...in which he tries lamb stir-fry.

I've been here in my rural town of MingJian for three months now and last week I started to get bored of the food. I mostly eat noodles and soups. Sometimes I find rice dishes or boiled greens. I enjoy all those things, but I wanted some meat, I wanted some variety. I went to Mia, our English-speaking boss/friend, and I told her I was looking for something different. I was thinking stir-fr, a nice combination of meat and vegetables. "What kind of meat do you like?" I wasn't picky, but it was easier just to say "beef" and see where it got me. She spoke with Joy in Chinese briefly and came back with good news. There was place next to the laundromat that had good stir-fry. She wasn't sure if they had beef, but she knew they had lamb. "Wow!" I said. I love lamb, but I haven't seen it here before. Giving me the Chinese Mia said, "For beef stir-fry say, 'niu rou hui fan' and for lamb, 'yang rou hui fan'.














I went down the main street, past this pile of bricks, to the restaurant. In Chinese, I asked if they had beef stir-fry. "Mei you. You yang rou." That means, "we don't have that. We have lamb." I ordered a plate of the lamb stir-fry and I sat down. When it came I wasn't disappointed. It was meat with sauce and veggies over some simple white rice. It tasted good and it was a very generous portion, plenty for two normal people...or for me. I paid for my lunch and as I was making my way out I noticed a large picture of a goat at the front of the restaurant. That made me think back to the field trip we took last month to the goat farm. Now that's a story all its own, but I remember that they told me how to say goat. You might have guessed, it was "yang." I had a lovely lunch of goat meat.

I went back to work and I confronted Mia. I told her that 'yang rou' didn't mean 'lamb'. I feigned offense at the affair but we both ended up laughing about it. Mia was really surprised. It turns out that 'yang' means both goat and sheep. You can clarify, but most people don't bother and just say 'yang'. Mia assumed that since they were the same word, they would be the same meat. They aren't terribly similar in texture or flavor, but I did enjoy my meal and I've been back since then. I love to try new foods, but I prefer to know when I'm doing so.