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This is Xiao Ling, a Chinese medicine pharmacist who owns and operates a medical store in downtown Emei City. We met her our first week in Emei when Zoe took us downtown to shop for some essentials for our apartment on campus. Sunee happened to as Ms. Xiao Ling where the closest toilet was and she took Sunee to show her. An hour later they came back with lots of equipment and stuff Sunee had been looking for. Xiao Ling had literally taken her to the stores where they had the stuff we needed. Zoe and I spent the time relaxing in the medicine store and wondering if Sunee had been abducted. From then on we have been close friends with Xiao Ling and her husband, visiting them two or three times a week.
Xiao Ling takes us to the restaurant that served the Yunnan-style noodles. It was she who had introduced us to the restaurant in the first place. Here, John looks at the ingredients with a bit of reluctance.
Boiling hot broth is the main starting point and then the spices, meats and egg are added followed by the noodles. The stuff actually gets cooked right in front of you.
John carefully follows our lead and empties the ingredients into the broth.
Dave, never a reluctant participant in all things new, rapidly completes the task and finds time to smile for my camera over his obvious success.
John, slow at trying new things, takes his time in following the directions. He finally finishes the task and we all have these wonderful noodles for lunch.
Back at the medicine shop we meet Xiao Ling's husband who is his normal friendly and jovial self.
Although none but the Gap Guys could speak English, it was obvious that all were pleased to bring the Gap Guys into our community of friends in downtown Emei City.
After a bit of shopping at the newest department store, we stop for the obligatory ice cream. Sunee holds my bitter coffee bar in her right hand while I take a picture of the ugliest ice cream bar on the planet. The color was primer gray and was absolutely untantalizing. It was also barely edible as it was made of black sesame seeds. Yuck. One would think that a little food coloring would have gone a long way to stop the ugliness. Another adventure, another great day in China.
2 comments:
Hey, Dave here,
Ah, I thought that these noodles were Yunnan Noodles. In fact I've read in my LonelyPlanet book that they are called 'across the bridge noodles' and one of Yunnan's most famous dishes. (Guoqiao mixian). They say the dish was created by a woman married to an imperial scholar. He decamped to an isolated island to study and she got creative with the hot meals she brought to him every day after crossing the bridge. This dish was his favourite hence called 'Across the Bridge Noodles' in honour of her daily commute!
Like pure alcohol? Like?
That stuff is pure alcohol!
Oh, it makes me ill...
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