Well, after a three to four month hiatus, I have returned. These four months have been filled with activity, mostly of a studious nature. However, I have had an opportunity to socialize, and I have had some rich experiences.
This weekend I went to an eatery in Princeton with a new friend of mine who is Chinese. We went to a Chinese restaurant, perhaps not very ironically since I love Asian cuisine. We had a good time.
This was my first time having Chinese steamed buns. I ordered the pork buns, and my friend ordered buns containing a pork-crab mix. I also ordered a mango bubble tea, which was tasty, if a little warm. I already knew what I wanted before I came in, but my friend and I waited to order because we were enjoying ourselves looking at the menus, comparing the Chinese characters of the names of the dishes.
The restaurant had beautiful decorations, booths, place settings, and woodwork. There was a large paragraph in Chinese written on one of the walls. My friend told me the paragraph was a series of compliments to the restaurant. I wish I knew Chinese! The waiters were speaking in a dialect which my Mandarin-speaking friend did not quite make sense of. As we were talking, there was an HDTV set on the wall opposite from us. CNN was showing maps of the nationwide flu epidemic and footage of President Obama and President Hamid Karzai discussing the future of the US's military involvement in Afghanistan. I wish now I had taken pictures--I even had my camera with me, but my friend and I were having so much fun that pictures did not matter to me.
The buns arrived in two round bamboo baskets. A Chinese bun is similar to a dumpling. It is a hollow piece of dough containing a piece of meat and some fatty broth, like a piece wrapping paper rolled up around a baseball. I reached out with my chopsticks, pinched one of the buns at the middle, and dipped it in a small plate of soy sauce and vinegar. As I lifted it to my lips, my chopsticks poked through the doughy membrane, and spilled out all the delicious broth onto my plate. My friend, as a seasoned and native expert at eating these, showed me how to eat them: by gripping the bun by the top with your chopsticks, cradling the bottom in your spoon, then biting through the top and sucking out the broth. I have to admit, this technique was easier, but I still had trouble at it! After a hilarious attempt in which I dropped the bun into the dipping plate and spilled soy-sauce vinegar all over the white table cloth, I decided it would be best if I used a fork.
It was a fun and delicious experience. The pork was so tasty, and the broth even more so. But most of all, I had a delightful evening with my friend. For a few hours, everything else seemed to fade away. I remember the little details and distractions, but the substance of our evening was what made the experience so memorable. What mattered was who we were and where we were, and everything else was incidental. I think I learned something. I hope my friend and I will have many more good times, and I hope you, my reader, will have many good times such as these as well.
This weekend I went to an eatery in Princeton with a new friend of mine who is Chinese. We went to a Chinese restaurant, perhaps not very ironically since I love Asian cuisine. We had a good time.
This was my first time having Chinese steamed buns. I ordered the pork buns, and my friend ordered buns containing a pork-crab mix. I also ordered a mango bubble tea, which was tasty, if a little warm. I already knew what I wanted before I came in, but my friend and I waited to order because we were enjoying ourselves looking at the menus, comparing the Chinese characters of the names of the dishes.
The restaurant had beautiful decorations, booths, place settings, and woodwork. There was a large paragraph in Chinese written on one of the walls. My friend told me the paragraph was a series of compliments to the restaurant. I wish I knew Chinese! The waiters were speaking in a dialect which my Mandarin-speaking friend did not quite make sense of. As we were talking, there was an HDTV set on the wall opposite from us. CNN was showing maps of the nationwide flu epidemic and footage of President Obama and President Hamid Karzai discussing the future of the US's military involvement in Afghanistan. I wish now I had taken pictures--I even had my camera with me, but my friend and I were having so much fun that pictures did not matter to me.
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| Steamed buns in a bamboo steaming box. (Photograph from Global Bhasin.) |
The buns arrived in two round bamboo baskets. A Chinese bun is similar to a dumpling. It is a hollow piece of dough containing a piece of meat and some fatty broth, like a piece wrapping paper rolled up around a baseball. I reached out with my chopsticks, pinched one of the buns at the middle, and dipped it in a small plate of soy sauce and vinegar. As I lifted it to my lips, my chopsticks poked through the doughy membrane, and spilled out all the delicious broth onto my plate. My friend, as a seasoned and native expert at eating these, showed me how to eat them: by gripping the bun by the top with your chopsticks, cradling the bottom in your spoon, then biting through the top and sucking out the broth. I have to admit, this technique was easier, but I still had trouble at it! After a hilarious attempt in which I dropped the bun into the dipping plate and spilled soy-sauce vinegar all over the white table cloth, I decided it would be best if I used a fork.
It was a fun and delicious experience. The pork was so tasty, and the broth even more so. But most of all, I had a delightful evening with my friend. For a few hours, everything else seemed to fade away. I remember the little details and distractions, but the substance of our evening was what made the experience so memorable. What mattered was who we were and where we were, and everything else was incidental. I think I learned something. I hope my friend and I will have many more good times, and I hope you, my reader, will have many good times such as these as well.
We had buns like those for breakfast every day when I was in China. It's one of the things I miss most about my experiences there (good food, beautiful scenery, a new culture, and good company to share it with are always a great combination). I may not visit China again until they change some of their human rights/freedoms policies...but I certainly loved the meal times there. Glad you had such a rich experience...you will have to tell me what restaurant you went to.
ReplyDeleteGlad you like the post. And the cuisine. I will message you with the restaurant's name when I find it.
ReplyDelete