mushroom dish, followed by one of the largest lobsters I'd ever seen.  The presentations of the dishes were beautiful, but I suspect it was to cover up the lack of quality of the food.  We had gorgeous sashimi platter but the fish was hard and sometimes grisly.  Then we were each given a huge shrimp covered in cheese.  I'm thinking that might not be a traditional Korean dish.  I would be shocked if the Koreans actually made cheese way back when.  At one point we were served another delicacy of hairy crab.  It's a certain crab that's only available for a few weeks of the year and really has long hair up to about 3/4 inches long on it's shell.  The rest of the dishes weren't too bad except for the super spicy chicken knees.  Yes, I said "knees".  I didn't even know chickens had knees!  It was hard for me to get past the crunchy cartilage to enjoy the little meat there was so I spit it out onto my plate as gracefully as I could without making too much of a scene and covered it with my hairy crab shells while I choked on the whole red peppers.Towards the end of dinner we were entertained by some of the singers and a drummer all performing in the tiny space in our private room (which, by the way also included a flat screen tv).  As the singers serenaded us the waitresses handed us well worn silk flowers to hand to the singers when they were done.  It was obvious that the flowers were being constantly recycled throughout the many evenings, but the performers pretended to appreciate them nonetheless.Very glad to have had the North Korean experience, but I don't think I'll be asking to go back unless I'm somehow overcome by an overwhelming desire for spicy chicken knees.Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03JIjVhPM2Y