Since Dragon Boat Festival is only a couple of days away (June 4-6) I thought I'd post a recipe for Chinese Tamales. While it's not my favorite thing to eat it definitely is an interesting part of the culture. If you're up for a challenge then you'll love making Chinese Tamales (Rice Dumplings).
Rice Dumplings
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Saturday, May 28, 2011
John 3 - pt. 1
We've been pretty busy this week. A group from the States came in to help teach English and culture at our school. All in all I think it was a pretty productive week. Anyway, with all this focus on language learning it got me to craving some language myself. Yesterday I started going through John 3. The problem for me with reading the Bible in Chinese, aside from the fact that my Chinese is horrible, is all names and specific Biblical terminology. I guess that's why I chose John 3, because it's not loaded down with unfamiliar terms, say like Romans would be. Below you will find the first ten verses of John 3 along with the pinyin and definitions of some of the lesser know words or phrases.
3:1 有一个法利赛人，名叫尼哥底母，是犹太人的官。
法利赛人 [fǎlìsàirén]: Pharisee n.
尼哥底母 [Nígēdǐmǔ]: Nicodemus n.
犹太人 [yóutàirén]: Jew n.
3:2 这人夜里来见耶稣，说，拉比，我们知道你是由神那里来作师傅的。因为你所行的神迹，若没有神同在，无人能行。
拉比 [lābǐ]: Rabi n.
由 [yóu]: give in to v; by, from prep
神迹 [shén jī]: Miracle n.
若 [ruò]: If conj.
3:3 耶稣回答说，我实实在在的告诉你，人若不重生，就不能见神的国。
重生 [chóngshēng]: regeneration, born again v.
3:4 尼哥底母说，人已经老了，如何能重生呢。岂能再进母腹生出来麽。
如何 [rúhé]: how adv.
岂能 [qǐnéng]: used to ask a rhetorical question; how could; how is it possible
腹 [fù]: stomach n.
3:5 耶稣说，我实实在在的告诉你，人若不是从水和圣灵生的，就不能进神的国。
圣灵 [shènglíng]: the Holy Spirit n.
3:6 从肉身生的，就是肉身。从灵生的，就是灵。
3:7 我说，你们必须重生，你不要以为 希奇。
必须 [bìxū]: must adv.
以为 [yǐwéi]: think v.
希奇 [xīqí] strange adj.
3:8 风随着意思吹，你听见风的响声，却不晓得从那里来，往那里去。凡从圣灵生的，也是如此。
随着 [suízhe]: along with, follow
响声 [xiǎngshēng]: sound, noise n.
晓得 [xiǎodé]: know n.
凡[fán]: in all, all adv.
如此 [rúcǐ]: so; such; in this way; like that; that
3:9 尼哥底母问他说，怎能有这事呢。
3:10 耶稣回答说，你是以色列人的先生，还不明白这事麽。
以色列人 [yǐsèlièrén]: Israeli; Israelite n.
努力学习，
托马斯
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
The Chinese Pharmacy
When our family first moved to Beijing we brought a lot of stuff with us. I mean A LOT. But one thing that we quickly ran out of was our medicine. You know that good western stuff that comes in a bottle and doesn't involve needles, results in hickeys being sporadically placed over your body or have weird names like "horny goat weed". Now, I'm not into debating on which medicine is better, Western or Chinese [although I'm pretty sure if we were just going off taste Western medicine would win hands down]. But let's face it, we like the familiar, the tried, the tested, the proven. I'm pretty sure you have to live in China for at least five years or just be dirt poor in order to even attempt Chinese medicine for the first time.
