For a long time, I thought my stomach was made of iron, until diarrhea hit me hard on that day. When I was preparing my breakfast, I suddenly had a cramp in my stomach. I rushed to the toilet and released the “waste” from my body. Clinging to my old habit, I still chose to go to work. At last, my body forced me to leave the office at 3:30pm and I went home to rest. I was exhausted and couldn’t walk out of my apartment, so I decided to try the delivery service provided by an online app.
A whole new experience. When I opened the app, I saw over thousands of options in front of me. Considering how fragile my stomach was, I opted for congee, a dish that was the most suitable for me at the moment. In Chinese culture, congee is the best food for patients with stomach problems. Since it is made of cooked rice, its texture is soft and tender. It is very easy to make one. You just need to put a bowl of cooked rice into a pot, add some water, heat it, keep stirring it, until it satisfied you, and you can enjoy your meal. Knowing how it is made, you may assume it is just an unremarkable dish. In fact, the glue-like fluid is a hidden gem. It provides high nutritional value, giving you nutrients like carbohydrates, vitamin B, and minerals. Other than serving the people in the hospital, some people would mix it with different vegetables and meat or even pair it up with oil-fried pastry, or raw scallop and shrimps.
Back to the main topic. When I opened the lid, I was astounded by its clean and greenish appearance. There were green onions bathing in the snowy lava, combined with minced pork. Worried that I may not have enough food, I had also ordered six pieces of xiao long bao and a cup of soy milk. The first sip made me realized the congee was cooked in water, not soup. But the fresh green onion and minced pork enriched its dreary favour. Unfortunately, the soy milk and xiao long bao disappointed me. The soy milk tasted like water, where the soy had already disappeared from the scene. In the meantime, the Xiao Long Bao was a joke. In China, one of the criteria to the quality of xiao long bao lies in the thickness of its skin. Hilariously, except for using minced meat and vegetables, the bao does not look like the bun we eat in China at all. Its skin was thicker than my iPad, and not a drop of soup could be squeezed out from this bun.
Even though I saw a layer of oil floating on its surface, I have to admit that the congee tasted good. Realizing how “familiar” the taste was, it made me wonder whether they added MSG (Monosodium glutamate) during the cooking process. But with the cost it provided, I shouldn’t have too high expectations towards the restaurant.
This experience made me realize how important health is. Two days after this incident, I am still recovering from this havoc. Hope one day I will have the courage to listen to my body and rest at the right time.
