Close

I came oh so close to having an all American Sunday.  It’s either that, or living out the ridiculous dreams of a kindergartner.  I had a cinnamon role for breakfast, barbecue brisket for lunch, played golf, and then had a s’more.  This wasn't on my agenda!  I promise it happened mostly by chance.  Saturday night I was out exploring, and stumbled on the fumes of fresh baked cinnamon rolls.  I’ll take two; please and thank you.  When looking for lunch places near the golf course, I found a supposedly authentic smokehouse.  The s’more place I read about a few weeks ago was only a half mile away from both of those.  What’s a kindergartner to do?

The thing is, they were just really, really close imitations of the things I love.

The barbecue was just a little too dried out.  Sauce fixes everything.

The s’more used a little chocolate syrup instead of a chocolate bar.  But look at that marshmallow!

And worst of all.  The lowest of the low.  I’m not even sure these were real golf balls.  Just shells of their former selves.

All kidding aside, it was a great day.  Some companies just get being in China though.  It’s not an imitation.  They've tailored what they do specifically for here.  McDonald's sells chicken or fish sandwiches, french fries, and chicken wings.  The bone-in kind, since China knows boneless isn't natural.  Starbucks does it best of all.  The drinks are unique to here, as is the food, and the coffee mugs.  They know fast and fake-healthy food works.  It’s just Chinese flavors.  They know good styled mugs with their logo on it have a certain brand cache, but they also know people here prefer tall skinny mugs for their tea.  

Lays and Pringles have done a nice adaption here too – even if “fermented soy bean prawn flavor” grosses the hell out of me.

While we’re on the topic of “close”.  The subway is great here, but there’s nothing like the feeling of hundreds of people leaning on you.  At least it’s more authentic than a s’more.