It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Spitting

Pete met up with Smiler and family at their homebase in the recently nicknamed (by Smiler) DoFu (sounds like "tofu") section of Queens--aka, downtown Flushing--for some Chinese cuisine. We started out at Xi'an in the Golden Shopping Mall at 41-28 Main Street--it's down in the basement beneath a cellphone store--where we picked up some deliciously greasy lamb burgers (big chunks of lamb with cumin, hot peppers, and jalapenos), translucent potato noodles with chili peppers, and thick wheat noodles served with moist pieces of lamb and a super spicy sauce; then we headed off to the Flushing Mall food court--stopping to pick up some lamb skewers from a street-meat vendor on the way. We ordered some more food--pork dumplings, pork wonton soup, boiled eggs soaked in soy sauce, and taro and papaya milkshakes--and then began to feast. Everything was fantastic (well, the eggs were a little nasty)--Pete suggests reading this if you want to actually get learned about the food to be had out there. The highlight of the afternoon took place while we were eating. One of the more curious things about the Flushing Mall are the signs in the men's bathroom. One above the sinks says "Please do not vomit in the sink" and then there is one above the garbage can next to the sinks that says "Vomit here." Smiler reckons that "vomit" is a bad translation of "spit" and Pete most likely concurs but... as we were eating a little boy standing ten feet behind us missed both the sink and the vomit can so...