Kim gave me the night off, so I stopped at Lao Hu Cheng before heading home. I had the beef stir fry with szechuan vegetables, which I have had before. It’s always good! I had the Jasmine tea, which, I have come to find, I like even better than the Gemmai-Cha.

Struck up a conversation with a lady at the next table, who was there with her grandson (middle school age, I’m guessing). We talked about where we’re from and about the state of Chinese food in  South Carolina. In case you are wondering, i find it rather abysmal. I’m about sick of Chinese buffets, which lose something of the atmosphere and quality with their focus on efficiency and quantity. And Most of the other Chinese restaurants in the area I find to be a mix of huge chunks of meat (to cater to American sensibilities, maybe?) and overly strong sauces that fail to enhance the flavor of the dishes.

Of course, that is not to say that there isn’t a full flavor in the dishes at Lao Hu Cheng. The proprietor tends to cook to the spicy side (though that pleases me immensely). Definitely let her know if you would like less, and when you return the next time, you wil find she still remembers your preferences! She has remarked to me before that she increased the spice a little because she knew I liked it. That’s service.

Of course, there was a gentleman who came in and wanted fried rice. Now, it’s not that she wouldn’t have done it had he insisted, but she told him that she would need to heat up a particular grill, which would take a while. And she tried to explain to him about her rice. It’s fresh white rice. None of the dishes come with fried rice, because it would be a little odd, to be quite honest. The dishes are cooked in a style that is saucy, allowing the white rice to act as a sponge, soaking up wonderful flavor. Guess he was set on fried rice, because he said he’d come back some other time. Saw him heading next door to the Japanese place. Well, he’ll find fried rice there - but it isn’t anything special (my suggestion: try the sushi instead).

Well, Kim had mentioned that we were almost out of canned veggies, so I stopped at the grocery store briefly and picked up some. At the checkout line, as always, i thanked in Italian - “grazie!” The girl said thank you, and then screwed up her face and said, “Oh, I know that; prego!” I was rather surprised and told here how impressed I was. It’s kind of rare for anyone to return grazie with prego. I’ve gotten danke, and regularly get denada. I imagine in the latter case they confused me to be saying gracias.  Most just say thank you, probably wondering if I’m not insane. Verdict on that is still out, I imagine. The girl did say she only knew those two words of Italian, but hey, that’s two more words than most people I run into.

I headed over to Jittery Joes after that, and now I’m here browsing and blogging. I’ll probably work a little on Matthew here in a little. Overall, a restful and relaxing time. Kim is always so good to me. I can’t wait to be able to return the favor.