I EAT TOO MUCH

The other day my former girl-friend took me out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. Even after we separated a few years ago, we still do that; have a birthday meal together. It highlights that there is no rancor, though that is not the reason to do it. She's always felt neglected around her birthday, being several years younger than her siblings and having been born so close to Christmas -- and as a girl she just didn't rank very high in the family hierarchy -- and I tend to avoid festive fuss and bother in October, because I still remember the meanness of classmates that the increased attention of that day brought forth.
Besides, the older I get, the less interesting a birthday seems.
One year older, what on earth is the big deal?
Not antique, but getting closer.
Did a joint just creak?


But she likes taking me out for dinner when that time rolls around, and I enjoy eating with her. We have similar tastes, and a similar curiosity about stuff to put in our mouths.

[Steamed pork patty with preserved egg (鹹蛋猪肉餅 haahm daan chu yiuk beng), oyster sauce Chinese broccoli (蠔油蘭遠 ho-yau lan yuen), and Chef's Special Chicken (can't remember what the characters were, it was a spur of the moment inclusion). Plus rice. And watercress soup (西洋菜湯 sai yeung choi tong). And lots of tea. There are several relevant posts: Cantonese Home Cooking, what Hyde Street is like, and sik baau lah.]


The place we went to is owned by someone I knew from many years ago. She and her husband opened the restaurant back in the early nineties. I did not have a beard back then, and I look somewhat more mature. As this was the first time she's seen me in over two decades, she didn't recognize me. She's also changed a bit. She's softer and mellowed, and there's a hint of tiredness in her face. And, of course, she no longer looks like the wiry young woman she was back then.

My ex, however, looks late twenties at most. The restaurant owner had an expression on her face that plainly said: "wow, crusty old fart with a sweet young thing, how delicious!" Her face also said "good for you, old man!"

The restaurant owner and my ex are only four or five years apart.
But Savage Kitten still possesses that girlish quality.
I must seem a pervert walking next to her.
The despoiler of innocents.
How very awful!

Heh. Heh. Heh.


Three dishes plus soup is really far too much for two people, particularly when neither of them eat immodestly. Savage Kitten is only one hundred pounds, more or less, and in the months after our break-up I lost a lot of weight. My stomach has shrunk by several belt notches. Both of us are more casual about meals than we once were.
We were stuffed when we left. The food was simple Cantonese fare, and very good.
We both ate much more than we should have.

Waddle waddle waddle waddle waddle.

I had no room for cake afterwards.


I feel younger than I should.



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