general smartassery – Thomas David DuBois

Elm bark noodles 榆皮面

The noodles didn’t taste like much, and felt somehow inorganic. Nor was their brief stay in my gut a particularly pleasant one.

Before I begin, let me assure everyone that the story does end well

Cooking is hard and distinctly unglamorous work

Red oil – hongyou 红油 – is the heart of Sichuan cuisine

Every day, I leave class smelling like fish guts and chili oil. It’s heaven.

There was no contingency plan. There should always be a contingency plan…

We all knew it would come to this.

I promise that I wasn’t trying to be ridiculous.

Oh for the love of God…

And this is in a country where very few people look up from their cell phones while they walk…