European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 18, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Our the Sze Chuan restaurant soon became our favorite in not Only was the but we always had so much left Over from each meal that we returned Home with dragon bags full of the next Days this Happy situation continued until the watergate scandal forced Nixon to resign the an ill wind was beginning to the first sign was when we noticed that the chefs proud boast about having cooked for Nixon had been carefully removed from the perhaps the poor fellow thought it was necessary to save following what i assume to be chinese he must have Felt that if the Leader were so was the chef who had cooked for maybe he was trying to avoid guilt by the next ominous sign was when we arrived at the restaurant one evening to find it closed for regular customers that we were we had eaten there Only the past week no one had told us that the restaurant was going to close we Felt truly deprived during the next waiting for the place to and we imagine Why such a beautifully decorated restaurant would need to be at last we noticed the parking lot full of cars More cars than we had Ever seen in fact and we happily returned to our Sze Chuan planning to make up for All those excellent meals we had been forced to forgo during the past As soon As we entered the we began to suspect what had the spacious dining which had previously seated 50 had been divided up into tiny Booths and crowded in order to accommodate 150 ornate plastic chinese lanterns filled the overhead and the color scheme had changed from beige with a hint of to Bright White almost overpowered by shiny Gold and the meal was an even bigger the menu offered no Sze Chuan foods it was Back to those old cantonese american favourites chop Chow mein and Sweet sour in spite of we approached the dinner with an open Only to find that we fool ourselves much As we sat folded into a midget our Knees touching out of necessity not stared at by a plastic dragon on the we knew what had happened to the Best chinese restaurant wed Ever a few words from the manager confirmed our the Sze Chuan excellent though its food had never been full of customers when we were even at capacity it could serve Only 50 people at one the local palates we rent attuned to such Fine and the chef became discouraged or perhaps had a better in any he had sold the restaurant to a member of his family and had returned to we were among the minority who mourned his As soon As the restaurant was converted to a cantonese american seating 150 people in such close proximity that eating became an act of shared intimacy with your dining business picked up so dramatically that the place was filled every portions were Cut in and prices for each dish were doubled resulting in an increased Cost of 400 according to my at the same the Quality of the food declined by a similar i didst want to think about what that meant in terms of real having later lived in where i took lessons in chinese i can still in that that Sze Chuan restaurant in the deep South was one of the Best Ive Ever in Honor of the More cooked for All the rest of us who so appreciated his food ill share with you the following recipe for Sze Chuan it was my favorite dish at the restaurant that is no Sze Chuan Chicken Chicken with peanuts and hot peppers 3 Chicken breast halves 1 Tablespoon Sherry 2 Teaspoons cornstarch 1 egg White 2 stallions 2 slices fresh Ginger Root 1 Clove of garlic i cup Bamboo Cut into cubes 1 Tablespoon Light soy sauce i Teaspoon sugar i Teaspoon Salt Teaspoon sesame Oil 6 Tablespoons Peanut Oil 10 to 12 Small dried red peppers or 1 to 2 Teaspoons dried red Pepper flakes Viz cup roasted peanuts remove the skin and Bone from the Chicken and Dice the meat into 1inch in a medium size whisk together the cornstarch and egg until the mixture is add the Chicken and toss to coat the pieces set slice the scallions then Cut them into 1inch Cut off two slices of fresh Ginger Root each piece the size of an american Peel and chop mince the Cut the Bamboo shoots into Miinch in a Small mix together the soy Salt and sesame set heat 4 Tablespoons of the Peanut Oil in a add the Chicken and stir Fry until the Chicken turns White about 2 use a Skimmer or slotted spoon to remove the Chicken from the heat the remaining 2 Tablespoons of Oil in the add the Bamboo shoots and dried red stir Fry for 1 to 2 return the Chicken to the and stir Fry 1 minute pour the soy sauce mixture Over the ingredients in the and toss the ingredients to mix stir in the roasted peanuts and toss again to mix serve makes 4 note for a simple chinese i like to serve Sze Chuan Chicken with mixed stir Fried vegetables whatever is in season and Plain boiled Beer is an excellent accompaniment to this hot spicy c Sharon 1985 be Loving when telling a spouse to Bug off by miss manners United feature Syndicate dear miss manners my husband and i were engaging in some after dinner Reading one recent he sat Down beside me and began to relate the details of an article he had just read on the topic of nuclear non proliferation i want at All interested in the topic i know everyone is supposed to be interested in nuclear but i am not interested All of the and showed my no interest by my nonverbal i did not maintain Eye i did not look i offered no verbal encouragement and i even yawned a few times i assure after about five minutes of nuclear non proliferation my husband broke off and exclaimed angrily youre not youre doing everything you can to discourage me from i also angrily that so Why dont you take a hint a quarrel with no Resolution of the which is was i rude to show a Lack of or should i have feigned attention was he rude to continue talking in the face of obvious Lack of interest would your opinion of this be any different if the interchange occurred Between co workers or rather than spouses the Best question bears on a larger Issue of whether standards of civility ought to differ within As opposed to outside gentle Reader they and you have violated there is hardly a More devastating insult you can deliver to another human being than the judgment that he is Boring this is not to say that you must offer some excuse other than Here Are some samples just a in in the Middle of something can you Tell me later my poor brain is too exhausted to follow it this Why dont you just give me the article when youre and ill read it myself As soon As i this is just not the Day for me to worry about nuclear i know everyone is supposed to be and you know i but i just cant face it All the notice that the last one is taken from your own with just a Little tact miss manners believes that exclaiming aloud about what one is Reading if not one of the Basic rights of if you discourage your husband from telling you what interests you will be making an extremely serious a few minutes of cheerfully Are certainly Worth keeping alive the habit of sharing but miss manners is not entirely without sympathy for so she will Tell you How to discourage him from such As Reading the or whatever magazines or books he is in the Middle aloud to you every jump say let me see that and take the Reading material away from him and Start Reading it he will learn to be More cautious about this particular subdivision of but without feeling that he bores you and should therefore control All desire to dear miss manners what is the proper thing to say to a new Mother who has just Given birth to a handicapped baby congratulations sounds like in pleased that the baby has a Handicap of i am i realize that parents naturally Hope for healthy but in so sorry sounds As though there has been a death or As though in ignorant of the Many blessings a very special child can in this the baby has been diagnosed As mentally but would your phrasing change if the baby had been born Blind or crippled gentle Reader a mixed Blessing does not always require a mixed prenatal parental Hopes Are nothing compared to the strength of parental love for the baby that so unless your commiseration is you must respond to the pleasure the parents have in having a new rather than the distress about the baby the Correct is july stripes Magazine
