Serendipity

Bumped into a friend on the waterfront yesterday evening who couldn't contain himself. He had recently won HK$80,000+ betting a rollover with handsome odds on a couple of World Cup matches.

To celebrate his good fortune: We must go to dinner. So to dinner we went. At one of the restaurants on the waterfront of a little island in the South China Sea.

He chose. There was steamed fish with blackbean sauce and sprigs of coriander. Prior to cooking, the waiter showed the fish to us to confirm that it was fresh. Since the finned thing was flapping around we confirmed. What else? There was a dish of stir-fried squid in shrimp sauce with a vegetable that looks a bit like celery but tastes totally different. Plus, a dish of scrambled egg and shrimp. And, yes, there was more: abalone with ducks' web feet. My host was convinced the abalone was tinned, so he wasn't happy about that. We managed to eat most everything, what little remained he bagged for his dogs.

So ended an unexpected evening.

Hah! Just got a text message. Barb (Brighton) has arrived. Meet @ Windsurfer Cafe. No, change of plan: make that Beach Bar, Kwun Yam beach, 5:30pm.