China Update: Sichuan Food

I are so excited about all of the wonderful food that we are going to be able to eat in China. The food is one of my top 10 reasons for being excited about traveling to China.

I love Chinese food!! I love making, eating, and talking about Chinese food!!

Even though I am very excited about the food, I am also a little nervous. Questions flood my mind as I try to figure out how this trip will affect my weight loss maintanence. How I will count my points? Will I be able to show self-control with food? Will food become a comfort to me in a foreign culture? Will I lose it while I go three weeks without attending a Weight Watchers meeting?

I begin to panic as these questions crowd my mind.

"Snap out of it", I tell myself. I just learned in my Bible study to replace the lies I believe with God's truth. I think the same principle applies here, I must replace lies with truth and stop panicking.

I must go back to basics. I might not know how many points everything is, but I can guess and do research before I get there. I can bring my own measuring cups. This sounds silly, but it is important to me. I can and will show self-control, only eating when I am truly hungry. I can earn activity points by walking or doing other exercise. I can also bring Weight Watchers magazines to help keep me motivated. Finally, I will pray and ask God to give me the strength I need. I was God to be my source of comfort, not food.

It sounds like I have more control then I thought I did. I am glad that I have been able to think this through. If I go unprepared I am sure I will come back discouraged, because I gained weight. However, I refuse to let that happen. I will prepare myself as much as I can, now before we leave.

I feel so much better now that we talked about this. Thanks for helping me process my feelings! Are you facing the same kind of challenge over Thanksgiving or Christmas? Maybe you could use some of these ideas. What do you do to stay on track when you travel?

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For those who are interested, here is a little bit about the Sichuan food we will be eating.

The Sichuanese are proud of their cuisine, known as one of the Four Great Traditions of Chinese cuisine, which now is famous all over the world. Szechuan cuisine is of "one dish, one shape, hundreds of dishes, hundreds of tastes", as the saying goes, to describe its acclaimed diversity. The most prominent traits of Sichuanese cuisine are described by four words: spicy, hot, fresh and fragrant.

Sichuan Province is famed for bold flavors, particularly the pungency and spiciness resulting from liberal use of garlic and chili peppers, as well as the unique flavour of the Sichuan peppercorn. Peanuts, sesame paste and ginger are also prominent ingredients in Szechuan cooking.

Szechuan Pepper

The Sichuan peppercorn huājiāo ('flower pepper') is commonly used. Szechuan pepper has an intensely fragrant, citrus-like flavor and produces a "tingly-numbing" sensation in the mouth. Jon has some of these at home, so if you want to try one just ask.

Chili Pepper

These peppers are very spicy. One time I asked Jon to just put a few in the Kung Pao Chicken he was making for us. It was too hot for my blood, but Jon loves them. Sichuan has some of the spiciest food in the world which is probably why Jon has such a high tolerance for spicy foods, because this is what he grew up eating.

Hot Pot or Huoguo

This Chinese fondue or steamboat, refers to several East Asian varieties of stew, consisting of a simmering metal pot of stock at the center of the dining table. While the hot pot is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table. Typical hot pot dishes include thinly sliced meat, leafy vegetables, mushrooms, wontons, egg dumplings, and seafood. The cooked food is usually eaten with a dipping sauce. In many areas, hot pot meals are often eaten in the winter.

Jon and I have friends in Texas that we like to get together with them and eat Hot Pot. We never thought that we would meet people who love Chinese as much as we do, but God had other plans. We are so thankful to be able to share our love of Chinese food with others.