Adventure in Chinatown - Part 2 - Food and trinkets

On Sunday, February 9th, I went to Chinatown in Boston, Massachusetts, with my student, Amanda, and her Mom who is Chinese.  Amanda's Mom knew a lot about Chinatown and was able to explain and answer my questions.  I had a lot of questions, especially about the supermarket.



Noodles.

There are so many different types of noodles:


Look at all the different colors, and there are different lengths, too.



Fish.

If you want fresh fish for dinner, Chinatown is the place to go.  There are multiple tanks of LIVE fish that you choose, and the people behind the counter prepare the fish (I would not be able to do their job):



That fish is ENORMOUS!



Produce (fruits and vegetables)

I had been in this supermarket before, and I had no idea what I was looking at.  On the top are cucumbers; and on the bottom are root vegetables:



This market also had the BIGGEST carrots I have ever seen.


Meat

I didn't take any pictures of these items, but in the meat case were chicken feet, pig's feet, whole chickens, duck tongue (according to Amanda's mom, this is a delicacy), among other ordinary meats you would see in a regular supermarket.



Tea

In the supermarket, there was an amazing assortment of tea.  I purchased some oolong tea for myself.

After the supermarket, we went to a Vietnamese store where Susan (Amanda's mom) bought us these cold tea drinks that she called "babao."  Later, some friends told me this is "bubble tea."  Any way, my tea is on the left, and it is a mixture of green tea and milk with tapioca balls.  You need to use an extra big straw to drink up the tapioca.  I have to say that it took me a little while to adjust to a drink with something solid in it, but I liked the sweetness from the tapioca.  Amanda's drink is in the middle, and it has red beans in it:




Trinkets on the Street

Many street vendors were out selling items for the New Year.  I wanted to buy a dragon puppet, and the prices varied from $35 to $30 to $25, but I still thought it was too much money.  I did buy some red envelopes (leisses) for the students in my class.  Check out these trinkets:







Bakery

We did go to the bakery first, but I saved it for last - saving the best for last!

The bakery had sweets like cakes and cookies.  I got a melon cookie, and it was good; not as sweet as our cookies, but I liked it fine.  Maybe we do eat way too much sugar.

There were a lot of buns which look like rolls except there are baked-in meals like pork or ham and cheese, etc.  There was also sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves.  According to Susan, everything is made this way so it is easily portable.  Plus, it's delicious.  I definitely want to go back to the bakery and taste/eat more treats.





Thank you Amanda and Susan for my amazing and educational tour of Chinatown.  Also, I hoped you got a feeling for this unique and special neighborhood which is small in size but big in character.


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