Symptoms:
Medicine:
Acetaminophen 扑热息痛 [Pū rè xī tòng]
Tylenol 泰诺林 [Tài nuò lín]
Ibuprofen 布洛芬 [bù luò fēn]
Motrin 美林 [měi lín]
Tylenol Cough and Cold 美国强生泰诺 [měi gūo qiáng shēng tài nuò]
Smecta [for diarrhea] 思密达 [sī mì dá]Multi-Vitamins 维生素 [weí shēng sù]
Amoxycillan 阿莫西林 [Ā mò xī lín]
Ampicillian 氨苄西林 [Ān bīan xī lín]
Azithromycin 阿奇毒素 [Ā qí dú sù]
Cefaclor/Ceclor 头孢克洛 [tóu bāo kē luò]
Penicillian 盘尼西林 [pán ní xī lín]
Bufferin Cold and Flu 百服宁 [bǎi fú níng]
Claritin 开瑞坦 [kāi rùi tǎn]
Antihistimine 抗组胺药 [kàng zú ān yaò]
Aleve 萘普生钠 [Nài pǔ shēng nà]
Iodine 碘酒 [diǎn jǐu]
alcohol 酒精 [jǐu jīng]
Calamine Lotion 炉干石 [lú gān shí]
hydrocortisone 氰化可的松 [qīng huà kě dī sōng]
Tiger patch [Ben Gay] 老虎贴 [lǎo hǔ tǐe]
Instructions:
年龄 [岁］ 一次用量 次数
2-6 2.5 需要时每8小时服用一次，一日不超过3次.
托马斯
My first experience with a Chinese pharmacy [yaodian 药店] I was expecting it to be easier to find a nice little bottle of Tylenol to help with my son's fever. In fact, I even read on the internet that most pharmacies had medical dictionaries that you could just look up the kind of medicine you needed and easily find the Chinese name. Boy was that person wrong! Very few pharmacies have English-Chinese medical dictionaries. And the ones which do prove to be quite useless, unless you have at least one year of Med School under your belt. Good luck finding the word "tylenol" in that dictionary. Remember, that's a brand name. Of course, most people know the proper name for tylenol is Acetaminophen, but who the heck knows how to spell that?
On that particular day I ended up playing a game of charades with the pharmacist, if you can call her that, and then buying EVERYTHING they had that even remotely looked right. Then I got home and realized the instructions were all in Chinese. Needless to say, buying and taking medicine wasn't on my top ten list of things to do in China. It was however on my top ten least favorite things to do in China, right under going to the bank; two things I wouldn't wish on a mortal enemy. Thus the purpose of this article, hopefully today's post will help you navigate your way through a Chinese pharmacy.
First, let's start with some useful vocabulary:
Symptoms:
headache 头疼 [tóuténg]
sore throat 嗓子疼 [sǎngziténg]
stomach ache 肚子疼 [dùzi téng]
congested nose 鼻子不通气 [bízibùtōngqì]
runny nose 流鼻涕 [liú bítì]
sneeze 打喷嚏 [dǎ pēntì]
cough 咳嗽 [késou]
have a cold 感冒 [gǎnmào]
sinus infection 鼻窦炎 [bídòuyán]
sinus 鼻窦 [bídòu]
fun a fever 发烧 [fāshāo]
vomit 吐 [tù]
food poisioning 食品毒 [shí pǐn dú] Trust me, you'll need this one!
flu 流感 [liúgǎn]
To be allergic to 对...过敏 [dui...guòmǐn]
If you go up to the pharmacist and tell her 我 insert symptom here [wǒ insert symptom here], which isn't great Chinese, but it's good enough for her to get the point, then she will probably recommend a Chinese medicine to you. If you prefer western medicine you can tell her "wǒyào xīyào [我要西药]. At this point she'll offer you a couple of different types of medicines, if you're lucky there might be some English on the box. Remember, google is your friend. When in doubt, buy a couple of different types of medicines and then google the English or even the Pinyin to see what the medicine is exactly and how to take it.
If you already know exactly what type of medicine you want then you can just ask them if they have it. Below is a list of common western medicines you can readily find in China.
