A LIGHTNESS IN THE AIR

The first thing I noticed was how she held her chopsticks. And then the book.
When a woman is eating dumplings while reading it tells you two things.
One is that she is alone. Whether that is a permanent state or temporary is not clear.
The other very important datum it imparts is that she likes dumplings.
Dumplings are a very great good.

The place was nearly empty, and on a whim I went inside. After placing my order I observed the dumpling woman out of the corner of my eye.
Short, trim, grey haired. Probably around seventy years old, maybe a little bit beyond.
Angular features, though they softened as she ate.
A string of pearls, and a comfy sweater. Reading a book by Elaine Pagels.
And, unlike most Caucasians, she used all of the digits on her right hand to wield her chopsticks.


CHOPSTICKS, PAGELS, AND DUCK

That’s quite unusual. Most of us white people manipulate chopsticks rather like Tanizaki Yukari, with that dubious two-fingered wobble that makes the transfer of morsels to the mouth a minor miracle.
She, on the other hand, looked like she had been born with them.
I’m not sure about the Elaine Pagels book, however. As dinner literature it is both excessively casual and disconcerting.
It is not clear to me why anyone would read that book while in the presence of good food.
Perhaps a perverse streak?

When her bowl of roast duck noodle soup came she put the book down, and grasped the porcelain spoon with her reading hand. Slowly, almost lovingly, she clumped a skein of noodles between her chopsticks and lifted it up, before bringing it to her mouth. While slurping the noodles in, she dipped a spoonful of broth.
It wasn’t until the third mouthful that she assayed a chunk of roast duck.

I’ve had the roast duck there a number of times, it’s not bad.
And their soup stock is very good, both fragrant and clear.

I ordered the same dish, but instead of wheat noodles, I requested rice stick.
Personally I think it goes much better with rich meats.
Plus I prefer the slippery texture.

The dark glistening Sienna hues of the duck, the pure whiteness of rice noodles, the fell green of 菜心 and the chopped scallion sending its perfume over the sparkling pale broth. Beautiful.
Like the dumplings mentioned earlier, it is a great good.


She finished before I did, of course.
Stowed the book in a pocket of her jacket, and headed out into the night.

After I left the restaurant I wandered up Pacific Avenue. There was a peculiar smell at the corner of Taylor, so I sniffed my tweed coat. No, not me. I smell slightly sooty, but that's it.
Lit up a cigarillo at Hyde, and admired the street lights, haloed by mist in the air.
Then home.
Well-fed.


NOTES

Dumplings (餃子): meat and chopped vegetables wrapped in a wheat flour skin, and either steamed or boiled (水餃). If panfried on one side, they become potstickers (鍋貼). Best with a dark vinegar and soy sauce dip, and a dab of chilipaste.
Tanizaki Yukari (谷崎ゆかり): An English teacher in the manga and anime Azumanga Daioh (あずまんが大王). Jealous, self-centered, and mercurial, with a tendency to smack her students with objects like binders or blackboard erasers.
Roast duck (燒鴨): Duck brushed with a sugar solution, hung to dry, then roasted at high heat (400 degrees Fahrenheit) for nearly an hour. Part of the trick to cooking this is first blanching the duck with boiling water to tighten the flesh, plus putting rice wine and aromatics in the cavity. The cavity contents are poured out after cooking for use as a dip or flavouring.
Wheat noodles: 麵. Probably 幼麵 in this case.
Rice stick noodles: 河粉. Though 粿条 would also work. Not 瀨粉, that would have been too rich.
Elaine Pagels: an author who lectures at the same school as my super brilliant cousin the mediaeval art historian.
Not that that means anything or is in any way relevant.
I just like boasting about my cousin.



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