The Art of Making Chung

Chung in the Cantonese dialect refers to the bamboo leaf-wrapped steamed/ boiled dumplings of glutinous rice cooked with various ingredients. Comfort food steeped in tradition and history, it is wholesome, tasty and essentially a summer delight. The southern Chinese versions feature mushrooms, pork cuts, beans and more - all doused with flavourful marinades of soy sauce to give colour, preservation and principle.

These dumplings tell a story of holding upright principles in feudal China and are linked to the annual celebrations of the Dragon Boat races in most of eastern Asia.

Each bamboo leaf has to be culled and thoroughly washed with warm water and scrubbed. The aromatic infusion of these leaves add to the cooked flavour, and they are not merely used for wrapping.

Glutinous rice is pre-cooked even before being used as fillers in bamboo leaf wraps.

The various ingredients are set out before filling in the triangle shaped delights. Time is of the essence, as there are various stages of preparation, patience and cooking time required. In 2010, the Dragon Boat Festival of the lunar calendar falls on 15 June. This event recalls how a high-ranking minister, disillusioned with the corrupt conduct and politics of his day, threw himself into a raging river and how his loyal subjects tried to divert the fish from eating his drowned body. This was how dragon boat racing and the chungs came into being.

Mushrooms galore, a much valued ingredient in Chinese cuisine.

The steamer, kept snugly down by a stone cap, especially effective during the process.

The Straits Chinese or Peranakan version of the chung offers a more dessert sweet dimension in taste, compared to its original mainland China roots. They offer nutty flavours instead of savoury, and include fanciful blue natural colouring of the rice to reflect integrated cultural influences of the Malaysian peninsular.

(Kindly Yours acknowledge the making of the chung process above to Mrs Ellen Moay and Mrs Charmaine Wan of Sydney)

Sydney in May

A bottle of champagne, albeit Australian, awaited me from my host. It is  a gesture much appreciated, that echoes personal mindfulness and care, actual  implementation of all the otherwise often empty promises of advertising and customer services in commercial services. The unexpected Falung Gong protest had blocked
my usual road path and I had to take a convoluted route instead, but here I was with my bags at my residence for the next few days, with an opportunity to refresh and recover from my usual regime.

I looked forward to the paucity of the variety of food from different cultures and cuisines near my host's residence. Away from the lamb roast expected at one committed event, I could not wait to savour something different from the Illawarra base. I enjoyed a homely ambiance at the Yakuzano Japanese cafe run by a family. The Glasgow Arms was a solid heritage establishment which retained a very English setting and offered a bulwark to the demographics of its changed neighbourhood.  Homok and pad see ew were my appreciated dishes taken at a fav Thai cafe,the former being fish fillet cooked in a spicy custard-like steamed concoction wrapped in banana leaves and the latter being broad rice noodles stir-fried with a savoury gravy, also recognised as sar hor fun in Malaysia and Singapore.

In this sojourn, I came across a friendly family of five, a typical Aussie bloke with a mainland Chinese wife and three strapling sons. They  looked  a picture of comfort to the father, who must have been an adventurous type in his youth, or maybe not. Whatever my imaginary speculation, I was impressed with his achievements in having such a family.  The mother looked having settled well in this country of various cultures so far from her childhood. The sons had a sparky glint in their eyes having to straddle two different cultures -and seemed to relish in this unique position.

On another occasion, whilst strolling, I stumbled across a young man called Nathan, who was one of those who sat forlornly on the pavement and waited on the generosity of passers-by.. It was a coolish evening and this was Australia at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century.  He had the look of inner fear and a cry for help. He was able-bodied but his soul and heart looked distraught. Nathan still spoke gently. Whether under the influence of drugs, or just struggling on after being battered with the unfairness of life and an uncaring community, he spoke affectionately of his father and how he hoped to be reunited with him back in country New South Wales.  Nathan did not ask for money - maybe he just yearned for some caring.

Euan at Myers was enthusiastic and helpful - he manned the Rhodes and Beckitt section handling Boston Brothers shirts. Hailing from Brittany, he articulated in a captivating manner of spoken English that added positively to the shopping experience.  Whilst watching Wicked the musical, the fellow audience members to my right were a couple from Margaret River in Western Australia, having flown in five hours by air to spend some days in Sydney.

