Dinner and Friends

Last Wednesday, my dear friends Miss Healthypants and Liane and I were finally able to go out to eat at our all-time favorite restaurant, Lao Sze Chuan.


We had intended to go during the previous week, but with the temperatures hovering well below zero, it would have been a bothersome and painful endeavor. The Blizzaster of 2011 and other cold temperatures had kept us from it before that.

We always have an incredibly great time together. Pure, unalloyed fun. We’re lucky people.

Also, there’s the astoundingly good food at Lao. I’ve said it before many times, but this Chinatown restaurant is amazing. It features Szechuan cuisine and it’s the real McCoy, too – nothing remotely related to Panda Express. If you like hot and spicy, Lao Sze Chuan is ground zero.

Here are photos of our meal:

Beef in Szechuan Sauce. It’s a huge serving and one of their signature items. (If you get the serving to go, it’s two quarts.)

Dry Chili Chicken: Lightly fried, salty chicken with lots of garlic, five spice powder, and an amazing amount of chili.

Kung Pao Scallops.

Spinich with garlic. (The things this place can do with vegetables is astounding.)


Now, here’s the fun part. Afterward, we were meandering among the shops in Chinatown and came upon this brightly-lit Asian candy store. Candy – neat!

The place had dozens of bins filled with little wrapped candies of all sorts. There were even little bowls of samples – I love that. I’ll eat anything weird. I tried one called “Dried Red Peach” and exclaimed that they should definitely try it.

Miss Healthypants asked, “Is it really good?” and I said, “No! You should try it just to see how horrible it is!” (Which it was. It was bitter, salty and mostly tasted like rotten, fermented cedar.) “But you should taste it, really!”

Then, we came upon the most interesting item of all. Like I said, all the candies were individually wrapped, but this one particular item caused a stir among us. I couldn’t help but to buy one. Here it is:

Now, what does it look like to you? We were wondering: Would an Asian candy store really carry one particular feminine product as well?

I can just see it now. “Hey! Asian candy! And I’m have a ‘heavy’ day, anyway. Let’s go there.”

Hilarity ensued on the ride home.

Afterward, I looked this item up on line. It’s a Japanese candy called a Caplico Stick and it’s described as a “frosting-tipped waffle biscuit.” I still haven’t opened it. I keep it in a little side-pocket of my shoulder bag, right were it belongs.

So, that was our evening.

Needless to say, we’re already looking forward to our next outing.