Medicine:
Acetaminophen 扑热息痛 [Pū rè xī tòng]
Tylenol 泰诺林 [Tài nuò lín]
Ibuprofen 布洛芬 [bù luò fēn]
Motrin 美林 [měi lín]
Tylenol Cough and Cold 美国强生泰诺 [měi gūo qiáng shēng tài nuò]
Smecta [for diarrhea] 思密达 [sī mì dá]Multi-Vitamins 维生素 [weí shēng sù]
Amoxycillan 阿莫西林 [Ā mò xī lín]
Ampicillian 氨苄西林 [Ān bīan xī lín]
Azithromycin 阿奇毒素 [Ā qí dú sù]
Cefaclor/Ceclor 头孢克洛 [tóu bāo kē luò]
Penicillian 盘尼西林 [pán ní xī lín]
Bufferin Cold and Flu 百服宁 [bǎi fú níng]
Claritin 开瑞坦 [kāi rùi tǎn]
Antihistimine 抗组胺药 [kàng zú ān yaò]
Aleve 萘普生钠 [Nài pǔ shēng nà]
Iodine 碘酒 [diǎn jǐu]
alcohol 酒精 [jǐu jīng]
Calamine Lotion 炉干石 [lú gān shí]
hydrocortisone 氰化可的松 [qīng huà kě dī sōng]
Tiger patch [Ben Gay] 老虎贴 [lǎo hǔ tǐe]
Instructions:
If you have the right vocabulary finding medicine is the easy part. Figuring out how to take it a different story though. The easiest thing to do is to just google the medicine and see if you can find instructions on how to take it. If this fails then you'll have to look on the box/bottle and try and decipher the encrypted Chinese. I'll see if I can guide you through the process. First look for something that says: 用法用量［yongfayongliang]. Then it will usually tell you how many pills to take per time 一次1粒 or it might say 一次1片. 一次 literally means "one time". 1粒/片 means "1 pill/tablet". Then the instructions usually tell you how many times you should take it in a day 一日2次. 一日 literally means "one day" and 2次 means "two times". So this particular medicine I picked up should be taken twice a day, one tablet each time. So basically look for 次, 日 and 片/粒 and the corresponding number remembering that 次 means times, 日 means day and 片/粒 means pill or tablet.
Liquid medicine is a little different. There will usually be a chart showing ages, amount to take, and how often you can take it. It looks something like this:
年龄 [岁］ 一次用量 次数
2-6 2.5 需要时每8小时服用一次，一日不超过3次.
The first column [年龄 岁] gives you the age group. The second column give you the dosage you should take each time [一次用量]. And the last column [次数] tells you how often you should, or more aptly put - CAN, take the medicine. This last column can be most confusing. Basically you need to look for the characters 小时, 日, and 次. 小时 means hours, so you can take this medicine every 8 hours. Remember, 日 means day 次 means times. So it reads 一日 [one day] 3次 [three times].
I know it's a bit complicated, but if worse comes to worse you can always try charades.
Taking my own medicine,
托马斯
Friday, April 29, 2011
New No Smoking Law
In a couple of days public smoking will be outlawed in Beijing. This is big news considering that China produces more cigarettes, and smokers, than any other country in the world, not surprising considering its size. But if you've lived in China for any time you know that it's more than just China having a huge population. It seems like EVERYONE smokes in China.
During our first week here in China our family went to a traditional noodle restaurant. It has come to be one of our favorite restaurants, partly because of the excellent noodles they serve and partly because of the atmosphere. It feels like you think China would feel like, and in Beijing this can sometimes be hard to come by. When you walk in you're greeted with clanging dishes, loud waiters and even louder customers, and a blanket of smoke so thick I'm sure you lose about four years of your life by just looking at it. It was here I received my first gift from a Chinese. Now Chinese gifts range from anything like a bottle of wine to a James Brown bobble head [I'm serious about the bobble head. A student gave us one for Christmas this past year]. But on this occasion, my very first experience with Chinese culture, I was given a cigarette.
