• It has to be cold outside because otherwise, hot pot is too hot!
• You have to have enough time to spend eating because otherwise, hot pot takes too long to wait for everything to cook and to spend so much time socializing and eating.

• You have to eat it with at least 4 people. Otherwise, you eat way too much!

• The free snacks they included with the meal were really good, much better than a lot of other hot pot places, and a really nice variety.
• They included some kind of free alcoholic drink with your meal, the way some restaurants include free tea or hot water with the meal. Matt and I don't like alcohol, so I have no idea if it's good, but it was free, so that could be a plus.
• Instead of the whole table sharing a big hot pot, you each order and get your own individual little hot pot.
• The sesame dip and other dipping sauces that are often included for free at other hot pot places was not free at this place. However, one dip is more than enough for 2 people to share.

• Jane fungus soup
• Bone stock
• Flowers sesame catsup stock
• Private spice sauce
• Beancurd knot
• Spinach
• Sweet potato
• Okra
• Perfume forgotten lamb
• Ballfrog (Bullfrog...Chinese menus always have the hardest time spelling this, haha)

Funny update on the "Malabar spinach"... So like a true newbie gardener, I of course didn't mark any of my containers, thinking, "Pshhh...I'm not going to forget what I planted in each container."

After which, I promptly forgot.

So this whole time I've been thinking that the basil seeds were no good and that it must have been my Malabar spinach that had sprouted. Well, now that this little guy is big enough, I was able to compare photos online of Malabar spinach seedlings and this, and what I have sure isn't Malabar spinach. It does look an awful lot like basil seedlings, though. So I'm 99.9% sure that I have a happy, healthy basil seedling on my hands that is ready for transplant.

As soon as the bag of potting soil I ordered arrives, I'll transplant it. Meanwhile, I guess I will try to germinate the Malabar spinach again because I already have a trellis on the way for it!

Since I last posted, some of our plants have been doing well. Others are worrying me.

First, the amazing green bean plants. They have actually been upgraded to the living room because they are getting ready to flower! (Matt's allergic to pollen, so no flowering plants are allowed in our laundry drying room.)

Next, the strawberry seedlings have been transplanted and seem to be doing okay so far.

The Malabar spinach finally sprouted and is looking pretty good. I need to order some more potting soil before I can transplant it, but so far it seems okay.

Now, the plants I'm a bit worried about.

First up, our kale and broccoli. They are still so stinking small! I thought transplanting them to a bigger container would help, but they still haven't grown much.

Also, when I water the kale, it almost drowns a bit because the leaves are so small and flimsy. Maybe that's contributing to its lack of growth. I'm thinking I should try just using a spray bottle rather than pouring water.

I also tried adding vermicompost to the top layer of the soil to see if they just needed more nutrients. It's been a few days since I added the vermicompost, and there still hasn't been much progress.

Maybe the green beans spoiled me. They grew so quickly that I might just be too impatient, expecting the other plants to grow just as fast. If any of you have experience growing kale and/or broccoli, do you think they're growing at a normal rate for me?

Last, our poor soybeans. They're still alive & growing new leaves, but they're getting weird spots on them. Could this be a disease?

• Pole beans
• Kale
• Soy beans (edamame, yum!)
• Strawberries
• Malabar spinach
• Broccoli
• Basil

In the US, which foods do we usually associate with winter? Maybe hot apple cider or pumpkin pie?

Now, one of the foods Matt and I have come to associate with winter is what we call "fruit candy sticks" or 糖葫芦 (tang hu lu) in Chinese.

One of the ways you know it's winter in northern China, (and maybe other parts of China? I've only seen them around Tianjin and Beijing though...) is that street vendors start selling these delicious fruit sticks around town.

They're basically pieces of fruit on a wooden stick that have been dipped in sugar water and allowed to harden. The vendors make them fresh and sell them from carts at various places around town.

We happen to have one right outside our apartment complex, so tonight with our dinner, we enjoyed one with strawberries and one with hawthorn berries (delicious sour fruits that we have only discovered in China. Pretty sure they aren't available in the US. We've never seen them anywhere.)

Wish we could bring some to share this summer, but a) I'm pretty sure they wouldn't make it past customs, and b) they are pretty impossible to find during the summer months.

The other day, I experienced MSG poisoning for the 2nd time. Before we moved here, I didn't know that was even a thing. I don't think I'm particularly sensitive to MSG, but I guess large amounts of it can affect anyone.

The first time it happened was a couple of years ago. We went to a restaurant with some friends that sold only soup. It was super delicious, but about halfway through the meal, I started getting a headache and felt weird, like really tired and having trouble focusing. By the time we left and started heading home, my neck, jaw, and tongue were feeling tingly and occasionally numb. It was a very unpleasant sensation. When we got home, I googled MSG poisoning. I don't know why I knew to do that, but I just had a suspicion... Sure enough, these are common symptoms of an overdose of MSG. I drank a bunch of water, rested, and felt better later that night. We never went back to that restaurant again.

Since then, I've been able to avoid another case of poisoning until last weekend. We had hot pot with some friends and it happened again. Headache, then tingly numbness, and this time some nausea too. After drinking a lot of water and sleeping, I felt better, but now I know to add hot pot to my list of restaurants to avoid (sadly). The poisoning effects are just not worth it, not to mention whatever bad long-term effects happen from consuming that much MSG.

Have you ever experienced MSG poisoning/overdose? What were your symptoms?