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Forgot to include this in my summary of our west coast trip.

Here in southern New Jersey, where I've lived for 36 years, plus all my years
of growing up in Brooklyn, NY....chow mein in a Chinese restaurant was
vegetables in a white sauce, either all vegetables, or with chicken or
shrimp...as you ordered. Never was it a plate of noodles. Crispy fried
noodles are served almost as a condiment...and I just didn't eat them.

When we visited California last week, I ordered chow mein and got what
looked like a plate of spaghetti in white sauce with a few onions. Our
companion--who speaks Chinese, and the waiter thought I was nuts when I
said chow mein doesn't have noodles. Evidently, the words chow mein mean
with noodles.

I have no idea why on the east coast, no matter what restaurant I've gone,
it's a plate of vegetables. I even asked the owner of our favorite local
place...and he's from China. His answer, "Just vegetables."

The irony is that my fortune cookie, which someone else ate, of course, said,
"Beware. Things aren't what they seem."

Just thought I'd pass this info on, so you won't make the same mistake I did.

Lin