Chinese Version
03-17-2021, Wednesday, Sunny
Two weeks ago, my daughter went to a Chinese store and bought lots of things that crowded the kitchen counter next to the sink.

While moving the things from the counter into the refrigerator, I noticed she bought her favorite green vegetables and sweets, my favorite sweets, and a luffa that was longer than 2 feet.

I curiously asked: “Why you decide to buy a luffa?”

“No, this is a okra, not luffa.”

I explained: “Okra is just a finger length and can’t grow to 2 feet.”

My daughter insisted: “This is a giant okra, I can eat it for a few days.”

Then I asked her: “How did you know this was a okra?”

“I picked it from the shelf under the label ‘okra’, so I am sure this is an okra!”

I found pictures of luffa online and showed her, but she believed what she bought was an okra, because the store named it okra and the shape of a luffa is very similar to the shape of an okra in her opinion.

I dared her: “Let’s bet, if this is an okra, I will give you $100 iTunes card.”

My daughter confidently said: “Sure, if this is a luffa, I will give you $100.”

I thought a bit and said: “Let me break this into pieces, you’ll see if the inside is the same as the inside of okra.”

I broke the giant thing into 5 pieces and let my daughter see the inside. She admitted that what she bought was really not a okra.

I bantered with her: “A dummy born in 1990′s.”

After I sorted out all things on the counter. I started to help my daughter to finish her sourdough bread. I spread jelly onto a piece of bread, then I spread peanut butter on top of the jelly, but I had a hard time spreading the peanut butter over the jelly.

My daughter saw my struggling and commented: “Even a five year old knows how to make a peanut butter jelly sandwich, you don’t know?”

I replied: “I am helping you finish the sourdough bread. First time making sandwich, no experience.”

Then she said: “First spread peanut butter on a piece of bread, then spread jelly on top of peanut butter.”

I laughed at myself: “A dummy born in 1960′s.”

Lack of practice experience could lead to being a dummy, blindly following the herd, or at worst losing money.

Luffa vs. Okra

My daughter bought a luffa with eight sharp-edges which is also called Guangdong luffa, it’s very different from Sichuan luffa that is round without any sharp-edge.

Later, my friend Zhenzhen said luffa is also called Chinese okra.