2015-02-20

【Aiden in English】

       On the 2^nd day of the lunar month, Mom continued to take an advantage of the festivity and had a holiday lunch with her colleagues at Bamboo Modern Szechuan Cuisine. Right after coming back, she took me heading back to Lai Lai Garden for a dinner party again. 

        Lai Lai Garden is an impressive a-la-carte Chinese cuisine in our area in terms of food flavor, the dining style, and the cooking quality. Therefore, Mom and I were determined to have family dinner on Lunar New Year’s Eve here. This time, however, we were meeting our friends and spent a memorable moment together. Well, it is always grateful to have people around in our life, especially when we were going through the difficult time and getting discouraged. 

        Max is an eighth grader whose parents are close friends with my mom. We rarely talk to each other even though both of us come across at Guang Hua Chinese School and the piano recital occasionally. Today it was kind of like the first real time we had a long conversation over fun stuffs. While Mom was ordering the dishes with his parents, both of us chatted away about the differences between our schools. There was so much to blabber on and on since we stayed in the different school districts. By then, Dan Dan Noodles, Scallion Pancake, Wonton with Roasted Chili Vinaigrette, and Sliced Beef & Tripe with Roasted Chili Vinaigrette were set on the table, followed by Wild Mushroom Soup. 

        Most of them were common to me and I hardly missed whenever I came here. However, the mushroom stew was very new and mixed with Enoki, button, and shiitake mushrooms. The button mushrooms were so small, brown, and flavorless that our parents had to make us to eat. The shiitake mushrooms tasted so unusually thick and incredibly chewy that I hardly ate at home. These puffy shiitakes seemed to absorb all the salt and tasted like marinated meat in a dark sauce. The soup was balanced between heavy in saltiness and light in flavor. I avoided eating mushrooms and drank the broth around each of them. Overall, I loved the soup.

        The shiitake mushroom was considered salty to me. When the main courses arrived, its saltiness made the mushroom seemed plain. We ordered Sliced Fish Filet with Hot Sauce that was drowned in Szechuan chili oil and peppers. Each bite flamed hot, but what stood out even more was the flavor. If you ignored the spicy pepper ingredient (which is tough), then the salt exploded in your mouth. I chewed down mouthfuls of rice, trying to smother the burning flames of salt on my taste buds. My personal experience was absolutely amazing just as much as salty and spice. 

        There were four other entrees in front of us, each with their own specialty. A plate of Sautéed Shredded Beef with Mushroom didn’t have anything that stood out too much but spicy-free. It was a very harmonious blend of taste and flavor, a tinge of sweetness added. As I explored each dish, the taste became more and more different. I didn’t really want to touch Sautéed Bean Leaves with Fresh Garlic. The natural fiber looked healthy, but it was too bitter to be swallowed down. One bite sounded more than enough to me. In no time, I moved on.

        The next dish of Lamb with Cumin truly intrigued me. The cumin was a condiment that removed the smell of mutton. Eating the lamb tasted just like any other meat because the flavor was exactly the same. All of us loved the lamb, but that wasn’t all. Our final dish came with a plate of Stir-Fried Winter Bamboo with Yibin Veggie Buds. Did I know right? Not exactly the typical veggie for a dinner. Nevertheless, it tasted certainly delicious. The salt was really effective on this vegetable and the crunchiness shot delicate savor through my body like a geyser. We had leftovers, but the bamboo didn’t make it. 

        Lai Lai Garden had done a terrific job. Not only had they given us a fabulous dinner once, but twice! This was a feat to be proud of.

【紅霞譯文】

        今天正月初二，媽媽喜借春節狂歡之機應約來到“蜀苑”新派川菜館，與同事新知好生搓了一頓午餐。回到家後，她把我也拽上，再度前往“來來花園”酒家主打晚宴聚會。

        從飲食品味、就餐氛圍、烹飪質量而論，“來來花園”可謂我家附近數一數二的中式點餐招牌飯館，正因如此，我們才欣然把年夜飯安排到這裡來吃。不無誇張的是，時隔一天媽媽又誠邀朋友與我們一道重返故地，除了感激過去困苦歲月中他們的默默相伴與鼎力幫助，同時還期待與大家共同慶新春過大年，分享來之不易的幸福時刻。

        杜浩是位初中三年級的初中生，其父母與媽媽互為好友，但以前我倆卻甚少交流，偶爾在賓州光華中文學校或者鋼琴演奏會上照面，頂多打聲招呼，像今晚這樣臉對臉座挨座促膝談心，可謂破天荒頭一次。藉助父母點餐之際，彼此談起各自學校所發生的趣事軼聞，因為身居不同學區，學校之間的差異成了哥倆熱門話題。正當我和杜浩聊得起勁，擔擔麵、蔥油餅、紅油抄手、夫妻肺片還有山菌野菇湯陸續被端上桌面。

        其實我對眼前多數膳食菜譜並不陌生，過去只要來此就餐都忘不了點這些東西，唯有“山菌野菇湯” 鮮少品嘗，這是金針菇、洋菇、香菇的清水雜燴。洋菇看上去很小且呈棕褐色，吃起來沒什麼味道，但拗不過父母執意要我們多吃蔬菜。香菇肉質肥厚，難得在家裡吃到被泡成如此碩大蓬鬆的玩藝，因為它特別吸鹽而有滋有味，咬上一口感覺像嚼肉似的。“山菌野菇湯”鹹淡適宜，我儘量少吃蘑菇，只想喝點沒有勾芡的清汁淡液而已。從總體上來說，這個湯質感不錯。

        香菇固然很咸，可一旦拉開架勢暢懷大吃主餐時，我才發覺天下竟有比香菇更鹹的“水煮魚片”，打死賣鹽的。我每吃一口，不光舌尖辣得冒火，嗓子眼還鹹得要命，欲咽無能，欲罷不忍，我趕緊倒吞幾口米飯來舒緩瀰漫在味蕾表面由鹹味帶來的刺激。咸辣交織，川式風格至此可略見一斑。

        另外四道主菜競相出台，葷素搭配堪稱別具特色。“山菌炒牛肉絲”不麻也不辣，色香味俱全，並略帶一絲甘甜，火候處理得恰到好處。接下來我逐一品嘗美饌佳餚，口感上各有千秋。最令人糾結的非“清炒豆苗”莫屬，越是天然健康的食品越不見得好吃，更何況粗纖維本身苦澀怪異難以下咽，我剛吃過一口便不想再吃第二口。

        “川式孜然羊 ”令我滿口生津，孜然是一種調味品，可以去除膻味，用孜然燒出的羊肉跟其它肉食的口感差異不大，因此大家都喜歡這道葷菜。吃到這裡還不算什麼，最後那道所謂的“干煸冬筍”才真叫好吃，儘管它不是典型的蔬菜，但絕對屬於素餐食譜里的極品，咸滋味調劑了質感，脆嫩勁提升了食慾。冬筍穿腸過，熱血心中流，但凡還有殘羹剩飯需要打包，我可以斷定絕不是“干煸冬筍”。

        “來來花園”酒家烹飪地道，能夠一連兩次博得我們的讚許，的確值得驕傲。