What I’ve been missing for 5 years

(Please excuse the poor photograph…it was late, I was hungry, and the lighting was horrible.)

I have lived five years in China without the knowledge of this dish.  That my friends is a sad, sad fact.  A week ago when we were having a reunion dinner with some teachers from the department, I was not the least bit excited to see this dish on the table.  Let’sbe honest, it doesn’t look that good.  My first guess as to the contents of the mystery dish was stir fried balls of tofu.  Much to the astonishment of my students, who view the substance as a delicious staple, I still do not enjoy tofu.  Tofu comes in many shapes, sizes, textures and forms in China, but I have yet to find a version I like.  Consequently, when I saw this dish on the table I made a mental note to steer clear.  Luckily, I was at dinner with far braver folk who reported that the mystery balls were not tofu, but rather mashed potatoes.  You read that correctly.  Mashed potatoes.  Somehow formed into a ball. Don’t ask me how.  Stir fried with onions and beef in a tasty brown sauce.  I fell in love instantaneously.  The restaurant also instantaneously earned a nickname among the foreigners: “the potato ball place”.  You see, we can’t read a lot of characters.  Which means we can’t read the name of restaurants.  Which means restaurants get nicknames based on their special dishes, experiences we have there, or other random observations.  There’s “Fight club”, named for a brawl we witnessed in said restaurant.  There’s “Ratatouille”, named for the large poster of the mouse from the movie.  There’s “Japanese Rice”, a restaurant that does not have Japanese Rice.  They have rice dishes.  And the picture of the lady on the menu looks Japanese.  I think you get my point.  To sum it all up, when Lauren asked if we wanted to go to “the potato ball place” for our single ladies dinner last night, she was met with a hearty “Yes!”.  I’ve got to make up for five years of no potato balls.