Cross-Cultural Confusion

A Mr. Jeff Highfield who has admitted to religiously following this blog suggested this week’s trek to the Hokkaido Chinese Buffet. On south main conveniently situated by the Vintage Cellar lies Blacksburg’s NEWEST Chinese Buffet. I emphasize newest because about a block before the buffet is the Beijing Buffet that Katherine mistakenly ventured to first. Who knew there is such a demand for Asian cuisine in southwest VA? Anyways…

Wednesday was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. The sun was shining perfect weather for a light fall sweater. Warm rays were quite a change from last week’s hypothermia monsoons. As we walked into the restaurant we were greeted with a great poster that might rival the best asterisks from More Than Coffee. The sign said free soda with buffet an omen that lunch was going to be good.

The dinning experience can best be described as culturally confusing. The buffet’s building once El Guadalupe’s Mexican restaurant has traded in its white stucco and red clay roof for pagoda style coils and bamboo. As soon as we opened the door a hostess walked up to us. She demanded the size of our party and then proceeded to lead us around the entire perimeter of the restaurant which was completely necessary to get to our final destination a table a couple of paces from where we had started. As soon as we sat down we assessed the crowd of people. We were definitely the only college-aged women there (I guess all the others were eating soup and salad at ABP or Panera). The demographics of the group was 50-60 year old caucasion men. We aren't really sure why. When I got up to help myself to round one of the buffet, I noticed there was a private dinning room. I peeked in to see what was up. It turned out to be the Chinese only dinning room. Caucasians and well… Olga are seated in the front room but if you have a student visa or green card you get to eat in the side room. We concluded that the legit Chinese food must be kept there. Once we were seated Olga prayed for our food and since East Asia was on our mind we also prayed for Bryan and John.

On the Americanized buffet there was nearly every kind of sushi, pizza, pick your meats and sauces Mongolian barbecue, Kung Pow chicken, mystery meat skewers, spicy chicken, fried rice, and an array of soups. The food was excellent and we all went for three courses. With each buffet line excavation we got braver in our food selection. Katherine was so bold that she gave sushi a second chance only to be disappointed again. Sushi lovers you win some and then you lose some. On course two Olga and I delighted in a spicy squid salad, a childhood favorite of mine. The last trip Katherine got sliced bananas in a bizarre red sauce. I didn’t ask but I am pretty sure they were deemed gross. Don't worry we also all dipped into the token soft serve that can be found at buffets everywhere. In between trips to the heat lamp aisles our waitress would return yelling “More die.. More die?” Apparently that is Chinese for “Do you need a refill of Coke?”

Our check came with fortune cookies. That taught us how to say beer, beef, orange, and gooseberry in chinese. Olga pointed out she wasn't sure if she really needed to know how to say gooseberry in any language. My fortune told me "In a gentle way, you can shake the world." Katherine's said "No need to worry! You will have everything that you need." and Olga's said "You will win success in whatever you adopt." All and all for a little over seven dollars, we thoroughly enjoyed the buffet and free glimpses into our future.

After lunch we went to the Vintage Celler and purchased Sangria for a dinner party that Katherine and I threw Friday. The Blacksburg Contessa doesn't just eat she can cook too! Then while en route to the farmer's market we stopped by Bollos to get pumpkin chocolate chip muffins a futile effort but still worth it.

Thus ends another meal in the life of a Blacksburg Contessa.

Before We Were Contessas

Every couple of weeks each Contessa is going to share an eating story that has shaped her to be the food connoisseur that she is today. My life shaping eating experience happened 13 years ago.

It was the spring of my first year of living in Baumholder, Germany. My sister, Jill, was a kindergartener at the German elementary school while I was in the second grade at the department of defense school on the army post. Jill was turning six and wanted to have a birthday party. She asked my mother if she could have her German and American friends out for dinner. The party was held at a Chinese restaurant that just so happened to be connected to our village home. At the dinner there were children who only spoke German, some who only spoke English, and one that only spoke Chinese. Some of the kids where children of American soldiers while others had grandfathers that were Nazis. The lack of cultural continuity was blatant but it became painfully obvious when my father attempted to get the table of children to sing happy birthday. It ended with me and my mom joining in while the multicultural five years olds just stared at us. The one Chinese girl at the party’s parents owned the restaurant and when my mother asked if we could hold the dinner there they decided since we were Americans to serve fried chicken in place of their traditional fare. During this eating experience I wasn't exposed to foreign delicacies or introduced to a food that changed my life. Instead, I was taught how to survive awkward eating situations. Which considering how my past 13 years have played out that lesson was quite valuable. I was reminded of my childhood dinner after this weeks excursion to Hokkaido buffet.

A Blacksburg Contessa,
Molly

Sushi and Poetry

Our travels took us to Poor Billy's for five dollar sushi and miso soup.  This was Katherine's first encounter with the raw fish delicacy (in her case imitation crab).  The day was dreary.  Cold chills went through our jackets and rain consistently attempted to drench us.  Rain drops were rolling from the hood of my jacket as if I were a rain gutter.  But this did not put a damper on the highlight of our week.  

