Oh, street food vendors where art thou?

I'm losing weight. I have to be careful when I walk down the street to avoid falling through cracks in the sidewalk.

I'd like to attribute my shrinkage to some kind of fitness or diet but the simple truth is that I'm running out of places to eat. Every time I head out into my district of Beijing, it seems a place where I used to find food has disappeared.

Back in the good old days - it must have been at least three months ago - I used to love buying hot chicken sandwiches from a tiny vendor's shop in a nearby alley. They consisted of red roasted chicken, an omelet, some salad and hot sauce, all on a delicious handmade bun. OK, it wasn't probably health food, and the vendor's premises were primitive, but to me and many other customers it was a treat for just 5 yuan (78 US cents). The lady who made them got to know me and started preparing my sandwich as soon as she saw me.