TEA ON WAVERLY PLACE

Lunch yesterday was a late affair. Time had flown by without my even noticing it, and I did not leave the house till past tea-time. Which, as you probably know, is four o'clock or shortly thereafter. I decided not to wait for public transit, but wandered up and over the hill on foot.

By the time I got to Stockton Street five horribly crowded buses had passed, filled with unhappy-looking people. Sad and tired individuals heading home on an overcast day. All in all, very good to avoid.
Especially as some of them can smell a smoker from several seats away, my heavens we make them thoroughly nauseous, and really all they want to do at that moment is heave all over our docksiders.... but it would take a major logistical effort to arrange their mouth just so.
Especially in a packed vehicle.

Normally I enjoy the hyper-sensitive.
Their distress is very creative.
Theatrical, entertaining.

But sometimes you need a break from the predictability of it all.


幸福餅家
HANG FUK BENG KAA

There was only one other customer at the coffee shop on Waverly Place. The usual patrons had probably decided to not risk the chance of rain, but hurry home before it fell. The half-light of a leaden sky and the pale glow from daytime fixtures gave a restive quiet mood to the place, made more so by emptiness. I have always enjoyed it because of the atmosphere, but yesterday it finally struck me that given the extraordinarily low prices and therefore utter simplicity of their pastries ($3.75 for an entire apple pie!), they devote very much skill to making their products. The flakiness of their crust is extraordinary. It's miraculous what they can do with much simpler resources than many more pretentious places.

Lotus seed paste cookie (蓮蓉餅), curry puff (咖喱角), and a hot cup of freshly made milk-tea (奶茶). Half an hour dawdling at the front seat near the window, looking out onto the street. Foot traffic and slow moving cars, mostly foot traffic. All ages, all types, all facial expressions.

It used to be the Wonder Food Bakery, which opened in the seventies. Many people remember it from their childhood as one of the best places to buy snackipoos - real cheap, real good. Some of them even ordered their wedding cakes here.
The Chinese name has remained the same, but in 2008 the new owners changed the English sign to Blossom Bakery. They no longer do cakes of the formerly stellar quality, nor is there the huge variety of pastries that once was offered. It's basically a leaner operation than two decades ago.
But it's still fun to hang out there for people watching, and though it isn't the fanciest bakery in C'town, your time and money are well spent.
It's mostly packed with old folks playing lotto.
Nothing fancy, but a good place.
Very home town.


Yes, you were right. You knew I would finish this piece with a pipe-full of tobacco and a leisurely stroll down past the park. There were still chess-players all over the square despite the looming clouds.
The rain did not come till around seven, when I was indoors again.

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