THE BETWEEN TIME

Some food shops and restaurants are open in Chinatown, the restaurants for pick-up and delivery only. The place is far quieter than it should be.
I wonder what all the people I know at the restaurants which are closed are doing now, and how they are getting by. Once this situation ends, the neighborhood will have changed. Things are tough now, they'll be worse.
I'm in mourning for what was.

One of my favourite grocery stores will undoubtedly survive. They have the right customer demographic, a well thought-out spectrum of merchandise, canny management, and good people working there. I didn't go in, as I already had everything I needed except for one non-essential item.
I'll purchase it the next time I'm down there.
'Mou gwo-jeui ge lok-to'
無過嘴嘅駱駝。


Picked up vegetables, dimsummy items, dried black dates (黑棗 'hak jou') and a bottle of Shaohsing cooking wine (紹興酒 'siu hing jau'). It's an essential ingredient, and can be drunk like sherry. Something of which I am rather glad the desperate alcoholics in this city are ignorant. Because even at the lower grades it's quite drinkable. And inexpensive.

Pork cooked with ginger, scallion, and Shaohsing wine is delicious.

Can't do that with gutter plonk.


To all the shops in Chinatown that are open during these hard times, thank you! Many of us rely on you for our food, and the services that you provide.


Of course, despite all the talk of "necesities", and having noshed on some of the dimsum I bought (I also gave a selection to my landlady and her husband downstairs), I didn't bother cooking last night, but had some ice cream for dinner instead.

The above mentioned "lok-to" are an occasional indulgence.
They're sort of a fond reminder of the past.
Good with 意式濃縮咖啡。




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