Notes from China

Notes from China
-sort of –
-not really –

Dec. 20, 2008

Like many towns or areas across the USA, ours has that great American Institution.
THE LOCAL CHINESE RESTAURANT.

We actually have 4 (used to be 5) with in (what is probably) a 10 mile stretch on Hwy. 90. Two of these are menu only and two are buffet style.

We went to one the other night and after we ate and were paying the bill we witnessed one of the most entertaining exchanges between 2 people.
Very little (maybe none at all) words were spoken by one party.
We were paying the bill and one of the cooks brought a “to go” box and put it on the counter by the lady who took our money. She looked at the box, grabbed it and said something fast in half Chinese – half American. She had a disenchanted scowl on her face as she held the box. She immediately began to work on the wire handle of the box. It was totally bent out of shape. As though mesmerized by whatever authority she had over him, the cook just stood there. We, as innocent bystanders, also looked at both of them. As she spoke she looked at him and us. She completed her wire work and wiped the top of the box. She told him something we couldn’t totally make out and he went back to the kitchen to clean the box. She told us sorry – I think – and proceeded to finalize our transaction. Then she said that it is hard to work with the cook because of the language barrier. That is our translation of what she told us. You see, the cook was Latin and we can only assume that he spoke little or no English – based on her broken English explanation to us. It was all rather enjoyable and fun.
It made for a great ending for our meal.

Sports Illustrated has a segment each week that is titled “Sign of the Apocalypse”.
I had my own “Sign of the Apocalypse” moment at the Chinese restaurant.
You know the Apocalypse is close when your local Chinese restaurant is skimpy on the Black mushrooms in their Hot and Sour soup.

Well, we went back the next day and discovered it wasn’t the Apocalypse after all. The next night, the Hot and Sour soup was FULL of those wonderful Black mushrooms.

But much to our disappointment, we did not get an encore of the Chinese-American/Latino-American “go box” exchange.