IT TASTES LIKE SOMETHING FROM NORTH POINT

Dinner tonight was exceedingly simple. Ho gaan daan (好簡單), ganz einfach. Baked satay seafood rice (焗沙爹海鮮飯 'guk saa-de hoisin faan'). Leftover from yesterday evening at the chachanteng. With some bacon (煙肉 'yin yiuk'). And jalapeño (墨西哥椒，尖椒 'mak sai go jiu', 'tsim jiu'). And curry stuffs (咖哩 'gaa lei'). And hot sauce (辣椒醬 'laat jiu jeung').
And some nutmeg (肉荳蔻 'yiuk dau kau').

I really should've added an egg, but I felt it was, at this point, no longer quite as simple as it had once been. No salt, because I didn't want to overwhelm the delicate flavour.


My apartment mate, who unlike my own self is Cantonese, would've added the egg (蛋 'daan'), plus a porkchop (豬扒 'chyu paa') or two. And instead of salt (鹽 'yim'), oyster sauce (蠔油 'hou yau'). She probably would have ommitted the 尖椒，咖哩，辣椒醬，and 肉荳蔻。

I am not Cantonese American, but Dutch American.
Not that there is anything wrong with that.

I think we agree on bacon.


We no longer dine together, but we often eat in each other's company.
Nice, because it is fun watching a pretty woman enjoying food.

I seldom eat with other people.

Rather a pity.



NOTES

North Point in Hong Kong is where the Hokkiens from Indonesia settled in the fifties and sixties. And Satay ("saté") is an Indonesian concept, not quite interpreted the same way by HK Cantonese as the Indonesians or Dutch would. A flavour, rather than grilled skewered meats with a spicy peanut sauce. I am never sure what to expect when folks who aren't Dutch Indos use the term 'satay', and I angrily reject the cultural appropriation by Thai restaurants which is so common in the Bay Area.
Siamese can't cook worth squat.
As is well known.




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