the jimmymac attack!

Pork spare ribs are delicious when they are cooked right. They must be cooked a long time to make them tender and then lathered with barbecue or honey sauce. In America and Canada many people and restaurants know how to make good ribs. I have not had spare ribs for over one year. They are not popular in Taiwan. At least not cooked the American way. A couple of months ago I thought I was going to have them. I ordered them off the menu in what looked like a half decent restaurant. Instead of pork spare ribs I got beef short ribs. They were not very good but I ate it because I am used to not getting what I order in Taiwan and trying to fix it or argue is just too much trouble.
Last night I had an unhappy culinary experience involving spare ribs. I should know better but I fell for a beautiful picture. In a coffee shop - many coffee shops serve food - which means they heat prepared food in a microwave. I should know better but the picture looked so good! I ordered the pork spare ribs. When I got them they did look like the picture and they were pork. But as soon as I tried to cut into them I knew I'd made a mistake again. It was like trying to cut into a shoe. They were not cooked properly. I could not eat or tolerate this. I was not going to pay a lot to struggle with and eat something that was terrible. I decided to return it for something else. Well this is when I got another surprise. It seems in Taiwan people do not send food back. Not unless there is a cockroach in it. Wow! In Canada and America people routinely send food back if it's not cooked right or unsatisfactory. The Taiwanese way is to literally 'eat it' even if you are not happy with it. This explained a lot. People just accept bullshit and inferior service and products. That's life I guess they say. Wow. What an attitude. Live and learn. I will try to be careful but I'm sure I will be disappointed again and probably fall for another beautiful picture. And I can look forward to having some good ribs in America some day...