Some Things Do Not Change, and Others Do
I had been there countless times for lunch when I was based at the Advance Bank Australia in North Sydney. This was a venue for good memories, for good food and good company. Perched on the top of a slope before the road turns down towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge, depending on where a person approached, one had to climb up a gradient or just stroll on an even path. It must have been sixteen years or more since the owners started there, having moved from Milsons Point. The couple who ran this place now have grown up children, and the husband still maintains a youthful look, despite years of cooking inside the kitchen, for that was his primary job. I am amazed that many of the staff members remained loyal to Irene and her hubby after all these years. On the Saturday I visited aftre so many years, I found out that it was their last day of operation there. The place was crowded - we shared a common table with two radiographer British tourists, Daniel and Liz, who were brought there for lunch by a resident work mate, Lily.
Some things change and others do not. Later that afternoon, I was whisked off to what the Australian media would term an ethnic enclave. This was a mixed business and cultural suburb, with both Chinese and Indian varieties of retail available. I was fascinated by the Indian products and produce on sale, ranging from furniture to bags of basmati rice to festive cakes and freeze-dried sealed ready to eat meals. My mates and I were the only non-Indians in both shops we explored. On the Chinese side, we enjoyed freshly squeezed Queensland sugar cane juice and Taiwan-inspired cold drinks filled with bits of fruits like longans, lychees, jackfruit, palm sago and other such exotic stuff. Janie and I noticed the long queue at a Hong Kong-fashioned barbecue meats shop. We ran into Ming and his friends who had met up for a late afternoon snack. Jennifer went on a grocery shopping rampage, which included purchases from the seafood guys, the butcher shop, the grocery outlets and more. This dynamic suburb was exactly as I remembered it before I moved to Wollongong.
A vegetarian food fair attended by me on another day brought some surprises on how tasty such food can be, when provided with the right sauce, the right company, the right ingredients and the right spices to speak of. I did not find the concocted dishes bland or disheartening. One dish was served even more delicious than its non-vegetarian and original version. I expected to be extremely thirsty after partaking such dishes, half-suspecting that artificial food flavours must have played a part in their surprising tastiness. I did not suffer the post-eating pangs for thirst - to me it was a delightful surprise!
Some things change and others do not. Later that afternoon, I was whisked off to what the Australian media would term an ethnic enclave. This was a mixed business and cultural suburb, with both Chinese and Indian varieties of retail available. I was fascinated by the Indian products and produce on sale, ranging from furniture to bags of basmati rice to festive cakes and freeze-dried sealed ready to eat meals. My mates and I were the only non-Indians in both shops we explored. On the Chinese side, we enjoyed freshly squeezed Queensland sugar cane juice and Taiwan-inspired cold drinks filled with bits of fruits like longans, lychees, jackfruit, palm sago and other such exotic stuff. Janie and I noticed the long queue at a Hong Kong-fashioned barbecue meats shop. We ran into Ming and his friends who had met up for a late afternoon snack. Jennifer went on a grocery shopping rampage, which included purchases from the seafood guys, the butcher shop, the grocery outlets and more. This dynamic suburb was exactly as I remembered it before I moved to Wollongong.
A vegetarian food fair attended by me on another day brought some surprises on how tasty such food can be, when provided with the right sauce, the right company, the right ingredients and the right spices to speak of. I did not find the concocted dishes bland or disheartening. One dish was served even more delicious than its non-vegetarian and original version. I expected to be extremely thirsty after partaking such dishes, half-suspecting that artificial food flavours must have played a part in their surprising tastiness. I did not suffer the post-eating pangs for thirst - to me it was a delightful surprise!
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