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Back from Chinatown
Jan. 28th, 2006 05:30 pmI bought my jasmine rice! Yay! I was planning on going to Dynasty but it was a bit too far away (I also didn't want to brave Canal on Chinese New Year Eve with a squeaky cart) so I decided to hit the other new supermarket that we had discovered a few months ago under the Brooklyn Bridge.
But then I passed it by for no apparent reason (I wasn't thinking) and as I was walking around the block to go back to it, I discovered that I was at the entrance way to the Hong Kong Supermarket! Of all the big Chinese supermarkets in Chinatown, Hong Kong is the ONLY one that I have not been to so I took the chance and went inside. I mean, they had to have rice -- what sort of reasonable, respectable Chinese supermarket does not carry rice? It's inconceivable.
So I went inside and I bought some veggies -- some green beans and a fuzzy melon... I'm planning on making a fuzzy melon soup -- you know the type, don't you? Fuzzy melon cut into wheels, some black mushrooms, chicken and foo jook (which are dried bean curd sticks). I've never made it before and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to put anything more into it...Like dried scallops or something to give it extra taste. But it's such a yummy soup and I'm in this soup phase right now.
Last night I made "jai" or basically a vegetarian dish. I think I should have made tomorrow instead, since tomorrow is the first day of the new year and traditionally, you're supposed to eat vegetarian food, I think... But it was so good. Jai is sooo good! I made it with napa, black mushrooms, dried shrimp (technically not vegetarian but my family has always had dried shrimp in jai), some cloud ears and some dried lily flowers. Oh! And funsee, this kinda noodly thing that is kinda clear and is made from beans. It was so good. Usually I'd toss in a few pieces of fried tofu into it but I didn't have any so I was sad. :( But it still is yummy. I made enough for two meals so I'll be eating it tonight! ^^
Anyway, I digress. So I went to the Hong Kong Supermarket and I bought rice and veggies. But as I was in the checkout line, I noticed these blocks of taro root cake and turnip cake and I couldn't resist! I knew they would not be as good as my father's (who makes the best "gou" in the whole wide world -- especially his taro one) but I'm homesick during Chinese New Year and I love gou and...and...Anyway I bought it. And I ate some of it. And it was good but definitely not as good as my daddy's. But still good.
As I was walking through Chinatown, going back to the dorm, I realized something. Sometimes I really dislike going to Chinatown. When I'm there, all the Chinese people there assume I'm "one of them," which kinda makes me feel uncomfortable because that means they expect certain things from me -- like being able to speak Chinese. I mean, I can probably manage but I suck at Chinese. I smile a lot when they talk to me, because I really don't want to open my mouth and attempt a sentence. My mother once said that the Chinese people who come here from China smile a lot at white people because they can't understand what they are saying. I smile a lot because I can't answer the Chinese people.
And then you have the white people in Chinatown who are slightly displaced. No matter how many tourists there are, they will always be out numbered on the street. In a restaurant, well if there are too many white people at a restaurant and not that many Chinese people, it's usually a cue for me to go eat somewhere else. If you want real Chinese food in Chinatown, you eat where the Chinese people eat. And in that case, I want to be accepted. I don't want to be looked down on as one of those Chinese people who might as well be white! No matter what, that is an insult!
Anyway, the white people naturally assume you're "one of them," this time not of their kind, but of the Chinese. And it's just a bit annoying because while the majority of the people in Chinatown conduct their business in Chinese, I'm better at my English and god damn it, I can understand what you're saying about me. It makes me a bit upset sometimes. Don't assume I'm one of them. Don't assume I'm one of you. But I don't want them to label me into the other camp as well. I don't want to be labelled at all. I'm Chinese, I was born in America, I can't speak Chinese all that well and I can speak English very well. I like Chinese food and I have had a Chinese upbringing. I'm a liberal Democrat and grew up in a small rural West Coast town.
Sometimes I think it sucks being Asian American or American Asian or whatever. You are not easily labelled at all because there are so many different types out there. You have the more white one and you have the more Asian ones. You have the mixed who try to balance. I don't feel as though I fall anywhere but then people start putting me into camps and I'm not comfortable with that. Why can't people just leave it.
But who am I to speak? I do the same thing. Chinese people in Chinatown -- can't speak English if their lives depend on it. White people in Chinatown -- weirdos who get a kick out of a foreign culture.
Labelling, classifying, identifying -- it's what people do to make sense of the world. Is it wrong? Is it correct? Is it offensive? Should we all try to evolve to the point where we just think "human"? But wouldn't that just make everyone the same and confuse the hell out of us all? And is that even the right path to take, where we just ignore differences, instead of acknowledging them as what makes us unique?
Saa... I wonder...
Tomorrow -- 80% of rain in the afternooon. I'm still going to Chinatown for the Firecracker Ceremony! Tonight, homework! Yay!
