Chinese-American Menu in Spanish

Just as a point of interest I’ve scanned part of the menu from the Chinese place around the corner.  One side of it is in English and the other side has Spanish on it.  I’ve scanned the Spanish side for you to see.  Also notice that under the “American & Chinese Special” is platanos and cheese wontons.  I wonder if Andrew Coe considered this at all for his book Chop Suey.  The 2010 Census is coming up and the Hispanic population has already been shown to be the fastest growing population in America.  Spanish is also the second most spoken language in the world just behind Mandarin.  I need to learn how to say more than just, “Dónde esta el baño?”

Neighborhood Potluck with Bruce Lee

When I walk into my apartment building at dinner time, I always smell curry on the side where the mailboxes are and fish on the other side.  Even within my building, let alone the rest of Elmhurst, there is an incredible amount of diversity that can be captured with the senses.  I absolutely love the fact that at my apartment building’s potluck we had Filipino meat loaf, Filipino fruit salad, chick peas with broccoli made by and Indian neighbor, KFC, French Fries, pasta salad, baked pasta, fruit, pecan pie and Filipino cakes dessert. I was too lazy and it was too hot for me to cook anything so I just brought some fries from the Chinese place around the corner. I thought about getting plantains from them but I was in the mood for potatoes.  Yes, I know- a Chinese place and plantains?  [See the next post.]  The potluck was a great chance to meet some of my neighbors and I even got a recipe for Indian cauliflower with onion.  Ah, I really need to start learning the names of these dishes!  I’m not very good at remembering names sometimes.  That is why I appreciate the Chinese guy who’s lived in the building for years and knows Kung Fu.  He said to me, “Just call me Bruce Lee.”  Hey, that works!