shanghai inked

i thought finding a tattoo parlor in china might be a bit tricky.
turns out there were quite a few to choose from. i was pretty
sure of the idea i had in mind, which is necessary when trying
to communicate specifics without a common ground language.

bowl of noodles tattoo please...

the parlor was basically the front room of this guys house. his business card has no english name translation, so i just called him tony. all the pictures on the walls of tony's room are of tattoos that he's done. mainly things like dragons and swords, some naked chicks, chinese characters and more dragons.

cold noodles off the street in shanghai

ok. so imagine you are working at a local fast food place. somewhere very normal to you, not necessarily a large american chain like KFC or mcdonalds but maybe a fish and chip or bbq chicken shop. at any rate, something very normal to you. now imagine two foreigners (doesn't matter where from, but definitely foreign) come into the store and start pointing excitedly at various foods on the menu. they then begin trying to order items with absolutely no english language skills at all. at most they know three words which they repeat very loudly and very slowly. then when you give them their food, they both pull out giant cameras and start taking pictures from all angles whilst giggling and gibbering away loudly in their foereign tongue.


you would think they were idiots right?


the noodles are hand carved off this "giant" noodle block. imagine the size of that noodle.



these were way way better than my attempt
whole different ball park really.

MDC asked for them to be extra spicy in his faltering mandarin
not sure how it translated, but she certainly didn't hold back.

was quite painful, only thing to drink in the house was champagne
and some flat fanta. it felt kind of like i was sitting next to myself.

i mentioned briefly in the cut and paste transcript
that was our first post
that cold noodles were one of my favourite things
this summer...

"Yella tops, Yella tops" - Changle lu noodle racket

This is his corner, these are his fiends. Follow the noodles & you follow the money...





The noodle lab...










The product, best on the block..



la mian junkie getting daily fix in squalid alleyway....

Dainty Sichuan Food - 26 Corrs Lane Mel.

ok. so i'm not very good at this...
my noodles keep arriving at the table
and i keep forgetting to take pictures of them
until after i've started eating them

this dish did actually look appealing upon arrival
so appealing that i just dug straight in (i was so hungry)
this is photography post food styling
i'm keeping it real
no perfectly positioned garnishes here

the place was very popular, packed in fact
and we had to wait fifteen minutes for a table
a predicted wait time that i thought was initially very optimistic
but the table turnover proved to be quite steady
i tend to get a little antsy in these situations
but it was all handled in a suitably organized manner
we were given a little green raffle ticket
and were seated promptly after our number was called

there weren't very many noodle options available on the menu
but the above was entitled "tasty cold noodles"
i was pleasantly surprised by the combination of noodle, peanut and chilli
three ingredients that go remarkably well with beer

4,000-Year-Old Noodles Found in China

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1012_051012_chinese_noodles.html

noodles have a long history. and are themselves long.

"The Beginning"

MDC: i recently joined this flickr group:



JCP: hahaha
MDC: entirely dedicated to photos of prawns
JCP: wow
MDC: you must be bored
JCP: yeah.
JCP: i was thinking of starting a noodle blog though
JCP:want to start it with me?
JCP:i want to call it noodleblog
JCP:a blog mainly but not entirely about noodles
MDC:yesterday before work i spent about an hour provoking coconut shrimp enthusiasts on the interent. so sure. im in.
MDC:i have some noodle photos
MDC:hang on
JCP:sweet
JCP:i was thinking of just eating at different noodle places in melbourne, posting a picture and writing a small description



MDC:Jellyfish noodles
JCP:i like jelly fish
JCP:nice pic
JCP:i was gonna go for a more simple approach



MDC:sichuan pork noodles
JCP:ah, ok
JCP:you have heaps of food pics
MDC:well. lets get onto it
JCP:are you really really fat these days?



MDC: yeah. getting fat



MDC: that big vat is full of noodles.
JCP:whoa
MDC:i dont know what they are called, somthing in turkik
MDC:i was photographing for a mate for a while he is a food writer
MDC:just emailing you a spread
about the Xinjiang muslim food street
thats the one with the vat of spicy noodles
MDC:lots of noodles here chris
MDC:lots
JCP:sweet
MDC:there is a guy who makes rice noodles in a little stall around the corner
ill intrude and take some pics for our blog
MDC:umm.. how does one exactly blog??
MDC:blogspot or something?
MDC:is that right?
JCP:guess you just start it
11:35 AM
MDC:yeah blogspot
JCP:ah ok.,
MDC:ours would be full of meat eating, noodles and profanity - right?
JCP:yeah
MDC:and booze
MDC:like, in summer its a normal occurrence to be standing on a street corner here in 45degree heat at 3am eating cold noodles from a street vendor. other customers would be drunks, hookers and chinese business men
MDC:blog worthy stuff.
MDC:just got to shoot it
JCP:cold noodlea are my favourite dish at the moment
MDC:i ate soooooo much soba in japan
MDC:i went to nagano, its where soba (and ninjas) come from
thats a blog article right there
MDC:i'll dig up some pics
MDC:also discovered my favorite booze at the moment
soba sochu!
MDC:i knew they made it from grapefruit and sweet potato i have even heard of eggplant sochu.
but the soba one is soo good
MDC:hey what is the title of our noodle blog?
"noodleblog"?
JCP:yep
MDC:ok
JCP:very simple
JCP:and straight to the point
JCP:no wanky shit
MDC:"http://.blogspot.com
Check Availability
Sorry, this blog address is not available
fuck!"
JCP:and nothing about us
MDC:ok then
MDC:yeah no one gives a shit
JCP:noodrebrog
MDC:hit me
"noodrelbrog"
IS AVAIL!!!
HAHAHAHAH
OK
ITS ON
MDC:noodrebrog
JCP:just about the noodre
JCP:no personal promotion shit
MDC:YEAH OK
MDC:100% Noodrel
JCP:no one cares about what we did before going to work this morning
MDCthis IM will be the first post
MDC:then you have to make an identity i think
JCP:link me
MDC:did you go to work thismorning?
JCP:ok
JCP:yeah, i'm here apparently