Okay, enough whining, onto the topic of the post: I took this picture on the street over the weekend. The man tried to block my camera, which normally doesn’t happen here, so I figured something must be up. I asked a student, and she said it’s illegal to sell teeth on the street like this. I asked her what animal this is, and she didn’t know. A Google search revealed that teeth from Tibetan wolves are thought to be good luck charms, but I have no clue if these are the jaw bones of Tibetan wolves. But the little jaws in a pile like this made me feel queasy.
Queasy story #2: We ate a big bowl of Xiang La Xia (香辣虾)“Fragrant Spicy Shrimp” for dinner last weekend. In this dish, shrimp are mixed with onions, garlic, ginger, potato and lotus root in a big bowl and served hot, and the flavor is very spicy and good. (Btw, shrimp here are not beheaded or shelled before serving, you have to do it yourself. I’m used to this.) The shrimp were roasted in their shell, so you could eat the shell, but I still had to remove the head. So I’d pick up the shrimp in my chopsticks, bite the body off, and discard the head. But in the middle of the meal, I noticed lots of red shrimp antennae loose in the bowl, and it started to gross me out. And then, I felt something in my mouth, and fished out a dismembered red shrimp antennae. This just really put me over the queasy edge. As soon as we got back to V.s apartment, I brushed my teeth to erase any shrimp antennae sensation or taste. I still feel queasy when I think about it. Bull penis? That’s okay. Dismembered shrimp antennae? That’s crossing a line. As delicious as Xiang La Xia is, I don’t think I can ever eat it again.
Have you ever been grossed out while eating something rather innocuous, and can never eat it again?
I can hardly get passed the jaws here.
ReplyDeleteI can't eat anything with a head on it...so my love for shrimp would die in China!
I hope you get some sunshine soon!
Ummm, seeing the jaws would make me incredibly queasy as well. As would the shrimp. I'm generally not like that but both of these would unnerve me.
ReplyDeleteI just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, how close are you to the big earthquake that just happened in China?
Um... eew! That is gross, thanks for making me love America today!
ReplyDeleteI HATE PEEPS!!! I am also not a fan of Circus Peanuts, which dad loved, but only when they'd been out a month and hard. Yecch!
It looks like the Earthquake was farther north of you - you were even close enough to feel it?
I think I would be too scacred to eat authentic Chinese in China, since eating Chinese in US makes me a bit uncomfortable. Hats off to you for being so open to a new culture.
ReplyDeletesuper. duper. creepy.
ReplyDeleteall of it.
just like i imagine china to be, under the covers and in dark corners :-o
Very enlightening and beneficial to someone whose been out of the circuit for a long time.
ReplyDelete- Kris