simple foods and xuanchuan

I make a beautiful bowl of noodles for lunch. Take the styrofoam boxes from the fridge - leftovers from a jibao dinner exactly one week ago. Sniff at the glob of chicken, mushrooms and fat to be sure it has not gone bad. Plop it upside down into a ceramic bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. It still holds the shape of the box, but begins to smell like something delicious. Start the water boiling on the stove and then completely forget it while you write a birthday email to a friend. Remember, and return to the kitchen to slide a pinch of dried noodles down into the water. Nibble on a broken piece of dried noodle, register the taste of "jian" - baking soda. Finish heating up the chicken mixture 'til it steams and juices run. Pull out a few noodles at a time and dangle them into your mouth to test for doneness. Turn off the heat and pile the noodles on top of the chicken. Mix it all together. I think I will eat exactly the same thing for lunch tomorrow.

My benefactor-family most recently gave me a soymilk making machine. And a bag of dried soybeans and brown rice. I'd seen the machines sold, but never really paid much attention. They're very specialized, and very specific. Certain levels of water, and certain levels of beans. You can do banana shakes and stuff, but mostly, you just make soymilk. It's quite wonderful first thing in the morning. These days my mind spins with pictures and instructions for lemon layer cake and chocolate souffle cupcakes. The simplicity of the thick, warm drink is a welcome change. I find myself agreeing more and more when people tell me, as they have been doing for years, how much better the Chinese diet is than the American. Friends have suggested that I can increase bread sales by convincing mothers that wheat is better than rice for their kids. Will help them grow strong and smart like westerners.

Johnson and DB spent seven hours today sitting in the center of an apartment complex with a table, a turtle suit, a couple of signs, and a whole bunch of brochures. I showed up at 5:30 and left at 6:00. Most of the families are still away for the holidays, we were told. Two-thirds still gone, they said, which surprised us. The few kids there were came to try on the turtle head, and to see me. I spoke to them in a mixture of language, and they whirled to ask Johnson, in the turtle body, what I'd said. They were skeptical about DB's status as a teacher, when they figured out he doesn't know English.

Dinner with CJ, and we talked, as is usual recently, of traditional culture and all she is excited about - Taoism, Fengshui, and the Book of Changes. When their teacher is back from Shanghai, they eat lunch in his house with his mother, father, wife, and child, then sit around drinking tea and talking about these things. He is teaching them a standing meditation pose. She is a new driver, and I try to ignore her ignoring the traffic lanes on the drive home. We listen to a cd of Sigur Ros, Regina and The Weepies that I made for her.