Last week, I drove down to Miami to help my boyfriendmove into his new apartment. While I was there, I took Molly for 18 walks a day, and the only thing I read were Ikea instructions. Actually, there was no reading involved, because in the interest of saving money and confusing the hell out of everyone, Ikea manuals are basically furniture-making manga starring some ghost people. Because I was in their company (so to speak) so often, the Ikeapeople really started coming to life for me, and now I sort of think Ikea should hire me to think up and illustrate some of the Ikeapeople's stories. I actually put together a little something, based on the glorious day Chandler and I brought home a modular shelving unit for his pots and pans, just to show the people at Ikea exactly what I’m talking about:
Right before I left, I received Fuschia Dunlop’s memoir of eating in China, “Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper”. Before I got it in the mail, I kept thinking ‘aaaaaaw shit, this better arrive before I go down to Florida for the week, or I'm gonna bust some heads*.’ I’m so glad it came in time for me to entirely neglect it.
In July, I was in Shanghai and I had a sort of awakening vis a vis Chinese food. The principal agent of that awakening: Sichuan dan dan noodles. Coming home from the restaurant where I ate them (Crystal Jade at Xintiandi, holla!**), still sort of dazed by what had just gone on in my mouth (also, because it was really spicy and my mouth was burning), I had this idea that I’d heard of dan dan noodles before, and it turns out I had, on The Wednesday Chef. That’s how I found out about Fuschia Dunlop.
I’d like to try making the dan dan noodles, but I also feel like every time I try to cook Chinese (or Mexican) food it ends up tasting not great. I live in a little city though, so I guess it’s bully for me, otherwise. 200-word-review to come!
*read: think about leaving a moderately snippy review on Amazon.
**I feel like I always misuse holla, but I refuse to look it up, because then my use of it would be so limited.