#156: Celebrate a Milestone (with Yum Cha)

Ni hao!

In his tips for writers, Ian Irvine says, “Remember the 10,000-hour rule. That’s roughly how much work and practice it takes to become accomplished in any field, whether it be sporting, creative or professional.”

According to my calculations, I am now halfway there, so I devoted this whole weekend to “Felon’s Five Thousand” (Felon is my new nickname). Writers, artists and sportspeople all have hideously unreliable incomes, so we need to find ways to celebrate progress that don’t come from outside ourselves. And we also need to take videos of our cats (see below). (No reason.)

Yesterday, CJ and I went to Yum Cha at Ginseng in the Hellenic Club in Woden (yes, here in Canberra we name our suburbs after gods and prime ministers. No reason). Yum cha is also called “Dim Sum” but I think the word “yum” sends an accurate message.

I did actually blog about yum cha not long ago, but the post wandered through the aether for several days before it appeared, so I decided to redo it (oh, woe is me) before I realised the post was not actually lost after all. https://shootingthrough.net/2010/04/21/yum-cha/

For a total of $56, CJ and I ate:

Fried won tons (each had a single shrimp wrapped in a won ton sheet tied in a knot)

Radish cakes (I took a bite and almost retched, but CJ liked them)

Steamed pork buns (sheer deliciousness – there’s something about pork that gets on great with yum cha-style bread rolls. Both wonderfully sweet.)

Spring rolls (which featured kamikaze vegetables attempting to escape at every mouthful)

Fried lobster dumplings (with shrimp too – like the best battered fish ever, but with lobster inside)

Chicken buns (the chicken inside was tender and delicious, the bread was exquisite as always – thick and light all at once – and the bready icing was fantastically crumbly and unique)

Later on we took another photo. You can see: some fried shrimp dumplings; one last, doomed, chicken bun; one steamed combination dumpling (I like to call them “mystery” dumplings, despite the fact you can see inside); and a plate of fried spicy chicken wings. *sigh of bloated bliss*

The down side of yum cha is you often can’t easily tell how much you’ve spent until the end. But when you want a SERIOUS feast, there’s nothing better.

It’s usually offered two or three days a week at lunch time.

*resists urge to link two blog sections using a reference to cat meat*

And here, as promised, is the video of ultimate cuteness (the sound you hear is CJ working on the marshmallow cannon from last Sunday). If you like it, tell a friend.