GENEROUS RICE PORRIDGE

If you really think about it, rice porridge (粥 jook) is a man's preference. Women of appetite are more likely to go for something salty-greasy.
They're carnivores (肉食性類 yiuk sik sing leui), whereas men are more refined (斯文啲 si man di) and gentle (柔順 yau seun).
You don't believe me?
你唔信嘅?

Then please explain The Real Housewives of Orange County. Those girls are piranhas (水虎魚 sui fu yü). If they had cleavers (好大嘅厨用肉刀 ho daai ge chü yong yiuk dou), they would've eaten each other by now.

Project Runway?
Meanest and most brutal bitches in Christendom.

The reason why men like rice porridge is because it's so suggestive of the good things in life.
Cream (奶油 nai you), wholesome grains (五穀 ng guk), sweetness (甜味 tim mei), paperhangers' paste (壁紙黏物 bik ji jim mat).
Ivory (好白的象牙 ho paak dik jeung ngaa), purity (特純 dak seun), mom's cooking (家常菜 gaa seung choi).
Comfort (冷暖同慰籍 laang nuen tong wai jik), friendship (友誼 yau yi), warmth (慰情 wai jing).
Women (女人 neui yan).


Imagine then, for purely academic purposes (because it will never happen), an innocent young lady (一個好淑嘅家庭女 yat go ho suk ge gaa ting neui) indulging in a big bowl of rice porridge. With lean pork (瘦肉 sau yiuk) and dried oysters (蠔豉 ho si).


蠔豉瘦肉粥 HO SI SAU YIUK JUK

Carefully, tenderly, she drew the warm bowl closer to her, with great greed inhaling the luscious fragrance, the steam of its very essence. How beautiful! The minced scallion atop the porridge provided a jade counterpoint to the pale and almost translucent nephritic content, like marble in its purity.
Underneath the surface the fragments of meat were barely visible, and occasional darker shapes betrayed the dessicated bivalve.
She lifted her porcelain spoon and dipped it, drawing forth the merest moutful of the creamy goodness. Mmmmmmmmm!

Hot, but so very good. It needed a touch of white pepper. After agitating the shaker over the bowl, she swirled the thin film of grey with her spoon, forming vortices of spice. She leaned forward, and dipped-in slowly and repeatedly, taking care that her utensil should not gather too much; she didn't want to burn her lips. The smooth rice gruel filled and soothed, her tongue tasting the subtle flavours and feeling the soft textures. A bead of sweat, unnoticed, trailed down a velvety cheek, paused trembling on her chin, and silently joined the liquid below, adding a secret savoury private note to her simple supper.

The dried oysters had become soft, almost creamy, yet were still richly flavourful and densely meaty. Their briny saveur had mingled with the demulcerous suspension, and the tender pork had likewise benefitted from that shared generosity. Strands of slivered ginger added their excitement, and scallion contributed a sharp grassy depth on the edge of taste.
With each luxurious spoonful she became happier and more content. Truly, this was the pillar of life. What could possibly be more comforting than a bowl of rice porridge?
Whether cold winter day, or sultry summer evening, naked after the bath or fully clothed (because one had to wear something!), alone or with dear friends......... Each day should have this sweetness, and every meal should be so languid and so gentle!

Her face was flushed and glowing when she finished eating, and her delicate eyebrows dimpled in unconscious disappointment that her pleasure had ended so soon. Yet it had been a marvelous lunch! How wonderful to have this available so close to work, and how very sad that her office-mates stubbornly remained both clueless and ignorant of this pure delight!


******


I don't know about you, but I'm all excited now. In my mind's eye I envision myself observing this across the table from me, while I take satisfaction with a cup of milk-tea (一杯奶茶 yat pui naai cha). And I know just the right restaurant (茶餐廳 cha chan teng) where this could happen. I wonder if they'd be willing to fold chunks of fresh lobster (龍蝦 lung haa) into the rice porridge instead? With some ginger (碎薑 seui geung) and scallion (青蔥 ching tsung), and a restrained drizzle of sesame oil (麻油 maa yau), it would be a total sensory overload, most delicious!




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