Happy New Year From Beijing: A Quieter (but Work-Filled) January

Hi Everyone,

Thank you again for returning to my Astronomer in Beijing Blog. I hope you’re all doing well, staying safe and healthy, and enjoying the start of 2024. Here in China, January is always a bit of a weird month (at least for me) because obviously it’s the beginning of a new calendar year, but because of the Chinese academic calendar, it’s also the end of the semester (Tsinghua’s semester ends on Wednesday) and the start of the Lunar New Year season (this year will be the year of the dragon). So it doesn’t really fell quite like a new year yet until all of the Lunar New Year decorations are up (you’ll get a taste of a little in this month’s post). In case you’re wondering, New Year’s in Beijing (at least mine) was pretty anticlimactic. Since there are no fireworks allowed in the inner five rings of Beijing (Beijing is a ring city, and I live in the 2nd ring, Tsinghua is in the 4th, so that’s a pretty large area), the clock just changes without much fanfare. I did have a nice meal with some of the other postdocs I know on the 30th, but definitely not the most festive New Years. This will also be a shorter post since I’ve mostly been working on postdoc applications since my December blog post, but I did find time to do a few fun things and have some good meals, so I hope you enjoy hearing about it!

Vegans of Beijing Cooking Class – Handmade Noodles with Mushroom Broth

Last week at the January Vegans of Beijing Cooking Class with Chef Chao, I got to learn how to make handmade noodles! Although I’ve made pasta before (shoutout to my friend and fellow Tsinghua Astronomy postdoc Daniele for making pasta with us last winter), it was really exciting to learn to make my own noodles! I’ve really enjoyed all of the noodle dishes here in China, so it was cool to see how they differ from their Italian counterpart. At this month’s class, we made a mushroom noodle soup, combining two of my favorite foods! Before we made the noodles, we started with an appetizer of vinegar peanuts. Because we needed the peanuts to cool off after frying, we started cooking them first. We started with raw peanuts and after washing them, we fried them in a decent amount of oil, allowing them to brown (I accidentally burnt mine the first time, so I had to do it twice). For the vinegar, we mixed Chinese black vinegar with soy sauce, garlic and chili. Once the peanuts were cool, we slathered the sauce over the peanuts, creating a very tasty dish!

After whetting our cooking appetite with the peanuts, we got to work with the main thrust of the class, which was making noodles! If you’ve never made noodles by hand (and I mean entirely by hand, the only equipment we used was a cutting board, bowl, chop stick to stir the flour, and cleaver to cut the noodles), it’s really tough and incredibly tiring! For the dough, we only used two ingredients, flour and water. However, unlike the jiaozi we made last month, the ratios were different, so the amount of time we needed to spend kneading the dough increased dramatically! We must have spent a good 30 minutes kneading the dough. While you start out mixing it with your chopsticks, once the dough gets more of a gummy-dough-like consistency, you just continuously fold it and flatten in until, eventually, you have a sleek looking dough ball (my wrists were very tired from pressing the dough into the cutting board). While we let the dough rest before rolling it out and cutting the noodles, we prepared our mushroom soup (though we waited to cook the soup until the noodles were made). For this, we used two different types of dried mushrooms (dried shiitake and a long twig-like dried mushroom called congcaohua). Interestingly (and deliciously), we used the mushroom water (what the mushrooms had been soaking in) as our broth for the extra mushroom punch! To that, we added baby bok choy, coriander, and ginger. For the veggies, we first sauteed the mushrooms, ginger, and coriander before adding the mushroom water for our rich broth. Once that was ready, we were back to the noodles! After all of the kneading and then rolling, I can definitely see why people use pasta makers. It’s really hard to roll out a ball of dough and get it uniform and super thin! Chef Chao did an excellent job of showing us what to do, but it did feel like we were rolling forever. After rolling the dough well beyond the size of the cutting board, it was finally thin enough to cut. Once it was, we added flour to the dough, we rolled the dough (but much wider this time, creating a layered dough that was easier to cut. As Chef Chao showed us, we could then put our fingers between the dough and get all of the noodles separated in one shot (I was not able to do this). After the noodles were cut, we boiled them and our bok choy and added them to our soup! The final meal was delicious! This was definitely another amazing cooking class and I cannot wait for the next one (though it probably won’t be until March given the Lunar New Year Holiday). I’m definitely excited to make noodles again, though I can’t imagine making a full meal of noodles for multiple people, one portion was challenging enough!

Life At Tsinghua/Astronomy Update

Like last month’s post, most of my Astronomy work has been spent continuing to apply for postdocs. As of today, I’ve applied to 58 positions in either the US, Europe, or Canada. At this point, I’m definitely feeling the exhaustion from just reading my own cover letters and research statement. I will note that I have had interviews for positions, so this is not a scream into the void and hear nothing back endeavor, but I still have yet to hear from over 50% of the positions I applied to and outside of what is posted on the Astronomy Rumor Mill (yes, there is a message board where people ask if anyone knows the job status of different positions – both for postdoc and for faculty jobs), I have no idea where those jobs are in the hiring process. I’m definitely a bundle of nerves when it comes to all of this, especially since I know that I’ll be leaving China at the end of June and I would really like to know where I’m going next.

