Carrick Hill

Ubiquitous accompaniments : bean sprouts, basil and nuoc mam

How many times have you lamented, “Why is it that if it tastes good, it’s gotta be evil?” I do that all the time. It either gives you pimples (well, in younger days it did ok ) or it makes you fat.

Well, somehow the Vietnamese got it just right. Absolutely delicious, yet light and healthy. Unlike Chinese who almost never eat fresh salad, a bowl of Vietnamese noodles always comes with a large, healthy portion of salad, notably fresh bean sprouts which accompany almost everything.

After eating spring rolls the Vietnamese way, we have never looked back since. Try wrapping spring rolls with fresh lettuce, a sprig of mint, a slice of fresh cucumber and dip into a small bowl of nuoc mam sauce, and you too will be hooked once and for all. Nuoc mam is just a mixture of water, fish sauce, garlic, sugar, lime juice and fresh chilli. Spring rolls eaten this way is much healthier than the Chinese way, and immeasurably more delicious.

I had Banh Thit Nuong for lunch today at our favourite Vietnamese eatery Yen Linh. This is a popular Vietnamese noodle of rice vermicelli which is served atop a liberal serving of fresh bean sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, mint and topped with that most delectable of Vietnamese cuisine, chargrilled lemon grass beef.

Banh Thit Nuong

I am willing to wager they don’t do it any better than this, not even in Hanoi

Rydges Carlton, Melbourne

We were talking about toilet habits. Know that this was in 1982, a time in Malaysia where bidets and toilet hoses were not common. Susanna, my vivacious Chinese friend was appalled to learn that none of her peers in our close knit group lived up to her own standards of hygiene by washing their behinds after a stint, big or small, in the toilet.

YUCKS !!! Soooooooooooo dirtyyyyy….. !!!

She exclaimed, revulsion written into every offended facial line scrunched up in outright disgust.

Carlton Crest, Sydney

Doubtless, trends have changed since then. Every new home in Malaysia now comes with a hose, for personal hygiene usage, next to every toilet bowl. Malaysians must surely deserve the world record for the world’s freshest smelling back end

Human beings are such creatures of habit. We get so used to doing this our way that we cringe at the thought of doing it other people’s way. And this thought was what amused me when I thought about the idiosyncrasies and contradictions of culture.

Let’s not talk about the Japanese. Hygiene has been hard coded into their genetic lineage since their early Samurai days.

Asian cities and villages are in the main, a disgrace. Dirty and unkempt, with uncovered monsoon drains, open air garbage dumps and disgusting perpetually wet public toilets, one would think that Asians are a people with unhygienic habits.

Yet, in more ways than one, Asians are fastidiously clean and meticulous in a way that could only be incomprehensible to others. Another obvious example is their universal insistence on keeping separate, (dirty) shoes to be worn outside the home and (clean) slippers that may be worn inside. A source of cultural confusion and another exotic habit incomprehensible to the Westerner

You know the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank adverts in the National Geographic mag ? Don’t you just love them? But of course, they stick to subject mattersmore socially acceptable than toilet habits haha

The throne in my castle

My sister was miffed when my Tai Gu, Dad’s eldest sister made the following comments on my 3 month old nephew, Daniel.

Soh soh geh. Mm hiao gan yin geh. Mat gai yin du oi eh.

Translated, that means, “Silly baby. Cannot discern strange faces from familiar ones. Likes everyone, stranger or family alike.”

Though socially inappropirate, that remark is an apt reflection of how shy and introverted Asian babies (and children) are, in general. My kids, though born and bred in Australia, are no different.

Caucasian children are amazingly social.

Their babies smile, coo and gurgle happily to strange but friendly faces and no one would even bat an eyelid.
In Australia, I have on several occasions have had little children, whom I’ve met only for the first time, take me by the hand and lead me to their rooms so they could proudly show off their treasures to me. Totally spontaneous and unprompted.

Tonight, at dinner in Cafe Primo, I was reminded of this when suddenly a little head popped up next to me while we were seated and dining. I looked down and saw this little imp with cheeky, twinkling eyes and a big friendly grin. I said hi. He stretched out his hand and pointed his little finger at Christopher and said,

I know this boy. He goes to my school. (Then he pointed at Alexander) I know this boy too. He also goes to my school. I have seen him three times and (looking at Christopher) I have seen him once.

We smiled at each other, highly amused. Then I introduced the family to him and he talked a bit about himself. He is from the Family Unit’s Reception level at Rose Park Primary. That means he must be about 5 years old.

Whereabouts on the chromosomes is this social gene, so prevalent in the Caucasian gene pool?