I know not about this Californian band but I refer to the toungue tingling food we ate this afternoon. Its a place that serves Sichuan Food and it was clearly something to be experienced.
Under the pseudonym of Schezuan or Schezwan we have tried various incarnations in the states before but not having been to the province I am not sure what to believe when it comes to matters of taste.
Kung Pao chicken was our most famous encounter with this central Chinese province over the last couple of decades. Cooked from coast to coast it has stood its test of time and I almost equate that to comfort food.. land at an unusual airport late one night and go out to seek some nourishment chances are you will find a burger joint and someone selling Kung Pao.
This place we ate today was amazingly different. So the common thread between Kung Pao and the dishes we enjoyed was the preponderence of Red Chillis and Chilli or Sesame oil.. we had a fish soup that was essentially covered with a bed of these red beauties that the server expertly filters out to reveal what is underneath. The fish was tender and the glass noodles had a slurpy quality to them.. enjoyed the heat that resonates on the palate like an after taste.
That was followed by two other dishes..one was a fried and stuffed eggplant cake..it had minced cabbage (my guess) and this wonderful gravy on top of it that just melted in the mouth. It tasted like baingan pakodas to be honest although no such dish exists back in India.
The other dish consisted of grilled tofu over spicy oil and served with thick noodles that resembled Japanese Udon. This was my least fave as it tended to stick to the palate and did not have texture complexity nor the flavor complexity the other two did. Hey two out of three was a good deal and left feeling full and replete with a good week's worth of cholestrol.
This autumn the weather gods cooperated as we took a family trip in the northeast to see six states that qualify or makeup what is known colloquially in America as New England. Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island (tiniest state in the union). The outing helped tally up the states we either lived in, visited or have worked in to 47. Guess which three have eluded this intrepid traveling family. Any rate the drive was all in about 1,800 miles and included some memorable geographic wonders or points of interest. Easternmost part of state of Massachusetts being one. Furthest drivable road east in Mass being another. Visit to all Ivy League schools (term harkens to a collegiate athletics conference and generally regarded as elite academic institutes of some repute worldwide) is another random bucket list item of which this trip afforded the chance to knock two more of the list. Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and Brown (and its sister institute the RISD - school f
Was it the cholesterol or the chilli which gave you the high?
ReplyDeleteIt was the stereo (aside - Greek meaning solid) effect
ReplyDelete