Holiday and Food

It’s down time now, the middle of the CNY holiday and people are off to far flung destinations…Malaysia for the beaches and sun, Thailand for the fun, back to the US or within China to see family…and eat.

Not much is happening so I, too, am thinking about food. It’s strange to have to prepare my own food again. With the Chinese company, breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided to the employees. Of course the food is Chinese, and it is served industrial style in a large cafeteria, and if you go at the wrong time, the lines are long. The cafeteria serves about 3000 meals per day, it’s an amazing operation.

Breakfast is usually some form of pasty or Chinese dough (my fav has the red bean paste inside but often it’s just dough) with some really yummy little pickled peppers and warm rice soup thing. Its small and I have taken to having a small breakfast before company breakfast. I usually can find a group of English speaking seniors there to eat with in the left corner. That is at 8:15.

Lunch is like a collection of tapas plates, but to me this is the hardest meal. I have no idea what the little plates are, and I’m a little wary of the meat dishes so I often just get the vegetables and rice. A little company shop sells fruit, hot/cold/special drinks. The lady behind the counter there knows me, Ko-Le – a coke is liquid familiarity for me, but I miss ice. She gets it for me now before I even ask. Lunch is at 12:15…same area for the seniors.

Dinner gets delivered to my office. Here’s a typical meal in the picture. Usually it’s rice, some sort of clear noodle, cabbage and sometimes another vegetable with a meat dish. My fav has been the chicken thighs, my least fav was the fish head. Dessert is usually an orange or tangerine. Dinner comes at 4:45.