Elliott C. Back: In Aere Aedificare

A company called 267 has a new product, which blends different fruits and spices into your choice of Vodka or Tequila. The big attraction is the packaging, which features a glass bottle and the suspended vegetation. Take a look at their Tequila Chile Peppers product:

*drool*. … .. . . yes it’s gorgeous. There are also rum and vodka infusions with citrus, olives, etc. I googled a little, but I haven’t seen anything like this either online or yet in stores. Looks good, though! Whenever I see “lemon vodka” in the stores or some other flavor, thoughts of artificial nasty flavours just gross me out. This looks better.

I wanted to feed my addiction to pistacios so I looked around for a good distributer of large amounts of them, and found Nuts Online. I was quite pleased with their service–for about $100 I ordered 25lbs of Pistachios, which arrived within two days. They arrived in a shapely box:

I quickly opened my nuts in the box:

Yes, it sure is full of luscious nuts:

This makes me want to compose a song like:

Hey girl I got somethin’ real important to give you
So just sit down and listen

[…]

Somethin’ special girl
It’s nuts in a box, those nuts in a box babe

While I was in Shanghai three weeks ago, I had a chance to try all kinds of food I’d never tried before. It was all great–I loved the authenticity of eating Chinese food in China. I also went with my girlfriend Wendy who did a fantastic job of finding us places to eat. Had I been alone I might have succumbed to the temptation of the familiar “golden arches” of McDonalds. That would have been ironic beyond belief. Never go to a foreign country and eat American food. It’s just bad taste!

The above little beauty is a mound of shaved, packed ice covered with sweet beans, black jelly, and some caramelized vegetables. It has also had a sweet sauce poured over it. It may very well be the strangest thing I ate in Shanghai, yet my girlfriend loves them. And, once you get over how odd the combination of ingredients is, and the shape, so unlike anything I’d ever seen before, it was actually quite tasty. You want to balance the solid stuff with the cool ice, and enjoy them in mixed proportions together.

Walking in that same mall’s food area, we came across this phoenix watermelon fruit juice drink. I wanted to order one just to take a picture of it, but I settled for a quick shot in the window. I think the price was $18 RMB. Only $2 for something so majestic! Drink the elixir of the everliving bird and you shall never die!!

Our last dessert for the evening, I point out this ice cream advertisement on the streets of (correct me if I’m wrong darling) the Xujiahui district. I was immediately struck with how clever the execution of the ad was–it reminds me a little of the Freakonomics title with its classic orange/apple synergy.

We did end up eating Pizza once from a Western pizza chain… it wasn’t bad, but my garlic breadsticks were cold. And, it wasn’t Chinese food. However, the next image shall redeem me:

Oh, what is this? Well, it’s the delicious brunch that Wendy brought me for in the rotating restaurant at the top of the Oriental Peal Tower, the tallest tower in Asia, and the third tallest tower in the world. The view was spectacular, the food well presented and wide in variety, and the company stunning. I couldn’t have asked for a better meal!

Tropicana has redesigned their orange juice containers, and the result is very web 2.0:

Note the high-contrast design, clean solid bands of color, and a splendid use of white space. The container packaging is now stronger looking and relaxed.

Tonight, to honor the culinary skills I’ve acquired from life’s long journey, I made a complicated, hasty, delicious dinner: Italian pasta & sauce with Chinese shrimp stir-fry and American salad and biscuits, and French white wine. Not bad for a single guy in his early 20s:

It was delicious. I wish you (you know who you are) could have been with me.