Chinatown Project

Eating San Francisco's Chinatown field trip was unique among the class outings we've gone on so far for several reasons. First, it was held on a Saturday. That means we were taken out of the class mindset and were in weekend mode. Second, this field trip was conducted during the morning, which puts us in a different state of mind. Personally, I know I felt much more relaxed and adventurous, and the beautiful weather of the day only added to my positivity. Then again, I can be somewhat of a morning person.
Our first stop was the Tin How Temple. It was amazing and you would have missed it if you didn't know it was there. We went into a tiny entrance and then climbed several flights of stairs to a room with ornate decorations everywhere. The interesting thing about this temple was the way the desk was set up because it made it look like some sort of business. They were selling bracelets and incense for prayers, and people in the temple were lighting paper sculptures on fire and fanning the smoke into the room. It was incredibly smoky inside, despite the large patio that was open to the air. Looking down from the patio was exciting. I felt like I was in a secret lair, looking over people who had no idea I was up there or how I got there. Nick got his fortune told at the temple, though I must admit I was rather unimpressed. Excitement was building as Nick used the special flame to light the incense, stuck them into the container, and kneeled before it. However, when it came time for the fortune to be told and I saw the women walking toward Nick, I was expecting her to read his palm or sit down with him or something. Instead, she gave him a typed piece of paper with various generalized predictions on them. The most interesting one was when it described pregnancies as being successful, which is something most college kids do not want to hear. Regardless of the disappointing fortune-telling session, it was an overall good experience to see the temple. It was cool to watch the women expertly folding the paper into little boats and definitely a new experience to see real people practicing Asian religions. I feel very under-exposed to Asian history and culture, which could be because I'm from Reno, Nevada, or because American schools like to focus on America and Europe and say they are teaching world history.
The next place we went on our field trip was New Asia, a restaurant specializing in dim sum. Dim sum was really the main reason for the trip, and I think most of the people in class were skeptical of this mystery food. Stephanie hinted that the Yelp reviews were not so pleasant and, in my curiosity, I asked her what the review had said. She told me rat droppings had been found in the food. I thought it was gross, but decided I would eat it anyways because I was feeling adventurous and in a good mood --- like I said, morning person. We got to the restaurant and I was immediately reminded of my home town. I am from Reno, Nevada. Most people know, or think they know, a little bit about Reno, but some things might not be so obvious if you're not from the area. Reno has a lot of breakfast restaurants that are basically diners, but smoking is allowed inside and there are slot machines just outside the dining area and keno sheets at your table. As a child, my parents always told me that gambling was bad and they never gambled, but we always played the keno game whenever we went to these restaurants. We would never bet money of course, but we would circle the numbers we thought would win and then wait excitedly for the screen to tell us how many we got right. Anyways, walking in to the dim sum restaurant immediately brought me back to my childhood of keno games at these diners. Everything about the place was similar to these restaurants: maroon chairs, chaotic waiters, loudspeaker annoucements, TVs left and right. The only difference was the food. And man, was it different. Reno doesn't have much diversity in either its food or its people, so growing up I'd never tried a lot of different types of food. Italian-American, Mexican-American, Chinese-American. I recognized the potstickers at least. Well, I recognized the chicken feet as well, but for different reasons than I recognized the potstickers, if you know what I mean.



The toenailed version looks a little bit too much like the restaurant version in my opinion...



Anyways, I was excited to go to dim sum because I'd never experienced anything like it before. I was even ready to eat some rat droppings! The most exotic dishes I tried were the chicken feet and the cow stomach. Both tasted alright, but the textures were not something I'd jump to revisit. The chicken feet looked too much like what they were and I wasn't entirely comfortable eating something that was made mostly of bone. That actually reminds me of The Omnivore's Dilemma when the author is talking about chicken nuggets and how they've separated chicken we eat from the animal it comes from. Am I just a product of that culture? Do I not want to know what I'm really eating? I didn't think so, but the way I felt about the chicken feet made me question that. Of course, I generally eat a mostly vegetarian and often vegan diet, so I've never been a big fan of meat. In addition, I have this irrational fear of dead things that stems from a traumatic childhood incident, but that's a different story. Anyways, I asked Ashton if she would take some of the edible part of the chicken feet off the bone for me so I wouldn't have to deal with the extreme chicken-ness of the dish, and tried the meat. It was alright. The flavor was good, but the texture reminded me of the skin of the chicken that you get on a barbecued leg or thigh, which I suppose is pretty much what it was. I'm not a big fan of that texture, so I don't think I'd want to order that again. The cow stomach also had a nice taste, but the texture was like that of fat. I absolutely hate that kind of texture, so I didn't really like the stomach and had trouble swallowing it. It's funny, I love the texture of squid which is similarly chewy, but the stomach was hard to stomach. (haha) The rest of the dishes were pretty similar to each other: lots of little steamed dumplings filled with pork or shrimp. It was weird to eat such a salty breakfast. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I generally eat things that are on the sweet side for breakfast like cereal, fruit, rice with sugar, etc. All that salt in the morning made me feel a bit sick afterwards... It was a great experience though.
After we ate, it was time to go to the fortune cookie factory!! It's funny because Americans (or at least the ones I know) get so excited about fortune cookies, and you never see them anywhere but Chinese restaurants. However, in China these cookies don't really exist. They were invented in America, though their origin is debated between three different stories.



The first is that Chinese immigrant David Jung (founder of Hong Kong Noodle Company) created the cookie for poor people. He would put an uplifting note in the cookie to give them hope. David Jung lived in Los Angeles at the time.
The second is that a Japanese immigrant Makoto Hagiwara (designer of the Japanese Tea Gardens in GGP) created the cookie with thank-you notes inside to thank people who had supported him when he was fired from his job for being Japanese.
The third is that they were modeled after mooncakes which were used in the 13th and 14th centuries in China to pass messages to organize an uprising against the Mongols. The mooncakes were normally filled with lotus paste, but the people left out the paste and filled them with secret messages.

After the fortune cookie factory, we were pretty much done with our field trip. It had left us with a lot to think about. Personally, I was still excited about fortune cookies. I researched them to find out their history and see if there was a way to make them at home. I also figured out how those women were folding the cookies so quickly! Although I haven't had the chance to make these yet, I found a recipe that looks pretty promising, so I'm going to post it here!

Fortune Cookies

Ingredients:
2 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 teaspoons water

Directions:
1. Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.

2. In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.

3. Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a separate bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture.

4. Add the flour into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.
Note: if you want to dye the fortune cookies, add the food coloring at this point, stirring it into the batter. For example, I used 1/2 teaspoon green food coloring to make green fortune cookies.

5. Place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth and from side to side so that each tablespoon of batter forms into a circle 4 inches in diameter.

6. Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 - 15 minutes).

7. Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass, wooden spoon or the edge of a muffin tin. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies.

Another good site to look at is here. It tells you some insider's tricks for how to make the cookies well. Good luck! Post pictures if you end up making them! I will make them eventually, I promise... Just as soon as I get the chance to take a breath!