Around the World in 80 Dinners - Bill Jamison [90]
A modern divided highway runs between the airport and Chaozhou, about forty minutes away when traffic flows smoothly. Cars, trucks, and motorbikes crowd the road these days—a development, Patty says, of the last decade. “There used to be protected lanes for bikes and motor scooters, but with the rapid expansion in the number of cars, they got taken over for parking spaces.” Driving is something of a free-for-all, but no crazier than in Rome. Ziggy handles the job confidently and often aggressively, sometimes more so than the Olivers prefer.
Within an hour, he reaches the historic center of the city and turns down a narrow alley, barely one car wide, to get to John and Patty’s residence and principal offices for their Calabash pottery business. They own multiple units in a seven-story building formerly occupied by the Chaozhou Chamber of Commerce. The Olivers take us first to their home, two apartments combined into one spacious and comfortable abode, and then call their marketing office downstairs to ask a couple of their key employees to come meet us. Two young women, both initially shy, show up shortly. “This is Simin,” John says, nodding toward a perky lady in her early twenties, “and the one with the big smile is Vicky,” who is a decade or more older. “Remember the e-mail I sent you about doing a little interview for our local TV station about your cookbooks and your visit to Chaozhou? That was Vicky’s idea, and she is acting as a liaison on it. Is it still okay with you?”
“Sure,” Cheryl says, “we do short TV spots all the time in the States.”
“It’ll be fun to see the setup here,” Bill adds.
“What’s the status of that now?” Patty asks Vicky.
“The producer is still trying to figure out exactly what he wants to do and when. I’ll phone him again this afternoon.”
When she and Simin return to their jobs, John tells us, “We helped to teach them English, and both of them handle it pretty well now. Vicky has a connection at our single TV station, operated under the auspices of the Communist Party, because she works part-time for the Chamber of Commerce, also tied into the Party power structure.”
“Let me show you our kitchen,” Patty says, “and then we’ll take you up to the guest apartment.” She has good reason to be proud of the light-filled space, probably one of the largest and most modern kitchens in the city. The Olivers enjoy cooking themselves but also have a cook, “Aunty Jane,” who takes care of much of the marketing and meal preparation.
“Notice,” John says, “we don’t have an oven, because no one uses them in China. We do have a rice cooker, of course, like everyone else, and a dish sanitizer, because the water doesn’t get hot enough to kill all bacteria.”
Patty walks over to a small refrigerator. “This is our most unusual appliance. It doesn’t hold much by American standards, but the whole idea of storing food at home is new here. Typically, families buy just what they’ll eat at one meal.”
“Let’s head upstairs,” John suggests. “This building, like many others, is seven stories because higher structures must have elevators. You’re staying on the top floor so you won’t need to worry about extra exercise.” The Olivers bought the two-bedroom apartment several years ago in part for guest use and also for the access it provides to a large rooftop terrace. Patty decorated the flat in an attractively simple Chinese style and has placed orchids in the living room and fragrant tuberose in the thankfully air-conditioned bedroom. Water for showers, as John demonstrates for us, is heated on demand by igniting a gas burner before turning on the faucet. The windows on one side overlook a sprawling old family compound, once widespread in the neighborhood, where several generations lived in different quarters but shared a single kitchen and bathroom. A few centuries of weather have faded the terra-cotta roof tiles almost white.
“Farther out,” John says, “you can see a slice of the mighty Han River and a part of the walls that encircled the ancient city, which dates back to the first century BC. It’s been