Noodle Soup

I know it has been a long time since I last wrote.  I have been out of the country in China and just got back to the US a couple of days ago.  The food was so different in China.  I can't even begin to describe the flavors and tastes that I experienced during the last 5 weeks.  Several entries will be dedicated to China's food.  I want to spend more time learning about their food.  I desperately looked for a cookbook in English while I was in China.  Alas, no success.  I now will scour the internet for books on their food.

My first entry about China will be about one of my favorite meals.  I will discuss all of the weird foods I saw in another entry.  I happened to stay in the city of Xi'an one more day than I originally anticipated.  A full day of wandering the city and exploring, sweet eh?  Xi'an is a city in central China that served as the capital of many previous dynasties.  Prior to my trip to China, I had never heard of the city.  However, Xi'an is actually quite big (+8 million aka two times the size of Houston).  The reason Xi'an has become a hot spot for tourists now is not because of the historical significance of the city, but because of what was found a mere 35 years ago in Xi'an.  In 1974, farm workers digging for a well in the countryside began to find weird things like arrows and broken pieces of pottery.  At first they discounted their findings to be mere junk, but the more stuff they found during the digging the more significant the findings became.  The farmers had actually stumbled upon the tomb of the First Emperor of China from the Qin dynasty.  Within the tomb, the legendary Terracotta warriors were present.  Throughout China's history, legend had told that the first emperor was buried with a life size army and a river of Mercury.  Below is a picture of one of the life size warriors that I took a picture of while I was in Xi'an.  None of the warriors were found intact and each had to be put back together.

Back to food, Xi'an has a large Muslim quarter and for lunch, I decided to explore it.  I found a restaurant with pictures (key in China) and sat down to order.  I decided that I would have what the lady in the next table over was eating.  My inability to learn any Chinese while on the trip was quite astounding.  I found myself resorting to pointing and pantomiming frequently to describe my order at restaurants.

As I sat and waited for my order.  I watched the chef prepare the meal.  This section of China has more noodle makers compared to Eastern China.  The noodle makers are extremely impressive to watch.  One minute you are watching them roll out a simple flour mixture and the next you are watching them fling noodles into creation by folding and flinging the dough.  My mouth must have been close to the floor as I watched this process.  It's magic I tell you.

Less than 5 minutes later, the owner of the restaurant brought me a bowl of noodle soup.  The first thing that popped into my head was, "Am I in the movie Kung Fu Panda or what?"  Haha.  It's funny how you try to make an unusual meal normal in your head.  As I sat down and ate the noodles clumsily (but much improved since the beginning of the month) with my chop sticks, I realized that I have been missing out on awesomeness.  I don't know whether dry noodles from the grocery store will ever be the same.  The fresh noodles slide into your mouth and are more complex tasting than their dry counterparts.  I slurped up the soup by bring the bowl to my mouth.  Unlike in the US, slurping is not considered to be unladylike in China.  However, I don't know whether I want to take notes on manners from the Chinese on everything.  It is not uncommon to hear a grandma hock a lougie right next to you as you walk down the street.  Mixed with the soup what what I thought was beef, green onions, onions and lots of spices that I don't know the names of.  However, I may not be the best judge when it comes to the meat.  I almost ate dog in one of the Hutong restaurants in Beijing because I thought it was beef.

Can I find noodle soup here in the US?  I sure hope so.  If nothing else, I want to learn how to make noodles now.  It's on my cooking bucket list.  Will I be able to fling the noodles like the noodle maker?  Highly unlikely.  I think I will be lucky if I manage to keep the noodles from sticking to the cutting board. 

                                              Above is the restaurant from the outside
I can't wait to write more about my adventure in China and the strange foods that I encountered, and I promise soon that I will write more about the cooking I am doing here at home.  Talk to you soon, Cristina