Hey, for my Chinese friends on my flist -- are we allowed to wash our hair on Chinese New Year Eve? I won't be breaking some taboo about washing away my luck if I wash my hair today, will I?
But then I passed it by for no apparent reason (I wasn't thinking) and as I was walking around the block to go back to it, I discovered that I was at the entrance way to the Hong Kong Supermarket! Of all the big Chinese supermarkets in Chinatown, Hong Kong is the ONLY one that I have not been to so I took the chance and went inside. I mean, they had to have rice -- what sort of reasonable, respectable Chinese supermarket does not carry rice? It's inconceivable.
So I went inside and I bought some veggies -- some green beans and a fuzzy melon... I'm planning on making a fuzzy melon soup -- you know the type, don't you? Fuzzy melon cut into wheels, some black mushrooms, chicken and foo jook (which are dried bean curd sticks). I've never made it before and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to put anything more into it...Like dried scallops or something to give it extra taste. But it's such a yummy soup and I'm in this soup phase right now.
Last night I made "jai" or basically a vegetarian dish. I think I should have made tomorrow instead, since tomorrow is the first day of the new year and traditionally, you're supposed to eat vegetarian food, I think... But it was so good. Jai is sooo good! I made it with napa, black mushrooms, dried shrimp (technically not vegetarian but my family has always had dried shrimp in jai), some cloud ears and some dried lily flowers. Oh! And funsee, this kinda noodly thing that is kinda clear and is made from beans. It was so good. Usually I'd toss in a few pieces of fried tofu into it but I didn't have any so I was sad. :( But it still is yummy. I made enough for two meals so I'll be eating it tonight! ^^
Anyway, I digress. So I went to the Hong Kong Supermarket and I bought rice and veggies. But as I was in the checkout line, I noticed these blocks of taro root cake and turnip cake and I couldn't resist! I knew they would not be as good as my father's (who makes the best "gou" in the whole wide world -- especially his taro one) but I'm homesick during Chinese New Year and I love gou and...and...Anyway I bought it. And I ate some of it. And it was good but definitely not as good as my daddy's. But still good.
As I was walking through Chinatown, going back to the dorm, I realized something. Sometimes I really dislike going to Chinatown. When I'm there, all the Chinese people there assume I'm "one of them," which kinda makes me feel uncomfortable because that means they expect certain things from me -- like being able to speak Chinese. I mean, I can probably manage but I suck at Chinese. I smile a lot when they talk to me, because I really don't want to open my mouth and attempt a sentence. My mother once said that the Chinese people who come here from China smile a lot at white people because they can't understand what they are saying. I smile a lot because I can't answer the Chinese people.
And then you have the white people in Chinatown who are slightly displaced. No matter how many tourists there are, they will always be out numbered on the street. In a restaurant, well if there are too many white people at a restaurant and not that many Chinese people, it's usually a cue for me to go eat somewhere else. If you want real Chinese food in Chinatown, you eat where the Chinese people eat. And in that case, I want to be accepted. I don't want to be looked down on as one of those Chinese people who might as well be white! No matter what, that is an insult!
Anyway, the white people naturally assume you're "one of them," this time not of their kind, but of the Chinese. And it's just a bit annoying because while the majority of the people in Chinatown conduct their business in Chinese, I'm better at my English and god damn it, I can understand what you're saying about me. It makes me a bit upset sometimes. Don't assume I'm one of them. Don't assume I'm one of you. But I don't want them to label me into the other camp as well. I don't want to be labelled at all. I'm Chinese, I was born in America, I can't speak Chinese all that well and I can speak English very well. I like Chinese food and I have had a Chinese upbringing. I'm a liberal Democrat and grew up in a small rural West Coast town.
Sometimes I think it sucks being Asian American or American Asian or whatever. You are not easily labelled at all because there are so many different types out there. You have the more white one and you have the more Asian ones. You have the mixed who try to balance. I don't feel as though I fall anywhere but then people start putting me into camps and I'm not comfortable with that. Why can't people just leave it.
But who am I to speak? I do the same thing. Chinese people in Chinatown -- can't speak English if their lives depend on it. White people in Chinatown -- weirdos who get a kick out of a foreign culture.
Labelling, classifying, identifying -- it's what people do to make sense of the world. Is it wrong? Is it correct? Is it offensive? Should we all try to evolve to the point where we just think "human"? But wouldn't that just make everyone the same and confuse the hell out of us all? And is that even the right path to take, where we just ignore differences, instead of acknowledging them as what makes us unique?
Saa... I wonder...
Tomorrow -- 80% of rain in the afternooon. I'm still going to Chinatown for the Firecracker Ceremony! Tonight, homework! Yay!
Hey, for my Chinese friends on my flist -- are we allowed to wash our hair on Chinese New Year Eve? I won't be breaking some taboo about washing away my luck if I wash my hair today, will I?
