What do you think of first when you mention Italian food? Pasta, pizza... Pizza, pasta...
But in fact, in addition to these two, there are many other things in Italian cuisine. It is impossible that Italians only eat these two dishes.
Jiang Hai has never been to Italy, but there are many Italian restaurants here in Boston.
Jiang Hai and his friends have been to a restaurant called Italian Food before, so he is quite familiar with the food there.
"First, eight servings of cheddar soup, then one fried squid, oh, fried squid, fried clams, eight servings of crab meat baked mushrooms, two Milanese veal shanks, two veal slices, eight ham and cheese steaks, what are your staple foods?" Looking at the menu in front of him, Jiang Hai started ordering a lot of these items. These are all signature dishes of Italy or this restaurant, and they taste really good.
"Let's have black pasta..." After looking at each other, Robbins spoke first.
"Eight servings of black pasta," Jiang Hai echoed after Robbins and told the waiter.
After hearing the name of the dish, the waiter respectfully took the menu and left. Not long after, Philemon's wife also arrived. Everyone gathered at a long table and began chatting. However, they hadn't been talking for long before the dishes were served.
The first dish was the cheddar soup. It was served in a large bowl and could be refilled endlessly. You can drink soup almost everywhere in Boston, and this restaurant was no exception. The soup was made with potatoes, seasonal fresh vegetables, and fresh clam meat. The ingredients were plentiful, and the white soup was nearly all dry goods when scooped with a spoon.
The natural freshness and sweetness of deep-sea cold-water seafood, combined with the sweetness of vegetables, created a perfect blend.
It wasn't fishy, but the taste was truly satisfying. A sip of it warmed the stomach and whetted the appetite.
Next came the fried clams. This was a simple dish of fried clams. The clams, along with the dough, were served with tartar sauce made by the restaurant. It was sour and sweet, making it a great appetizer, and the taste was really good.
The crab meat baked mushrooms could be considered a snack, though the plate was quite large, almost as big as a home dinner plate. The mushrooms were stuffed with crab meat, and the dish had baked cheese inside. It was quite filling and deliciously fragrant with milk.
The fried squid consisted of fried squid rings, but it wasn't called that here. Just like in China, small squid is sometimes called sycamore flower, and while the name is different, the way of eating it is the same. The squid was very soft, with a thin skin. A little squeeze of lemon juice made the sweet taste irresistible. It was really delicious.
Veal slices are a specialty of Italy. It's said that this was the way the boss's hometown, Milan, prepared it back in the day.
The veal is cooked with celery, onions, bay leaves, and other spices, then soaked in white wine (such as vodka, not Chinese white wine) until it becomes tender. It's sliced and chilled, then topped with squid and fish paste, and mixed into a mayonnaise sauce. It tastes like a combination of beef and fish and is incredibly delicious.
Veal shank is made by cutting the beef shank into rings and stewing it with white wine, tomatoes, and spices for a long time. The bone marrow is the best part.
Ham cheese steak is just what it sounds like—ham, cheese, and steak, all fried together. There's nothing else, just a lot of meat. This plate of meat must weigh over half a pound. Jiang Hai particularly likes this dish.
Besides these, the black pasta, which is the staple food, was also quite good. This black pasta is somewhat like the buckwheat noodles in China. It has a slightly bitter taste but is delicious. Compared to buckwheat noodles, this black pasta offers more sauce choices. Most people in the United States prefer seafood sauce, tomato sauce, Mexican barbecue sauce, sweet and spicy sauce, and the like.
However, Jiang Hai was getting a little tired of the sweet and sour flavors on the table. While he enjoys sweet and sour dishes in China—like sweet and sour pork, pepper-roasted pork strips, cherry meat, etc.—he couldn't stand eating them abroad.
So, he opted for a regular butter vegetable sauce with some Mexican hot sauce.
When it comes to chili peppers, many people in China might not be able to handle them. For example, regions like Shudi, Nanhai, and Hunan Province are known for their love of spicy food. But in terms of spiciness, the hottest chili in China, the yellow lantern pepper, doesn't even make the top list.
