Home Sweet Home -1

Perhaps its time for me to write something about my trip back to China. I was thinking of writing something when I was at home, but I was too lazy to even situp straight in front of a computer, so I gave up to laziness and didn’t do anything. After I came back to the states, the first thing happened was that I got a stomach flu. That feeling was awful. Nauseous, vomiting, and diarrhear, and the worst was I couldn’t even eat anything. I lied on bed for about three days without any idea of day or night. However, on the bright side, I lost all the weight that I gained in China, so really feeling the diet potential of being sick!

The best thing about home is eat. Everything on the street, in the supermarket, or in restaurant, looked very appealing. The first day since I got home, because of the jetlag thing, I woke up at 4am, so I went out of my community, and walked around the street. This early in the morning, the people who sells breakfast were already making them. So I bought one pork-bun, and another pan-cake, which cost me about a quarter dollars, CHEAP! The first bite brought me back to my early school years that on my way to school I always stopped in one of these food-stalls along the street for breakfast or snacks on the way back. Thinking about it, it has been so long ago already. I graduated from high school almost 10 years now, isn’t it scary?

Thus, I made up a theme for this trip back home – gourmet plus remembering-old-times-food trip. Whenever I went, I always went to restaurants that I’ve been before long long time ago, and ordered the dishes that I had when I was younger. It might sound stupid, or probably I am really that old to be so pretentiously home-sick. But it happens. When I went to Beijing, I went back to my old university, and had lunch at Baoqing, a Dai style restaurant at the back street of Beiwai. Because of Beiwai’s location as next to the Central Nationality Univeristy, there was (still is) a street of ethnic minority restaurants outside my university’s back gate. Didn’t really know why Baoqing became such a popular destination when I was in Beiwai, perhaps because some of my best friends were from Yunnan. Anyway, at the time we went to Baoqing quite often, even the restaurant owner – Baoqing -knew us. Every time we went, she always said “oh, you guys come!”

It has been at least 5 years since I went there last time. I entered, and nowhere was Baoqing – the owner – to be seen. Probably she is already too old and retired. There was another middle-aged woman who sits at the bar, and greeted me with a friendly smile. I sat down, opened the menu, and found nothing much really has changed. Similar stuff with similar prices. The only difference is that  I was alone by myself, all my friends from college were all gone to different places, and nobody here knew me anymore… The food was sure sublime, but the feeling was so much different…

To be continued…