Ode to hot pot
Its amazing the conversations that can evolve around hot pot.
The spicy broth traditional to my part of the country bubbles with happiness as every one sits in a chatty little circle, adding in everything from fresh vegetables, to egg noodles, to spongy tofu and for the more eccentric tripe. The rich aromas drifting slowly from the bubbling pot seem to fill everyone with a sense of contentment.
How can you be emo with the world when a giant basin of peppers and mushrooms is winking at you? How can you be discontent when you are sitting in a circle among friends, trying to win the last fish ball with rock-paper-sissors or laughing at each other over the rising steam fogging up my glasses so that the world looks like a hazy water color filled with red peppers, golden mushrooms and evergreen cabbages.
Hotpot is a way of life.
It is an experiences that teaches you the joys of sharing food with everyone else, the patience you must learn to wait for the food to cool before eating and finally, to always look on the bright side of things because no matter how bleak the surface looks, there may be some unexpected delicacy at the bottom of the pot, just waiting for you to discover it.
The spicy broth traditional to my part of the country bubbles with happiness as every one sits in a chatty little circle, adding in everything from fresh vegetables, to egg noodles, to spongy tofu and for the more eccentric tripe. The rich aromas drifting slowly from the bubbling pot seem to fill everyone with a sense of contentment.
How can you be emo with the world when a giant basin of peppers and mushrooms is winking at you? How can you be discontent when you are sitting in a circle among friends, trying to win the last fish ball with rock-paper-sissors or laughing at each other over the rising steam fogging up my glasses so that the world looks like a hazy water color filled with red peppers, golden mushrooms and evergreen cabbages.
Hotpot is a way of life.
It is an experiences that teaches you the joys of sharing food with everyone else, the patience you must learn to wait for the food to cool before eating and finally, to always look on the bright side of things because no matter how bleak the surface looks, there may be some unexpected delicacy at the bottom of the pot, just waiting for you to discover it.