We had take-out Chinese food today, the kind I grew up with in New York City. It was nostalgic to go into the place and see the make-shift pencil holder, which is raw rice in a plastic soup container with holes poked in the lid. You go in, take a pencil, and circle what you want on a long paper menu. You hand it to the person behind a tall counter and wait. They had all the suspects I was looking for, like those red spare ribs that are packed in a special red and white bag lined with foil; egg foo yung; shrimp with lobster sauce; chow mein – which is not noodles in this neck of the woods, rather a runny dish with lots of bean sprouts. If you want noodles that are on the thin side, you need to order ‘lo mein’ on the East Coast, but they will be thicker than chow mein noodles. I even saw the word ‘subgum’ on the menu, which is a real blast from the past. The place was called Fu Star (1185 Vestal Avenue, Binghamton). What a hoot! They even used pieces of cardboard to create layers in our take-out bag and then stapled the menu to the outside.
