My Food Diary March 2014

My Food Diary March 2014: Superdish's Chilli Fish Balls (photo 1); Vinh Phat's Yum Cha (photo 2,3,4); V-Lounge's Chocolate Fried Ice cream (photo 5); Drover's Cafe Pancakes and Farmer's Breakfast (photo 6 and 7); Alrose Garden's Rice Cake Hot Pot (photo 8)

When you strip back all the dramas that circulates my life today, I find that when I think of happiness now, I think of those special moments that were created around good food, friends and family. Back to the simple pleasures in life.

For example, my go-to hangover remedy is to head down to Cabramatta to eat yum-cha at Vinh Phat. It feels familiar and all my friends are at ease despise our pounding headaches. It always felt like our circle of friends were real family for just a couple of hours and we have a good laugh. We always challenged each other to eat the last dumpling besides our very full stomachs.
And everyone wants to feel like part of a family - three years ago I worked with a couple of Korean exchange students who were missing home after being in Sydney for a few months. So when we visited Strathfield ('Little Korea' according to my friends) they took me to Alrose Garden Cafe, where they cooked dishes my friends felt were most authentic to Korean food back home. They just wanted to eat something that reminded them of home cooked meals with their families. We ate a special Korean spicy hotpot, with rice cakes, boiled eggs and ramen and it is now my favourite Korean dish.

Heading out to restaurants to eat out allows the freedom to catch up with old friends and family, and sharing the excitement when you try something new. But I find at home, when you watch your parents cut the vegetables and prepare the spices, those are special moments. I don't mind rinsing and cooking the rice so my family can eat it. Even sitting separately yet in the same room facing the TV eating dinner still makes my heart whole. And then clearing the dishes and washing them, I don't mind that either. As long as I get to be with my family. It is often overlooked and sometimes mundane but family should be cherished. It is after all, a simple pleasure in life but one that  stays with you forever.