Sunday, June 04, 2006

salty, bitter, sour... and tastes like burning

*from over a month ago*

this is, without a doubt, the most dispicable thing i will eat or drink this week. it looks like someone ralphed an orange into my cup. which really isn't that far off from
what it really is. still in that strange food mood and wanting to cure a lack of appetite, i decided to try a tested and true remedy--chanh muoi in the form of a salty lemon drink. i haven't really done any research, but it seems that for chinese food, picking any two out of salty, sour, sweet in combination is supposed to whet the appetite. i can't really prove it, but i point to the various preserved salty orange or lemon peels, plums, and olive snacks out there that claim on the back of their packages to relieve drunkeness, motion sickness, lack of appetite, etc. the phrase for it is 開胃 (hoi1 wai6). (lit. to open the stomach)

i was rummaging around my small stock of odd preserved foods when i rediscovered a dusty jar of vietnamese style pickled lemons. go to any vietnamese place and you'll be able to find a beverage called salty lemonade or salty lemon soda. usually it's a preserved lemon mashed up with sugar and with carbonated water and ice poured over it. tonight.. i decided to make my own version. it was a big mistake. especially with the series of mutations it underwent out of desperation. first off, it wasn't sour enough. and it was kind of bitter. so i added some sour tamarind powder. which made it taste slighty revolting. it now tasted like pulpy sinigang gone wrong. in an effort to make it taste less revolting, i added some cayeanne pepper. it failed to drown out the bitter, acrid, spicy taste. after a few sips (it burned) this nasty concoction went down the drain.

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