There actually aren't that many pictures of the recent meals we have had at Thumbs Up's Mainland Chinese food place downstairs.
But I am not someone who goes through a season where I don't write about the foods that I have had, and like.
So here goes.
Summer season of this year saw us have a lot of a dish featuring beef slices, black beans and vegetables over rice topped with a fried egg.
This time, however, we decided to go for the dishes that speak close to us, dishes which we had missed.
My friend had a crave for Guo Bao Rou- a Northeastern dish of thinly sliced pork tenderloin battered in potato starch, fried till crispy, then served over a pool of bright, shiny, very sweet sauce.
I, on the other hand, missed the zero-spice kiddy version of La Zi Ji where, instead of numbing mala chilis scattered all over the plate, the fried chicken chunks were served coated with Salted Egg powder.
This version is an under-12 dish, I know, but I love it.
I love how all the chunks are chopped up so well, how each piece is so evenly covered with the salted egg powder, and how it all comes together to make it so fun and snacky.
I don't care if people find it childish or unexciting.
I don't care if people find that the dish gives no kick.
I love the slightly salty, slightly sweet taste of the salted egg, I love how easy it is to pop it into the mouth and chew, and in actual fact, I don't need rice to go along with it- although I usually do.
The other dish that both of us favor here at Thumbs Up is the Guo Bao Rou.
Not only is it a dish my friend misses, it is also a dish that speaks to me.
Although somewhat differently.
My friend likes the crisp crunch of the thick potato starch batter over each piece and the chew of the pork.
Me, on the other hand, I like the shiny sauce that comes in a bright, but faint orange color.
By the way, the sauce is exceptionally sweet, I tell you, so much so that first-time diners could easily get confused if this plate here were a dessert or a main.
You know what's interesting?
I am a Cantonese familiar with sugary sweet sauces accompanying my meats- we're talking sweet and sour pork, sweet and sour fish, and Cantonese-style Peking Duck wrapped in thin crepes dipped in sweet plum sauce- but even I found this sauce very, very sweet.
But I don't mind.
On the contrary, I anticipate it.
Ordering this dish means I am down for cheerful dining.
It means I will have an enjoyable mealtime where I know I will get a bit of carefully tenderized pork together with the bouncy, crispy chew of the batter.
It is a dish I look forward to even as I anticipate the skewers that my friend always orders together along with the main.
There will come a day, I think, where I will want to go ballistic- order ten of these things, maybe some of vegetables as well, and just work through skewer after skewer with cans of Coke alongside me.
Don't laugh at these seemingly tiny chunks of meat.
They are impossibly hard to resist.
This batch here had what I think was lamb, chicken skin, and one of quail eggs, specially ordered for me as one of my favorite foods.
All of them were marinated the same.
With what, I honestly don't know, but there appear to be cumin seeds, salt, dried red pepper flakes, black pepper and sesame seeds.
I always manage to taste the red pepper.
I also always manage to taste the sesame seeds and the black pepper.
What I am interested to find out is how they manage to make them so perfectly grilled and so perfectly marinated that you can literally see all the spice on the top of the meat.
Best part, none of them are oily.
And they're incredibly fun to eat.