After the Dream some Pure Lotus

When our bus got back to Beijing from Dream Valley, Jim, Mark and I had dinner at the lovely vegetarian restaurant Pure Lotus. Steven Fock, the COO, drove us there as we would have had not a chance of finding it on our own, tucked as it is behind a gate and S shaped driveway. The place is lyrically lovely, very much a spot to bring a romantic date. They specialize in food that has the taste and texture of meats, but are magicked tofu. Our friend Kemin is mildly scornful and won't eat there, he thinks if you are going to make veggies taste like meat, just eat the cow. But I was entranced. From the muted purplish lights and multi cultural videos, objects, and music, it was like eating in an ABC Carpets with wait staff in glittery tunics. Mark got a bit tired of my taking photos (before the food arrived we were cranky) and snapped that I should stop photographing and try to actually experience reality. I was sort of flummoxed and put my camera away. How could he mistake me, an artiste, for one of those funny tourists that snap snap snap bad photos all the time? Er...When I could marshal what to say a few days later, I told him I have a creative process that involves the camera and in fact my photos have been on book covers and featured in magazines... he got it. By the end of the trip we were joking about it.

The food was delivered in imaginative ways, from statues to shells to giant leaves. And was delicious. From skewers of grilled "meats" to spring rolls so delicious I still have dreams about them... I was handed a purple-blue lotus as I left and it graced my hotel window the rest of my stay.