Love of life - my Story: 2014

THE FOOD OF LOVE

Love of Life - A Miraculous Story

FOOD & SERVICE IN AUSTRALIA? aUSTRALIA FOOD.

Chapter 59 - The food of love; coming cook book

Food & service in Australia? Forget it, mate!

What about Australian food? The food in restaurants here is what you would expect from a former British penal colony. The problem is that many dishes are served with the main dish (fish or steak), at the bottom of a pile. The pile consists of the main dish (say steak), with chips on the meat, then gravy on the chips! This pile is the style here - who can make sense of this kind of preparation? So the chips are always soggy.

Even if not doused in gravy, in any case, they can’t cook chips here; they always have an anemic white color and are not crispy. We went to Moo Moo, the most famous steak house in Broadbeach (just under Broadbeach on the Park). We each ordered steak medium, with chips and salad. The steak was rare – we sent it back twice. By now the chips were soggy. The salad, when closely examined, contained some rotten salad leaves. The main courses were $35 each. When I asked for some chili, they charged $5 extra. We did not return. Luckily their business is not so good anymore because of all the competition from Oracle Blvd – see below.

Australians have no idea about cooking good food or service - newspapers are full of complaints about service. Some restaurants in Broadbeach are OK, but then the tables (like at Georges and Valintinos) are too close together, you become part of the noisy-neighbors’ conversation; there is always too-loud background music. Often there are unruly kids running around; sometimes there are dogs tied up to diners’ tables (outside), drooling horribly, while waiting for some tidbits (forcing one to eat inside the noisy restaurant).

Most food here in my experience is tasteless, and unhealthy. Long-haired, grubby-looking cooks loiter outside (when not too busy), smoking.

My next book - THE FOOD OF LOVE

My memoir would not be complete without a pleasurable mention of food, also to advise readers of my coming book, “The Food of Love”.

Doctor says I’m an international chef - not only can I cook great dishes, but I also love cooking. Food cooked with love has the best taste. Therefore one of my next books will be a combination of a cook book (with all my own recipes), with sections on healthy living and eating. It will highlight that Asian food (East) is healthier than Western food. East beats West for health and longevity!

Just look at me! - who can guess my age? I have not changed much in 20 years. My secret? - healthy living and eating.

I’m fussy about the foods I eat. I like some Chinese, Indian, French and Italian dishes. English? - only fish & chips. Maybe some German, but no Spanish. I love to eat Thai food, my favorite after Cambodian. I did not like Indonesian, and hated Philippine food - couldn’t even swallow it.

When it comes to Russian or East European food - Ugh! All fat and potatoes - you won’t live long on a diet like this. I don’t like Arab food; southern European and Mediterranean food can be tasty. I was getting hungry, typing about all this food. Quick, to the kitchen - start cooking: see some of my tasty dishes on display at the end of this chapter.

Anyway, doctor and I both love good food - I suppose most people do. But maybe for many of those in the West, what they really love is the liquor the food gives them an excuse to drink. A lot more about this in my coming book.

Food, not music, is the "food of love" and passion.

A major improvement has been the new restaurants in the Oracle Blvd, underneath the Oracle tower we live in, right in the heart of Broadbeach. The Blvd has Chinese, Lebanese, Cuban, German, pizza, Mexican, French, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese restaurants. The food looks very good, we walk past but don’t eat there. Doctor has tried the Mexican, thinks it is very good, but then, he can eat almost anything. He says he is not a “feinschmecker” (gourmet) like me.

Dirty cooks, kitchens and worms

Besides, why eat out and take the chance that the food is not good, and not hygienically prepared, with the risk that one can get very sick? Who knows how clean the kitchen is? The Chinese Restaurant in Broadbeach Mall used to have good yum cha. Once, when I had to go to the bathroom, I had to walk past an open door to the kitchen. It was filthy, the chefs did not wear caps, and one was standing outside the door, ogling me while smoking a cigarette. Ugh. We stopped eating there, and relocated to the “Aussie Chinese Kitchen” under Meriton.Is the salad properly washed? A few years ago we ate at a local Thai restaurant. Doctor ordered stir-fried minced chicken with basil and snake beans. As he was getting into it, he saw at the bottom of the bowl a large white worm (size of a mature silk-worm), happily munching a basil leaf. We complained, the cooks came, marveled at the sight, had a big discussion, and then walked away. We got our money back, but never ate there again.
More horror storiesAt another Asian restaurant in “Q Centre” nearby, in mid 2013, I cut my mouth because small pieces of glass were in the rice-noodle soup. In early 2014, at a Yum-Cha restaurant in Surfers Paradise (owned by Chinese), they served a soup with vegetables, and I found small worms in it. Ugh.Recently, at the Asian Foodcourt in Australia Fair (north of Surfers), in the Vietnamese restaurant section, my rice-noodle dish was oily and dirty. Then I saw why: used dishes are put in a pile, and these (unwashed) dishes used again to dish up food for the next customer. So because they are busy at lunchtime, who cares about hygiene? God help anyone who goes into their kitchen – you will probably slip on the oily floor, and fall face-down, killing hungry cockroaches!Eat out? A death wish?In my opinion, people who eat out regularly have a death wish. We have given up eating out. You can see why. So should you. Buy my coming cookbook, and eat at home.

Doctor says thank God I’m an international chef, because not only do I look tasty myself, I also can cook great dishes. Food cooked with love, spirit and harmony has the best taste. We eat the best food all the time, thanks to this soon-to-be-famous international chef!

See my website, blog: “The Food of Love”.

Here is my website: http://www.thefoodoflove.asia/