GREASE BURGERS AND CAT VIDEOS

You'll just have to excuse me, I am a bit dense. It took me a while to realize that modern society is not into food as a social experience, and that for most Americans eating together is tantamount to being tortured. Which means that every single time there is a celebration, all of you are actually ready to kill each other. Poor suffering blighters.
Y'all have my deepest sympathy!

For a number of years now I have eaten only with a few people, who are of a more old-fashioned bent, a few times a year. Most of the time I dine by myself, only one person at the table.

Many of the people I know, while pretending that food is the glue that binds, are actually dysfunctional in that regard, and judging by their behaviour over the years would much prefer to dine while watching kitten videos or pornography rather than have a meal with someone else.


我食自己

When not at work I eat alone in late afternoon, though almost always there are other folks about. I shared pizza once with my current co-workers. That was interesting.

On days off I go into Chinatown for either a snack or a rice-plate special. That's three days a week. When there are holidays, it's four or five times. Every single one of those occasions for the past two years or more has been the same. Me, a hot beverage, something tasty, no one else.
Sometimes there is a bottle of hot sauce.
I talk to the bird on the label.

When there is no one else listening, he's a mighty fine conversationalist, and altogether a splendid fellow.

Sometime last year or the year before a friend came with me to three small dim sum places, as a gustatory adventure. It was unusual, and a "one of" occurrence. It satisfied his curiosity.

[Sure, many of my friends talk about food, and happily share tales of their favourite dishes and the fantabulous restaurants they have visited. A few are even in the hospitality industry, one or two own dining establishments. But I don't have any evidence whatsoever that that has had an impact on their life.]


What surprises me is that I am thin, and America has an obesity problem.
That's an awful lot of porn and kitten videos!

Or is it texting and youtube?


想食麵定係食飯？

This week I may have roast duck and rice (燒鴨飯 'siu ngaap fan'), rice sheet noodle (腸粉 'cheung fan'), baked Portuguese chicken rice (焗葡國雞飯 'guk pou gwok gai faan'), flaky barbecue pork turnovers (叉燒酥 'cha siu so'), an old wife cake (老婆餅 'lo po beng'), salt fish and chicken fried rice (鹹魚雞粒炒飯 'haam yü gai naap chaau faan'), and something with bitter melon (苦瓜 'fu gwaa').
Plus several cups of milk tea.

This is all normal food, that normal people enjoy.
Unfortunately I do not know many of those.
Otherwise I would happily share.




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