dinner with the kitchen

at night, the cafeteria at my school offers three options. the cheapest (for those who are paying) option is a bowl of noodles. at mid-range, you can get a tray of what we had for lunch. and the high end are a bunch of dishes of premade delicious food. whenever i eat dinner alone in the caf, i usually pick the former. the noodles there are delicious, but in addition to that, you have a choice of condiments.

now usually at a noodle place you have specify whether you want the noodles spicy or not, or if you want hua jiao or not (huajiao is a spice that numbs your mouth that is often used in sichuan cooking.) and they take care of the rest. here at the caf, you are given an undoctored bowl of noodles, and you do with it what you will.

you bring it over to the tray of condiments which has hua jiao powder, da jiao (a chili pepper paste), msg, salt, and two other bowls of liquid which might be vinegar and soy sauce.

a recipe for bick's favorite noodles. 1. take noodles from your cafeteria. 2. put two heaping spoonfuls of da jiao into it (be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl, that's where the peppers are). 3. add a spoonful of huajiao (too much makes it feel like you just got back from the dentist, it can be fun, but it isn't good for every bowl of noodles). 4. avoid the salt and msg. 5. add a small teaspoon each of the mystery liquids (at least until i can find out what they are.)

the noodle ladies love to help me with pronounciation of the condiments, even though it doesn't get me very far in knowing what they are. but their smiles and excitement makes me happy to eat there. plus the fact that it's free. that's a big one too.