One of the worst parts of going to China in August is that August is the best month to be in Portland. The weather is usually great, there are lots of free outdoor concerts to go to, and the farmer's market finally has good tomatoes. It's hard to get an exceptional tomato in Portland--the weather is just not hot enough for long enough. This year's tomatoes will generally be late, since it was cold for so long. I hope that we have a late summer to match the late spring so that the tomatoes in our garden will be worth eating when I get back to PDX at the end of August.

On the flip side, I am excited to see what types of produce will be available in Beijing during August. I know that China is one of the world's largest producers of tomato paste, but I don't know if this means that there will be lots of good fresh tomatoes in the markets. If not, maybe there will be some other type of fruit that is even better! I'll let you know.