Fortune cookies...what are those?

Chicken with broccoli in a brown sauce? Vegetable lomein? Brown rice? Not here!

After a long work week for both of us, a typical Friday night in NYC consisted of renting the latest romantic comedy from movies on demand and ordering in Chinese food. We had our local Chinese restaurant on speed dial and we ordered in the same thing week after week:

Shrimp dumplings (for me)
Spring Roll (for D)
Soup (on cold days)
Vegetable lomein
Chicken with Broccoli
Brown Rice

I would place the order, hang up the phone, and in 15-20 minutes our food would be sitting on the coffee table ready to be consumed.

As many of you know I am a super picky eater but Chinese food has always been something I enjoy eating...for Dinner. I could never stomach the fish soup and congee for breakfast or the sesame chicken for lunch. Every day for six years, I brought my own lunch to work. On those days when I didn't have any fresh bread in the house, lunch consisted of plain white rice.

People warned me that the Chinese food in Hong Kong would be a little bit different than the food I was used to ordering in from my Tribecca favorite, but I didn't realize how different it would be.

PORK knuckles, PORK intestines, PORK buns, PORK feet, PORK ribs, and the list goes on. D and I don't eat PORK but it often surprises us in dishes we order.
"What's this?" I will say to D as I pick up my vegetable fried rice with my chopsticks. "Oh it's a mushroom," D will reply and we will leave it at that.

Since Friday nights are no longer order in Chinese nights, I might actually need to learn how to cook!