Where I Am

Dear imaginary readers,

I deeply apologized for my delinquency. Not that you've necessarily noticed, but I've been away for a WHILE. I've been living here now for about 2.5 months. The Blonde Man and I have battled bugs,teens and bureaucratic nonsense, but we've come out alive. As I said in my last post, I now teach Art to high schoolers (grades 10, 11 & 12). The younger ones are pretty okay for the most part, the seniors are pretty much devil spawn right now. Not really,.... but I kind of hate them. But not really...well, maybe a little.

The school we're teaching at is located in Dujiangyan, a 'suburb' (ahem, if you call a pop. of 800,000 a suburb)of Chengdu. Chengdu (pronounced Chung-doo) is the capital city of Sichuan Province. Some of you may have heard of Szechuan Kitchen, or Szechuan chicken or Szechuan peppercorns. No. It is Sichuan. It's the home of the panda and Kung Pow Chicken (gung bao jiding). The characaters for Sichuan (四川) mean four rivers, and it's regarded as a land of plenty. It's subtropical (read: HUMID) and very, very green. Even now, in October flowers are still blooming, though I wouldn't say it's warm.

Chengdu is big, grey, green and has a lot of motorbikes/motorcylces. It's unfortunate, but I would have to say it's...kind of ugly. Dujiangyan, where I live and spend 98.9% of my time, however is a bit better. The sunny days are few, but when it is...

...When it is sunny, it's pretty nice. Most of the time is a bit gray around here, and it rains at night pretty often. The town though is pretty modern, and cute. Dujiangyan has spent the last few years repairing damages from the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake. There are still parts of the city with condemned apartment complexes, but the Shanghainese government has given a lot of aid to the city, so clean up and beautification of the city has really taken off. Later, I'll show you some of the local markets and things, I'll tell you about the food, and the trip I went on the first week of October, but for now I need to make some dinner!

A Breakfast Nazi in China

Now, I am not picky in the traditional sense of the word... I will eat anything three times. Yes, three times. Never judge a food by its chef. I love Italian, Mexican, South American, Spanish, German, Japanese, French and Middle Eastern foods. Let's face it, I love food in many of its incarnations from around the globe. For some reason though, (most likely the Universe's prank on the Blonde Man, my friends and family, AND me) I've never been the biggest fan of Chinese food..or Thai food.

I know.

....no, really.

I KNOW!

Everyone likes Thai food! I've never met someone who doesn't like a nice Thai curry. But really. Of the maybe 10 things I, as a rule, don't like, broccoli, peanuts, and sweet and salty dinner foods are in the top 5 and at least one of those things is true about Thai food at any given time.

'What about Breakfast-for-Dinner?', you say. 'That's a sweet and salty dinner food! Heck, that's a sweet and salty any time food! Pancakes and sausage are great!'

The answer to that is...no. Just no. I eat omelettes. I eat bacon or sausage. I eat eggs benedict with spinach. I eat buttered toast. I eat pancakes, french toast, waffles, and yogurt too. But I do not eat those things all together.
Sorry, Breakfast Nazi here.

...Glad we got that settled.

What does this have to do with China? Well, as I mentioned before my Thai food inspired breakfast rules tangent, I don't like Chinese food. Or, there was a long tradition of my disliking it before I went. So much so, that a friend said in response to me telling her my new China life plan 'But you HATE Chinese food!!'

Yes. But, I didn't go to China for the food, and I wasn't going to not go because of the food either. IT DOESN'T SCARE ME! Me and China haven't always seen eye to eye though. Sometimes things like Chou Doufu (literally Ugly Tofu, I'm pretty sure)could convince me that Chinese food and I wouldn't ever get along. I mean, it's tofu fermented in old cabbage water. Who eats old cabbage water? Why would you save old cabbage water? The smell is enough to melt your nose hairs.

Most of the time, though, we had meals like this:

Clockwise starting at the left: Zucchini with Wood Ear Mushrooms, Ziran Yangrou 'Cumin Seed Lamb' (Pieces of lamb fried with salt, chile powder and whole cumin seeds served on a bed of green onions and cilantro), Gungbao Jiding 'Kung Pao Chicken' (Chicken in a sweet and sour sauce fried with chiles, garlic, green onions, zucchini and peanuts) and last, but definitely not least (actually my fav) Xiang La Tudou Si 'Crispy Spicy Potato Pieces' (shredded potatoes fried, then tossed with dried chiles, salt, green onions, ginger and cilantro) which we affectionately called Potato Tower, due to the sometimes ridiculously high stacks this was served in. It's really just a spicy french fry salad, and how could you not love that?

Almost every single thing I had in China was unlike things I expected to find there based on my limited Chinese food experiences in the States. (Except Kung Pao Chicken, the ubiquitous Western/foreigner friendly favorite served in virtually every restaurant here AND there. Yes, it's sweet... No, I don't like it. Give up.) I got over my hatred of Chinese food, and have really enjoyed trying all the different dishes and regional cuisines. I do get a little restless sometimes. A girl can only go so long without a slice of cheese here or there or a nice fajita.

Once I get back, I'll be in Sichuan province, land of the Sichuan peppercorn, a floral tasting, hot peppercorn that makes your mouth go numb. It's said that they eat the peppercorns in their food so they can eat even spicier meals. Interesting. Bring it on.