(THIS POST IS FROM JUNE 22. SOMEHOW BETWEEN BEING ILL AND CHINESE INTERNET IT NEVER GOT PUBLISHED, SO ENJOY NOW!)
Yesterday, our last day in Wuhan, was all about the eating.
But first, I woke up determined to be more active and energetic and get over this sickness. I did my yoga routine, which felt AMAZING, and then managed to squeeze out 5 sets of 10 push ups. On my knees. Better than nothing. I took 3 days off from my arms/abs portion of June Goals and was eager to get back to it in even a minimal way.
And on to the FOOD!
Guilia invited us to attend a lunch that she was having with her students. She teaches English to post-high school students and it was a little end of the term celebration. The students chose the place and ordered. And ordered. There were 18 of us and something like 25 dishes!! It was obcene but a fun way to try many different things. This was one time it was perfectly fine to be a vegetarian! Tate made it his goal to try EVERYTHING and left stuffed to the gills.
Our table had a huge “lazy susan” and some sweet AstroTurf underneath. All of the dishes went in the center and we used our chopsticks to pluck things into our little personal bowls as they rolled by.
These are the dishes I sampled. The veg and the fish.
My bowl. Bring on the garlic! Note the pools of oil everything is swimming in! By the door to this restaurant there were 5 GALLON jugs of oil sitting there. Ewww……
THE MEATS! (and a few other items I didn’t try)
Yes, in that last one Guilia is holding up a whole chicken foot.
O.k, I think you get the picture but there were at least a dozen more dishes!
Lucas enjoyed the ribs!
There was so much left over, it was tragic. In China it is rude to finish dishes because it is a sign there was not enough food so for a social meal like this they purposely overorder. We encouraged the students to take leftovers home but they weren’t interested and we were spending the afternoon walking around the city. They were very generous and treated Tate, Lucas, Guilia, and I to this feast. So sweet.
We wondered around Wuhan and took a boat ride into the lake and low and behold, 5 or so hours later we were ready to eat MORE.
We went for “hot pot”. There are many versions of Chinese hot pot but the one we went to was a raw buffet of meats, veggies, tofu, and seafood and you cook it in your individual little caldran of boiling broth. This was perfect for me because I could really load up on the veg and finally not eat a cup of oil with my otherwise healthy meal.
My plate before cooking.
I piled my plate high before the cooking. It was a lot of spinach-like greens, some mushrooms, tofu, tomato, cauliflower, and a few slices of sweet potato.
The “hotpot”.
By 9 o’clock we boarded the train for Beijing full and tired.
One more night on the train!
Darling in retrospect you might see this as the meal that “broke” the world traveler’s “back”(kidneys, gall bladder etc.) how many people’s chop sticks dipped into how many dishes and “shared” Also may be to consider the gall bladder influence Fats and oil like you spoke of could challenge the healthiest of gall bladders. Olive oil(1/2 tsp) with a half a lemon squeezed into it first thing in the am is a time honored liver/gall bladder flush. There is also a sad truth the healthier, cleaner greener you usually eat the harder it is to handle the occasional unhealthy “treat”
Faithy PS the kind of pain you were in does sound like it could have been a “gall bladder attack” on top of the flu and kidney infection no wonder you have felt so bad. Give yourself plenty of time to recover love mom