Monday in Baltimore.

Remnants of a Chinatown? - Perhaps. Baltimore, MD

Sally.

Today I didn't do so much, since I mostly worked. Mondays are the worst. Baltimore is an interesting city. One that I will continue to talk about and explore while I am still living here. I know you've visited and liked it but I believe there's more to see - I just haven't seen it yet.

Baltimore has a small town feel with a strangely simultaneous urban feel to it. You go from one block to the next and find completely different things. If you look carefully at the buildings I think they tell you a story.

Today I got home and was bored. I've been feeling this strong sense of boredom lately but I think this is due to my new job and "new" time that I have on my hands. So out of that combination of boredom and loving to cook to get my mind off things - I went to Potung Trading Company - the only Chinese market in town.

Potung feels like a typical Chinese grandma's house. Crowded with food items collected over time, children passing time, blasting Chinese opera music, and that herbal smell. Nestled on the edges of Mount Vernon, you wouldn't really know what it is. Nearby you can find remnants of what could of been a Chinatown in Baltimore, stereotypes and all its glory, the words "China Doll" in that asian font falling apart - symbolically representing what once was some sort of Chinese community.

Potung keeps it running though, with fresh asian vegetables each week at prices well below the prices of grocery stores, farmer's markets and the likes around. You can find frozen halal meats, fish sauce, bitter mellon, tendon meatballs, Chinese fried pancakes, dumplings up the wazoo and of course, my greatest weakness - Mama Noodles. (I always pick up two on my way out). Potung is only two narrow lanes of food - but it's filled with so much, sometimes I retrace my steps to see what I accidentally missed. In every single nook and cranny you can find something that will remind you of home - even an old cantonese man preparing vegetables or a mom cooking a meal in the back for the family. The color this place holds, draws you in like a kid in a candy store so to speak. All the spices, the flavors, and types of noodles - wakes you up to a world that you didn't think possible in a place like Baltimore.

I believe the kitchen is where love is - and I think this is true for many second generation Asian Americans. We might not speak the same tongue, but when it comes to food there is no question.

I come here to remember my roots. I come here because I just want asian food and this is the closest thing I got. I come here because sometimes when you are so far away from what you might consider to be home both literally and figuratively, sometimes 15 minutes in a place like Potung is all you need.

P.S. You're in my tier-1 too.