This should have been a sign for me, a Beijinger wants to make a family of foreigners feel welcome so he passes out cigarettes. But I was so caught up with the excitement of experiencing a new culture that it went by totally unnoticed. No sooner than the excitement wore off culture stress set in. And that's when I started noticing how many smokers there were in Beijing. Co-workers smoked in the office. Of course they opened up a window...in the middle of winter. I honestly don't know which was worse, the smoke or the cold. It's hard deciding between lung cancer or pneumonia. Students smoked in the bathrooms, it was like I stepped into a Brownsville Station song. Strangers smoked on buses or in elevators. I even had a doctor blow smoke in my face as he took my blood pressure for my health examination. To me, that's the most startling smoking statistic. It's not that 3,000 people die every day in China due to smoking. Or that Chinese consume an estimated 1.7 trillion cigarettes per year - 3 million cigarettes every minute. Not even the fact that in rural areas smokers spend an average of 60% of their personal income on cigarettes is as startling as 60% of doctors in China are smokers, representing the highest percentage of smoking doctors in the world.
If the people who know better, the very people who should be telling you not to smoke are lighting one up with you after an examination [or even during one] , then how can I expect the average citizen to be health conscious about smoking? It should be interesting to see how this new law plays out. After all, China truly is a smoking culture. They have hookah bars for crying out loud. I even have a student who has a "smoking master". If you're like me you're probably wondering what a smoking master is. I was informed by this student that it's basically a smoking teacher. He teaches him how to get the most out of each puff, how to roll his own cigarettes, how to choose the best types of tobacco, etc. But I think my favorite thing I've seen in China with regards to smoking is the the "Sichuan Tobacco Hope Primary School". Little children actually attend a school named after tobacco! Any idea what their school motto is? “Genius comes from hard work, Tobacco helps you to be successful”
Just before the 2008 Olympics Beijing received a major facelift. Building were remodeled, sections of the city were walled off from public sight, other places were demolished, people were encouraged not to spit in public and smoking was banned from all restaurants. It was during this ban that me and a friend entered a restaurant and sat down to enjoy a smoke free meal, only to find a group of Chinese men smoking UNDER the no smoking sign. After talking to the staff we received a few laughs, a couple of 没事's [it's no big deal] and were eventually told that smoking was a part of Beijing culture. Apparently my friend was having one of those "I hate China" days because he just went over to the sign and ripped it off the wall.
I imagine that this new law will actually turn out to be just like the old Olympic law. Restaurants will hang up some no smoking signs, "propaganda" pamphlets will be printed and passed around, videos will be made and played in the work place and in schools; but in the end I won't be holding my breath for anything to actually come from this law. Well on second thought, I guess I will be holding my breath...in the restaurants.
烟抽得厉害 ，
托马斯
During our first week here in China our family went to a traditional noodle restaurant. It has come to be one of our favorite restaurants, partly because of the excellent noodles they serve and partly because of the atmosphere. It feels like you think China would feel like, and in Beijing this can sometimes be hard to come by. When you walk in you're greeted with clanging dishes, loud waiters and even louder customers, and a blanket of smoke so thick I'm sure you lose about four years of your life by just looking at it. It was here I received my first gift from a Chinese. Now Chinese gifts range from anything like a bottle of wine to a James Brown bobble head [I'm serious about the bobble head. A student gave us one for Christmas this past year]. But on this occasion, my very first experience with Chinese culture, I was given a cigarette.
This should have been a sign for me, a Beijinger wants to make a family of foreigners feel welcome so he passes out cigarettes. But I was so caught up with the excitement of experiencing a new culture that it went by totally unnoticed. No sooner than the excitement wore off culture stress set in. And that's when I started noticing how many smokers there were in Beijing. Co-workers smoked in the office. Of course they opened up a window...in the middle of winter. I honestly don't know which was worse, the smoke or the cold. It's hard deciding between lung cancer or pneumonia. Students smoked in the bathrooms, it was like I stepped into a Brownsville Station song. Strangers smoked on buses or in elevators. I even had a doctor blow smoke in my face as he took my blood pressure for my health examination. To me, that's the most startling smoking statistic. It's not that 3,000 people die every day in China due to smoking. Or that Chinese consume an estimated 1.7 trillion cigarettes per year - 3 million cigarettes every minute. Not even the fact that in rural areas smokers spend an average of 60% of their personal income on cigarettes is as startling as 60% of doctors in China are smokers, representing the highest percentage of smoking doctors in the world.
