The other day my friend asked me to show her the Chinese market I have talked about near here. It is very convenient to ride to and has most of the things I need. Also there is the great veggie market across the street from it. Going there is down a typical 'Chinese' street. There are piles of trash along the way. I cannot tell if the locals do not have or just do not use trash cans.....We have them here in the compound....It does seem that the piles do not grow exponentially so at some point there must be trash collection and they just shovel it into the trucks......haven't seen it, not sure I want to be around when they scoop...a bit ripe just sitting there, disturb the pile and all bets are off!! We tried to find the meat market another friend told me about but it seems to have closed....people say little markets come and go rapidly. Also restaurants suffer the same fate. I don't know how the Chinese restaurants even survive, prices are so low. Last week I ran into some people I knew at school, they were heading out to lunch and invited me along. We went to a very nice Chinese place. There were five of us, we ordered six dishes, ate all we wanted/could, four of us took home leftovers and each of us only paid 48rmb. Remember from my last post it is 6.3 rmb to 1 US dollar. Back to the title of this post.....it is so easy to get distracted.....Squirrels, adorable little squirrels in a cage in the market we were in. We thought they were so cute we took pictures.....I forgot all about it until last night when I was showing Olivia some other picture I took for her. I keep commenting on the fact that they were right there in the meat area. Why were live animals in the market?? They were so cute.....then Olivia says "They must eat them." That is the only explanation! I said..."oh gross, no they don't, who eats squirrels?" Ha ha ha! A realization comes into my brain. My father eats squirrels, my friend in SC eats squirrels! I used to hunt with my dad for squirrels...(I do not think I ever ate one.) It is just a different place to procure them. The woods with a gun or the market where they probably kill and clean them for you. Different world!! (sorry the picture is not so great, used the phone and tried to zoom on the critter) I did mention this to another friend and she didn't really think they were for eating....if not why were they in the meat section??
Another thing you do not see too often...or would that be not at all?...in American cities is public toilets. On the street to the market there is a free standing building with a sign, Public Toilet. There are two women there all day long to keep it clean. I have not had occasion to use this facility, however it is nice to know that I could? Oh yeah, I would imagine it would be using a squat pot!!
Back to the nice restaurant we went to. In the nicer restaurants they have large round tables with a lazy susan in the middle. If you come in a group you will be seated at one of these. Food is brought to the table on serving platters as it is expected that you all share, family style. It is brought out as it is cooked....not all dishes at one time as you expect in America. You start eating as it is brought out, spinning the lazy susan to bring the dish in front of you. You just reach for what you want with your chopsticks. There are no serving utensils unless the dish is very juicy. If you have an aversion to eating that way I guess you might be able to ask for your own dish of food to keep to yourself........I have not seen this done, everyone just shares:) You have to pace yourself and not eat too much from the first dishes brought out because you always forget how many were ordered when you are in a group!
Love, sincerely, fondly,
zaijian,
Ramona
No comments:
Post a Comment