Got Hot Pot?

The other day I was reading something called a “book.” While reading this book, I stumbled across an interesting factoid. (All I have time for anymore—just the factoids, ma’am.) The author was of the opinion that Peking Man was the first hominid to use fire. We know this because we have his left molar in a box somewhere.

Which got me to thinking. If there is a Peking Man, shouldn’t there also be a Peking Woman? I wonder what kind of recipes she has to share? I’m pretty sure Peking Man was too busy at the hunting and gathering office to actually cook.

So I got a copy of the Chinese Telephone Book and started looking. It took a long time as you can well imagine. I did find a listing for Peking Tom, but the number was disconnected.

I searched and searched, but alas, could not find one single listing for Peking Woman. Dejected, I decided to take a walk. I guess I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going and I got lost.

Now, my usual M.O. for when I get lost in China—not that it happens a lot, you understand—my usual M.O. is to hail the first cab I see and tell them my address. I’m getting pretty good at speaking Chinese. Okay, not that good. I have a piece of paper in my wallet with my address on it and I show the cab driver that.

I wasn’t in panic mode yet, though, so I thought I should explore this interesting-looking street that I was on. I turned a corner, and there it was.

Beijing Woman’s Happy Hot Pot Restaurant. At least, that was what I translated as I am getting pretty good at reading Chinese, too. Of course! They changed the name from Peking to Beijing a while back and Peking Woman kept up with the times. Why hadn’t I thought of that, huh? I went in.

The hostess informed me that Mrs. Peking had just gone to the bank, but would be back shortly, would I like to wait? She handed me a Tsingtao and a menu and pointed me towards The Pretty Good Wall of Fame. It looked like a great wall to me; it was a veritable Hu’s Who of Chinese History.

There was a picture of Mark O’Polo. Who knew he was Irish? There was a picture of Attila. They dated briefly after Mr. Peking’s demise. She called him “hon” and apparently the name stuck. There was a team photo of the Mongol Horde and even a picture of General Sanders before his demotion.

Article Author: Ron Hendricks

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