It’s funny that after all of the gourmet meals and French cooking and Peking duck and multiple-course meals and everything, I’m still happiest with a bowl of rice and meat, with a some steaming-hot Dim-sum on the side.

And, for the curious, here are the particulars: My favorite late-night dinner since I got here is to go eat in a small restaurant just next to the university. I order a bowl of rice with some spicy beef, and Dim-sum on the side. The beef is fried in a spicy sauce along with a local type of mushrooms, somewhat similar to Shitake mushrooms. The beef and mushrooms are served on top of a bowl of rice, and in the bowl you also get some steamed leeks, and a fried egg. (This makes me think the restaurant is Korean, but that’s hardly conclusive evidence). On the side, I order a dish of six steamed Pork Dim-sum, with a vinegar-based dip on the side. The Dim-Sum have a kind of soup inside of them, which pours in your mount when you bite them. The entire treat costs 2.5 US dollars.

I love living here.