A funny thing happened on the way to the Forums

By now I should have posted an impressive collection of accounts of the best small eats venues from far-flung areas of Shanghai in the eatingchinese forums. But my already stressed old body was overtaxed by my zeal and I spent a week of mandatory chilling out in the cardiac care unit of People's Hospital Number 6 on Yishan Lu. Thanks to the ministrations of Nurse Jin, who was infatuated with my beard, as well as the chou doufu* carried in for lunch by my wife, who hurried to Shanghai to be with me (and perhaps to save Nurse Jin from me), I left the hospital feeling better than I had in months and with a new outlook on life. Henceforth I will always stop to smell the roses, or at least the *stinky tofu. Leisurely pace or not, I still managed to sample every bao, jiao, tiao, mantou and bing in sight of the Hang Hui Hotel (not in your guidebook) as well as dine in some fancier sit-downers like Shanghai Uncle and some destination xiao chi havens like Xiao Yang's for shenjiang baozi and Wan Shou Zhai for the "da huntun." Expect photos and accounts of these to appear here in the Forums.