ANTIQUE CHRISTMAS PLANS

No, I didn't join the black Friday frenzy. I had better things to do. First, over the hill to Chinatown with pipe in mouth to find some lunch. On a whim I entered a place filled with elderly codgers having fun -- no spring chicken myself, but they represented many more senior moments altogether -- and ordered a bowl of chicken and abalone porridge with a fried oil-stick.
It was delicious, in all ways the ticket. Cilantro garnish.

[Abalone and chicken rice porridge (congee): 鮑魚雞粥 'baau yü kai juk'. Fried oil stick: 油條 'yau tiu', also called a 'cruller', or a 'Chinese donut'. It isn't sweet, and is meant to be dipped in your congee, although most places nowadays cut it into bite-sized pieces for you, so that you can dump them one by one on top, to be eaten with chopsticks. Cilantro: 芫茜 'yuen sai'.]


Second pipe afterward while shopping. Among other things I purchased socks and tea, so it only seemed fitting to find a cup of naai cha .....

See, gong sik naai cha (港式奶茶 "harbour style milk tea") is also called si mat naai cha ((絲襪奶茶 "silk-stocking milk tea"), in which the second character (襪) means 'sock'.....

Okay, I guess you had to be me to see how that's funny .....


Three pipe fulls while out and about. Too much caffeine. And immensely irritated by tourists. Of which there are far too many. Sometimes I wish that San Francisco wasn't such a nice place to visit.

Tourist children are particularly odious.


On the way home I realized that I am older and more neurotic than I used to be, and far less socially inclined, though the lonesomeness of a four day holiday does drag on me. I thoroughly enjoyed my bowl of congee while drinking in the racket of other people eating and drinking, and relished not having to talk much other than placing my order.

I think on December 26 or 27 it might be good to go have dimsum at the place with all the coughing old people half a block up from the restaurant where I was yesterday. Elderly throats coated in pork grease because of black bean spareribs rice (豉汁排骨飯 'si jap paai gwat faan') would very likely provide enough happy racket that one could entirely forget about the holiday. It's cheap and very delicious, and some of those fossils smoke far too much. Oh, it will be lovely!

[Drink lots of Pu Erh tea (普洱茶 'pou nei chaa') if you eat that; it's very good for the digestion, especially with fatty foods like paai gwat.]

Their other dimsums are also excellent.



For some reason my apartment mate left early in the day. I think she went to work. She returned at 7:30, and brought some food back for me.
Siu yiuk, siu kai, and some saang choi.
It was very kind.



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