Life's like that . . .

One of the major concerns that has arisen about our new life in the Middle Kingdom is a purely biological one: I'm allergic to peanuts. Although we're not living in an area of China where peanuts are an integral part of the cuisine (thankfully), they're still pretty common -- especially since peanut allergies aren't. So we've been living on more or less yellow alert since we arrived.

The problem is twofold: I can't speak Mandarin, and I can't read Mandarin. That makes it pretty tough to tell a restaurant cook that his fancy chicken dish will put me in the morgue, and just as tough to tell whether or not the bottle of "Delightful Tasty Curry Sauce" that Des bought will kill me. I've made some progress (I bought a Chinese/English dictionary, and one of the students has promised to write "Please no peanuts. I am allergic to them. They will kill me" in both Mandarin and Pinyin as soon as we see her again), but it's still a bit nerve-wracking.

So far I've survived three genuine Chinese meals (plus some KFC and two western-style dinners that don't count). I had a narrow escape at Megabite two days ago. I chose a stir-fry looking dish, figuring that anything in which I could see all the ingredients would be OK. I watched them make it, cook it, and put it in a dish -- and then, right as they handed it to me, dump a handful of crushed peanuts on top as a garnish. *sigh* Plain white rice for me, thanks.

The real irony came yesterday. The girls were out, and Elijah and I were working in the office. We went up to the kitchen and chowed down on some leftovers for lunch. Afterwards, as we were standing around talking philosophy, Elijah offered me one of his Almond Crush Pocky sticks, saying, "Don't worry -- they're almonds, not peanuts." I scarfed one down and idly flipped the box over in my hands to see where it was manufactured (addresses are often in English). My eye flicked over the ingredient list, which was also in English. And wouldn't you know it, right next to Almonds was Peanuts.

In case you were wondering, I hate the taste of Benadryl.

Dave