but here's what WAS the surprise. she found my IKEA plastic children's trays and decided to serve my lunch on that. how festive. plus, as a change of pace, we had something served in a bowl! a BOWL!! (and not just any bowl - i think mom and i discovered these polish gems a few years ago. and they've travelled all this way, just to have noodly noodles and zhu rou served in them.
you did notice the obligatory glass of water (at least i get mine served relatively cool - tepid, perhaps. thank gawd it ain't hot, like i'm told it SHOULD be).
methinks these are the only chopsticks i have that ayi knows how to find. or maybe she just thinks these are the lunch chopsticks (i never get a spoon or a fork. EVER).
notice the glistening soup? i tell ya. if it's got a vegetable innit, it's gotta glisten. how many teeny tiny pieces of zhu rou can you spot today? don't worry - there were many many more hidden under the bai cai (buy tseye - that's the green baby bok choy you see in there. i swear, i go to the market and i see what looks to be all the same baby bok choy and they're all labeled differently. when i'm on my own (and really want to pay more money than ayi pays - "tai gui le" she exclaims when i come back on my own - "too expensive!!") i buy some different labels of the same green baby bok choy looking thingies. and guess what? it tastes the same. i think i have a relatively discerning palate. whassup w/dat?
ok ok. so the noodly noodles were in a tasteless broth served with watery slimy mushrooms (mo gu - moh goo - i ate it - you learn it). i do not understand why she keeps buying the same brown slimy mushrooms (i mean, mo gu)?
i ate all my greens. some of the noodles, a few slimy mushrooms, and yah... a few zhu rou slipped past my uvula, too.
no. i do NOT know what this was. something akin to kimchee. but we're in china, not korea, so they must call it something else. i know they were vegetables. i know they were pickled. and they were served cold. rather crunchy, too. not BAD the first time, but all afternoon it's been repeating on me, so not so good the next few times.
oh. and lest you thought i forgot.... chinese eggplant - qie zi (this one's harder to pronounce --chee-eh zzzuh. allthough the zi is just a soft ending - you don't really hear it at all. soft endings are not easy for me. zi, ci, si, zhi, chi, shi, ri.)
1 comment:
Sandy,
We have an oriental grocery just blocks from our house, very large, with lots of odd and unusual products. Most of the labels are in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese, so it's a guessing game to figure out the identities if no Engrish translation is given. Evan and I were checking out the fish and meat dept the other day, and reading your pork liver adventure reminded me of the bounty we saw there. My favorite "pork bung" I didn't take down the Chinese name, you can look it up (or not). (Actually, you'd better--don't eat bung!)
The other thing you reminded me of was the variously labeled bok choy, which this market has much of. If you ever learn the diference, please let me know. We go to this market because of the fresh (and inexpensive) Asian produce, but I usually stay in my safety zone. When I try to ask about the uses of unfamiliar veggies I get very vague and unenlightening responses or, more often, smiles and nods. (Does this ever happen to you?)
Anyway, next time we go there, we'll think of you.
Have a good lunch! (Bung-free, hopefully)
Allen
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