Chicken Feet

Mmmm...Chicken Feet. Yep, look closely my friends, those are real chicken feet. I recently went on a business trip to New York City. Part of my time there was spent visiting our Asian Market branches in and around Chinatown. Telling my contact there that I'm from the hills of Pennsylvania, I asked to be treated to all the fun things there are to experience in Chinatown, including traditional cuisine. I was treated to "dim sum."

Loosely translated, that means light dishes which are steamed or served on a small plate alongside Chinese tea. Chinese tea can be red, white or green. The tea I had was so deliciously fresh I didn't even need sugar...which was a nice surprise. As for the food, it was equally delicious. I was asked to brave the chicken feet, but told them I'd stick to the chicken wings in Buffalo!

Overall my visit was fun and memorable, both personally and professionally. It was so awesome to embed myself in Chinese culture for a day. New York City is another world to me considering where I grew up. And despite the short tempers and blaring horns, you can feel the way the city just draws you in. I was so welcomed particularly by my friends in Chinatown, I'd go back there in a heartbeat. It felt like such a close-knit family, despite my lack of understanding for the Chinese language. Ever the learner, I'm determined to teach myself to speak Chinese. There are hundreds of dialects, with the two most common being Mandarin and Cantonese - Mandarin in the North and Cantonse in the South, specifically around Hong Kong. If I don't have time to learn that, you can bet I'll be asking for Chinese history books for Christmas. Ghengis Khan here I come!