Food, Glorious Food!

I love food. And there's no two ways about it. The problem is that I have a lousy stomach and have to be careful of what I eat nowadays. I sometimes envy some of my colleagues who just scoff down roti canai's, mamak mee, mutton paratel, char kwey teow, fried potato chips, and guzzle down pints of beer and don't have a problem. I wish them well. It is just my luck.
But I do like to check out new places to eat.
When I was in my early twenties, I had a Chinese friend who would take me to the best Chinese restaurants and some of the most dirty Chinese stalls you can ever imagine. But, he would say, " the dirtier the place the better the food, we Chinese believe this." Anyway, I never argued with him because he was always right. Some of the shanty stalls he took me to served some of the most delicious food I have ever tasted. I remember the one occasion in the early seventies when he took me to a shop near where the Guinness Brewery is today. Then there was a village around there. He had to drive quite a bit into the area before we came to the restaurant. But guess what, there was a whole load of Mercedes Benz's parked in front of the shop. How did they know about this eating place?
" You see," he told me, " the Chinese are like this. They spread the word when they eat good food in a place."
So he took me in. All eyes were on me. A young Indian with a Chinese towkay in a Chinese restaurant meant only for food connoisseurs. I did not bat an eyelid and sat down to a meal of ' Kum Loong Yee', butter prawns, abalone, deer meat and frog legs. Then one day he said to me, " Today you come with me, one table only for ten people." It was at the Hotel Malaya. So I went with him. There seated around the table were some of his business friends. Again, the young Indian sat among the wealthy Chinese businessmen and waited for the dishes to come. It came. The piece de' resistance that day, I was told, was the bear's paw. A bear's paw from a honey bear shot in the Malaysian jungle. It was illegal, but then how could I protest. So I took a bit from the plate, it tasted like stewed beef. No big deal. I thought that the king prawns served that day was any time better. I may be wrong, it could have been my aversion to eating poor honey bears!.
Nowadays I go for simpler food though. I enjoy a nice bowl of fish ball noodles or a good pak cham kai chicken rice. I try to avoid fatty food but you see, these are the things that taste good. So I do indulge sometimes in a good steak or lamb chops or even a good steak and kidney pie.
I happen to be a good cook also. My kids and my wife enjoy my cooking but that has also been far and in between these days.
Must get back to trying some good food soon.