definitely

Definitely getting my chilli tolerance back. In fact, I’m going to have to start really pushing the limit. It’s been so long since I had a good chilli rush….

So last night I cooked up a big pot of rice (so that I’d have leftovers to fry today- it makes sense in my world) and then scraped together what I could find in the kitchen and fridge, chopped it up, dumped it in the wok and added whatever random sauces and spices reached my fingers first, just like I (almost) always cook. The strange thing is that I always like what comes out of the wok, no matter how weird it may be. The stranger thing is that no matter how much I may cook, and it’s usually about as much as I would eat over two or three normal meals (normal being what lzh cooks), I almost always eat it all. The strangest thing is that last night I didn’t eat it all.

That’s alright, I had leftovers for today’s lunch. And I cooked so much rice, I still have plenty to fry tonight.

Anyway, one of the random things I dumped in the wok last night was a healthy dose of that Hainan Yellow. That’s good chilli sauce. But I didn’t find last night’s dinner to be particularly hot (that’s good news- I’m getting my chilli tolerance back). Then like most spicy food (in my experience, anyway) the leftovers, having been reheated, were noticeably spicier, but I was still well within my comfort zone, far, far away from a chilli rush (that’s even better news- I’m really getting my chilli tolerance back). Tonight’s fried rice is really going to need a hefty dollop of Hainan Yellow.
And in completely unrelated rambling:

I’ve been wondering for a while about the origin of the Chinese words 爸 (ba, dad) and 妈 (ma, mum). Why? Well, in films set as late as the sixties the words 爹 (die, dad) and 娘 (niang, mum) are more commonly used. lzh tells me 爹 and 娘 are the older words. But what really got me intrigued is that I have heard 爹 and 娘 used by young people in Yanqing- lzh and her brother tend to use 爹 and 娘 only in specific contexts, and usually use 爸 and 妈, but I’ve heard some of their younger cousins use them as the default words for dad and mum.

Well, I’m online now. I suppose I could see what information I can turn up.