Categories
Chinese Culture fruit

Discovering new fruit: Loquats

My relatives had given me a bunch of orange coloured fruit before I came back to San Francisco; neither they or my parents knew what the English name of the fruit was, so I was stumped for a few days trying to figure out how to describe them. The fruit are orange coloured but are not part of the citrus family; they have big brown seeds in the middle, and the skin is easily peeled off when ripe. They came on branches, so I assume they grow on trees.

Well, today my curiosity on the fruit’s name got the best of me, and I finally looked the fruit up: loquats. At first it was hard for me to figure out how to describe them in a search engine, but by typing in “Chinese fruit” I was able to find them. I figured they were of Chinese origin since my relatives and my family friends gave the fruit to me–never before had I seen loquats at Safeway or any “American” grocery store.

I rather like loquats, after eating them for the past few days. Finally figuring out their English name has made me feel more motivated to find out more English names of other Chinese foods…after all, it would be nice to be able to tell others what my favorite authentic Chinese dishes are (without going into too much detail, haha).

Categories
Asian-American Chinese Culture rant

ABCs (American-Born Chinese)

It’s almost always like this:

While being introduced to another Chinese person…

Chinese person: Oh, who are you?
Parents’ friends: Oh, she’s my friend’s daughter. She was born here [in the United States].
Chinese person: Oh, I see, you’re one of those American-Born Chinese.
Me: Uh..yeah? (Thinks to self “You got a problem with that?”)

I don’t like how the fact that I was born here in the US is always made into such a big deal when I’m with relatives or family friends. Can’t they just get over the fact and let us ABCs be?

Categories
#amreading #foodie American Culture Chinese Culture dining out restaurant

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

Currently reading The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee and so far I find it a fascinating read. There are many things I already knew about Chinese food in the US (that most of it isn’t authentic); after all, my parents explained this to me awhile ago since they still operate their restaurant in Virginia.

In the end though, what foods stay “authentic” to their native origins when they enter a foreign country? After all, I’m sure most of the stuff I eat/crave at Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Indian, et. al. restaurants are not 100% authentic; we can say that most of the foods are adapted for the American palate.

It’s the same thing with truly American food crossing over into other countries such as Japan. The burgers in Japanese McDonald’s are definitely different from the burgers here in the U.S. There are different combinations and such; there’s a shrimp burger in Japan! You wouldn’t find such a thing here in the US.

Anyway, back to more reading. Just wanted to pause a moment and reflect on this aspect.

Categories
Chinese Culture My San Francisco Chronicles restaurant

Fortune from the cookie:

Had dim sum today at Yank Sing in SOMA. The dim sum was pretty good–seemed less greasy and somewhat cleaner than what I would find in Chinatown. However, the place is rather pricey and caters more towards the affluent folk. I would probably not go to this dim sum if I were with my friends since I know we all prefer bargains at this point in our lives (meaning: we want/need to save money for rent/other expenses).

Anyway, I received this fortune from my fortune cookie today:

“You will soon be traveling to a distant land.”

It amused me since it is pretty accurate. I am planning on traveling overseas in a few months. How did the cookie know?

Categories
Chinese Culture photography

Chinese New Year Arrives.

(Picture taken by yours truly at the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

Chinese New Year has officially arrived (February 7th). Festivities have been happening for the past week or so, and should last up until the last week in February. I unfortunately have missed out on some activities this past week due to other engagements, but I hope to go into Chinatown and check things out this week.

The year of the rat should hopefully bring some good fortune to me, as this is my zodiac sign.