TAKE A VILLAGE

They may have changed cooks, because I do not remember fish fragrance eggplant (魚香茄子 'yü heung ke ji') disquieting my delicate digestive organ quite so much previously. I did not finish my lunch. But nevertheless I enjoyed it immensely. The waitress is a hard working busy girl who does not look like she's anywhere near drinking age with a nice well-proportioned face, rose bud lips and prettily blushing cheeks who, apparently, IS old enough. Judging by the fact that her parents came by with her little daughter to say 'hi'. So there's that.

Students must be rewarded with food. Whether it's kindergarten (see above), grammar school (the mommy sitting at the opposite wall with her kids), or junior high (innocent looking fellow with his Mandarin-speaking girlfriend one table over). As well as the kid two tables over with her uncle, who was busy reading his texts while minding the child. Food.

There were no other Caucasians there, and I speak Cantonese, so I was sort-of invisible, and with my deep-set eyes no one can tell if I'm observing, cross-eyed, or asleep.
Actually, I am looking at my food.

That sauce! I disapprove of it. It suggests having read somewhere what the dish is supposed to be, and then taking a mad stab at doing something not too very dissimilar. The cooking techniques employed were fail-safe, but the sauce was slapdashedly half-assed.

It's supposed to be spicy tangy savoury sweet, with ginger, bamboo shoot, spicy fermented bean sauce (豆瓣醬 'dau paan jeung'), pickled chilies, scallions, and garlic. Plus vinegar and sugar. It did have bamboo shoot. A little dried chili. Plus red colour, sugar, and cornstarch.

I wonder what they'll do when I order mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐 'maa pou dau fu') next time.


Afterwards I dawdled at the edge of Portsmouth Square with my pipe for a while, observing the senior citizens playing cards and chatting in Toishanwaa (臺山話), as many of the older villagers do. When I left, having finished my smoke, I heard one of the old ladies emphasize her point with 'maa ge hai'. Which I shall not translate. It would have gotten her fined in some places in Hong Kong. Bad, auntie, bad!


That illustration is not of somewhere in the Pearl River Delta, but a scene in Flanders.
In case you were wondering. It seemed appropriate. Seeing as I discussed food.



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