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Oh the joys of going for Dim Sum! Picture this, large Soho Chinese restaurant, lots of red and gold, lots of Chinese people but a fair smattering from other cultures too. The table is round, the noises are busy and bustling, and Chinese ladies, some old and some young, shuttle around the room, armed with dangerous looking trolleys full of delectable delights, or maybe not... This was my second ever time of having this very Chinese experience. The first time hadn't been too much of a disaster. I'd looked aghast when teasing friends tried to convince me I was eating animal intestines at various points, but nothing had looked too much like a chickens foot. Better yet, nothing had been alive and wriggling, so on my second visit for dim sum I was feeling a little more confident.  I launched into the yam balls with something approaching gusto, and the har gau, and the char siew bau (though I still feel a little weird eating sweet/savoury cake-type things - my English tastebuds just scream 'ooooh, not normal, not normal at all') It was when Richard spotted the jellyfish that I felt my heartbeat quicken slightly, and I wondered if having a Chinese boyfriend was such a good idea after all.
I mean, jellyfish. It's just not normal now, is it? Funny little fishy things with wobbly 'bodies' and stringy tentacles, and they sting for goodness sake - why would you want to put that in your mouth, let alone swallow? However, Richard had that look on his face. The one which means'well, I'd better make allowances for her English-ness, and pickiness...she'll *never* eat this!' Ever one to rise to a challenge, I helped myself to a mouthful. It was cold. And kind of crunchy, which was weird. It looks like jelly. Off colour kind of anaemic jelly admittedly, but still I thought I might be okay. But then you taste it and it's another of those fooling flavours, being more savoury than sweet. I can't say that I was thrilled by the taste of it, and actually I was a little disturbed to see Richard gleefully tucking into masses of the stuff, but it was, yet again, another triumphant step for me into the wonderful world of Chinese food. Incidentally, for those of you intrigued as to the outcome of my Chinese New Year meal with Chinese boyfriend's parents, I was actually ill with flu (no, really, I was!) so had to miss it! I didn't think it would be considered very lucky to turn up streaming and share my cold with everyone there. Nevertheless, I've been back since and coped beautifully with a delicious Chinese meal cooked by his mum (though at the haunting thought of getting more noodles in my lap than my mouth I chickened out of using the chopsticks and asked for a spoon!) |
