This perspective never occurred to me before, but there're some meals in life that really will hold more meaning than what they appear to be.
At one time this bowl of Lu Rou Fan and Deep Fried Pork Chop from Fong Sheng Hao were simply what they are- a bowl of Lu Rou Fan and a plate of Deep Fried Pork Chop.
But in recent months they've become more than just an ordinary meal to me.
Where instead of being just a bowl of rice, they're now a symbol of who I (really) am, what I have (now) become, and a continuous reminder to never go back to what and where I've already left.
Perhaps there will come a day where I'll be able to see these meals for what they are, without emotion, but right now there's just so much comfort in this one bowl (whenever I have it) which I don't know how to put into words, and which I cannot describe.
Never in my life did I think that I'd feel so much for a couple pieces of carefully chopped fatty meat.
Never in my life did I think that I'd crave so much for the gravy over the fluffy steamed rice, or even the suan cai that come along with it.
At another time I might have wondered what the appeal of these finely chopped vegetables were, but these days I find myself eagerly reaching out for them- and the pickled cucumbers- with my chopsticks the moment the bowl arrives.
They cleanse my palate.
They whet my appetite.
And they sharpen my tongue enough that I can relish the meat, the fluffy soft rice, and the stewed hard boiled egg happily.
Am I going to say the same for the pork chop as well?
Absolutely.
It's big.
It's got a size more than enough for one, just right for two.
At one time I didn't think I would learn to appreciate the chonky chunky meat so much, but now I do.
I fancy the chew of the meat.
I fancy the way they've salted it and marinated it (salt and pepper, I think?) and fried it to the crisp.
But it's the skin that I want most.
And so much do I want it that I will get really, really sad when a big chunk of the deep fried crispy skin gets accidentally swiped out of the plate and falls to the floor.