Hot and Spicy

Today was an unusual day--we went out for that Szechwan food.

We realized how much we (especially Kate) had missed it. For Kate, the anticipation of some spicy food had been increasing over the past three days. She had gone on the web page for Chopstix (in Albuquerque) to check the menu. Seeing photographs of all the menu items pushed her to the point of deciding that the taste of the dishes would be strong enough to overcome the metallic taste of the food which continues to appear soon after she begins to eat "ordinary" food.

Now we have learned that when sitting down for a meal the Chinese people will have only one hot and spicy dish among other dishes. However, we push the envelope. Today it was a dish called House Green Beans with hot peppers and a black bean sauce and Mongolian beef, stir-fried with onion, green onion, and home-made sauce. Both lived up to their designation as "hot and spicy," that is, our noses were running soon after we began eating, and we kept our server busy bringing ice tea refills.

The green beans had just the right degree of crunch to them, and the sauce, while certainly hot, did not overpower the taste of the green beans. And with the beef, the flavors of hot peppers and onions were perfectly paired with the pieces of beef.

Regular readers of our blog will notice two of the usual components of the format are missing. First of all, Kate is not writing this, and secondly, there are no photos. Kate is hoping to regain the creative juices to begin writing some old and new restaurant reviews. I hope to get back into my routine tomorrow--carrying my camera wherever we go. I completely forgot all about it, (although there is a write-up with photos back in January's entries, I think, on Chopstix).

But, most importantly, Kate continues to take steps toward regaining her former self.