Will Ride for Egg Rolls

Rode our bikes down to the landing this afternoon. There's a nice little greenway on the south end of town that goes all the way to the river. To be honest, I wasn't all that excited about getting on my bike after a few months of cold weather and holing up inside with the electric blanket. It was sunny and looked warm, but I knew that wind would whistle in my ears and make 'em feel achy. But when B. mentioned stopping for egg rolls, well, that upped the ante.

There's this tiny little gas station on a crossroad, practically in the middle of nowhere, but it's positioned right across from some boat docks and, of all things, a racetrack. It's owned and run by an Asian man, Y. (by his name I'd guess he's either Chinese or Korean). We asked his name the first time we went there, and he just pointed to a little dry-erase board above the counter, where he'd written it so long ago it had all but rubbed off already. Apparently he gets asked that a lot. And apparently, it's such a chore to try to communicate with the locals on the outskirts of town that he'd rather just point and let them read it themselves.

Today was a case in point. The guy in line in front of us asked if he had any fried chicken. Then he asked again. Before Y. could even answer, the guy started jumping all over him, going, "What's the matter? Cat got yer tongue?" Y., not about to be belittled by some redneck in his own store, said, "You don't even give me time to answer! You ask too many questions." He didn't have any more chicken. The guy left.

He actually didn't have egg rolls anymore either, this afternoon. He makes them from scratch several times a day, and they are so darned good that they were all gone by the time we got there. We take that route when we visit the in-laws, and we stop in every time we go past just to check if there's a fresh batch. The first time we bought them, before taking the to-go container out to the car, B. asked if there was any sauce. "No sauce," said Y. "Sauce is for bad-tasting egg roll!" Fair enough. These turned out to be so saucy and flavorful on the inside (but not drippy - just right) that you really don't need any. They're big, too - folded more like pudgy little envelopes than the tiny rolls you usually get at restaurants. Maybe the best egg rolls we've had. Good enough to get me off my butt and make me ride a bike a good half hour each way, just in case there were still some left.

Even if there had been, I'd have burned off the calories preemptively by going to get them, so it would have been a win-win. I actually came out ahead this time, calorie-wise.

And then came home and ate some leftover Chinese food we had in the fridge.