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This past week in Cincinnati I had the chance to enjoy a blast from the past and also enjoy a new culinary treat. I was really happy to learn that there are Steak n Shake franchises located in Cincy.
When I was little, growing up in St Louis, our family used to go to Steak n Shake all the time. They had car hops!
It was my favorite and I always ordered a Chili Mac (spaghetti topped with bean-less chili) and an orange freeze (an orange flavored shake). Steak n Shakes are well known for their steakburgers (which were listed in one of Saveur magazine’s Top 100 lists), shakes and shoestring french fries. It was fun to indoctrinate Hua Mei and Xia Mei to the joys of Steak n Shake. The nearest ones to Minneapolis though are in Waukesha WI and Rockford IL.
Chili Mac, being chili served on top of spaghetti, is similar to Cincinnati-style chili and the home for Cincinnati-style is Skyline Chili.
Cincinnati-style chili has quite a different taste than other types of chili since it is flavored with both cinnamon and chocolate, based on the Greek descent of its originator, Nicholas Lambrinides. The 3-way is spaghetti topped with Skyline Chili and and cheese. The 4-way adds either onions or red beans.
Our neighbor, Caroline, who hails from Cincy says that she orders the upside down 3-way which has the spaghetti piled on top of the cheese. Personally, being the chili mac aficionado (and vaguely lactose intolerant Chinese), I prefer the spaghetti and Skyline Chili (a 2-way) with onions. Their chili dogs look really good too.
So, this past week I visited Steak n Shake three times and Skyline Chili twice. That should last me for a while and I think I’ve converted Hua Mei. btw we’re in good company.
If you need to locate the address of your polling place, click here.
If you need to locate the address of your polling place, click here.
A few weeks ago, I got an invitation from Kris Knutson, owner of Robot Love, for the release party at his store of the Dunny Series 5 vinyl action figures. I thought that it would be fun to take Hua Mei to the event. I showed her some pictures of them on the web and she liked them. I decided I’d be a couple of the ones she liked. Little did I know that Dunnies are packaged so that you don’t know which one that you get when you buy one. As we waited in line to buy some, many were talking about getting a case or two. In the end I figured that I’d go ahead and get a case since I figured that I’d most likely get the Dunnies that Hua Mei liked.
As it turned out, we got 17 of the 19 Dunnies that are in the series. We got doubles of a few which I took to my office. We got a couple of pretty rare ones including two of the Huck Gee Dunny, my favorite.
Hua Mei loves them and calls them her “little men.” She also got a Dunny shirt at the event and she loves to wear it to sleep.
So, being the obsessive person that I am, I finally broke down and got the last two Dunnies in the series off of ebay. They arrived this past week. They now sit with the other 17 on a shelf in Hua Mei’s room.
All right, obviously I didn’t get them just for Hua Mei. And yes, I do like to collect things like that. But I think I’m done. Whew. …
… Okay, well, I’m done for now, at least. 
Today is our 11th year wedding anniversary. We have a babysitter coming over this afternoon so Karen and I will go see a movie and then go out to dinner. I forgot didn’t have time this week to get a card for her though. When I was teaching at MCAD, I had a bit more flexibility in my schedule but working an eight hour day now has made it a bit more difficult to run the errands I used to be able to spur of the moment. This morning I told her that and that made her quite happy. Her direct reply was, “Ha, now you know how it feels!”
I suppose it was probably the best present I could have given her today. Mind you last year she forgot that it was our tenth year anniversary. Actually, she also forgot that it was our anniversary. I did give her a card last year. I think I’m still ahead.
btw the traditional 11th year anniversary present is steel.
Okay, I shouldn’t gloat but as a Cardinals fan I couldn’t just ignore it now, could I? 
Huaren is a term usually meant for a foreign citizen of Chinese descent. The term zhongguoren is used for someone who is Chinese but often is used for someone born in China, rather than a huaren who may not be a native. For instance my parents would probably be considered zhongguoren more than huaren. I’m not sure that there is a similar distinction for, say, Italian-Americans or Swedish-Americans.
Most often, someone like me is called an “ABC” or American-born Chinese. Other terms I’ve heard are “banana” and “twinkie,” as in yellow on the outside and white on the inside. This differentiation is a very charming feature of the Chinese culture.
Often when I meet native Chinese or Taiwanese here in the States, they are often surprised that I like Chinese food or even can understand some Chinese. In many ways we are looked down upon as being somewhat inferior. This is particularly interesting since we were raised by our parents to be proud of our Chinese heritage and our family history.
I really enjoyed visiting China. When I first got there, it was obvious to most that I was a foreigner. Most people thought that I was either part Chinese or that I was Japanese. No doubt my clothing and the way I carry myself made it clear that I was foreign to China. When I spoke some Chinese or when I told them that my parents were both from China, I was quickly accepted as a zhongguoren. I’m kind of surprised how important that level of acceptance is to me.
I think that this might be a big reason why I call Hua Mei by her Chinese name at home and try to speak as much Chinese as I can to her. I really want both her and Xia Mei to maintain their cultural identity. I hope that they will be fluent in Chinese. When I ask Hua Mei where she is from, she says, “I’m from China.” I’m glad for that. She is an American but she is also from China. I’ll let others decide if she is a huaren or a zhongguoren but she’ll enjoy the benefits of being a Chinese American.
I’m afraid that I can be kind of a Type A driver. So, I’m glad to say that Hua Mei has been a very good influence on me. When she’s in the car with me, I no longer curse at miscreants on the road. At one point I was thinking about cursing in Chinese but when we decided to have her take Chinese classes, I thought better of that. Still, sometimes circumstances do cause me to mutter to myself. Unfortunately even that can come back to haunt.
Once I was driving on the freeway with Hua Mei. It was nearing rush hour and we eventually hit a stretch that was bumper to bumper traffic. As I slowed to a crawl, a small voice exclaimed from the back, “Aw, c’mon!” Of course, it was exactly in the same intonation that may occasionally escape from my lips. Oh well, I try.
Unfortunately the worst was yet to come. Karen was driving with Hua Mei and she had to make a left turn at an intersection. As she came to a stop, the mellifluous tones of our daughter pronounced, “C’mon, you idiot!” Karen quickly turned to confront Hua Mei.
“Did you call me an idiot?!?”
“Love you, mama,” replied Hua Mei.
Well, at least she didn’t curse. 
My dad used to call me a fan tong. The literal translation means “rice bucket.” He said he called me that because I ate so much rice. Yep, you could say that again. I love rice. I could eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I don’t think I could go more than a few days without eating rice. In fact, we have five different types of rice in our kitchen: Thai jasmine, New Orleans long grain, Japanese short grain, basmati and arborio. (My friend John made me aware of this fact although he bettered me, he has six types of rice.)
It wasn’t until I was in college that I learned (from some Chinese exchange students) that when you call someone a fan tong, you are calling him an idiot or a simpleton. Ha. Yep, that’s me. I’m a fan tong. Really. I’m a fan tong. I love these flashes of satori.
Karen says there’s a saying about toddlers. They will be two of three things: eaters, sleepers and talkers. Well, Hua Mei is a sleeper and a talker. As far as eating goes, well, that’s another story. Once we finally get food in her mouth, we have to remind her to chew and swallow. She’s happy to just hold food in her mouth. Fortunately she does like to eat rice. When she’s hungry, she’ll ask to eat rice morning, noon or night. Maybe we’ll have another fan tong in the family.
