THIS IS WHERE PARADISE LIES

Having lamented the execrable taste of the young white people doing karaoke (as well as Johnny's Idiot Younger Brother, who may be debatably Chinese, but he acts mighty white and stupid) it's probably very fortunate indeed that their knowledge of music is so limited. With Karaoke, either a song you hate or a song you love is going to be massacred.

My friend the bookseller brings a classic to my attention.


"Not on the menu at Xxx's, and (I fear) not on the karaoke at Yyy-Yyy's."


So that's either a good thing or a good thing.


TWO TRIPLE CHEESE SIDE ORDER OF FRIES

[SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0hwTrNkJCg.]


I'll match that, and up the ante.


I'M YOUR COWBOY

[SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFPpgzotKSU.]


Now, the problem is that I can well imagine Johnny's Idiot Younger Brother doing either of those songs. But if he did, we'd have to kill him.
Which would leave a stain on the linoleum.
And we'd have to drag him out and chuck him in one of the trashbins in the alley (compost), because it would be ungentlemanly to leave that task to Jenny or her swain/lover/boyfriend/husband/co-conspirator.
Not sure about their relationship.

She has long days, and she hates The Eagles.
As do we all.



粗炒麵
['cou caau min']

A little culinary note: because food and evenings go together, and 食宵夜 ('sik siu ye') is a necessary part of your life. Eating to accompany the night.

Years ago, when one of the Shanghai places down on Kearny was still open late, you could fortify yourself with a bowl of thick wheaty noodles stirfried with pork and bokchoi, assertively flavoured with soy sauce. Fry the soy and wine marinated pork and the thick pre-cooked noodles separately, slightly burning the soy sauce you add to the noodles. A pinch of sugar added will deepen the effect. Then add the sliced greens to wilt, and lastly the pork.
Dish up, and augment with Chekiang Vinegar and hot sauce.
It was right next to a bar with a throbbing juke box.
Thieves, working ladies, and darkness.
A smoke-filled boîte.
溫厚，溫厚。

Mostly, I went to that eatery for the dumplings. Northern style.
[Regrettably, they are no longer there. But I fondly remember them.]


Karaoke wasn't common then, and young white hipsters wouldn't be caught dead invading certain places; they couldn't show off how with-it they were.

Young white hipsters weren't common then either.
North Beach was mostly drug-addicts.
Tattoos weren't de rigeur.

Don't sing.




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