Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Happiness is found......

I have said in the past that I am only eating one meal a day. Maybe every other night I have a bowl of instant noodles but mainly it is only the lunch that is served at work. The Chinese people at work do not like the meals. I love them - at this stage of the game I could eat this stuff everyday for the next three years. They think I am crazy but the plainer the meal the more happy I am. On weekends, I usually go to a restaurant for my one meal. I try to get the same type of meal - rice, meat, and vegetable. But since these are restaurants that cater to Westerners, the prices are very high - definitely not worth the value.

Well this week, I found the place to eat. I have walked past it probably a hundred times in all my trips to China but never paid attention to it. Turns out this place is like a food mart that you would see in a shopping mall. Except all the food places are Chinese (not variety that you would find in a mall - Mexican, Italian, sandwiches, etc). Of course all descriptions are in Chinese because they do not cater to the Westerners - the westerners go to the higher prices restaurants. I walk around and find a dish that I would like. They have display samples of all their dishes. I look closely for any type of shellfish since I am allergic to shellfish. The only thing I can read is the price. I point at a dish and say "take Away". They tend to recognize "take away" more than "carry-out". You get a portion that is huge. Each time I have ordered I originally thought I could eat it in two settings but I managed to eat each one in one setting. The price is either 15 or 20 RMB. That is about $2.00 - $2.50. That is a great value.

Now, I could eat this everyday for the next 3 years but I bet my wife will put an end to that. Shelly will learn to like the place because they cook all the meals as you wait. She will be very interested in how they cook and prepare the meals. She will be duplicating these meals in her own kitchen in a heartbeat.

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