WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT, LITTLE GRASSHOPPER!

Russell was outside taking in the sun. He's been a bit wankel for the past several months, after having pneumonia a while back. But he appears to be chipper, and glad to be (slowly) on the road to recovery. At somewhere over ninety years of age. Of course being in the centre of Chinatown it is highly likely that people smoke around him, which, given his diminished lung function, is not good.

A short while later I was involved in an animated conversation about eating in Shanghai (the new exotic locale for HK foodies), which segued into wonton noodle soup. I am adamant, but diplomatic and not insistent, that dried flounder (大地魚 'daai dei yü') is essential in the broth for that contrastive saveur. This was before lunch. So before filling my pipe I headed toward a nice plate of mui choi kau yiuk (梅菜扣肉) over rice, side of savoury cooked tofu.


As you know, very many conversations in Chinatown involve food.
To Brabanders, Italians, and Cantonese that's important.
Sadly, far less so to many Anglos.

On the way down to Portsmouth Square I passed several groups of large pudgy people. White, of course, and probably tourists from the more cuisine deprived parts of the country, where getting all the nutrition you need necessitates wading through piles of fries, bacon, grits, and flapjacks. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Who am I to judge.

There are probably valuable vitamins and minerals somewhere in the cascades of ketchup and artificially maple-flavoured corn syrup. And some useful fibres in the huge cliffs and mountain ranges of grits and Danish pastries. Donuts ARE a food pyramid!

Just keep on chewing. Eventually you will get there.

Many Americans need more stomach acid.

It's what carbonated drinks are for.



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