一次奇妙的就餐经历.docVIP

一次奇妙的就餐经历 　　Iforce myself to leave my computer and walk down for lunch. I have been writing all morning after my little jaunt down at the artificial-turfed playground for my run and exercise. It’s been a late start and breakfast,a simple meal consisting of whole-wheat biscuits and a tetra pack of sweet strawberry flavored milk,was delayed,too. To lunch or not to lunch is a question. 　　To lunch,I decide,is a better option... This evening I have to eat pizzas for dinner and though they’re a tasty enough repast,they’re not quite what my body thrives on. A university official has invested in a new pizza joint in downtown Huainan and I have been asked to “grace” the opening ceremony along with the other two foreign teachers here. They’re Americans,and,therefore,high-profile. I am Indian,therefore,tolerated. India’s rapid economic progress,of late,makes me less of a pariah than I might have been some years ago. A man is known by the country he “keeps”,to rephrase an old proverb,and a touch inappropriately at that. I,sometimes, lie and sometimes joke about where I come from. I don’t want to be identified with merely my origins. There’s more to me than where I was born and raised. In any case,I don’t see my lies as lies as I neither hope nor expect to gain from the lies in any way. It’s just a momentary thing. 　　I walk past my favorite eating place, Xiawu Fandian (Afternoon Restaurant). Of late,the fare served there has failed to tickle my palate or inspire my intestines. They have changed the oil they use in their cooking. It has an unpleasant flavor and leaves a strange aftertaste. I informed the laoban niang (boss’s wife) and pointed out my unfinished plate on a couple of occasions. She looked stoic and unmoved so I decided it was time for me to move, instead. Past the Afternoon Restaurant and then the Friendship Restaurant across the street,where I sometimes eat. They serve cabbage with pre-fried tofu (the Chinese pronunciation is doufu) in medium spicy,sweetish styl