I Like Chinese

It took me quite a number of years to find a Chinese restaurant I actually like in Las Cruces. It actually has Chinese people working in the kitchen! (New Mexico is the only state where I have seen white people (Hispanic or not) employed in Chinese restaurants. Even though the host of the Chinese restaurant in Troy, Alabama appeared Indian, at least he was from the same continent.)

Ergo, I eat at this restaurant every so often. (Their wonton soup is on the border between decent and pretty good.) Yesterday afternoon, as I was struggling to finish the pot of tea on my own (a book is good company but doesn't help clear the table), I saw a woman and her son whom I have seen there before. However, I had never overheard them order before.

The son (in his late teens or early twenties, so he's not a finicky kid) ordered "Orange Chicken, without the orange sauce". What makes it "orange" then? Moreover, he asked for ketchup. The waitress had difficulty processing this. (Rightly so, in my opinion. In what Chinese restaurant do you expect to find ketchup?) "Don't you remember?" he told the waitress, "I always get ketchup when I come in." Basically, all he wanted was chicken nuggets. Oh, the younger, spoiled generation...

Obviously, this kid's mom is nothing like mine. My mom would have said, "If all you wanted was chicken nuggets and ketchup, I could have fixed it for you at home. But, we're not at home. We're at a Chinese restaurant, so you're going to order something Chinese, and you're going to eat it!"

Actually, my mom would then add, distractedly, "I don't know where you got to like ketchup. You certainly didn't get that from me or your father."