December 2003 Archives

To eat Chinese or to not...

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Ah, there's nothing like a Kiwi Chinese. The Birkenhead Pair came over last night with chicken & cashew nuts, squid and blackbean sauce, egg foo-yong (err...mind that spelling), won-tons and sweet and sour fish.

And of course we had some great Sauvignon Blanc to wash it down with, so all in all it was a very pleasant evening. 

Kiwi Chinese food is just the business, especially compared to the Chinese I was subjected to during my years in London. I have a distinct memory of the first chicken chowmein the Other Harf brought home for me. It was a mountain of dull rubbery orange noodles with this petrified (as in solid, ancient, rock-like; not scared...or hang on, maybe it was...) piece of chicken balanced on top.

I was incredulous. Where's the broccoli?Where's the carrots? Where are all the vegetables! The Other Harf was confused; this was how chow-mein had always looked. I forced it down, but next time Chinese was suggested I went for the bag of chips option instead. 

My aversion to UK Chinese lasted throughout my stay there, and when we lurched off the tube on Friday evenings, a little intoxicated (alright, pissed!), everyone else would pile into Wong Foo's in the high street for orange noodles, and I would have to have cheese on toast.

Boo-hoo - just like when I was a kid and my Dad used to make me go pipi-picking, knee deep in mud, wind howling across the bay. I hate pipis! Why me? Then he, Mum and Lil'Sis would stand round the kitchen, making obnoxious lip-smacking noises as they ate pot fulls of pipis, and I would sit in the corner with my plate of spag-on-toast, with a big moody face on me, quivering at the injustice of it all.

Hey, but now I'm a big girl, and I can have proper Chinese, with all the vegetables, any time I want...

Brought to you by...



    your hostess Fi (40, just) and currently residing in a big old house in rural Northland, New Zealand with my lovely English husband (known round here as the Other Harf), our daughter (currently Miss 9.10) and a menagarie of orphaned animals and over-extended relatives. Have mercy.

This month I am mostly appreciating jonquils...


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