…Lived with someone from China

Tonight, I went to the kitchen to fix my good ol’ American pasta in a bag when I saw another pot on the stove just a bubbling away.  I wondered to which of my 6 roommates it belonged to. As I was washing other dishes I have dirtied up along the past two days, my next door roommate, Lee, showed up to stir her food. We started discussing what all we were making and I was surprised by what she had to say.  Her meal consisted of chicken (chicken legs still on the bone), mushrooms, sliced potatoes, and black fungus.  Yes, that is right, I said black fungus.  Come to find out, black fungus  or cloud ears, grow on a variety of woods including mango and kapok.  This is mostly sold dried but can be available fresh.  This piece of food is “prized in Chinese cuisine for its crunchy texture and therefore added to dishes only for the last few minutes of cooking. Delightful in salads, soups and stir-fries, it has no flavor of its own, but absorbs the seasonings it is cooked with” http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/special/1999/asian/fungus.html.  After Lee was telling me about the dish, she offered me a tasting of it.  Not only did she hand me a few pieces from her meal, rather she gave me close to one serving!  This was a very delicious meal and the black fungus was very tasty and was  soft, yet crunchy.  I offered up some of my tasty noodles in olive oil, garlic and broccoli.  Lee appeared to like it and was taken by surprise that it was a meal in a bag.  One comment she did have: “Do you like hot sauce?”  Which I think was a type of insinuation that it might need some spice.  So I went to my room to show her my new Franks Hot Sauce: Sweet Chili Sauce.  She appeared impressed. 

In addition to our meal conversation, we were also talking about some of her Chinese culture.  She mentioned that Kentucky was one of the first state that she ever learned about, which was all due to Kentucky Fried Chicken (thank you, thank you, KFC!).  She mentioned that KFC is way more popular than McDonald’s here in the states.  When she was talking about KFC, I asked if she has ever had any of the KFC here to compare the two.  She said there aren’t any in the city so she has not had any chance to experience.  In addition to all the other interesting things about KFC, but Lee also mentioned that the KFC and McDonald’s in China are nicer than they are here.  She said the food is of a higher quality and the inside of the restaurant were even nice too.  Who would have thought????

So on another note, I realized the differences between our languages and cultures.  During one of our conversations, I made the phrase, “That’s pretty neat.”  Well, after that phrase, Lee had an expression on her face of “What?

?”  Lee then asked me very kindly what I meant by “neat” and I tried to add additional adjectives such as, “cool”, “fun,” and had little success in describing what I was trying to achieve.  So Lee returned with, “Well, I have not heard of that phrase before.”   

So, tonight I enjoyed the company of my next door roommate, Lee while we sampled each others food, shared personal and cultural experiences, as well as chatting about some of the other roommates we have (which ones both of us still have not met and she has been here since August!).  Overall, it was a great time and hope to have many more in the future (maybe not much more with Lee since she moves out next week, but with a few of the other roommates). 

Technorati Tags: China,Roommates