side note on tapioca: even though I hated it, a friend talked me into trying a "tapioca soda" in a Chinese convenience store in San Francisco. It's a sort of soft drink that comes with a very fat straw, and you suck fat tapioca balls up through the straw. Oh my lord! My friend was laughing at my faces! Somehow, I drank half of it, and then felt most queasy!

Teresa