Beyond the job front, I have had a little bit of time (and should have some more time over the Lunar New Year holiday) to do actual science. I am continuing to chip away at Project Low-Z, my study of bent radio AGNs in local universe galaxy clusters with Jesse. I think there’s a real chance that the science should be wrapped up sometime in the next couple of weeks. I also had some really good conversations about Project Morphology with my collaborators and have a very clear game plan of what else I am planning to do for that project so that I can attempt to wrap that paper up over the break as well (although I’ll definitely try to sleep in a bit – or as much as Goldie will let me – I’ll be working during the break).

Outside of that, the Astronomy Department also had it’s annual year end meeting. While there were no fun activities this year (two years ago, my supervisor, Zheng, played the guitar, and last year, I sang), I thought I’d share a few pictures from the event since the room was decked out for Lunar New Year.

Jewish Life in Beijing

Since my last blog post, we’ve had four amazing Shabbat’s here in Beijing. While the crowds have been lower (between the Western Holidays and the upcoming Lunar New Year, there is definitely a contingent of people who are traveling), I’ve really enjoyed the services! I had the opportunity to lead/co-lead three of the services and give three d’var torahs! Although I’m not a biblical scholar, I’ve enjoyed reading through the torah portion (especially since we were in the Joseph story and now the Passover story) and telling the community about my thoughts and having discussions. In terms of the dinners, Ted continues to spoil us with amazing meals! This month, we had a New Years’ Shabbat, two fun Shabbats celebrating historic events on the day (the 5th and 19th – really look at the food names, Ted is super creative), and Berber New Year Shabbat!

Goldie!!!

As my time in China is slowly coming to a close, this was another important month for Goldie. On Monday, she got her titre test done, which will test the rabies vaccine antibodies in her blood and allow her to travel with me wherever I go next. While she doesn’t like being in the cat backpack at all – she basically meowed the whole cab ride to the vet (I’m going to order the cat carrier for the plane this week so that she can get used to it), she did do her part at the vet and hopefully all the results will come back positively. Outside of that, Goldie has been a great help to me this month. She’s constantly keeping me company when I work in my living room, which is really nice, and she’s been well behaved during my interviews – she’s just napped on the couch. Goldie’s also been enjoying her burrowing and recently has been enjoying crawling under the covers in the morning (I think the cold Beijing weather helps).

Goldie also had two more visitors this month and each time, she seemed very interested in their attention. Interestingly, when we were at the vet, there was a cat lounging on the couch next to her (she was in the pet backpack) while this cat was not, and although the other cat was interested in sniffing the backpack, Goldie didn’t seem to notice (maybe she was too stressed out being in the backpack).

Exploring Beijing – Lunar New Year Decorations & Other Fun Things

As I mentioned at the top of this blog post, the Lunar New Years decorations are starting to creep out in Beijing. While I’m sure the next (and possibly next two) blog posts will include even more photos of decorations, I thought you’d enjoy seeing these ones!

Also, in going around Beijing this month, I also saw a number of other cool signs, bike blankets, and went to a very fun cafe with some of the quirkiest decorations I’ve ever seen (the last eight photos). Enjoy!

Vegan Food

As I mentioned, on December 30th, in honor of New Years, I went to Bottega, an award winning pizzeria here in Beijing (it was rated the second best pizzeria in all of Asia – including Australia) with some of the other Astronomy postdocs. While they don’t have vegan cheese, they do offer a vegan pie (it’s basically just sauce and crust with some garlic and oil, but it was delicious!

While I didn’t go out to eat a ton this month, I did have two fantastic meals with my fellow Astronomy postdocs. On Sunday, we went to Fuhui Ciyuan, the vegetarian restaurant near the Forbidden City (and my favorite restaurant in Beijing) for Richard’s birthday. Because there were 7 of us, we were able to get some delicious dishes! It was so good! We got jasmine tea, papaya juice, crispy mushrooms, shredded tofu skin veggie chick’n, mustard mushrooms, vegetarian mock eel, spicy vegetarian fish, bok choy, crispy eggplant, veggie balls, spinach & toon pancake, and fried rice!

Also, after the end of year meeting on Friday, we went out to lunch at BRBR, the Syrian restaurant near Tsinghua. While I really like Chinese food, I also love a good hummus, so it’s always wonderful to get to eat some that somebody else made! I got a lemon mint juice, Arabic tea, hummus, babaganoush, tabouleh, & falafel.

Of course, I also did some of my own vegan cooking this month. I made a mushroom & rice soup, tomato soup, and a pinto bean soup! I also made some delicious dandan noodles!

China Drawings

While I haven’t had a ton of time to draw these past few months, I did finally finish a drawing that I’ve been working on the last few months (mostly finishing up the inking). Let me know what you think!