If the people who know better, the very people who should be telling you not to smoke are lighting one up with you after an examination [or even during one] , then how can I expect the average citizen to be health conscious about smoking? It should be interesting to see how this new law plays out. After all, China truly is a smoking culture. They have hookah bars for crying out loud. I even have a student who has a "smoking master". If you're like me you're probably wondering what a smoking master is. I was informed by this student that it's basically a smoking teacher. He teaches him how to get the most out of each puff, how to roll his own cigarettes, how to choose the best types of tobacco, etc. But I think my favorite thing I've seen in China with regards to smoking is the the "Sichuan Tobacco Hope Primary School". Little children actually attend a school named after tobacco! Any idea what their school motto is? “Genius comes from hard work, Tobacco helps you to be successful”
Just before the 2008 Olympics Beijing received a major facelift. Building were remodeled, sections of the city were walled off from public sight, other places were demolished, people were encouraged not to spit in public and smoking was banned from all restaurants. It was during this ban that me and a friend entered a restaurant and sat down to enjoy a smoke free meal, only to find a group of Chinese men smoking UNDER the no smoking sign. After talking to the staff we received a few laughs, a couple of 没事's [it's no big deal] and were eventually told that smoking was a part of Beijing culture. Apparently my friend was having one of those "I hate China" days because he just went over to the sign and ripped it off the wall.
I imagine that this new law will actually turn out to be just like the old Olympic law. Restaurants will hang up some no smoking signs, "propaganda" pamphlets will be printed and passed around, videos will be made and played in the work place and in schools; but in the end I won't be holding my breath for anything to actually come from this law. Well on second thought, I guess I will be holding my breath...in the restaurants.
烟抽得厉害 ，
托马斯
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Left, Right, Left...
It's a gross understatement to say that I have a bad memory. Just ask my wife if you need convincing. My memory gets even worse the further back in time you go, but there are things from my past that I do have vivid memories about. For example, I can remember sitting in my living room and my Mom teaching me how to tie my shoes, and no, I'm not talking about last year. I can also remember my Dad teaching me how to hit a baseball and my grandpa teaching me how to fish. And perhaps one of the most important things, though unbeknownst to me at the time, I remember learning is how to properly cross the street.
I know this sounds simple enough. And at the time i thought the same thing. How hard can it be? Just put one foot in front of the other and stay out of the way of things that are bigger than you. It's not exactly rocket science. As a five year old I remember thinking to myself "isn't this unnecessary." And then I moved to China and found that it was. Now I thank my parents every day for teaching me this most valuable lesson. I can't tell you how many people I see each day who come within inches , or should I say millimeters, of losing their life. And most of them are totally unaware of their near death experiences.
Before moving to China I heard some crazy statistic about four people dying each day in Beijing just by crossing the street. At the time that number seemed high, and even caused a little apprehension about my first road crossing encounter. But now that I've lived here for four years i think that number, if anything, is too low.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, in Beijing follows the street crossing rule my parents instilled in me those many years ago. It was a simple rule, only three words: left, right, left. Not only was the rule simple, but it was also easy to follow. Look to your left to see if anything is coming. Look to your right to see if anything is coming. And then look to your left once again. It requires no more than a few turns of the head. And a few extra seconds out of your life seems a small price to pay to insure that you're not dead at the end of the day. But apparently this is something that Chinese parents do not pass down to their children. Or at least one that was never truly learned.
Forget the left, right, left principle, I'd settle for just the look left! Every day I see people step into the bike paths without ever looking left. I see cyclists and sanlunche's zip past busses trying to make a left turn. I've even had to completely stop my car once on Third Ring Road because some genius decided to play human frogger. If you've never been to Beijing and witnessed it first hand you truly can't appreciate the gravity of the situation.
