MISERY AND FOOD GO TOGETHER

Yesterday after doomscrolling I headed out for a late lunch. Tat Yee was sitting at his usual table having an early dinner. A weepy drama in Mandarin set in far Northern China during the Japanese period was on the telly, and it struck me that it wasn't just the period clothing that marked verisimilitude. The distinctive lighting, characteristic of the place, did too.

The people looked almost Van Goghian in their poverty and unhappiness. We're on episode 31. That it's being shown so far into the series proves that it's immensely popular. Viewers love misery, provided it's historically far enough back in time that neither they nor their parents actually experienced it.

We segued into episode 32. Corrupt oficials. Prison.

So lunch (蝦球滑蛋飯 'haa kau waat daan faan') was exceptionally good. The milk tea was hot and fragrant. The pipe smoked afterwards divine. This customer was chuffed.

Remarkably, several other customers had claypot dishes for their meal. Which seems more of a cold rainy day thing to me. They weren't watching the teevee, and their choices may have been informed by the unseasonal non-heat of the day.

It usually around eighty degrees in San Francisco at this time of year.
Yesterday was low sixties at best. Quite bearable.
Perfect Chinese bacon weather.
臘味煲。

Unlike the previous day, when I had counted "future heart attacks of America" walking down the street, all of them Caucasian, there were no whales in sight. Which was good, because in all honesty one cannot hug the whales. One doesn't know where they've been, they could topple over and crush one, and my arms are to short for that in any case.
There were nearly forty of them. In less than two hours.

Yes, I'm judgemental about many things.
Tattoos too. I dislike them.
And tourists.


KINDLY NOTE TO RED STATE VISITORS

You are all ugly, you eat too much, and your mom dresses you funny.
Plus some of you shouldn't vote, because you're doing it wrong.
Many of you could bathe, and dress more modestly.
Welcome to California, now go home.

I had expected better.
Y'all failed.



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