Chinese Cuisine

Dear Mom,

Please excuse the next few lines because they include acts of messy table manners.

Love always,

Martha

When I returned from China last spring, everyone asked me what I would miss. The crazy traffic? The colorful markets? The breathtaking landscapes outside my window? Yes, I guess those would be included in my list. Although, the item that reached number one on my lists of things that I would miss from China was the food, especially soup noodles. As I said in my last blog entry, I enjoyed them the first night I arrived in China, and so far I have had them every single day since then.

Maybe its the warmth of the broth that allows chives, hot peppers, bamboo shoots, quail eggs, and chicken to swim around. Or maybe its the large bowl that covers your entire face when you pick it up the get the last remaining rice noodles. No matter what the excuse is, this girl can’t get enough of them. The slurping of the noodles from bowl to mouth is a true art. I feel like I’m still at the intermediate stage where I can still grab a decent amount of noodles with my chopsticks, but once I start the slurp, the broth flies everywhere (even across the table, and unfortunately hitting an innocent bystander). I have napkins surrounding my bowl to wipe away my sloppiness, but I truly don’t care. The noodles are just that good that they have the ability to make me oversee the fact that I have speckles of broth stained across my shirt. Please note: when ordering noodles, the hotter the better. And I’m not talking about the temperature. I always try to test my spice palette when eating different foods in China, especially the soup noodles. When they served my last bowl of noodles, the broth had turned from a comforting color of chicken noodle soup to a volcanic red. My eyes were watering, my nose was running, and I was sweating up a storm, but I truly loved every bite.

So whenever you have the chance to savor the great flavors of soup noodles in China, don’t be embarrassed about the slurps and messes. Enjoy every drop.

Til next time.

Peace Love and Happiness.