Animals of Beijing

While Goldie is my favorite cat, I also saw a number of other cats in the neighborhood (as well as the cat at the vet). I’m definitely a bit concerned that I still see so many cats outdoors as it’s still quite cold in Beijing (though not as cold as early December). When I can, I try to give them snacks if they’ll let me. I know some of them live in my neighbor’s apartment, so I hope they all have some place warm to stay. And of course, I got to see my favorite puppies in Beijing (Roberta and Ted’s dogs Mimi & Honey)! Also, I finally was able to capture a photo of the blue birds that are all over Beijing (see the last photo)!

What am I Reading/Watching?

While I was busy working on applications, I did finish a few different TV shows this month. Just before New Years, I finished season 3 of Slow Horses on Apple TV+. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, a jaded, alcoholic MI5 agent who leads the team of rejects from Slough House in investigating matters of the state. It’s a very witty spy drama with a lot of action and political intrigue (this season had a lot of political intrigue). I highly recommend it! I also finished watching Lego Masters Season 3 on Fox. Lego Masters is basically the cooking competition of Lego. It’s a fun show and it’s always really cool to see the amazing displays that people build. I also finished watching season 4 of For All Mankind (also on Apple TV+). For my money, For All Mankind might be the best show I’m watching now. It’s an alternate history space race, where season 1 kicks off with the Soviets getting to the moon first and everything spins from there. While season 1 starts in the 1960s, we’ve now progressed to the 2000s, where the protagonist, Ed Baldwin (still played by Joel Kinnaman via the power of makeup) is now in his 60s/70s and is the old man on the Martian station (yes, we have people on Mars! – And also JWST way earlier, too). This season focuses a lot on the workers on the Martian station (note workers are not necessarily astronauts) and the difficulties of life on Mars, as well as continuing to excellently balance the US-USSR political intrigue (in this history, the USSR has not fallen). I won’t spoil the end, since it’s pretty dramatic, but the show really does an amazing job portraying what could have been with space travel! I can’t wait for the next season. I also finished watching season 2 of Reacher on Amazon Prime! For those of you unfamiliar, Reacher is an action show adapting Lee Child’s novels and starring Alan Ritchson as the titular character, an ex-Army police officer. In this season, we see more of Reacher’s own brand of violent justice, this time joined by his former army team, the Special Investigators, as they work to uncover details on the mysterious deaths of two of their own. It’s a little over the top at times, but I definitely recommend it! This month, I also finished watching Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the last of the major Batman Animated series that I was watching/re-watching. I had not watched this when it originally aired and while at times it was a bit more Adam West-style camp, it was definitely a love letter to silver age comics and really fun! I also FINALLY finished Attack on Titan! For the non-anime fans, I say finally because the 4th season was broken into 3 parts, with the first part airing in December 2020 and the last part airing in January 2024 – so yeah, definitely some creative licensing when it comes to what is/isn’t a season. However, I loved the end! I know it’s controversial among anime circles, but I liked seeing a justification (even if it’s a strange one) for Eren Yeager’s actions and I liked getting a sense of closure for the characters and the world. I think having the conclusion basically be a 1.5 hour movie actually worked really well for building the tension and setting up the stakes! Also, on New Year’s, I watched Blue Beetle, the DC movie that came out in August (but didn’t get a Chinese release). While it’s not a perfect film (there were some changes from the comics I didn’t love), it was overall a really fun movie! I thought Xolo Mariduena was great as Jaime Reyes (the new Blue Beetle) and I really liked how they showed the scarab and his powers. It was a very fun film and I definitely recommend it!

On the reading front, I just started reading Artemis, Andy Weir’s second novel. It’s definitely hard sci-fi and although I’m not too far into it, I’m really enjoying it! I also finished reading volumes 7 & 8 of the Hilo series by Judd Winick! I have to applaud the transition from Hilo as the main character to a secondary character and the elevation of Gina as the main character. I think it allows the story to evolve and I’m excited to see more!

East Meets West

While much of the signs of the west that I saw this month were in the form of Christmas trees and Christmas decorations, I also saw a few examples of Disney, Spongebob, Toy Story, and Tom & Jerry, as well as the most interesting bag of Alvin & the Chipmunk snacks in the grocery store near me!

Anime & Comics

And of course, no Astronomy in Beijing post would be complete without showing what anime, manga, and comics paraphernalia that I saw. While I didn’t see as much, I did see some fun Batman, Mario, Doraemon, Pokemon, and Spiderman bike gear. I also saw a cool Evangelion jacket, as well as Dragon Ball Z & Shin-Chan figurines!

However, by far, the coolest anime-adjacent display I saw was at the Qinghuadonluxikou subway station (the station closest to Tsinghua’s campus), where it was taken over by advertisements for a new Tencent game that was definitely styled after anime! I’m not sure what the game is about or how to play, but the character designs are really cool!

As always, if you got this far, thank you so much for reading my Astronomer in Beijing blog. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to write me either below or directly. It’d be great to hear from you. It’ll be the Lunar New Year next month here and while I don’t know what I’ll do to celebrate (though I do know I have a few more postdoc applications to submit), I’ll be sure to show you next time! Stay safe and healthy! I hope you all have a fantastic rest of January and a good start to February.

In Peace,

Emmet