How I learned the words “COMMINUTED” and “ASSEVERATED” after the seduction of two grey-haired Vietnamese ladies who hardly speak English

It was getting late, around 9 pm, and I still had to drive back an hour north to my hotel in Santa Rosa.   None of the Italian restaurants in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood was appealing – most of them were packed or beyond my price range.  North Beach is no longer a beach but was one eons ago.  The shoreline was turned into a landfill around the late 19th century.  

After a full day of revisiting places in the Bay I used to stroll around when I was a resident, I was starving and in quest of a satisfactory affordable dinner.  Passing by Vietnam Cafe I glimpsed two grey-haired ladies inside in an open kitchen fringed by a dining counter.  In all my travels, 99% of the time, any joint run by women of considerable maturity usually mean years of perfecting their craft.  I was seduced and so I walked in.  

Comely in a grandmotherly way, the ladies were busy prepping the orders of two parties, a group of four men in their 20s, and a couple.   I sat at the counter and saw the cooking area cluttered.  Wanting to wash my hands, the restroom door was blocked by a big heavy duty 75 liter garbage bin.  I was getting apprehensive.  But if the other customers, who looked local, were not bothered, perhaps I was being overly hygienic.

After leafing through the plastic-encased menu, I saw a noodle dish being served to one of the men.  He said it was a favorite.   I promptly ordered the same thing.  It was a good pho, not outstanding, but satisfying.

Little did I know that five years earlier in 2008 the place was cited a number of  violations by the city including  Improper Hot/Cold holding temperatures.  The SF city regulations asseverated:

“003 Cooking - Comminuted meat, or any food containing comminuted meat, shall be heated to 157F or 155F for 15 seconds. Eggs, and foods containing raw eggs, shall be heated to 145F. Pork shall be heated to or 145F. Poultry, comminuted poultry, stuffed fish, and stuffed meat/poultry shall be heated to 165F (113996)”

See http://www.city-data.com/sf-restaurants/VIETNAM.html

Pray tell me what are “asseverated” and “comminuted”?

According to dictionary.com, asseverated means to affirm positively.  From  Latin assevērātus spoken in earnest.

The adjective “com·mi·nuted” means divided into small parts. From Latin  com- "together" + minuere "to make smaller," the root of “minus”. 

Other violations then:

• 019 Shell Eggs - Maintain raw shall eggs at or below 45F (113995, 113997)
• 049 Living/Sleeping Quarters - No sleeping accommodations shall be in any room where food is prepared, stored or sold. (114175)
• 054 Wiping Rags - Not Clean/Inadequate Sanitizer/Turbid/Storage Wiping rags used to wipe service counters, scales or other surfaces that may come into contact with food shall be used only once unless kept in clean water with sanitizer (114160)
• 056 Thermometer - Refrigeration/Probe An accurate easily readable metal probe thermometer suitable for measuring temperature of food shall be available to the food handler. A thermometer +/ 2F shall be provided for each refrigeration unit and shall be located in the warmest part of the unit. (113995)
• 057 Deterioration/Unapproved Materials/Facility Not Fully Enclosed - The walls/ceilings shall have durable, smooth, nonabsorbent, light colored, and washable surfaces. All floor surfaces, other than the customer service areas, shall be approved, smooth, durable and made of nonabsorbent material that is easily cleaned. Approved base coving shall be provided in all areas, except customer service areas and where food is stored in original unopened containers. Establishment shall be fully enclosed. All food facilities shall be kept clean and in good repair. (114050, 114145, 114150, 114155)

           

Rest assure the violation has since then been “abated” as the city would term or in my lingo “addressed”.   Fortunately I did not get sick from having the pho.

In online writing, like this blog, I can asseverate that comminuted essays are more reader friendly.  Would you agree?

Hotel Pilferage Deterrent

On my way south to the giant Redwoods – the last place where you can find a room to stay and dine on affordable food is in the town of Fortuna, California. 

