My friend and ODW colleague Nafees found out this week that he’s receiving his second(!) technical achievement Academy Award. To celebrate, we all went out to a dinner last night. The restaurant’s cuisine was from the far western Chinese province of 新疆 (Xīnjiāng or “New Frontier” though not to be confused with Justice League: New Frontier as I know some of you are wont to do.) You may know this region for its Uyghur ethnic group, a Muslim population which is often violently at odds with the People’s Republic and it’s predominantly Han ethnic population.
The influence of the Middle East via the Silk Road can be seen in the food — no pork, lots of lamb, tons of spices — which was absolutely delicious. Many of us also enjoyed black beer, which is a Xīnjiāng region stout.