Thursday, September 9, 2010

Yes, I do more than work!

I also eat, for instance.  In my apartment I have a microwave and range.  This would be sufficient to cook many things if I had a pot or pan, a plate or bowl, chopsticks, maybe a spoon or fork, etc., but I have none of that.  Just a microwave and range.  Therefore, the only foodstuffs I keep in the apartment are bread, bananas, and digestive biscuits:  things which require no utensils.  No, I don't eat the bread and biscuits over my sink.  I have a bag for that.

My breakfast consists of a banana, a biscuit and some bread.  Around noon I enjoy a lunch in the teachers-only cafeteria at my school.  This costs me about $2.50 and the meals are ample and generally tasty.  I eat one every day.  In the evening I need another largish meal though, so I've been dining out every night.  It's not too expensive; the priciest meals in my neighborhood run around $5 (the average meal is about $4) and are filling.

In the interest of mapping the gastric life of my area I try to patronize a new restaurant every 3-4 days.  Here's how it works, in case you find yourself needing a meal in a foreign city where no one speaks your language:  you walk around until you find a restaurant.  Restaurants are pretty obvious.  Then you go inside and search for a menu--these are also fairly obvious.  If there are pictures, more the better:  you point at something that looks foody.  If there are no visual aids, you decide how much money you want to spend and point at something in your price range.  They'll understand.  Then you sit down and wait.  If you're in a fancier place with no obvious menu, you do what I did in my Vegetarianism vs. Nihilism post below and hope for the best.

My only rule on these outings is that I must eat whatever I'm brought.  Adhering to the rule makes the thing more adventurous and ensures I at least get my money's worth.  My only nasty surprise thus far came this Monday when I went into a new restaurant, ordered a random thing and got a plate of noodles and clams.  The noodles were great, but a whole octopus, about 3 cm long, was buried in them.  I set it aside and ate everything else.

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