DEVIANCE, LATE NIGHT

Stepped out in the middle of the night for an amble, with a smaller pipe, and a larger stick (cherrywood cudgel). Cold, relatively quiet. Eccentric mumbling from near the intersection, so proceeded in the opposite direction, as, naturally, I did not wish to meet the local bus stop trolls at so late an hour. In the past there would have been people about; these days, only trolls.

I am not social / interactive / confrontational enough to face the divorced from reality crowd at one o'clock in the morning. Especially when the whole purpose of heading out at that time is for a contemplative walk.

Earlier I had viewed the post of gentlemen in Macao hanging out with friends outside a winebar near Saint Paul's ruins. It was just after teatime there. Tee-shirt weather. Here in SF the temperature necessitated three layers plus a coat. We've gotten colder again.

But to put that in perspective, in the Midwest they had snow for Easter, which was also what friends in Europe reported.


One of the things I haven't had in a while is the Maccanese version of an egg tart (蛋撻 'daan taat'): pastel de nata (葡撻 'pou taat'). Not because I haven't been in Macao in ages, but because I haven't dropped by a particular bakery on Stockton Street in over a year. They are open, but I don't know the people there, and there weren't enough places to sit, so it wasn't a potential hang out. Perhaps I'll go there today. I need to be in Chinatown anyhow.

The other thing I haven't had in a long time, because of Covid, is Portuguese chicken: 葡國雞 ('pou gwok kai'), chicken pieces with chunked potato in a mild coconut curry sauce. Easy to make, comforting, superlative "over-rice" food, an excuse for sambal and freshly ground black pepper. And it's neither Portuguese nor Maccanese, but from Hong Kong. Like any Dutchman or Belgian, I tend to add parsley and chives to the dish when it's almost done, as well as ground nutmeg early in the cooking, plus a little fish sauce.
And a pinch of five-spice powder.

So it deviates a bit.

In lieu of parsely-chives, minced scallion also can.

The version at the ABC on Jackson (closed four years ago) had mushroom and bellpepper, very deviant. But I miss it. As well as the people who worked there.

What this city needs, after Covid is over, is a chachanteng that's open till four o'clock in the morning, with strong milk tea, Portuguese chicken, black pepper porkchops, and salt fish and chicken fried rice. And, because it gets cold at night, warmth. Warmth is key.

And perhaps a courtyard behind, with space heaters, where old farts could enjoy their pipes without actually freezing their noses off, but that's just dreaming.


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