The soup was an interesting consistency.  Molly informed us that it had potatoes in it which made it creamy.  We loved it because it warmed us up instantly.  I particularly enjoyed the portabella mushrooms in it.   Molly pulled out the latest issue of Silhouette literary magazine and read us a poem.  Then we went around the table several times and read the poetry.  Some of it was weird, like the one about breaking fingers and wrists.  Some of it was sad, like the one about the aborted baby (really good poem though).  Some of it we just didn't understand.  But in between sips of soup and hot tea, the poetry was just what our hearts needed.  And don't worry we didn't forget to pray.

Our sushi came out and we showed Katherine how to properly eat it.  Unfortunately, she didn't really enjoy the california roll.  The imitation crab and bright orange crab eggs were a little interesting, I'm not going to lie.  She decided she would probably like a vegetable roll more.  As always, we moved to the next stage of our adventure and went to Bollo's (Molly decided she would try chai tea from Shesha instead of Bollo's).  Don't get excited... they still didn't have pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, but I think the disappointment has become part of the fun.  So we all tried something different.  Kat had a slice of apple coffee cake and I had a chocolate chip scone , while Molly had a lemon raspberry scone.  All three were hits.  Maybe our disappointment has dwindled some.

We didn't go to the farmer's market this week due to the awful weather but our day would only continue thanks to Molly's kind invitation to dinner at her house.  On the menu was squash with brown sugar, creamy tomato soup, green beans and wax beans, chilled white wine, and a great friend, Sarah Carlson.  A truly delicious fall meal!  

With each meal and each conversation, our appreciation for food grows deeper but even more enjoyable is that our appreciation for each other grows deeper and deeper. 

Stay tuned for the next delicious meal of Blacksburg Contessa...  

 

A Tribute to Timothy

A Vine Grows in Blacksburg
By Molly Donohue

He sits on College Avenue
Outside of a bar next to a coffee shop
He is homeless
Except for this strip of cement
No one knows when he got here
Or what forced him to leave his roots
He is clearly not from this town
He just sits hunched over as if his spine is broken
Leaning on a parking meter for support
He looks thirsty
But no one gives him water
I wonder how he can survive
I can tell he was fruitful once
Now he just spoils in the sun
I have been keeping my eye on him
Hoping that good fortune will come
And he will get out of this town
Maybe go to the country
But still he sits there
his days are numbered
He will probably die come winter
No one will care
No one will notice
Not because he is homeless
But because he is a tomato plant

The Journey Thus Far

We're now going into our fifth week of eating. We started strong with a lunch at the Cellar, and had fabulous pita pizzas to go along with our outstanding service. Really though, I'm not sure which we enjoyed more, the crunchy pita, the melty cheese, the three toppings included with the deal... or the fast, courteous service.

Six days later, I (Katherine) sat in 103 Yorkshire wondering about my lunch plans the following day. "Do I call Molly and ask to get lunch again? Is that too clingy?" Before I knew it, my phone was ringing and I found Molly on the other end... craving a West End sandwich. Our tradition had begun.


Being at West End brought back good memories of on-campus living. Who doesn't love squeezing through masses of freshmen while desperately searching for a table every once in a while? We ended up on the patio, a great choice for a great sandwich and even better conversation.

And not only does our tradition include lunch. We have grown accustomed to visiting Timothy the tomato plant outside of Bollos, and then proceeding to be disappointed at the lack of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins inside. After the weekly disappointment, we head to the farmer's market where we meet Sarah Carlson and others where we know we will never be let down. The Dahlia Guy is my personal favorite stop, especially after he gave me my weekly flowers at a discount for wearing my blacksburg farmer's market shirt. An apple from Farmer Ron and we can call it a day.

The next week brought us to Souvlaki; heaven in a pita. And the best part, Olga was able to join! We ate our deliciousness while catching up on life, reminiscing about our trip to Chicago, and of course, texting Adam Curfman (only to see him pass by about 5 minutes later). What a successful trip.

Finally, last week we met at More than Coffee. Olga, being an honorary eater, was able to join us again. There are rumors flying around that this will become a full-time occurrence. I had my usual pepperoni and green olive calzone, and Molly and Olga split a salad and cheese fries with bacon, an unusual but stinking sweet combination. Molly's favorite quote from a previous experience at More than Coffee with Bryan is "The best asterisk at any restaurant is... 'Add bacon for no additional charge.'" Perhaps our favorite part of the day was when Molly thought it would be a good idea to set her leftovers on the hood of my truck while we loaded our backpacks into the bed. You may be able to see where this is going. Let's just say, Roanoke street got a nice helping of salad and cheese fries with free bacon.

Now this is against protocol, but I have to tell you about Saturday... and cheese-fry-with-bacon lasagna. After the game, we had an eye-opening conversation about how cheese fries only get covered with cheese on the top, hence leaving the bottom layer of fries cheese-less. Molly and I wouldn't stand for this. We took matters into our own hands and made a deal with the guys that we'd make cheese fry with bacon lasagna (no noodles, don't get confused) if they would supply the Harvest Moon to go with the FL/LSU game. Not a great game, but we had an awesome time and at least there weren't any fries left cheese-less.

Tomorrow we're venturing to Poor Billy's, a change in plans from our original Happy Wok-sit-at-the-bar-and-people-watch idea. It's my first experience with sushi... wish me luck!


PS please don't judge me for the considerable amount of free time I have this semester. It's not my fault I'm taking 12 credits, 3 of which are online music appreciation.