For our final meal in Chengdu, we finally got some real spice! The tour guides had been largely protecting us from the real Szechwan food, for fear they would rip our stomachs open or something like that. But, one time that came at our last dinner looked like the real thing.
It was a bowl of meat alongside what was clearly a bunch of red and green peppers of some sort. There were these puffy half-shells that came with it and you were supposed to put the spicy stuff inside the shell and then eat it… sort of a Szechwan taco ;)
For several meals, I had been the official taster at whatever table I was at, because I like spicy food and I have not had stomach problems at all – making me somewhat of a rarity on the trip. The long days of travel and activities combined with the constant barrage of rich Chinese food has really played havoc with many of our body’s systems. Lately, it seems we have at least 2 or 3 people at every meal who are just eating white rice or maybe not eating at all.
Anyway, I was the person designated to eat this little morsel shown above.
Wow, was it delicious! I loved it.
It also made my entire head burn, turned my cheeks flush, made my eyes water, caused my nose to run, and forced me to pound back several glasses of water followed by a few servings of rice (bland food following spicy is always smart).
So, I played it safe and only ate 3 of these delightful spice bombs. Mmmm, so good… but ouch, so painful.
By the way, we have had an important victory in the battle over food and drink lately. Xiao Fei (our guide) has agreed to let us have unlimited drinks at our meals. You may recall a couple days ago I reported that we were only allowed to drink one glass of water, Coke, Sprite, or beer at each meal – often from a glass the size of a toddler’s sippy cup. We still get strange looks from waitresses in restaurants when we dare to ask for a refill of our drink, but they begrudgingly provide us with as much to drink as we want. Xiao Fei is the best guide ever!!!
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