The Hindu calendar had declared a rare auspicious day on May 16, 2010, a day suitable for doing anything significant in the journey of life. I came to know of this important day while listening to Radio National  driving form Wollongong to Sydney. Marriages and other contracts were locked in, especially in theUnited Kingdom and the Indian sub-continent, to savour the good luck and vibes of this special day. I even bought some miniature sucker catfish and golden snails to grace my small aquarium tank.  Whilst I appreciated the cosmic significance of events like this, I also realised that it is fun - and important - that we make the effort to do something special each day. Time we have is the most important luxury each of us possess, and something special can be small - like being grateful for what we have - or bigger - like interacting with individuals, friends or strangers, who can teach us a thing or two.

Wollongong Fare

Aussie lamb cutlets with rocket and ricotta salad - appetising.

Ceaser Salad - always easy and balanced.

Fettucine with one of the may variations of sauce and garnishings, a staple in a town influenced by Italian traditions.

Angel hair pasta, this one with bits of blue swimmer crab and barramundi, a reflection of the harvest of the Illawarra coast and beyond.

Wollongong in Winter

Just outside a bay window.

View on the first morning of June.

Blooms from succulent despite a wet and windy week.

Breakfast fare from Lee & Me Cafe, Crown Street in the CBD - mushrooms and tomatoes to balance with the bacon and the omelettes.

The owners still cannot decide on a name.

Settling in with a cosy sofa and reading, where's the cuppa?

Contentment

When does a viewing of an episode of the US television series Ugly Betty and the Rick Stein sojourn through Asia, Far Eastern Odyssey, become especially relaxing? It is the evening in early June after a hiatus from the Reserve Bank Australia in edging up the interbank rate after four months, a welcome relief as the Bank seemed to be utilising the rate as apparently the only tool to affect monetary policy for the nation. The dishwasher was running a cycle, also especially appreciated as it was not properly working not too long ago. I realised having  arrived at such simple but not to be taken for granted pleasures, which offer personal happiness beyond expectations and which one need not contrive for - the positive feelings just emerged, as unplanned as pottering in a garage on a rainy weekend afternoon or from strolling amongst well placed displays in a shop with no obligation to get or buy anything.  Sensations which increasingly we do not get at work, if we join a bad employee environment.

One evening, a feeling of contentment also beamed down from a full golden moon smiling over my bedroom window and the outer courtyard. It was 28 May,  the fifteenth night of the fifth lunar month, an anniversary held dear by Buddhists all over the world to commemorate the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha in northern India so many years ago.  Cold was the night  air but warm was my heart, even if a coolish spell marked the close of autumn in the southern hemisphere. The moon light showed the path to greater heights, I reckoned, and the possibility of hopeful sights. Good vibes have arrived as the distracting evils, from some people who blatantly stirred up trouble, subsided.

We may be instinctively dissatisfied with routine chores, but in the end, they provide a purpose, rhythm and structure.  Whether they be gardening, cleaning the shower tiles, vacuuming, adjusting the solar powered garden lights, doing the laundry, getting the essential groceries or collecting the mail, such tasks may provide little achievements by themselves but remind us that we are at least in step with the on-going requirements of daily life, in making our abode cleansed and orderly.

People who do not matter may distract and challenge us on the wayside, but what they do are so dubious and obviously not on our side. Such acts committed by them dissolve easily in impact on us, when compared to the solid little things we continually achieve in making the world a better place, by sharing big things, by communicating important things, by appreciating what others take for granted, by exercising some measure of sacrifice at times and by letting go of rather small matters in the long run.  Negative individuals may think they are so clever in scheming acts and verbalising words to try to hurt us, but we let them sink and wallow in their own little worlds of delusion, narrow hearts and falsity.

Happiness may seem elusive, but it does emerge when we least expect it. Therein may lie the secret to achieving contentment, and from contentment, back to that subtle feeling of happiness. Let it be, let others be themselves, and we also observe ourselves from afar - as to how content we can naturally be, without expecting or working too hard about it.