My long stay in China has given me whole new vistas on the wonders of Chinese food. One of the things I've learned is that my Chinese guests weren't just being polite when they raved about the custom banquet the owners of Confucius in Appleton prepared for us. These were items not off the menu but especially prepared for a group of visitors. Less Americanized, more foreign, and amazingly delicious. If you need a full-scale multi-courrse banquet of authentic Chinese dishes, they can really wow your Chinese guests and hopefully you. But they will need at least a day in advance to be prepared.

A couple weeks ago while taking family to lunch in Appleton, I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed an old favorite of mine before my recent journeys in China. That old favorite is Noodles. Yes, it's a chain, but they've got a surprisingly good Asian menu. Add extra veggies is my recommendation. Noodle and sauce quality is good. And not nearly as oily as many noodle dishes I've enjoyed in China.

Chinese food in China has increasingly been influenced by the West, so you'll see Chinese menus with lots of non-traditional ingredients from the West like broccoli, peanuts, watermelon and corn. Be grateful for that. Chinese cooking is great at adapting to use whatever ingredients are available and it's fine, in my opinion, for US Chinese restaurants to do the same with readily available US ingredients. Except cheese. That one riles me. Cheese rangoon--ugh. Who came up with that fatty monstrosity? Yes, it can taste good--but so can deep fried eyeballs, entrails, and newspaper (sports section especially, depending on the batter).