Iran bumped into a pedestrian the other day on my bike, I had the green light, he had the red. And yet he still had the audacity to genuinely be shocked that he was hit, as if it were all my fault. Of course I didn't stop and see how he was. As a laowai, no matter who's really to blame, I'd be the one at fault. So instead I hollered back at him, while pointing to the RED crossing signal, "you have the red light, I have the green one, Paco. I'm not so sure Paco translated correctly in Chinese. But I am sure he got the point. Although I doubt this incident deterred him in the least from stepping back into traffic, at his next intersection, without ever looking.
If you've read this hoping to glean some insight into the Chinese way of thinking, then you've read in vain. If you're read this article hoping to learn the much needed secret to crossing the streets of Beijing...sorry, you won't find it here. I just needed to vent some frustration. That's why this blog entry is categorized under the "rantings" section.
小心行事，
托马斯
I know this sounds simple enough. And at the time i thought the same thing. How hard can it be? Just put one foot in front of the other and stay out of the way of things that are bigger than you. It's not exactly rocket science. As a five year old I remember thinking to myself "isn't this unnecessary." And then I moved to China and found that it was. Now I thank my parents every day for teaching me this most valuable lesson. I can't tell you how many people I see each day who come within inches , or should I say millimeters, of losing their life. And most of them are totally unaware of their near death experiences.
Before moving to China I heard some crazy statistic about four people dying each day in Beijing just by crossing the street. At the time that number seemed high, and even caused a little apprehension about my first road crossing encounter. But now that I've lived here for four years i think that number, if anything, is too low.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, in Beijing follows the street crossing rule my parents instilled in me those many years ago. It was a simple rule, only three words: left, right, left. Not only was the rule simple, but it was also easy to follow. Look to your left to see if anything is coming. Look to your right to see if anything is coming. And then look to your left once again. It requires no more than a few turns of the head. And a few extra seconds out of your life seems a small price to pay to insure that you're not dead at the end of the day. But apparently this is something that Chinese parents do not pass down to their children. Or at least one that was never truly learned.
Forget the left, right, left principle, I'd settle for just the look left! Every day I see people step into the bike paths without ever looking left. I see cyclists and sanlunche's zip past busses trying to make a left turn. I've even had to completely stop my car once on Third Ring Road because some genius decided to play human frogger. If you've never been to Beijing and witnessed it first hand you truly can't appreciate the gravity of the situation.
I
If you've read this hoping to glean some insight into the Chinese way of thinking, then you've read in vain. If you're read this article hoping to learn the much needed secret to crossing the streets of Beijing...sorry, you won't find it here. I just needed to vent some frustration. That's why this blog entry is categorized under the "rantings" section.
小心行事，
托马斯
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Fragrant Pot
Everything changes. But I think the rate at which things change is a little faster here in the Middle Kingdom. New stores pop up faster than pimples on a teenager and old ones go just as quickly. I still remember the first time we took a trip back to the States. We weren't gone for long, just one month. But when we returned we didn't even recognize our apartment complex. It had changed that much in one month's time.
Sometimes these changes are disappointing. Like yesterday when I tried to buy some new shoes for Noah that I had priced the day before, only to find that they had, very literally, pack up shop and were no longer in business. Or like last week when I went to eat lunch at the little market next to my school and then discovered that the ENTIRE market had been shut down.
But other times these changes are good. Just recently the take-out restaurant next to our house [yes I'm aware of the irony of eating Chinese take-out in China, but unfortunately it never comes in that cool white and red box, nor are fortune cookies involved] remodeled their facilities to try and draw in more sit down customers. Our family has been going there for a couple of weeks now and we like the changes they have made. But it wasn't until today that we noticed that on their new menu was our favorite Chinese dish "mala xiangguo".
