Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Takeout Night

Yesterday I had one of those nights where I throw my hands in the air and go, "There's nothing I want to eat in Nakan! Why can't we go to AMERICA for dinner?"

The first couple months, I was eager to explore the blocks and blocks of mom-and-pop joints that surround our apartment. I still love the abundance of cheap, delicious Chinese food. But sometimes I want options: "Do I want a foot-long meatball sub, carne asada nachos, or Denny's Grand Slam breakfast for dinner?" kind of options.

I'm tired of the Nakan KFC and McDonalds, and I'm too poor right now for the nice sit-down western option in town, so we wound up getting takeout Chinese and eating in front of the TV.

When I thought about it, I laughed. Chinese takeout + movie is such an American thing to do: Blockbuster, chow mein, and those cute little boxes with the red pagodas on them.

But our food came in flat, rectangular, lunchboxes. We had marinated duck, pickled cucumbers, cold eggplant, bamboo shoots, and tofu with thousand-year egg.

And we watched Connected, a Hong-Kong remake of the American movie Cellular.

It was a night rife with postmodern irony. But I still want to go to America for dinner.

I'm at the point where you could take me to Fresno for dinner and I'd be ecstatic.

2 comments:

MitMoi said...

It must be bad if you're pining for Fresno! However, when you get back to the US, and if you're ever stuck there, I can make a few recomendations. Including some of the best breakfast burritos EVAH!

Leslie said...

hmm, I love a good breakfast burrito.

The last time I was in Fresno I went to some faux-authentic irish pub. The food was decent, but it was just weird because it was in some complex with a handful of other overpriced "concept" restaurants.