More MSG, Your Majesty

Back when I attended university at a small city on the edge of Los Angeles, just brushing the edges of the desert, redolent with orange groves, there was a Chinese restaurant we called No MSG. It had a large neon sign that said No MSG facing the parking lot, and another facing the major street.

No MSG was a great place, on the same circuit as Cuca's Mexican, where 5 bucks could get a meal that could probably last all weekend (the university offered comfort dinners Sunday-Thursday only) (also, please note I remember Cuca's but not the true name of the No MSG restaurant).

I didn't know what No MSG meant. And I had no curiosity. We all laughed at it, didn't ask questions, gobbled up the best damn lo mein, and I never bothered to learn what no MSG meant. Someone at some point explained it was a seasoning.

I was thinking about this because I have been obsessed with the Korean drama Bon Appetit Your Majesty.

(Spoilers below for the show, available on Netflix)

This show is a bit ludicrous. A Michelin starred chef goes back in time to medieval Joseon during the time of a tyrannical king who is a known gourmand. There's political intrigue, romance, the bestest friend ever in Gil-geum, and absolute ridiculousness. (Also, a real rewriting of the actual king Yeonsangun). Her life is on the line and Ji-yeong only has a few ingredients to prepare a dinner to wow the king's secretary. She has tough, fatty beef that she tenderizes using a sort of sous vide. Ji-yeong uses mushroom, fermented shrimp, and anchovies to create Joseon-era MSG.

(The scenes where the Joseon era people are trying her food are hilarious. The O-faces. The hallucinations. It cracked me up)

It made me remember No MSG Chinese and an article I read a long time ago about how MSG is perfectly fine, but it was subject to a vicious campaign and Americans generally are anti-MSG. (Not the article (this was long ago) but one with the same premise). I've since had MSG and it does enhance the umami of the food.

Yet, except for maybe once, I never questioned that No MSG sign. I joined in laughing at, but I never asked why the sign even existed. Why would people care about those mysterious letters? Why do I only know it as No MSG and not its real name? I was thinking about how I have all these wonderful opportunities to try things that people before may not have, to experience cultures, and to embrace new ideas. And sometimes, it's easier to take and not to question.

To question would have raised some uncomfortable ideas about myself laughing at "No MSG" sign in a Chinese restaurant.

(Growing means being uncomfortable with discomfort and I've explained to my child that as a white person, I have been steeped in white supremacy and have committed, and probably still commit, micro-aggressions all the time, and it's my job to learn from them, (not make the other person teach me), and not to do it again and teach others. That's how we grow.)

(This is a Yom Kippur conversation)

Ted Lasso likes to tell us "be curious, not judgmental" but sometimes its hard to fire that curiosity up as it can place us in uncomfortable positions. I don't know if we are ok with discomfort. We should be. The world is a big place and a little discomfort is nothing in the span of the universe.

With a little discomfort can come great learning. A little curiosity and I might have enjoyed MSG on my food earlier.

Writing

I am so excited. Tal is about done with this final edit and then to find an editor. And an artist, I suppose. I goofed around on Canva and made a trope map, using the John Singer Sargent painting, Mrs. Charles E. Inches (Louisa Pomeroy).

It's just helping me stay focused. I really want to get this narrowed down. I'm happily under 100k, with some cushion. The saggy middle is less saggy, although she does get her ass kicked three times at least. Spending a lot of time reading genre romance, and back to my beloved urban fantasy.

Tal is close to my heart. I've outlined about three other potential books, even have a draft of an entirely other book, but this feels like her time. She lives in a steampunk Gilded Age, where women had little rights, and she manages to fight against the system, in her own, sly way, and carves out her own happiness. She may not be loud and protesting in the streets, like her aunt, but she carves a path toward liberation that other daughters may follow.

I want to get her right, especially now when I think these sorts of novels are important.

Things I've read that I've enjoyed this summer

• These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
• Mr. Impossible by Lorraine Heath
• The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• The Red Palace by June Hur

I've been learning I want complicated stories with women who have rougher edges, who may be abrasive or loners, but I don't want my second hand embarrassment to get too overwhelming. This is a fine line. The issue is, sometimes, is that lands me cozies, which aren't complicated enough. This is why I loved Bon Appetit, Your Majesty. Homeboy was super messed up. He killed people. He terrorized the country. He got all giggly when Ji-yeong cooked him some pasta and beef schnitzel. Really, just more of that.

I hope you're all safe as can be and that you're enjoying delicious meals, good books, good friends, and delightful evenings.