 

Fortuna is just that – a place to pass through.   Somewhat decent was the Chinese/Japanese eat-all-you-can at Oriental Buffet.

However a real kicker was staying at the Comfort Inn, 1583 Riverwalk Drive.   It was the only place I can get a room for under $70 a night for one person.   

But what surprised me was the hard plastic note greeting me in the bathroom.

Now this should deter hotel pilferage.

The Golden Boy Pharaoh: Tutankhamun

Short of flying to Egypt, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to know what it must have been like to discover a pharaoh’s tomb is just three hours away from Vancouver. 

  

Chili Mayo Sauce

I recently went for “dinner” at Wild Rice restaurant in Vancouver’s downtown Chinatown.  Dinner in quotation marks because most of the menu at Wild Rice downtown (there’s another one in New Westminster) are snack size even though they are referred to as Plates (euphemism for entrees).

I ordered their:

char siu bao $10
house made bbq pork buns, chili mayo

Two pieces of what looks like a 2 inch hockey puck shaped flaky dough with pulled pork inside.  It was good.

But the surprising star was the sauce, the Chili Mayo sauce.

Suriname and Its Cuisine

My lovely cook in Suriname - she is actually from Guyana and speaks perfect English

Suriname as a land of immigrants reflects a cuisine that is both fusion and distinctly ethnic.  There are Roti shops (Hindustani eateries), warungs (Indonesian restaurants), a profusion of Chinese take-outs, Dutch pancake cafes and in the market stalls, specialized Creole (African) dishes.   Though the official language is Dutch, most people speak enough English to make eating less surprising.  I have decided to include either English or local terminology for your reference when you undertake your own gastronomic adventure.

The most famous and appealing to non-Surinamese is the Javanese Saoto Soup.  Saoto is a shredded chicken soup with white vermicelli, bean sprouts and topped with boiled eggs (an option in most warungs).  It must be always served hot and a scarlet sambal relish (Cayenne pepper) comes along in case you want it hotter!  The soup’s distinct taste emanates from the use of the local dry daun salam leaves and fresh laos (galanga).  Outside Suriname you can substitute lemon grass and ginger.  Sometimes rice is served which you can mix with the soup to make it a more filling meal.

Unlike the varied menu of Indian restaurants in North America or Europe, Indian shops in Suriname focuses on serving the Roti.  A flat bread that is fried in butter, Roti is used as a staple and a manual scoop for the main entrée, curried chicken or potato masala (alu tarkari).  There are a few places that offer Roti duck, Roti lamb or Roti shrimp instead of the ubiquitous Roti Kip (chicken).  Chopped kouseband or string beans (also known as asparagus bean or snake bean) are a common side vegetable dish.  A washbasin is a must for both pre-and post-Roti meals. 

Suriname has perfected the Roti

During Christmas, New Year and almost every special event, you won’t see roast beef, ham or turkey on the table.  The piece-de-resistance is the Pom, an Afro-Surinamese cuisine.  A friend actually showed me how to make the time-consuming Pom which is a chicken casserole in a yellowish puree of the tayer root.   The puree, sold as Pom in the freezer section, can be bought in any local grocery.

Tayer Root Puree

Last May, I had the wonderful opportunity to go camping with my friend’s family in one of Suriname’s most beautiful locales, Blakawatra (named after a cola-colored but clean stream).  For dinner, her mother made a mixed rice Chinese concoction, Moksie Alesie, and I was bowled over by the combination of steamed rice, green peas and chicken.  The green peas gave the dish a wonderful novelty and texture that blended well with the softness of the rice and added a tad zest to the meat.  No green peas?  You can substitute white, yellow-split or Lima beans.   

Unfortunately, Pom and Moksie Alesie are rarely offered in restaurants and can only be savored in a Surinamese home.