The first place goes to the British chili pepper, the Naga Viper, known for its extreme heat, which can make your head feel like it's about to explode. If you accidentally eat a bite, you'll have to go to the hospital immediately. Jiang Hai had heard a story about someone from Shudi who could eat spicy food and went to the UK to try this pepper. After one bite, they were sent to the hospital for emergency care. The small red chili looked deceptively harmless but was deadly.
The second hottest pepper is also from the UK: the Trinidad Scorpion Butch T, also called the poisonous scorpion. The smoke from this pepper requires a gas mask. Inhaling it could also land you in the hospital.
The third is the soul-breaking pepper from Asan, also known as the devil pepper. Originally grown as a fence around villages to keep elephants away, this pepper is so spicy that if an elephant eats it, it will cry from the heat—imagine how painful it must be for humans.
The fourth is the Mexican ghost pepper, which is three times hotter than the yellow lantern pepper from South China and twenty times hotter than regular chili peppers. This pepper is so spicy that it's not allowed to be sold fresh, only in dried form or as chili sauce. The sweet and spicy sauce Jiang Hai was eating contained some of it. Though it was just a little, it was delicious with a pleasant spiciness.
Everyone was satisfied with the meal. After Jiang Hai paid the bill, everyone drove back to their homes to rest.
It should be noted that in the United States, tipping is required in restaurants like this. The tip amount is generally calculated based on the price of the meal, usually 10% to 15%.
The tip depends on mood and service quality. Fifteen percent means very satisfied, ten percent means average, and if you're particularly happy, you can give more. Of course, there is no upper limit.
However, Jiang Hai is not the type of person to throw money around, so he usually gives a 15% tip and never more.
Jiang Hai and his friends spent over three hundred and twenty dollars on the meal, so when paying the bill, he gave three hundred and seventy dollars.
In the United States, except for fast food chains like Kaifenghua and Maidala, tipping is expected everywhere else.
Four cars returned to Jiang Hai's manor. After parking, everyone went back to their homes.
Jiang Hai also returned to his villa. After taking a bath, he watched TV for a while before going to sleep.
But while he fell asleep, there were others who couldn't sleep that night. As a lawyer recommended by American Express, Moses Adams was very responsible. He wanted to impress someone like Jiang Hai and secure a regular client. For him, this was a significant achievement, as rich people often need lawyers.
For example, tasks like ownership transfer, labor disputes, mergers, and acquisitions all require legal assistance.
Even accounting firms handle matters for rich people. Even if a wealthy person does nothing all year, simply being a fixed lawyer will earn tens of thousands of dollars.
These lawyers cannot afford to lose out on such opportunities. After all, the annual income of a middle-class family in the United States is only tens of thousands of dollars.
So, after leaving Winthrop, he didn't return to Boston. Instead, he went straight to New York to file a cross-state complaint against the Winthrop Police Department, the Boston Police Department, and the Massachusetts judicial system. Faraday and his group could not escape, as he had testimony and a video recorded by a camera. The authorities in the U.S. were reliable, and the FBI had already acted when the state government got involved.
The former's accusation was essentially just a threat. Even though the video mentioned it, the United States has a policy of high salaries to maintain integrity. Senior officials in judicial bodies earn a high, transparent income.
It's easy for someone to target them if they accept even a little extra money, let alone collect money so blatantly. This is simply impossible.
In the U.S., police officers rarely accept bribes because if they do, the person who gave them the money could report them. Not only would they get fired, but they'd have to return double the money.
If someone reports a person who bribed them, nothing will happen to the person who reported it, and the court will send the briber to prison while giving the informant several times more money. The Chinese may find this reward and punishment mechanism too inhumane, but it keeps corruption in check.
Officials may accept political donations or money from businessmen, but they don't extort from plaintiffs. They're too concerned with the larger amounts they can make.
So they dared not accept such benefits. After a little investigation, it was clear that these things had nothing to do with those involved. Once they received the news, it was clear that it was just someone using a false pretense to make a big statement.
Meanwhile, the Winthrop Police Department was in a bad mood.
The officer involved in the crime worked there, and they couldn't just say it had nothing to do with them. How could anyone believe that?
In China, there's an old saying that what goes up must come down. Although there's no direct equivalent in the U.S., they understand its meaning.