The Fortune Cookie

I recently ordered Chinese food from an Asian restaurant down the street from my condo. This was to be my first taste of Chinese food since leaving China. I made sure to order two dishes that I ate all the time in China - egg fried rice and beef lo mein. After anxiously tearing open the containers and digging my fork(no chopsticks....I was too hungry) into the food, the first tastes revealed a lot. Not good:( I definitely enjoyed the Chinese version of each of these dishes much more than the American counterparts. I was dismayed at the thought that American Chinese food was ruined for me, that I would never again be able to enjoy the culinary treats offered at PF Chang's or some small dive Chinese restaurant. So the next night, I ordered from a different place, just to see if it was indeed American Chinese food itself, or perhaps(hopefully) just a bad restaurant. The second time around it was much better. I slept much easier that night knowing that two years in China hadn't irrevocably altered my Chinese taste buds. It also led to an interesting discovery. Fortune cookies aren't eaten in China, as most of you know, but its only at American Chinese places that they are given away. Notice where this fortune cookie is made...ironic, don't you think?