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.

【红霞译文】

        今天正月初二，妈妈喜借春节狂欢之机应约来到“蜀苑”新派川菜馆，与同事新知好生搓了一顿午餐。回到家后，她把我也拽上，再度前往“来来花园”酒家主打晚宴聚会。

        从饮食品味、就餐氛围、烹饪质量而论，“来来花园”可谓我家附近数一数二的中式点餐招牌饭馆，正因如此，我们才欣然把年夜饭安排到这里来吃。不无夸张的是，时隔一天妈妈又诚邀朋友与我们一道重返故地，除了感激过去困苦岁月中他们的默默相伴与鼎力帮助，同时还期待与大家共同庆新春过大年，分享来之不易的幸福时刻。

        杜浩是位初中三年级的初中生，其父母与妈妈互为好友，但以前我俩却甚少交流，偶尔在宾州光华中文学校或者钢琴演奏会上照面，顶多打声招呼，像今晚这样脸对脸座挨座促膝谈心，可谓破天荒头一次。借助父母点餐之际，彼此谈起各自学校所发生的趣事轶闻，因为身居不同学区，学校之间的差异成了哥俩热门话题。正当我和杜浩聊得起劲，担担面、葱油饼、红油抄手、夫妻肺片还有山菌野菇汤陆续被端上桌面。

        其实我对眼前多数膳食菜谱并不陌生，过去只要来此就餐都忘不了点这些东西，唯有“山菌野菇汤” 鲜少品尝，这是金针菇、洋菇、香菇的清水杂烩。洋菇看上去很小且呈棕褐色，吃起来没什么味道，但拗不过父母执意要我们多吃蔬菜。香菇肉质肥厚，难得在家里吃到被泡成如此硕大蓬松的玩艺，因为它特别吸盐而有滋有味，咬上一口感觉像嚼肉似的。“山菌野菇汤”咸淡适宜，我尽量少吃蘑菇，只想喝点没有勾芡的清汁淡液而已。从总体上来说，这个汤质感不错。

        香菇固然很咸，可一旦拉开架势畅怀大吃主餐时，我才发觉天下竟有比香菇更咸的“水煮鱼片”，打死卖盐的。我每吃一口，不光舌尖辣得冒火，嗓子眼还咸得要命，欲咽无能，欲罢不忍，我赶紧倒吞几口米饭来舒缓弥漫在味蕾表面由咸味带来的刺激。咸辣交织，川式风格至此可略见一斑。

        另外四道主菜竞相出台，荤素搭配堪称别具特色。“山菌炒牛肉絲”不麻也不辣，色香味俱全，并略带一丝甘甜，火候处理得恰到好处。接下来我逐一品尝美馔佳肴，口感上各有千秋。最令人纠结的非“清炒豆苗”莫属，越是天然健康的食品越不见得好吃，更何况粗纤维本身苦涩怪异难以下咽，我刚吃过一口便不想再吃第二口。

        “川式孜然羊 ”令我满口生津，孜然是一种调味品，可以去除膻味，用孜然烧出的羊肉跟其它肉食的口感差异不大，因此大家都喜欢这道荤菜。吃到这里还不算什么，最后那道所谓的“干煸冬筍”才真叫好吃，尽管它不是典型的蔬菜，但绝对属于素餐食谱里的极品，咸滋味调剂了质感，脆嫩劲提升了食欲。冬筍穿肠过，热血心中流，但凡还有残羹剩饭需要打包，我可以断定绝不是“干煸冬筍”。

        “来来花园”酒家烹饪地道，能够一连两次博得我们的赞许，的确值得骄傲。