Green Island Beer

Hooray! Almost finished with my Sichuan cookbook called What was it again? Cook, something cook, something Sichuan. Something. Anyway, in it I praise that beer so loved and, amazingly, hated, all over the world: “Tsingtao”.

Yes it pains me to write it like that although it’s a brand name, because it’s neither Cantonese nor Mandarin. Cantonese: Cheng Dou, Mandarin: Qingdao. 青島。Green Island.

What? But didn’t I say in my entry only yesterday that ‘green’ was 綠色 (luk sek – green colour)? I did, and that green is indeed the adjective for everyday things like cars, shirts, screwdrivers and green (environmental) movements of various types. 青(cheng) is a poetic word for green and is often found in place names like 青衣 (cheng yi – green clothes, Tsing Yi Island in Hong Kong).

There’s another poetic colour word that means green and blue, namely 碧(bek – green or blue) found in names like 雪碧(suet bek – Snow Green Or Blue,also known as: Sprite!)

Do you know, I didn’t have a photo of a can of Sprite! So it was Cheng Dou again. Oh well.

Oh yes, please buy my online book when it’s published! I’ll let you know when. And also take lessons from me. You’ll learn about drinks, food, and many other things.