fredag, juli 20, 2007

My summer vacation

If there is one thing that I can point to from my summer so far, and say, 'Yes, this is the essense of it, this is the great secret I have learned', it is the following:

Without any doubt, it* is absolutely in no way about me me me.

Not that I'd never suspected this before, but now it is confirmed. Which of course begs the question, if it's not about me, then what is it about?

I believe it is about sichuan pepper (not readily available in my part of Denmark, thus imported from the suburbs of Northern California). It has the taste, the punch, it numbs and exhilarates. It in fact does everything and is about everything, meaning that everything is about it. Oh, and it makes for a beautiful Kung Pao Chicken.

Speaking of which, please ignore the lack of Chinese lettuce in the chicken. It's still damn good even without. I'd recommend it served on rice, in a small bowl, eaten with chopsticks.

* It here could be read as an empty subject, as in the 'it' in 'It's raining.' However, you could fill this 'it' with anything you'd like, and it still would work...life, the world, happiness, pain, joy, agony, sex, drugs, rock and roll...you decide. Whatever you choose, it will be, by definition, something that is not about me.

16 kommentarer:

FourLegged sagde ...

From the title, I expected you to begin with "What I did on my summer vacation: A mystical journey..."

BTW, sichuan pepper is also pretty good on fish.

theblackscorpio sagde ...

Ohh, *that* pepper :D

i'm marion sagde ...

So you're a spice girl! But a bright one... :-)

Anonym sagde ...

you are right on the money with this one Kimananda! all about the pepper for sure

Anonym sagde ...

I love Chinese food!!

Meow (aka Connie) sagde ...

Hope you are having a great week.
Take care, Meow

Simple American sagde ...

Oooh! Kung pao chicken! Looking good!

Unknown sagde ...

Well, if the summer is not about me, perhaps it is about you??? ;)

Anonym sagde ...

*drool*

Was just talking about your Sichuan with a friend this afternoon. She to spent time in China is nearly wept when I told her of your magical pepper.

hugs

madelyn sagde ...

see? i want that chicken now -
and it's breakfast time!

Chipper sagde ...

Looks delicious to me!

x sagde ...

i've never heard of sichuan pepper! is it similar to pink peppers, which are not really peppers but spicy little berries? it looks like it in the picture.
This summer is not about me either. It's about the heatwave killing me. Stay where the rain is!

Anonym sagde ...

I thought 'it' meant 'life'. Life is a sichuan pepper, numbing (e.g.)

Life isn't a sichuan pepper. It's more like a soap opera rerun mixed with beer, music and natural highs.

Nah, that's not it either.

Last time I ate a raw pepper however, I farted flames for three days.

aha.

Life is like farting flames infitely; it's fun but painful at the same time.

There ya go.

Devil Mood sagde ...

You must be a really inventive cook. I think I'll hire you to make some menus for my house. I ate nothing but grilled fish for a forthnight on holiday ;)

kimananda sagde ...

Fourlegged, sichuan pepper is good on everything. And I hadn't thought about that when I wrote the title. Alas, my summer has been totally devoid of mystical journeying.

Ms. Black Scorpio, yep, that one. We do need to get everyone to my place so that I can do that Sichuan dinner I've talked about for how many months now?

Marion, I like that. Sichuan Pepper Spice, that's me! :-)

Daphnewood, it is really cool stuff, that pepper. It was like a revelation the first time I tried it (in a restaurant in Beijing).

Day, I used to love Chinese food, but after being in Sichuan, a lot of Southern Chinese food is really bland to me. Sadly.

Meow, hope all is well with you, too.

Mr. American, it is pretty good, I must say. Even more so when someone who knows what they're doing makes it...but mine is not bad.

Annemarie, exactly. It's all about you. As I think I mentioned to you, Thor and I can play that one for hours. :-)

Gondul, poor friend. Is this friend in Denmark, because if so, I'm sure a tiny care package of the stuff can be arranged.

Maddie, kung pao chicken makes a great breakfast.

Etchen, it is! :-)

Chloe, I don't know about pink pepper, but if you've had sichuan pepper, you'd know it. It has very little flavor, but even a grain of it will make your whole mouth go numb. It makes Sichuan food a truly multi-sensory experience.

Kunstem..., not sure about the farting flames, but life is definitely both fun and painful, in varying quantities.

Ms. Mood, not sure about the inventive part, but I have a few recipes; come over and I'll cook for you. On the other hand, I'd love to have nothing but grilled fish for a fortnight, good quality fish is super expensive here, so we don't have it anywhere near often enough.

Devil Mood sagde ...

I understand - in the Algarve we bought fresh fish for 4 people for a euro, 1 single euro :)