French Fried Green Beans

Well, I had my first Chinese cooking lesson yesterday. Two ladies from our favorite restaurant came to teach 3-4 of us how to cook a few of our favorite dishes, only one of which we knew was fried. So yesterday's menu consisted of beer-battered corn, spicy green beans, and fish. The beer-battered corn turned out funny because as most of you know, we don't have any beer in the house! And I learned yesterday how to fry a fish skeleton (head and all!) and arrange it on a platter so that it is "pretty." Actually, I think it's a little scary--a smiling, fried, smashed-down fish head! But the meat and sauce was great! The lady who showed us how to cook it was concerned I think because none of us ate the fried bones or head. The only disconcerting thing was that even though the fish fillets were boiled, at the end she poured hot oil over it. The last dish the spicy green beans is one of my all time favorites. I used to feel good about myself when I went out to eat here because we always order a lot of vegetables. I no longer have that good feeling. I found out yesterday that they deep fry the green beans. Yes, not sauted in bit of oil. We are talking about a wok filled with oil and the green beans are just thrown in! I have never heard of this before! So if you want my advice, never learn REAL Chinese cooking...it will only depress you (and make you fat!).