I don't know why, but it seems like this dish has not really caught on among the expat community. In fact, when I talk to most of my friends about it I usually get this blank stare as if they're saying "malawhoawhat'sit"? So today I thought I'd write a blog about what it is and how to order it.
First, let's attempt to give it a name. Jenni and I just call it fragrant pot, that's the best my Chinese could muster when first introduced to the dish. But maybe a more literal name would be "numbing hot fragrant pot". But let's face it, neither sounds very good. One sounds like a "candle" you'd find in the sanlitun area and the other sounds like something you'd hear at a professional pepper eating contest, if such a thing exists. I've heard someone call it a “dry hot pot”, but I think that really does the dish a disservice. So maybe we should just stick to the chinese name, hey it works for Chuanr. Then again, Chuanr is easier to pronounce than mala xiangguo [麻辣香锅]. For the sake of simplicity and habit I'll refer to the dish as "fragrant pot".
Ordering fragrant pot can be somewhat tricky if your Chinese is poor, unless you are fortunate enough to go to one of the restaurants have the food on hand for you to pick. In China most menus come with pictures but not fragrant pot, that would be too easy. Basically you will be given a menu with a long list of meats and veggies. First pick your meat/meats, then your vegetables and finally tell them how hot you want it. Jenni and I tried the hottest once, by accident, and paid dearly for it the next day. When deciding how hot you want it remember that this is a sichuan dish! Unless your taste-buds were seared as a child I'd recommend you only get it a little hot [一点辣］ and not "I want to die" hot [特辣].
After you finish ordering the chef will combine your choices with ginger, garlic, lots of red pepper, oil, cilantro and other seasonings, put all that in a wok and cook it up for you. Depending on the restaurant, the finished product will either be served in a big metal bowl or some beautiful chinese decorative bowl. Be sure when ordering to order some rice! This really helps with the spiciness. Also, Jenni and I like the flavor of Si Chuan Peppercorn [aka the ma in mala xiangguo] but hate biting down on one; so we ask them to cook without it. Just tell them: bu fang huajiao [不放花椒]. When cooking at home, we'll use sichuan peppercorn to flavor the oil and then sift them out before we start adding other ingredients.
Here's a list of things that we usually get in our fragrant pot:
Beef (牛肉), Lamb (羊肉), Chicken (鸡肉). Of course there are other meats you could order, like bullfrog or chicken hearts, etc. but that's not really our style. Cabbage (圆白菜), Potato (土豆) or (土豆条), Broccoli (西兰花) Green Beans (豆角), Mushrooms (蘑菇). Other veggies would include Wide Vermicelli Noodles (宽粉)， Tofu skin (油豆皮)， Sweet Potato (红薯)，Bamboo shoots (青笋). The list goes on and on...and on. If you know your favorite meats and vegetables and know how to say that in Chinese, then you should be good. The tricky part is ordering the right amount, but usually the servers will let you know if you've not ordered enough or if you're ordering too much. Be prepared to spend anywhere from 20-50 kuai per person. Our meal today was 100 kuai, but that included three drinks, a side dish of sweet potatoes and a plate of broccoli for Nate.
Now all you need to know is where to find a fragrant pot restaurant. Odds are there is one near by your house, they have become really popular among Chinese over the past few years. You just have to know what you're looking for. Look for anything that says 麻辣香锅, 川成元, 一麻一辣 or 麻里麻里. If a restaurant has pictures of an assortment of meat and vegetables in a bowl mixed with red peppers, then odds are they have it. Just ask the server: ni you mei you mala xiangguo [你有没有麻辣香锅]?
胡吃海喝,
托马斯
Sometimes these changes are disappointing. Like yesterday when I tried to buy some new shoes for Noah that I had priced the day before, only to find that they had, very literally, pack up shop and were no longer in business. Or like last week when I went to eat lunch at the little market next to my school and then discovered that the ENTIRE market had been shut down.
