Okay, I’ve passed a certain shop almost every day, which seems to sell a combination of Chinese health food and medicine. At the front of the shop is a case full of something wrapped in leaves. These look like they might be edible.

So this afternoon, I went in to the shop and asked. Given the blank stares I got in response, I mimed feeding myself and pointing at the leaf packages. The lady nodded happily, so I bought two for dinner.



Now, I’m not exactly sure whether “edible” and “for dinner” are the same thing. But given that I bought them in a medicine/health food store, they can’t kill me right?

So I’m microwaving them for a few minutes.

Now I’m opening the microwave and-
Holy crap. It smells like someone has peed into a bowl of Brussels sprouts. The smell has just driven me from the kitchen (admittedly laughing till the tears stream. Why do I do these things??)



It appears to be some kind of sticky rice. When I say sticky, I mean STICKY. And it makes a very rude noise when I move it around the plate. I have to say it's not the most appetising sound for your dinner to make.



Do you know, actually that’s not bad. It is indeed a little like eating arts-and-crafts paste from the jar, but the filling is tasty, salty and meaty. I wonder if it's supposed to be dinner or medicine. And I wonder how I'm going to get this smell out of the apartment.