(Photo: Tea and Rice.)
We opened the menu to find it was in Chinese…it made sense considering we were in China. French Husband looked and me, and I looked at him, he said, "I am hungry." I agreed. We closed the menus.
When the waitress came up to us we asked if she spoke English. When she responded in Chinese we knew we were in for a treat.
Glancing over to the other diner's plates I pointed to things I liked. Then I would raise my pointer finger to say, "One of those" and shook my head yes as to say please and do you understand.
French Husband took a crazier approach when he said, "Moo, no. Oink, no. Baa, no… We are vegetarian?" Somehow I think the waitress understood.
Later I would laugh with French Husband, "You do know that animals make different sounds in different countries?"
Nevertheless, the waitress brought over three plates of vegetables, noodles and tofu. Glorious feast! Simple goodness. Without Moo, Oink, or Baa.
(Photo: Street Vendor: Chopped Chilies with Garlic.)
While we have been in China we have had many meals in many different places: First class restaurants, simple hole in the walls, street vendors… in cities, out in the country, on boats, and on many little streets and down alleyways.
(Photo: Chinese Fast Food.)
Each and every meal has been a royal treat. Not a single disappointment! Though there has been massive amounts of confusion. Oh, if only we weren't vegetarian we could have simply pointed, and waited for the surprise.
We haven't been sick either, though many of the small places wash their dishes with cold water, we have seen vegetables washed in the river, and a few other things that I dare not mention that made our stomachs turn. But in the end we haven't been sick. French Husband said, "We are tougher than what we think." I added, "Or faithfully hungry with a lucky eye leading us."
My most favorite meal so far in China, and let me tell you it is a hard, hard choice because I have plenty of favorites, and extra padding to prove it! Was when we were in Longsheng, the terraced rice fields, which I plan to write about soon. While trekking the terraces we came upon some farmers working on a small section of the rice fields. They had planted some vegetables in between the rice season. The large bright yellow mustard flowers gave such a delicate perfume as they cut them and stacked them in a hand made basket.
We followed them.
In a small hole in the wall restaurant, if one dared to call it that, we had sauteed mustard greens with garlic, rice and tea (pointing again helped us out).
By far the most enjoyed meal to date.
(Photo: Sticky Rice Dumplings… Food from heaven.)
The first night we went out to dinner with Chelsea she pulled out a list of foods written in Chinese and in English. This way she could simply point to things she liked, and communicate with ease in between. Chelsea has mastered keywords and phrases. We sat beaming proudly of her, and our stomach leaped with joy!
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