Fried Dill Pickles

I’m enjoying being home in Tampa without much to do. My dad’s computer doesn’t have Chinese support installed, and the option to add it is grayed out in the appropriate Windows setting screen. I think I can get it installed if I manage to find the Windows install disk, but taking a 10-day vacation even from Chinese characters themselves almost seems like a good idea.

So last night I was having a few $3 pints of Sam Adams (so much cheaper than in Shanghai!) with my sister and her friends, finding out all sorts of new ways I’ve fallen out of touch with American culture, when I discovered the bar served fried dill pickle spears. Of course, I ordered them immediately, and they were delicious in that weird “fried pickle” way that you might expect. (I’d post a picture, but there’s not much point, because they just look like big french fries.)

Ah, America. Still the intrepid innovator.

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Comments

  1. Posted at 6:59 am… Feeling the jet lag any?

  2. heilong Says: July 10, 2008 at 8:22 am

    Nice to hear your safe and sound, The whole visa thing is annoying but im going to wait until the games are well over before returning to China.
    Enjoy all the foods that are hard to get in Shanghai, like good lasagna.

  3. I love phosrock!

  4. I love those things!
    There were a lot of fry-shops near where I grew up in Michigan and I’d always go there late for fried stuff. Cauliflower and okra are good too.

  5. Huh, never knew you hailed from Tampa. I’m from there too. It’s really boring compared to Shanghai but I never thought of it as someplace without anything to do.

    You can watch the new Batman movie!

  6. Joshua Wu Says: July 10, 2008 at 3:55 pm

    Was your wife able to come to the states with you? If so, how was the process to get her a visa? Much Mafan?

  7. 🙂

  8. Florida and California, Foreclosure States

  9. Ever had fried twinkies? Come to the Midwest sometime. We’ll show ya how it’s done!

  10. Hey, is “The Dark Knight” not being officially released in China!? Please let it not be so!

  11. Say “hi” to all the people back in Tampa for me. I kind of miss walking down Bayshore Blvd. with my friends.

  12. Matt in Madison Says: July 12, 2008 at 3:46 am

    I felt the same way about being out of touch with American (especially pop) culture when I would come back from China. More so when I lived in Xi’an than in Shanghai. I was in Xi’an during the time when the term “metrosexual” was the rage. I came back for a visit and took me a little while to figure out what it meant, haha.

    And every time I’m on a public computer or a relative’s computer here in the US, it’s a pain in the butt with no Chinese. Although for you, I’m sure a break from it is good.

  13. I think I’ll pass on the fried pickles.

    I was out of touch with American pop culture when I lived in the states. I don’t feel bad about missing out now.

  14. Since when are fried pickles pop culture? They’d be pop culture only if they were all the rage among 14-year-olds. Being served in a bar that serves Samuel Adams on tap just makes them some kind of yuppie trend.

  15. julienne~~~ Says: July 16, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    krovvy,
    I don’t think they’re yuppie culture. They’re all the rage in my milltown-hometown in NC. So maybe it’s redneck culture. They’re gross!

  16. Sam Adams on tap means yuppie? Up in Boston, Sam Adams is the equivalent of Bud. Now when you find Chimay on tap……..

    FYI, now that Bud is being bought out by some Belgian company, does that mean we’ll find Bud Lite in the Belgian beer section of liquor stores? Sam Adams is actually now the largest domestic-owned brewery in the US!

  17. Fried Dill Pickles are (and have been) a staple of the south. Florida’s not really “the south” in a lot of aspects, I don’t think though.

    You need to try deep fried cheese-stuffed jalapeno peppers next.

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