La Jiao

It's Friday again, which makes me think of chocolate milk and delicious food. I woke up, washed my hair, checked email, and went on a mini-quest to find la jiao, bananas, and broccoli. In the end, I got what I believe to be a close semblance to la jiao, bananas, leaf lettuce, carrots, bok choy, and fresh water chestnuts.

Fresh water chestnuts are the thing I will miss most from China. When I see a bowl of them, ready-to-eat, at the vegetable stand, I can't resist buying a few handfuls. They are sweet and crunchy, and the canned variety tastes nothing like the fresh. The ACC hotel dining room makes the best water chestnut dessert. It's made from shredded water chestnuts and a few peanuts, fried in the form of a big flat patty, and sprinkled with sugar. Come to think of it, I haven't had water chestnuts in a stirfry or in a salty dish, ever since I've been in China. Truly, Heaven must be filled with fresh water chestnuts!

La jiao is usually translated "hot sauce," but Chinese hot sauce is really in a league of it's own. Jalapeño peppers and wimpy picante don't compare to the type of flavor la jiao can provide. For one thing, the pepper affects a different part of your mouth, and, if it's really good, it will contain "prickly ash," a Szechuan pepper, which comes in buds that numb your mouth when you bite them. When we were in Dengfeng, we ate local cuisine, which had the most prickly ash I've ever eaten. It was enjoyable at first, but then I was actually starting to feel worried that the numbness wouldn't go away.


I ended up getting the famous "Unhappy Woman" brand, which I don't know the real name of, but it has a recognizable yet unhappy woman on the label. It was a mini-quest because I had to walk to East Gate to get it, and then I had to ask what it was in Chinese, and interpret the Chinese answer. I saw one of my students on the way back, and she translated the ingredients for me. She said it would be too hot, but that's quite all right with me.

I lost my memory stick/thumb drive/jump drive, whatever you want to call it. I've had some students on the "search and recover" job, like little ants, since Monday, but we probably won't find it. All I can think is that I might have left it in my classroom last Thursday. So on Monday, my students checked the lost-and-found, put up internet messages, and signed ad sheets that are hanging around campus. One of them knows someone who works in the student union office that has lost-and-found, so they put the word out too. However, it's seeming unlikely that I will get it back. Fast forward to Thursday this week: My students are going to hook me up with a student agent who deals in computer parts. Many students have mad hook-ups, and they can get things to sell on campus, which the other students find to be very convenient, better quality, and cheaper than buying at Wal-mart. I'm waiting for a call today from my student who will be the language mediator between me and the agent. It all sounds very under-handed, but that's how things are, and it's totally legit.

-吴佩芙