But other times these changes are good. Just recently the take-out restaurant next to our house [yes I'm aware of the irony of eating Chinese take-out in China, but unfortunately it never comes in that cool white and red box, nor are fortune cookies involved] remodeled their facilities to try and draw in more sit down customers. Our family has been going there for a couple of weeks now and we like the changes they have made. But it wasn't until today that we noticed that on their new menu was our favorite Chinese dish "mala xiangguo".
I don't know why, but it seems like this dish has not really caught on among the expat community. In fact, when I talk to most of my friends about it I usually get this blank stare as if they're saying "malawhoawhat'sit"? So today I thought I'd write a blog about what it is and how to order it.
First, let's attempt to give it a name. Jenni and I just call it fragrant pot, that's the best my Chinese could muster when first introduced to the dish. But maybe a more literal name would be "numbing hot fragrant pot". But let's face it, neither sounds very good. One sounds like a "candle" you'd find in the sanlitun area and the other sounds like something you'd hear at a professional pepper eating contest, if such a thing exists. I've heard someone call it a “dry hot pot”, but I think that really does the dish a disservice. So maybe we should just stick to the chinese name, hey it works for Chuanr. Then again, Chuanr is easier to pronounce than mala xiangguo [麻辣香锅]. For the sake of simplicity and habit I'll refer to the dish as "fragrant pot".
Ordering fragrant pot can be somewhat tricky if your Chinese is poor, unless you are fortunate enough to go to one of the restaurants have the food on hand for you to pick. In China most menus come with pictures but not fragrant pot, that would be too easy. Basically you will be given a menu with a long list of meats and veggies. First pick your meat/meats, then your vegetables and finally tell them how hot you want it. Jenni and I tried the hottest once, by accident, and paid dearly for it the next day. When deciding how hot you want it remember that this is a sichuan dish! Unless your taste-buds were seared as a child I'd recommend you only get it a little hot [一点辣］ and not "I want to die" hot [特辣].
After you finish ordering the chef will combine your choices with ginger, garlic, lots of red pepper, oil, cilantro and other seasonings, put all that in a wok and cook it up for you. Depending on the restaurant, the finished product will either be served in a big metal bowl or some beautiful chinese decorative bowl. Be sure when ordering to order some rice! This really helps with the spiciness. Also, Jenni and I like the flavor of Si Chuan Peppercorn [aka the ma in mala xiangguo] but hate biting down on one; so we ask them to cook without it. Just tell them: bu fang huajiao [不放花椒]. When cooking at home, we'll use sichuan peppercorn to flavor the oil and then sift them out before we start adding other ingredients.
 |
| sichuan peppercorn |
Here's a list of things that we usually get in our fragrant pot:
Beef (牛肉), Lamb (羊肉), Chicken (鸡肉). Of course there are other meats you could order, like bullfrog or chicken hearts, etc. but that's not really our style. Cabbage (圆白菜), Potato (土豆) or (土豆条), Broccoli (西兰花) Green Beans (豆角), Mushrooms (蘑菇). Other veggies would include Wide Vermicelli Noodles (宽粉)， Tofu skin (油豆皮)， Sweet Potato (红薯)，Bamboo shoots (青笋). The list goes on and on...and on. If you know your favorite meats and vegetables and know how to say that in Chinese, then you should be good. The tricky part is ordering the right amount, but usually the servers will let you know if you've not ordered enough or if you're ordering too much. Be prepared to spend anywhere from 20-50 kuai per person. Our meal today was 100 kuai, but that included three drinks, a side dish of sweet potatoes and a plate of broccoli for Nate.
Now all you need to know is where to find a fragrant pot restaurant. Odds are there is one near by your house, they have become really popular among Chinese over the past few years. You just have to know what you're looking for. Look for anything that says 麻辣香锅, 川成元, 一麻一辣 or 麻里麻里. If a restaurant has pictures of an assortment of meat and vegetables in a bowl mixed with red peppers, then odds are they have it. Just ask the server: ni you mei you mala xiangguo [你有没有麻辣香锅]?
胡吃海喝,
托马斯
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