Chinatown Houston Journal: My Weekend Journey to Houston Chinatown Week 2

December 11,2005

Well hello to everyone again. It is the weekend and I am off to Houston Chinatown again. For those who are reading this for the first time, this is my detailed journal for all my visits to Houston Chinatown.

As always, the fastest way to Chinatown from the west side of town is Beltway 8. Take the Bellaire exit and a left on Bellaire Blvd. and you are in Chinatown Houston. The first stop was to get something to eat for lunch. I went to Pine Forest Vegetarian Restaurant in Diho Square. I decided it was time to eat healthy (just today only) so vegetarian was a good choice. The restaurant is very relaxing and had a nice interior. I ordered the fried noodle dish and boy was it good. You would wonder how they can make a vegetarian dish taste good and that was going through my mind the entire time I was waiting, but let me tell you what, I was shocked by how good it tasted. The dish had fried noodles, Chinese cabbage, bean sprouts, tofu which looked like meat all cooked to perfection.

After lunch, I went on to buy groceries again. I went to Welcome Food Center in Diho Square. I decided to have Hot Pot for dinner so I needed to buy the necessary ingredients. For everyone who does not know what Chinese hot pot is, visit www.chinatownconnection.com/chinese_hot_pot.htm and it has a great explaination. One cool thing about Welcome Food Center is that they have alot of tasting samples on the weekends. Their was this sample booth for hot and sour soup mix and it tasted delicious. I was sold on the product and bought two hot and sour soup mixes. Another station had dumplings and those were good also. After getting side-tracked, I finally remembered what I was there to do. I bought all the ingredients for my Hot Pot dinner and decided it was time to go. I have an opening ceremony to go to.

The Houston Chinese Photographic Society had its annual photographic exhibition at the Chinese Culture Center. This is a big event considering it is there 15 year anniversary too. On hand were alot of distinguished guests including the American Photographic Society president and the president of Chinese Culture Center. I was one of the distinguished guests there to help kick off the opening ceremony. The photo exhibition was breathtaking. Go visit http://www.houstonchinesephoto.org/ and you can see the photos online. I spoke with some of the member photographers and asked about their photos. One member told me that each photo captures a meaning and a moment in time. Some photographers had to wait 2+ hours to capture that perfect moment. One member won an award for best photo of 2005.

After the ceremony, the day in Houston Chinatown was just about over. I headed back home to and wait for the next weekend here in Houston Chinatown. Stay Tuned.

-Asian Waldo