Bring on the Night

C has a very good friend in Harbin. She has been extremely helpful with train tickets and similar, both when we visited China in 2007 and last summer when C’s parents were visiting us here in Denmark.

A few months ago she even sent us a gift to our newborn son. Its 2 silver bracelets that we plan on him wearing when we get him baptised in a month or so. We were both touched by the beautiful present and wanted to return the favour by sending a box of gifts and made sure to put “strange” Danish stuff there too.

The box contained things like: A summer dress for her daughter (probably made in China), some bags of dried pasta, chocolate, different candy, fish in oily pepper sauce and bottles of pesto paste (the post office in China refused to pass on the pesto though).

Some of the candy we sent is a Danish speciality called Tyrkisk Peber (Turkish Pepper). They are hard liquorice bonbons with hot powder inside. Not everyone here in Danmark like them, but since we went for surprising gifts, those seemed to fit the bill. It was either those or “Super Piratos”, which is a softer, but also a strong liquorice candy that will make your mouth look like you chew tobacco.

A few days after C’s friend got the gift box, she wrote to C on QQ. She was wondering what to do with the Tyrkisk Peber candy, since they tasted awfully. She was sure they had to be eaten or prepared a special way. C’s friend even tried putting them in the oven or microwave. The result was a minor candy explosion. The idea of roasting them, came from the flames drawn on the bag. The flames Danes will normally consider a sign of “spicy/hot” and not “roast me”.

I told C to tell her friend that she should bite the candy over to taste the filling next time. We haven’t heard from her since, but I guess I won’t be popular when we do.

Tags: china vs denmark, chinese