Tea

Have I mentioned they have really good, fresh tea here?  My favorite is Jasmine tea, followed by Oolong. Jasmine has a sweetness to it, and cold brewed Jasmine tea is very popular, you can buy it bottled everywhere on the street. The Chinese believe rashes and other skin problems are the result of excess humidity in your body, and that both Jasmine tea and spicy food cleanse your body of humidity. They also think meat adds to humidity. (Except duck, which cools it.) And hey, who's to say it doesn't? It would certainly explain why when I cut out meat, my eczema outbreaks went waaaay down. So maybe I'm a believer. 

Oolong is an acquired taste, because I'll be honest, it tastes like the water leftover after you steam asparagus. But it really cleanses the palate. And in my opinion, curbs desire for sweets. The Chinese say oolong tea attaches to the fatty acids in the body, keeping them from being absorbed. They think drinking oolong tea is why so many Chinese people are so thin, even though they eat a lot of oily, friend and starchy foods. They drink oolong before, during and after meals, instead of water. I think this is where oolong gets it's reputation in the West as a diet tea. But let me tell you, one little tea bag a day ain't gonna do much; people here drink at least a  pot a day. I'm going to try it for a few weeks and see if it makes any difference in my health, i.e. weight. If not, it's still a delicious alternative to bottled water and soda. And it has caffiene in it, that doesn't hurt. 

I splurged and bought high quality oolong tea from the Fujian province, near Taiwan. This is the equivilant of buying Napa Valley wines. It's about $20 American, but it has lasted me months and months; a little goes a long way. I also bought an on-the-go tea steeper. It looks like a coffee mug, but it has a pop out screen for straining tea leaves. And I invested in an electric tea kettle, which can boil water in less than a minute.  

I can just imagine me going into the seedy parts of Chinatown in NYC looking for teas. And acne and eczema creams. And sleeping potions. Mark my words, I'll be hittin' up Chinatown soon after coming home for the products I've learned to love here. 

And believe it or not, I think this is real progress in my happiness here.