Nixon in China

choi

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Florence Fabricant, Nixon in China, the Dinner, Is Recreated. New York Times, Jan 26, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/dining/26nixon.html?scp=5&sq=nixon%20china%20&st=cse

Quote:

"Despite the avid global attention to the meal, the menu was “not that exciting,” Mr. Tong said. “In those days the Chinese did not know what Americans liked so they served familiar things like roast pork and Chinese sausages, which are not usual banquet dishes,” he said. “There were two shrimp dishes even though shrimp are not typical of Beijing cuisine, because they heard that Americans like shrimp.” Also on the menu were cucumber slices, tomato slices, sliced roast duck with pineapple, and bread and butter. The beverages included “boiled water (cold).”

"Photographs from the trip show that Nixon was adept at using chopsticks but seemed puzzled by some of the food, like the fried gizzards at an all-duck dinner given by Mr. Zhou.

Note:
(a) Michael Tong founded and owns Shun Lee Palace and Sung Lee West.  湯英揆/ 揚州樓/ 順利樓
(b) Metropolitan Opera
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Opera
(The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City; founded April 28, 1880)

Quote: "The home of the company, the Metropolitan Opera House, is considered by many to be one of the premier opera stages in the world, and is among the largest in the world. The Met, as it is commonly called, is one of the twelve resident organizations at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

(c) consommé (n; French, from past participle of consommer to complete, boil down, from Latin consummare to complete — more at CONSUMMATE):
"clear soup made from well-seasoned stock

www.m-w.com
(d) The report said in the opera the guests "stand and toast with tiny glasses of red stuff, supposedly Chinese maotai.

Maotai
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maotai
(distilled from fermented sorghum and now comes in different versions ranging in alcohol content from the standard 53% by volume down to 35%)
is of course transparent.
(e) For "smoke furiously," see
furious (adj): "intense 1a <the furious growth of tropical vegetation>"

(f) Just look at the photographs in two opera reviews.

Anthony Tommasini, President and Opera, on Unexpected Stages. New York Times, Feb 4, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/arts/music/04nixon.html?scp=1&sq=nixon%20china%20&st=cse

Matthew Gurewitsch, Still Resonating From the Great Wall. New York Times, Jan 30, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/arts/music/30nixon.html?scp=3&sq=nixon%20china%20&st=cse

(g) I just checked, and indeed at the Nixon banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, US flag was smaller than China's.
http://peoriabenxi.com/SinoAmerican.aspx
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