The green one had little chunks of aloe in it but tasted oddly like the under-ripe sour grapes that used to grow in my grandparents' backyard in Scarborough except they'd added enough sugar to make the whole thing tolerable. The orange one was unsweetened iced-tea! Available for mass consumption! This single beverage lead to me to a re-evaluation of this whole food blog in Asia concept. As much as it seemed cool, my palette hasn't developed in the right way to do reasonable reviews of food. I'm going to try sort of an honest reactions thing, but if it gets boring then I'll just give an itinerary of everything I'm doing and leave this whole place for my mother to read and leave it at that.
That being said, lunch was fantastic.
After being pointed in the direction of "the best beef noodle place" and told to order the sixth thing over ("dry beef noodle") I walked in, sat down, and was presented with a little ordering sheet in Mandarin. Well, I counted to six and put a check beside it. The woman gave me a confused look to which I gave a smile meant to communicate "I don't really care what it is, just some lunch, this place smells nice". A woman joined me at the table; she schooled me in the proper spoon-chopsticks-slurping method of eating and we exchanged companionable smiles. She finished before me and went over to a table of school boys; in English, one of them asked me where I was from and told me she'd paid for my lunch! Really? I'm starting to like this place.
Also recommended:
A beer and build your own deep fry with an Australian:
The other two beers were Corona and Budweiser!
So, this was cool, you take everything, put it in a basket, and then it gets deep fried and sauced for you:
That being said, I find liver difficult to take. Fermented tofu, however! Yes! It's tofu that doesn't taste like nothing. It has sort of a similar effect to adding a ton of mushrooms to a pasta dish.
I can tell that this blog will be hilarious. Sounds like you're meeting nice people, and that's good. Where are you posting from?
ReplyDeleteYum! Looks scrummy. Find more people to help you find more good food. To me that seems like a recipe for success. This morning I had bacon and egg on rosemary bread with a cup of tea. We are, indeed, worlds apart. I love you still! xo
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about your frank reactions to Australians in your travels. Of course I don't endorse the stereotyping of nationalities! Nonetheless, experience tells me that most tales of Australian hijinks need no exaggeration. Just tell us what the Aussies (--that's "Ozzies", not anything that apparently sounds like "Pussies"... don't ask--) are doing out there, and I'll be all ears.
ReplyDeleteWishing you the best!
Well, this was a retired librarian. We drank two beers, ate dinner, and he browsed for watches at the night market. From him, I learned how to ask for directions and say 'thank-you" in Mandarin. Mostly, we talked about books and I asked him about his travel stories. Overall, he was extremely pleasant.
ReplyDelete