IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME

Lunch yesterday, quickly cooked at home, was sambal goreng terong over broad rice stick noodles: eggplant cooked with chilipaste and curry paste, tossed over heat in the fry pan with saa ho fan (沙河粉), egg stifried in. It was very nice and took little time. There was some ginger in there too, as well as a little fish sauce.

Lunch today will be at the place I usually go on Wednesday, because I'm working tomorrow. The constant, both yesterday and today, naturally is Hong Kong milk tea.
Milk tea should be strong enough to shiver your timbers.
Or whatever the phrase is.

On the way to lunch I'm swinging by the pharmacy to pick up refills. When I called to renew the praescriptions the conversation switched to Cantonese as soon as she knew who I was. A person like me who can speak Canto no matter how badly, is still sufficiently anomalous that they stand out. Kind of like the old white lady who showed up as a nun in several Hong Kong movies, speaking slowly but intelligibly. I'm slightly better than that; on the phone, if you did not know I was a Caucasian you'd suspect me of being a Northerner, maybe exiled Shanghainese or some farmer from darkest Shantung. Maybe a Yorkshire man.

There are people who have only conversed with me in Cantonese.

They'd probably be flabbergasted to know that my native language is Dutch. Of which there are approximately a dozen speakers in C'town. One Chinese fellow from Sumatra, one or two elderly Javanese Chinese, a whole bunch of Hakka from Suriname, and an elderly Shanghainese woman.

Yes naturally we all gravitate toward Chinatown. Where else can you find sambal, diverse noodles for your bami or soto bihoon, and all your other ingredients? As well as 'kousband' (豆角 'dau gok'), pareya (涼瓜 'leung gwaa'), and fresh belatjan (鹹蝦醬 'haam haa jeung')?


You know, if decent haring and frikandel are EVER going to hit the United States, it will probably be right here in Chinatown. One can but hope.

Especially haring. Cantonese love fish.
Mr. Scott, make it so.



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================