Noodles

Last night we watched Kung Fu Panda.  I have to say, that movie has whole new levels of meaning for me after living in China for 3 months.  One of the things that resonated with me most was the line from Po's father, "We are noodle folk.  Broth runs through our veins."

Since coming to China I have eaten an overwhelmingly large amount of noodles.  I love noodles.  I eat them cold, stir-fried, and, my favorite, in a soupy broth with vegetables (of which there are about a bazillion different varieties).  There are cut noodles, pulled noodles, rice noodles, potato noodles, and any other kind of noodle you could imagine.  I gladly and willingly eat them all.

Eating noodles is not for the fainthearted.  Have you ever tried to eat a super thick, 2-foot long noodle with chopsticks?  It's a challenge, and it can be really time consuming.  I still am trying to figure out how Chinese people do it without getting splatters of broth all over the table.  Perhaps I shall never know.

All that to say, I really like to eat noodles.  In fact, they are now pretty much the only thing I eat in the cafeteria.  I usually only get rice when I go out to restaurants.  However, the portions of noodles that are served here are, in my opinion, huge.  I have never been able to consume an entire bowl of noodles in the 40 minutes I have for lunch every day, and most of the time I'm eating as fast as I possibly can, and am usually pretty full by the end of the meal, and yet there are still enough noodles for a whole meal.  (I'm currently eating a bowl of leftover noodles as I type).

This all changed last weekend.  Cathy and I walked hungrily to the dining hall for lunch.  We traipsed on up to the 3rd floor where I knew they had a dish I wanted. "he ye fen".  It's kind of like ma la tang, if you've ever had it, but more peanutty, and without the "it is very bad for you" warnings from students. 

The delicious dish is served to you in the huge black pot it's cooked in.  The yummy broth is absolutely filled with about 5 different kinds of noodles, cabbage, seaweed, tofu strips, black fungus, and other leafy vegetables.  My favorite part is that you can have a little bowl on the side for sauce to dip the boiling hot noodles in to cool off and flavor.  I use the peanut sauce.  It's delicious.

So, this day, I was very hungry, and kept eating and eating away.  I hope I talked to Cathy, but I honestly don't remember because I was so absorbed in the noodle-y goodness.  Before I knew it, I dipped my chopsticks into the broth to grab a noodle and to my absolute shock, I couldn't find one!  I gleefully ordered Cathy, "put your chopsticks in my bowl!", which she agreed to with a look of confusion on her face.  After her, "wow, you've eaten a lot" congratulations, I practically shouted, "no, you don't understand, there are no noodles left!" Cathy graciously rejoiced in my achievement with me.  I then found one last little noodle.

The Last Noodle

 And then I ate the last noodle.

The face of a full and happy person.  Don't be deceived by the amount of broth.  The pot was overflowing with noodles when I started. 

All in all, it was a good day.