Well, I’ve got a spare moment because apparently I’ve just been banished from the kitchen with a broad sweep of the hand and a mouthful of Chinese comments from Professor Yeung. He is the senior guy in charge of the doctors here at the hospital. Physically, not an imposing man, about 5’2″, balding, about 60 years old I would guess. He is a jolly sort, always laughing about something cryptic during my daily ‘interview’ about my progress. We seem to be a constant source of amusement to him. Back to the topic, the guy can cook. He cooks up a mean stir fry, and, true to the region, it is smoking HOT. The volatile oils from the chilies he throws in there make us cough and our eyes water, just from briefly entering the room. The guy must have guts of steel. Not to mention the end pipe too.
He’s come to our rescue today as we learned another key bit of wisdom about China. When you buy a nice slab of meat from the open air market, you have to cook it that day. Putting it in the fridge was apparently not good enough and yesterday’s purchase looked dubious today. The Professor saved the day by giving us the scrunched up nose face saying it was a no go, then throwing it in a pot of boiling, salted water. He cooked it for a while, gave it a good sniff and declared it edible again. Good thing, that big slab of pork loin cost us a whole dollar!! The reason for my banishment was that I added some ginger and green onion to the boiling water, and I guess he needed to be able to smell the meat to tell us whether it was good or not. I guess we’ll all find out tomorrow…