To douse the meal, how about a Dawet, a most unusual drink in color and taste.  Either purple or green, sometimes pink, Dawet is a mixture of coconut milk, water, sugar, agar agar, cola essence or lemon grass and food coloring.  

For dessert, Bakkabana, deep-fried banana plantains covered with an egg-flour-spice batter, are best when crunchy and hot. 

What Makes a Cuisine Surinamese?

Across ethnic lines, Surinamese food does taste distinctly Surinamese.  What makes the flavor so different?  My investigation led me to three major kitchen items:

• First, Surinamese would often use chicken or vegetable bouillons instead of salt as a seasoning.  I saw a cook put two cubes with diced onion and dried shrimp in a frying pan, prior to mixing it with mashed potatos, mayonnaise and condensed milk!  One of the best potato salads I ever had.

• When ordering Surinamese food, you will most likely spot Madame Janet.   Madame is not a she but an it – a very hot yellow pepper that is often used whole for flavoring.  Just plucked out the bulbous yellow pepper and the dish will retain its flavors without getting your tongue on fire.

Nasi Rames

• Soya or sunflower oil is the most common cooking medium.

  

  My Guyanese cook prepared this lunch of

Next Time

Though I have talked about some of the most popular Surinamese fares, I have not expounded on other favorites such as Pinda Soep (peanut soup with plantain dumplings), Bami (Indonesian noodles), Nasi Goring (Javanese fried rice with sliced omelet), the native Indian Cassava Bread (with non-poisonous extracts from a poisonous cassava plant) and Bojo (coconut rice flat cake), not to mention seafood!

Please e-mail me if you have any questions or comments.

A WEEKEND IN NIEUW NICKERIE

I suspected there was something unusual about Nieuw Nickerie.  Most Surinamese friends of mine did not want to go to Nieuw Nickerie.  They said there was nothing to do there.  I wondered why and set out on my first trip, alone.

Friday

About 240 km from Paramaribo, my adventure started at the Nickerie-bound mini-bus depot at Dr. Sophie Redmondstraat.  It was almost 9 a.m. and after paying the 13.10 Suriname Dollar (SRD) one-way fare, the bus began its journey through Kwattaweg in an almost direct westerly route towards Guyana.

Once we passed Paramaribo’s outerskirts, we entered a tropical forest, hopping over wide rivers including the impressive Coppename River - broad, picturesque and thick with red-green mangroves along its banks.  It took us quite a while to cross the river.  At the other side we stopped for snacks at the very Dutch town of Totness.  A slice of a heavy cassava cake called Bojo satisfied my hunger after being on the mini-bus for two hours.  Soon the tropical jungle cleared and we were surrounded by rice fields.  By then I knew we were in the district of Nickerie.  It will be another two hours later when we would finally reached Nieuw Nickerie’s city center.

Nickerie comes from a local Indian word for the oily awara nut.  Nieuw, new in Dutch, is in reference to the fact that Nickerie has been running away from the sea.  Its first two locations were claimed by the Caribbean Sea.  An 8 kilometer sea wall since the 1940s have protected the “newest” location.

Hardly a city in appearance, and more like a town, the tallest structures never go higher than the Royal Palm trees lining its main boulevard.  Unlike Paramaribo, Nickerie is divided into square blocks and neat – which makes walking less stressful.

The bus let me off at a local hostel.  As I sauntered into the yard, I heard the voice of Mafrau Fraser on the phone,  who informed me the night before of room available for 35 SRD a night.  My room was pleasantly cool with wooden floors and a window overlooking a creek and star apple trees.  Right there and then I knew I would enjoy staying in the quiet, clean and simple hostel.

With my legs itching to walk for discovery, off I went the minute I set my bags on the floor and finished the usual payment pleasantries.

