Delicious Updates

Sorry, friends, for not having much news this past week. I started teaching social studies in school, a study of food that will lead to a unit where my kids interview the cafeteria workers and eventually make their own cafeteria to serve the parents.
I gave my kids pictures of food from other cultures and had them write questions or guesses about what they were seeing. I gave them some enchiladas, a falafel, stuffed cabbage and pierogies (of course I had to put my polish food in there!) and “American food”, namely a mac and cheese and a chili cheese dog. It was so interesting to hear their guesses, that pierogies were dumplings, tomatoes were chilies, and falafel was meat, and to hear their shock that there was a pile of beans on the Mexican plate, or that the mustard-looking liquid on the hot dog was cheese.

I'd say 80% of what I eat here is rice with some type of veggies. I buy all the veggies I need to cook for a week from a cart on my street for 18 RMB, about $2 (US). I also go out to eat and get usually Japanese, Korean BBQ, and Indian. I do get the occasional pizza sometimes, which is really only good from this one place called Kros Nest.

The other day I ordered "caramelized bananas" which turned out to be banana balls coated in liquid sugar. The coating tasted like candy apples. It came out steaming and we we told (through mime, of course) to dip it in a bowl of water before eating. We weren't sure if this was just because it was so hot, so we continued to do it even after the balls had hardened into one giant sculpture of sugary banana candy.

I am getting used to the food, even oddities like eating a whole cooked fish- with chopsticks! I've even acquired some favorite dishes that I need to break out of, like spicy potato from the Szechuan place down the street.

I’ve found that embracing the Chinese food is the best idea here, rather than trying to make familiar food. I tried to make mashed potatoes the other day, but since we have no milk or butter or salt, it was really just a potato in a bowl. I don’t even have a fork, so it was pretty lumpy, even though I did the best I could with a metal spoon. I put a little broth from the duck soup I’d made out of our leftovers (just boiling the meat and bones, and then adding veggies and dumplings), and a bit of sesame oil. I’m not saying it tasted bad, but it certainly didn’t transport me home.

Kelly cracked this week and bought a round little loaf of French bread and some brie cheese from a fancy foreign grocery store in the center of Beijing. It was so delicious and filling that it became our dinner.

Things I’m not used to yet: leaving the eggs on the counter. For whatever reason, because they’re not pumped with whatever chemicals I’m used to, I don’t have to keep them in the fridge. I know this, but every time I see them there on the kitchen counter, I think, “oh no! I left the eggs out!”