SALT, SUGAR, DAIRY ... AND CRUNCHY BITS

Perfect fried rice contains egg, potato, a little chopped lemon, chilies, and curry paste; prove me wrong. This evening I fried up some scrips and scraps, with pre-cooked rice, a shrimp-paste compound, curry paste, and a pinch of nutmeg. I suppose the nutritionist I saw on Tuesday as per the advice of my doctor might be a little appalled -- more on culinary than on dietary grounds, despite being of Chinese ancestry and therefore more adventurous than Wasps from the East Coast (which is everything between the Central Valley and the Atlantic) -- but the superlative taste and satisfaction would have convinced her.

Fried peanuts would have been a nice touch.
Gonna hafta purchase more peanuts.


Besides, I've been good. No cookies. Salad for lunch (and I hate salad). The delicious and gooey looking cinnamon rolls my coworker left in the kitchen at work for all of us tempted me, oh boy golly yes, but I resisted.

Reason being that I do not wish to become diabetic.

Despite the amusing name of that ailment.

In Cantonese.


糖尿病

Tong (糖) means 'sugar', and frequently also 'candies'. So 糖尿病 ('tong niu beng') could well be translated as "candy pee sickness". Which in a way is charming as all git-out, but belies the gravity. Additionally, my doctor says my cholesterol is verging on too high too.

My apartment mate celebrates her good cholesterol results every year with a lobster and a bucket of butter.

Despite not being much of a lobster fan, I envy her.


She's an old friend, but for several reasons we don't eat together, though we may dine at the same time. Which is better than her and her on-again off-again boyfriend (not sure how that relationship is going, they might be just good friends by now, which would reflect well on him, he may be a decent bloke after all), who is food-wise a mighty queer fish. Because of which, eating with him proved nearly impossible early in their relationship.

I have no actual food hang-ups.


Vegetables are among my favourite meat substitutes. But most commercial prepackaged salads benefit immensely from the addition of chili sauce, and ideally, vegetables are blanched rather than raw.
Add some chili sauce.


Being a man means dining alone, alas, and substituting chilies for salt, sugar, pork fat, and high-cholesterol foods.




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