If you buy a half a chicken, you should get your money’s worth, right? Yes, in Shanghai, the half chicken comes with one chicken foot (yes, I mean a claw) and a perfectly bisected head (yes, one eye looking at you). Good thing I grew up in Ree Heights and watched Aunt Lois slaughter the chickens. At least Cousin Jimmy is not chasing me around with the claw, pulling the tendon to make the chicken foot grab my ear.

I arrived in Shanghai with laryngitis and a cough, and soon, Fred was coughing too. Our driver was very concerned for our health, and continually inquired as to whether we had medicine for our cough. He kept talking about pears and rock candy. Eventually, he handed me a bag of pears and said it was good for the cough. After listening to Fred cough night after night, I was desperate enough to try anything, so I cut up the pear and we ate it. Within 20 minutes, the cough was gone. No cough for 8 hours. I learned later that the Chinese cook up the pears with rock candy to make a syrup. These brown pears are called ‘feng shui’ pears. Look for them in your supermarket- they really are magic!