Hue and Crime, Chinese style.

I was eating lunch outside of a little lunch café when three or four young men came down the street, running at full speed, chasing another. This was unusual enough, but then came the really odd part. Behind them were some older men, some teenagers, a few women, running along as best they could in heels, a policemen on a motorbike, and another bike or two, perhaps 25 people, all shouting and running, like a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. The guy behind the counter in our restaurant ran out and joined the chase, and all along the street, people peeked out of doors and windows to see the commotion.

A few minutes later, the whole parade came back, dragging along the man they had been chasing. A friend explained the shouting- he’d snatched someone’s wallet. The guy came back to the counter, breathing a little hard, and resumed serving lunch plates. I’m not sure, but he may have been the one who actually caught the thief. Everyone else went back to whatever they had been doing. I went back to my meal, mentally digesting this new sight. I’ve never seen such a perfect demonstration of exactly what “hue and cry” in an old medieval town must have looked like!

Mangoes and Mushrooms

As I’ve gotten settled in here, I’ve discovered a few things I’m really doing to miss, chiefly Mangos and Mushrooms.
There are mangoes in the US, of course, but they are nothing like the ones here. I first had a real golden Mango three years ago in the Phillippines, and have been missing them ever since. Finally, Mango season is beginning here. For almost the first time in my life, the fruit is just as good as it was in my honeyed golden memory. For those who have never tasted a real golden mango, I will try to describe it. The fruit is sunset gold on the outside, nearly the same color as the inside. They come in three types, a little snack sized morsel about as long as your finger, a hand- sized one about the size of a large peach ( the sweetest) and a big one about the size of a very swollen banana. They are more similar to peaches than anything else, and like peaches are ripe when they “give” a little when pressed. All smell wonderful. The perfume, a bit like a peach, but stronger, with a hint of something totally unique in it, is so strong that a single ripe mango left on my dining room table fills the entire room with mouthwatering tropical fragrance.
Mangoes are good in shakes and deserts of all kinds, but I think they are simply impossible to improve on, so I generally eat them as is. There are two techniques to do this. For casual snacking, I simple slice off the two sides as close to the pit as possible, peel and suck the pulp off the center slice, and then score a grid pattern in the side pieces, pop them inside out, and eat the blocks of fruit.
For a more decadent sit-down presentation, I peel the fruit, slice off the sides, and cut the meat up into bite sized pieces. Instant dessert!
Besides the wonderful fruit, mangos make a lovely tree too. They are one of the most common street trees here because they have a lovely wide spreading shape, dark, handsome bark, and glossy leaves. A full grown Mango can even reach the size of an oak tree too. The only problem: they only grow in the tropics L

Mushrooms are the other particular culinary delight I’ve found. They have them here in all kinds, and they’re cheap, about the same price as any other veggie. The most common is an umbrella shaped type with a dark cap, which I strongly suspect may be portabella. :) The flavor is richer than the standard white cap types, especially when fried. Better yet, they serve then everywhere. You can even get a serving of nothing but sautéed mushrooms at the cheap lunch counters for only one or two Yuan- about 15- 30 cents! They show up with all kinds of meat and veggie dishes, and in soups, fresh or dried. Yum! They also sell dried bags of them, and the flavor is wonderful in soups. I think I may even take some home.

Sorry this blog has been a bit neglected lately. My new apartment doesn't have any wireless :( so I've had somewhat restricted web access lately.

I feel like a list today.

You Know You've Been In China too Long When:

-You pass a skyscraper being constructed with bamboo scaffolding, and you don't even look twice.

-You've just served up something delicious but quite slippery, and you're first thought is that eating this is going to require chopsticks.

- You pass a mirror, and in your peripheral vision notice that something is odd about your face. You look again and realize that it's your western eyes.

- You watch a movie in which a character hold his face just over his bowl and shovels food in, slurping, with noodles hanging out of his mouth. It takes you several seconds to realize that this is supposed to be offensive.

-You consider going to Spain, and try to rehearse your old high school vocabulary to see if you can remember enough for the airport- but all that comes out of your mouth is Mandarin.

I've had all these experiences in the last week. I'm still a long way from being at home here, but something is happening in my head! I just hope my English sticks with me!