Friday, March 7, 2008

The Not-So-Chinese Fortune Cookie

Brad has decided to give a culture lesson to his 4,000+ students based on the book they are using. After brainstorming some ways to make his lessons interesting, he mentioned that he might talk a little bit about American Chinese food.

The Chinese Fortune Cookie has long been the reason why kids even agree to go to a Chinese restaurant in the States. Wouldn't they be shocked to know that fortune cookies are not found in China. Nobody even knows what they are! Professor Ellis' students will know what fortune cookies are after this term though.

Tonight after making some authentic Chinese hot pot, we busted out the cookie making supplies and created a big batch of fortune cookies. Our Chinese friends that were over were curious. Amy, Chen Tao and I wrote out some silly fortunes/proverbs. Brad washed the million dishes from dinner. It was a group effort to bake the cookies though because you have to do everything very fast. Not a job for one man. A couple hours, several burns and one melted plastic mold later, we read each other fortunes while snacking on some delish cookies.

Chen Tao helps spread batter.

This IKEA ice mold helped the cookies to cool in perfect shape!

Only one lucky student from each class will win a cookie, but I think they will enjoy seeing some American Chinese food.

So from Yichang and the kitchen, where we do try to make dreams come true... Good night!

1 comment: