春节，2015-02-19

【Aiden in English】

       Lai Lai Garden was certainly a sensational experience on Chinese New Year’s Eve. It has been quite a while since my mouth has been lit on fire like that and I really appreciate it. 

        Mom took break out of work specifically for Chinese Spring Festival today. She joined in a group of her friends from GlaxoSmithKline. They gathered together for lunch at Pin Wei Chinese Restaurant in King of Prussia, PA. So I’m confident that she had picked the right quantity that fit her appetite. 

        To continue celebrating Chinese Spring Festival, Mom took me to Eastern Dragon Chinese & Japanese Cuisine for our dinner, a local Chinese cuisine run by a family from Fujian Province of China. The restaurant itself looks small; however, the menu is surely big. So without much to hesitate, Mom took in charge of ordering again.

        Unlike at Lai Lai Garden yesterday, Mom ordered a more sensible amount of food this time. We began our meal with a Shanghai Spring Roll, which was fried crispy and golden. Inside was a mixture of vegetables, making it healthy and digestible. Both of us destroyed every last crumble on our plates, and then waited for Chef’s Triple-Shell Soup. It arrived shortly after, steaming and smelling delicious. The colorful soup contained yellow egg drops, red shrimps, white scallops, orange carrots, and green snow peas. It tasted good but too salty. While we were slowly sipping it, some Pan-fried Veggie Dumplings were served. The pot stickers were full of vegetables similarly to the spring rolls. Although the flavor tasted good, I thought that we would’ve been better off with meat. 

        Our entrée came with Happy Family, a plate of different meats in a brown sauce. We pitched in fresh scallops, roasted pork, and sautéed beef with garden vegetables and water chestnuts, surrounded by fried shrimp and lemon chicken. There were two main problems about it. First of all, all meats seemed way too salty. It probably resulted from the sauce or the chef’s personal choice. Whatever it was, it drowned out most of the flavor of the meat. Secondly, the dish felt too … American. The chicken was fried to a crisp and placed above the other meat. It tasted exactly like the chicken in a burger from BK. It smelled really delicious, but wasn’t what Mom and I were expected for Chinese New Year. 

        Another dish of the main course was a plate of Eggplant in Garlic Sauce. It appeared to be much more like Chinese, even though I thought that the sauce dripped onto the eggplant was just a little too sweet. The sweetness consumed the eggplant’s original flavor, making it tasted like candy.

        American style and Chinese cuisine have two different tastes, and both are supposed to stay this way. If they blended together, the food’s culture isn’t so distinguished and the tradition won’t exist anymore.

【红霞译文】

        “马带祥云走，羊携惠风来。”

        除夕夜晚在“来来花园”酒家饱餐过后，我可谓收获连连，重新体验久违的麻辣鲜香，着实令人难忘。

        今天春节当头，妈妈特意给自己放假一天，专程赶到宾州普鲁士王镇“品味”中餐馆与葛兰素史克公司的姐妹同胞欢聚一堂，相信妈妈这回吃多少点多少，别再眼大肚子小。

        随着羊年春节庆祝活动持续展开，妈妈带我前去附近一处家庭经营的中日餐厅—“龙馆”共进晚餐，店主来自中国福建。“龙馆”规模不大，但麻雀虽小五脏俱全，菜谱上罗列出各色美馔佳肴，包罗万有。妈妈见状二话不说，当即点出要吃的东西。

        不像昨个儿在“来来花园”，这回妈妈对菜量总算有所节制。第一道头台是“上海春卷”，春卷皮被炸得香酥金黄，里面包的素什锦吃起来非但健康容易消化，而且很合胃口，我们横扫残余，将碎屑渣末打扫得干干净净。第二道头台是“三鲜汤”，看上去热乎乎香喷喷的，黄色蛋花、红色虾仁、白色扇贝、橙色胡萝卜，还有绿色雪豆，颜色搭配得体，喝过感觉也蛮不错，可惜味道偏咸。我们正慢慢享用，不觉第三道头台“蔬菜锅贴”已端上桌面，锅贴的馅与春卷的馅如出一辙，都素得掉渣，虽说好吃归好吃，可我情愿换成肉馅锅贴。

        主菜“阖家欢”是几种肉制品的杂烩，以鲜贝、茶烧猪肉及酱牛肉为主，应时蔬菜罐装荸荠为辅，表面再盖上一层炸虾和炸鸡。这下问题马上出现了，第一：所有的荤菜味道太重，不知是调料的毛病，还是厨师的喜好，但无论何种原因，肉质本身纯正的香味已荡然无存；第二：这道菜过于…美国化，鸡炸得太脆，并且搁在众肉之上，味道简直就是“汉堡王”鸡肉汉堡的翻版，好闻不好吃，根本不应成为我们庆祝新年的食谱。

        另一主菜“鱼香茄子”好似地道的中国菜肴，尽管我觉得茄汁调得有点偏甜，结果茄子反倒没有茄子味，甜得像糖果一般。

        米式快餐与中国美食有着两种截然不同的烹饪风格，不应合二为一，否则不仅饮食文化缺少多元性，而且民族传统也将失去本色。