Chinatown

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5907997?__twitter_impression=true

I read the article linked above and processed how I felt. Very sad. As a child, I went to Chinatown every weekend to grocery shop with my mom or grandma, or to hang out at Loong Foong bakery with my dad eating pastries. ( White Sugar Cakes were my fave)  Rain or shine. I’ve ruined many shoes trying to shop with my grandma in the rain, with an umbrella and having people step on my feet because each shop and sidewalk was just so busy. I learned quickly never to wear white runners that I wanted to keep.  We would walk through the stinky alleys as shortcuts to try to avoid the crowds. To save a few minutes, it cost me more shoes and a tolerance to unpleasant odours. 

My mom worked for Koret in Gastown so this area is a big piece of my childhood. As a teen, I hung out with friends eating at Goldstone, buying stationary at Oriental Dragon and taking pictures at Dr. Sun Yat- Sen garden. (the free part, never had the money to go to the official part). I loved shopping in the little boutiques to find edgy and unique clothing (read: black items) to go with my pointy flat shoes.  

The hustle and bustle is gone and it feels like a ghost town. Shells of lost souls wandering around talking to invisible companions. 

I just warned my mom not to go alone yesterday as she is aging and not as aware of her surroundings. I told her to stay close to home and to be careful. We have all read the recent attacks on Asian seniors in the Chinatown of Oakland California which sadly  ended up tragically for one man.  He was someone’s dad, grandfather, uncle, brother and friend.

I visited 2 months ago with my mom after an ultrasound appointment and she wanted to go to the CIBC afterwards. I waited outside the bank while she was queued in a line outside and inside the bank due to covid restrictions. In this span of time outside I felt uneasy, worried and sorrow. Numerous Chinese seniors still shopping and wandering the streets because they live in the  neighborhood and feel more secure  being able to speak Chinese to the remaining shop owners. This is all they know. This is all that’s left. I felt unsafe for them as they shuffled along, some towing little wheeled shopping carts and crossing the streets slowly as if the world will wait for them. Hunched over, and moving with purpose to a specific shop or a doctor’s appointment.  

If my grandma was still alive, she would have taken the bus by herself just to come here and walk in the streets with memories of years past and, perhaps buy some chicken feet to make soup.  

As I walked down Main Street, stopped at Pender and walked back  to Keefer, I looked at every building, pharmacy and herbal shop with a 1985 filter and silently grieved what once was.

Gather

Hello Everyone!

Thanks for stopping by and scrolling through my blog!

I have always said to people closest to me that I have stories inside me to write and share with the world.  I love writing and have MANY story plots in my head. Perhaps I will get going on this soon and release them from my internal drive.  For now, food and mom life sharing are the two topics that are fulfilling and bubbling to the surface.

This profile picture is one of my favourite shots of all time because it captures my then barely 2-year-old son eating a big bowl of fantastic ramen.  The bowl was bigger than his face and he was so happy eating noodles on this September day at Gyoza Bar in Vancouver. This captured food memory is a snapshot in time but engraved in my heart.  This moment with the most important people in my life doing what we love to do….EAT!

This blog is me expanding on my love of food as a friend, as a mom and as a fan. I used to spam my friends, family and co-workers with pictures of my cooking and my food.  For years.  I am sure it gave me more joy than it did for most of my captive audience. (Sorry work people!)  I then jumped into Instagram and entered a world that fit my passion for food.  I hesitantly joined Facebook to connect with family members and to expand onto a more established (*yawn) platform. BUT when IG introduced Reels….WOW!!  It gave me an outlet to cook, create, edit and tell my story with music.  It was a perfect way to showcase my love for food and the songs that play in my head. (Yes, I am an 80’s music nut!)

Back to the food part… I am Chinese Canadian and grew up in a busy household with uncles, aunts, grand parents and a sibling.  The only event we would stop for is to eat dinner.  In Cantonese “Sic Fahn AH!!”  When one hears this in our household, it would be equivalent to a “STOP, DROP & ROLL” fire drill.  You must stop and drop whatever you are doing and get to your seat at the dinner table!  We would gather around the table and share a communal meal of fresh vegetables, RICE, accent meat dish, soup and finish with fresh fruit.   On special occasions, we would gather at a restaurant to enjoy a big symbolic 12 course meal.  Often we would gather for dim sum on the weekends with the elders.  Generally, we did a lot of eating and not a lot of talking.  We did not share or connect about life and certainly not about emotions or feelings! (Very old school Asian!) We grew up not hearing “I love you” but certainly felt it through the food my parents or grandma would purchase and prepare for us.  To this day, when I take my mom grocery shopping, it amuses me to watch her meticulously pick her produce and all her advice she has to share about quality, price and value.  It is heartwarming, slightly annoying but, ultimately, her love language.

The key word to me is gather.  Being together to feast or for a simple meal is important to me and truly is an act of love.  Especially after being apart during the last 12+ months due to a global pandemic.  That was hard on everyone and to the food industry.  For now, we are slowly gathering and supporting the industry with caution.

So let us gather here, bring the old school, and evolve it to a new school of food with family and friends in a loving home environment or an energetic food place.

Sign the virtual guest book by leaving a comment below! 

For now, know that I am thinking about my next dish, my next meal or my next restaurant stop.

Angela