Here is an excellent way to practise and learn more Cantonese: Going to the market with your very own Happy Jellyfish People’s Democratic Language Bureau. This is how it works: First we sit down with some nourishing hot drink and go through the Cantonese words for the things you’re buying that day. (There’s no need to learn the dictionary by heart; concentrate on the stuff you like and eat regularly.)
Then, armed with a trolley, the Cantonese course material and some cash, we dive into the nearest market, in this case Yat “Tung” market near “Tung” Chung.
With your faithful tutor standing casually by (close but not too close) you proceed to buy the meat and vegetables you need for, as in this brave victim’s case, a barbecue for 16 the same night. Stage whispers and gentle stabbings with “Phoenix claws” (chicken wings) steer you effortlessly through the waters of catties (a Chinese measure), pounds, packets, bunches and bags of stuff.
Success! Two catties of pork bones are in the bag, so to speak!
Do a crash course in market shopping this Chinese New Year; eat yourself silly the same night. The products are fresher and prices much lower than in the supermarket.
You can also take a course in Sichuan cooking, followed by a lovely meal and beer.
逸東街市 – Yat Dong Gai Si (Yat “Tung” Market)
斤 – Gan -（Catty, about 1 lb.)
磅 Bong – (Pound)
過年 – Goh lin (Chinese New Year)
I want to post some old Cantonese The Movie movies here again as I think they’re being criminally overlooked by the public. Criminally. I want this one to go viral with more than 50 viewers!
I remember this with particular fondness as my friend Cecilie Maske was visiting Hong Kong and helped me film this thing. Happy times.
Ahhrghhh! I normally love making and editing films but this one from Hainan Island is dragging. Is it because I made it a long time ago and it’s no longer fresh? Or is it because →
Before Cantonese, a little sad and wistful Woo-hoo! It’s moving forward so fast. Got a great little group together for Radio Lantau’s Cantonese course CantoNews! Making podcasts from all over this wondrous island, we’re going →
This morning, as most mornings, I went to the beach with my trusty dogs Koldbrann and Lasi. It was raining vigorously, a phenomenon not uncommon in Hong Kong and southern China. Rain is water, water →
Wei wei wei, do you remember Naked Cantonese on RTHK? I do. Oh, happy times with ah-Sa! The laughter, the tears! We travelled to public toilets and other wonderful places; one one weird occasion we →
Last night I cooked for eight people, Sichuan food naturally. Now I’ve got the mother of all washings-up to grapple with. Cooking for eight people is three days’ work altogether and the dish-washing is pretty →
Sometimes I’m tempted to give up the whole Cantonese thing. I mean, what’s the point? The Mando behemoth is going to roll Hong Kong and the Cantonese-speaking world into the ground and pour concrete on →
I must have mentioned once or twice that I cook Sichuan food which I serve on my, I have to say, beautiful roof terrace overlooking the South China Sea? It’s just that recently I’ve been →
This never happens: A former senior town planner with the Hong Kong government has suggested getting rid of a Hong Kong icon! So novel; where do they get these ideas from? This time it’s the →
Chillies, chopsticks, even cha are they only Chinese things, meant for Chinese people? I’ve had this conversation hundreds of times in the mainland and in Hong Kong, but I somehow didn’t expect to have it →
四會 (Sei Wui – Four Congregations, small but excellent town in western Guangdong province) 白酒 (Bak jau – White wine, which in Hong Kong actually means white wine, but in the mainland a lethal liquid →
A highlight of my recent trip to the USA was visiting a bourbon distillery. A lowlight, or, shall we say, nadir, was getting drunk on bourbon the week before. It was so good to see my dear, dear friends E and K. Unfortunately K is such a dab hand at making Old-Fashioned (a bourbon based cocktail) that I drank down three on an empty stomach.
The rest is un-history, for I certainly hope it wasn’t recorded.
The next day I felt like shit that had been hopped upon by elephants wearing high heels. My only comfort was it could have been worse. I could have been drinking baijiu.
Baijiu is the one mandarin word I don’t want to say in Cantonese because to me, 白酒 (baak jau – white wine) in Cantonese, is just that, white wine. Sauvignon Blanc and so on. Whereas 白酒 (bai jiu – “white” “wine”) is death, the vilest concoction known to man with a hangover so fierce I’m sure at least 40% of all suicides in the mainland (of men in a certain age group, let’s say 15 to 95) are committed during baijiu induced hangovers.
You have been warned.
People: Bugger me down if I haven’t written a new book! Mind you it’s five years since the last one so I can’t see why not …
