Missing my ethnic foods!

Ah, yes, this is the third post of the day on the topic of food, but I can't help myself. I like food!

In the four days I have been here so far, I haven't had the time to cook, and have resorted to checking out all the food places that Springdale has to offer.

On my second day here, we went out to Marie's for a lunch social after our staff meeting. Marie's is a Chinese and Canadian restaurant and motel. Having forgotten all about Chinese-Canadian foods in rural Canada, I made the great faux pas of ordering a Chinese item from the menu. Out of the twenty people in our group, I was the only Chinese on staff, and the only one who ordered a Chinese dish. Everyone else ordered something Canadian like grilled cheese, soup, or salad. I thought to myself, why order Canadian when there are only two Chinese restaurants in town? It turns out, despite ordering a Chinese dish, my beef chow mein did not come with any mein (yellow Chinese fried egg noodles), and instead was more of a chop shue of beef, cabbage and some carrot shreds probably included to add colour to the plate. The only thing remotely Chinese about my chow mein dish was the trademark starchy sweet and salty sauce, which itself was a meager imitation.

After the failed attempt at satisfying my homesick craving for Chinese food, I decided to seek out the remaining Chinese restaurant in town to try my luck.  Bo Jo's is just around the corner from my place, and known for the best Chinese food. This time, I had learned my lesson and carefully studied the ingredient list under the menu options. Again, all the dishes listed under chow mein were not accompanied by any egg noodles. Seeing my puzzlement, the hostess, a Newfie, offered me the opportunity to speak with one of the members of the Chinese family that owns and runs the restaurant. I met the lady of the family and restaurant and delicately asked her first if she spoke any Chinese, whether it was Mandarin or Cantonese, and once establishing that she did indeed speak Chinese, proceeded to discuss with her what I was hoping to find in Chinese. It turns out, this family speaks Cantonese (my mother tongue), and they also come from Taisan, the same region as my dad's village. We bonded instantly over our common dialect, heritage, and regional roots. I asked her what is the one item I can order which most closely resembles authentic Cantonese cuisine. Serena, the owner, suggested the Cantonese chow mein containing a mix or vegetables, and three types of meat: chicken, cha sui, the red roasted porc, and shrimp. This dish also included noodles! I was excited and eagerly ordered it for take out immediately. When I had finally brought it home and opened up the trademark Styrofoam box, I was disappointed to find that the noodle was not the bright yellow mein I was use to, but a noodle of faded yellow... a Mr. Noodle kind of noodle. The dish was still relatively good, but just not the same.

I already knew that I could not expect much of Chinese restaurants in places outside of Richmond (Vancouver), Markham (Toronto), and Montreal, since when ever we go on family vacations, my brothers and I always joke that we are doing a tour of Chinese eats in Canada, and not actually giving the local eats a chance. Chinese dads' need steamed white rice, and Chinese moms' like Chinese leafy greens. The most impressive Chinese restaurant which we came across on our trips was one in Summerside, PEI. Since rent is probably considerably cheaper, the restaurant had a fresh renovated look of authentic decor. We picked the restaurants because we saw chopsticks place on  the tables, and noted that it was family run. There, my mom talked directly with the family and got them to make us things that were not on the menu.  But again, they were pretty limited, since there are many ethnic ingredients and produce they do not have access to in rural Canada. After quizzing them on all the ingredients they had, mom in collaboration with them came up with a customized menu. The dishes they served us did not look menu pretty, but were more or less similar to the dishes we were use to eating back home.

Even though I had some exposure to the simpleness of rural towns, I continue to forget and take the diversity  of the larger cities for granted. Lucky for me, I have brought along a small tub of green Thai curry paste, and selected Indian spices which hopefully will sustain me until I convince the people who love me to send me more. (I sound like I cook a lot, but I don't, so I'm not all that worried about running out of these ingredients.) I regret not having packed the sesame oil which I contemplated about until I convinced myself it would be too messy, the  Sriracha chili sauce which you see at every table of Vietnamese restaurants, and Chinese sausages which my mom would always pack me back when I was on res. My mom was very nice and thoughtful, and at least remembered to send me off with two precious packs of Chinese beef jerky, the sweet and hot kind, my favourite.