Chopsticks and Teahouse

I was well trained as a child - I can eat with chopsticks if I have to. But I haven't ever HAD to. Now I do. At each meal, I'm given a pair of chopsticks and a wide, flat spoon. That's it. And with those implements, I've tackled:

• soup
• slippery noodles
• spare ribs
• cabbage salad
• steamed buns
• greens

Mostly it works out OK, but when it comes to dividing a sticky bun, I really miss the knife. The chunks of rib were pretty tough too - Barbara suggested I put the rib on the spoon and use the chopsticks to hold it steady while biting off pieces. I only got a little on my shirt.

The implements also vary by venue. This morning we had cheap wooden chopsticks and flimsy plastic spoons. The other end of the spectrum are the beautiful black laqured chopsticks and stone colored ceramic spoons we had for dinner tonight.

Dinner was at a lovely tea house near Barbara's house. There must be places like this (sort of) in the states, but not many. It was very peaceful. Some people got tea for a whole tea service. We had dinner instead, choosing between tofu, chicken, pork, beef and fish. We each got a full tray of soup, pickled salad, cooked vegetables, entree, and desert, which was sweet potato mashed with bits of apple. For desert, they gave us dried star fruit.

After dinner, we visited the ajacent art gallery. How elegant!

I know I've told a lot about the food, but it's been interesting, different, and yet tasty.