Here's another letter I thought I'd pass on to you, boys and girls, to
show how broad and significant my influence is having all around thw
eorld. due to my deep, penetrating investigatiopnjs into the nightlife
word of our city, combined with the unparalleled power of the Internet
to deliver my words to the four corners of the world.
Many of the people who write to me, in fact, are fellow Shanghainese
people off in the great wide world who are feeling homesick and yearning
for a sense of what it's like back home. It seems that my reports
provide a taste and a whiff of the streets of the city, which is very
encouraging.
This one is from Yiping:
"Hey, May-May, I think you and the stuff you wrote are great. I'm
feeling comfortable already w/out being even in Shanghai. I'm in the
states and coming back in a week. Thanks to your nightlife info, I feel
I won't be blinded and will definitely have a good time. Keep up the
good work!! Salute, Yiping"
Well, Yiping, please remember to give me a report on what you find. The
nightlife of Shanghai is getting totally out of control. I can no longer
hope to report all the goings-on here all by my little self!!
Byeee!!!
It's brown, it's fragrant, it's lumpy. It's chocolate!! I have a dark
secret to reveal, boys and girls. I am completely addicted to chocolate.
Dark chocolate.
Every night, as you know, I hit the bars. What you perhaps don't know is
that it is not just those kind of bars, it's also the Mars Bars, the
Toblerones, the Snickers. Chocolate desserts. Mousse. Chocolate cake. My
god.
It's not particularly healthy, and it's definitely not good for my
figure, but this is not something over which I have a whole lot of
control. If there's chocolate, then I'm going to eat it. That's quality
chocolate, of course.
Of the places where you can get really good chocolate-related whatevers
in Shanghai, there is one that stands out from all others at this point.
And it's not just me. All chocolate freaks seem to agree on this
particular point. It is the chocolate souffle pudding at the Park 97
restaurant in Fuxing Park.
Just the thought of it makes me feel ... all funny. The soft souffle
crust outside, the oozing chocolate inside, the delicate creamy sauce
... into your mouth and it just melts away.
I also like the Pasta Fresca chocolate mousse, but not as much as I used
to. In recent months, they have inserted orange peel into the chocolate
mix, which in my opinion neutralises the chocolate effect. Very
disappointing.
Excessive cream cuts the chocolate effect in the same way, unless it's
chocolate cream. Which is why Sacher cake makes it, but Black Forest
doesn't.
But what is this chocolate effect of which I speak? Hard to put your
finger on it. But there is a mysterious connection between chocolate and
some of the more exquisite sensations it is our privilege as human
beings to experience, wouldn't you say, my loves?
A friend of mine wrote a song about chocolate once which began with the
following verse:
I feel a choc-attack, sneaking up on me
That piece of chocolate cake I was saving up for tea
Has got a come-hither look, I just can't say no
It's brown, it's sweet, it's sticky, oh no, here I go.
Not great poetry, perhaps, but it sums up the breathless sensualness of
it quite well.
Apart from whatever other connotations, it may have, chocolate also
gives you energy, a short, sudden burst of it anyway, that you can make
use of.
I think of it as being a sort of natural viagra.
I met a man once who climbed Mount Everest. He said he kept a Mars Bar
in his pocket and saved it until he was just below the peak. Then he
pulled out the Mars Bar, ate it in one go, and raced to the top. He made
it, and lived to tell the tale. Two of his friends didn't.
The power of chocolate seems to be growing in Shanghai, judging from
what I hear and see.
I am very close to the owner of one teahouse who is giving serious
consideration to adding seriously good chocolate to his menu to improve
his business. I am giving him maximum encouragement in this.
Another piece of evidence: I was in a bar a couple of weeks ago one
Thursday evening when who should come through the door, but one of our
fair city's most prominent advertising industry personalities with two
ladies in tow. I was introduced, and found out that the two ladies were
working for a famous and special chocolate brand looking for a way to
establish itself in the Shanghai market.
Being the helpful person I am, I offered to put them in touch with the
teahouse owner who is considering chocolate as a selling point. It
sounds, you'll agree, like a very comfortable fit. But they haven't
contacted me. Strange.
But maybe they have already found the perfect partner, and any moment
now we are going to have open in our midst the most yummy chocolate bar
of all time!! Oh Baby!!!
Byeee!!!