The Brasaplein town park was crowded and filled with stalls.  The locals were celebrating the 30^th Year of Suriname’s Independence.  At the stage in front of the Commissariaat, Javanese women in their sixties were wiggling their waists, Hindustanis chanting and singing, and Chinese teens mimicking the movement of a bird.  Later there were some impromptu breakdancing by young men who were “drunke, drunke” according to Wilma Gadun, a Creole and a local nurse kind enough to translate the proceedings from Dutch to English.  The program showcased Suriname’s multicultural society. 

At dusk, I lolled around Nieuw Nickerie’s dramatic West and Oost Kanaalstraats divided by a 15 feet-wide lily canal lined with tall Royal Palm trees.  At one end was the park and market.  At the other end were more bazaars and shops including a number of Roti restaurants and Javanese warungs.  Soon I headed home to avoid the district’s famed mosquito and sandfly population.

 

Saturday

It was market day.  At the parking lot, I had a superb Hindustani meal - roti kip (chicken and Indian flat bread) at 4 SRD.  Vendors were selling meat and fish items I have not seen in Paramaribo’s much larger Centraal market.  Mafrau Fraser advised that I buy some fresh snapper for lunch.  She braised the fish and it was wonderful.   

The midday sun was just too hot and my cool room was very inviting for an afternoon nap.  Mafrau Fraser asked whether I would like to bike with her later that day.  Of course.

At 4 pm, it looked like it was going to rain but as we biked outside the gates, we saw the sun peeking out.  It was breezy as well and there were few cars on the road.  We passed the market, now empty, the silent rice mills, and just right before entering the dike road walled in by a ten feet dike - a sloping high green hill, we saw a lovely garden with a tall blossoming plant called Bonanza Rose.

The road upon entering along the dike changed from asphalt to dry hard flat mud.  At the west side - a sloping grassy green slope dike and on the east side is the much smaller Nickerie river profused with ferns and islets of  trees.  It was very lovely and serene, the perfect place to bike at leisure and talk about life, silly and serious. 

At some point, Mafrau Fraser stopped and asked whether I would like to go up the steps of the dike.  In her dignified operatic voice, “Would you like to take a look up the dike?”

We climbed up the 20 steps or so and landed at the top – where there was a pathway stretching along the whole eight kilometers of the dike.  I was stufipied by the vista before me – the grand and magnificent Corantyn River.    The mouth of the Corantyn River which opens to the Caribbean Sea was so wide, about 20 kilometers long. 

What was grassy incline on the road side of the dike turned out to be a bed of rocks on the Corantyn River side.  A flock of goats were hanging out on the rocks giving the whole scene a pastoral ambience.  Across the distance, 13 kilometers away was Guyana.  The panorama made me giddy with delight.

 We walked further down, bought some sodas, sat and enjoyed the spell of a dramatic sunset.

 
Sunday

Buses leave for the capital throughout the morning.  I was sad to leave Nieuw Nickerie.  Back in Paramaribo, I felt like arriving in New York City after spending a week in the Florida Keys.  And I wondered again why my Surinamese friends were not interested in a weekend in Nieuw Nickerie.  I will be going back.

 

 

 

FOCUS GROUPS

If you watch Hollywood movies, then the ending you saw was most likely a result of choices made by a focus group. Originally, focus groups were used within communication studies to explore the effects of film and television. Group processes can help researchers determine and clarify participant views more easily than other research techniques. As a result, this strategy has been adapted far beyond Hollywood for use in many other businesses, including the publishing industry. 

Tita Nilda’s Chicken

It was a summer in Ohio that I learned from my Tita (aunt) Nilda a very simple dish but one that never fails to appease anyone from any nationality at any age who eats chicken.  Hence I call it Tita Nilda’s Chicken.

You just need two ingredients:

MOUNT PARKE - MAYNE ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA

This is the second in my series of travels to the Southern Gulf Islands in British Columbia, Canada

In my quest to reach the peak of every highest point in the Canadian Gulf Islands, I recently went to Mayne Island to conquer Mount Parke, a "staggering" 255 meters above sea level.

Village Bay Terminal, Mayne Island  BC