Quarantine Dinner #29: Lo Bak Go

5:15 AM Brain Dump

How does my mind work?

It’s funny how I start writing. I just write the title and let the misspelled words and bad grammar flow!

It’s almost like an unconscious stream. I really don’t know what the next sentence is until I write it.

I had no idea I was going to write that.

Kind of like every time you pass the refrigerator in the kitchen and open the door out of habit just to see what’s in there, because you’re not sure if you are hungry or not.

So you do that like five times, as if anything is gonna change in there.

Oh, look, a penguin!

Where did that come from?

Me, I just take a picture so I can look at it later without having to get up.

What’s in the fridge to eat?

So I keep writing to see if anything is going to happen. Nope. So I continue to write. Usually by this point I think I am about to come up with something!

Hmm. Nada.

Right now I have written a new story every day. I am thinking, wow, how long can I keep this up making a new dish every night, and can I keep up with the writing every day too?

Or should I space it out a bit, you know, because I am sooo busy during self-quarantine these days.

It’s like asking the prison guy who has been in solitary confinement for over a month: excuse me, are you busy?

During my busy day, I started taking so many naps my cats are jealous.

But honestly, I have had this lifestyle for a while now. I used to call it staying at home a lot. But they came up with a new name for it: self-quarantine, or stay in place… a lot.

I added the “a lot.”

But what do you call the people in this situation? Hermits? What if it is a group? Hermites?

Being confined, we find things to do. Just not cleaning. We will do that tomorrow. Too busy today with nappin’ and snackin’.

Gotta get my nap on!

I sing this to the cats. It makes them mad that I now nap more than they do.

The Watch List Problem

Before I nap, I have to clean up my 275 shows and movies I have bookmarked as must-watch on Netflix, 124 on Amazon, and 54 on Hulu, plus various others on Tubi, Roku, Crunchyroll, AsianCrush, etc.

See, I cut the cable TV cord two years ago. I would spend an hour clicking through channels and find nothing to watch.

But now I am more productive. I spend hours adding things to my watch list instead of just clicking!

Then I spend another hour scrolling through my list to see what I want to watch first.

As I scroll, I got my maybe-I-watch-now list, not-too-sure list, not-now list, and the famous “oh, that’s something we can all watch together, save it for later” list.

So 45 minutes passes and I forgot what was on my mental list to watch.

Was it on Netflix or Amazon or Hulu? I think it started with the letter G. It might have been an action movie or comedy…

Agh!

So I repeat the process and finally settle on an action-packed film, or so it seems from the picture thumbnail and brief description. I start it up.

After 20 minutes, you realize this is the worst low-budget, bad-acting waste-of-time movie ever, and you stop it.

So you start to scroll looking for that other “maybe” movie.

But you forgot what it was.

The cover might have had a girl on it.

So you finally find something interesting and start to watch. Your eyes roll back. Next thing in the movie, she now has two kids. A quick nod off, and you open your eyes, the kids moved out, one of the girls is pregnant and has vanished!

Then once more, I close my eyes for a second and open to the end credits.

Kitty asked, did you fall asleep?

Quick answer: no.

She says, what happened?

I said, she had one kid.

Sleep Learning And Invisible Cloaks

Back in the day, there was a theory about sleep learning. It was a simple idea: put headphones on, listen to a teacher talk, and you could absorb all the information while sleeping. When you woke up, you would retain all this knowledge.

Well, at least that was what I was trying to explain to the principal when I was sleeping in class.

Kitty reads a lot. Jesse reads a lot. Me? I have not read a book since 1976. It might have been Lord of the Rings. After that, what other book do you need to read?

I always wanted an elven invisible cloak. Even Harry Potter has one and he didn’t know Frodo, so these cloaks must be real.

Hmm. When did cloaks go out of fashion?

I want one now.

What would you do with an invisible cloak?

I would probably wear it while napping so no one could see me sleeping and I would not get nap-shamed.

But the cats would ruin it because they would probably climb on top of me and curl up, and Kitty would see a sleeping floating cat.

I always hear in my deepest sleep…

Are you sleeping?

My sleeping answer to that is, no, I am not.

Now why would you ask a sleeping person, are you sleeping?

It’s sleep shaming!

#nosleepshaming

In the movies, when someone walks into a room and sees someone fell asleep, they put a coat or blanket over them and tiptoe out of the room.

Me, I get: ARE YOU SLEEPING AGAIN!

Yes, I slept yesterday. I figured I would sleep again just for fun and see what happens!

But I do read manuals, technical stuff, and science books, things most would find boring.

I think if I did read other people’s books, I could get influenced by their style and lose my writing voice.

Well, I take some of it back and will put it in a sack, because I used to read stories to Jesse like Dr. Seuss books.

So I guess it did not affect me here.

It did not affect me there.

I will not stop.

I will not go there.

Why Not Write A Book?

“So why don’t you write a book?” I get asked a lot.

Well, I did start one about seven years ago. I wrote about 780 pages in two months, then I stopped right in the middle of the story.

See the problem? 780 pages, and it is only the middle.

So I figure I’ll write again, maybe loosen up the old stories from my head.

Let’s see what happens.

Ok, so we are close to the end now. I have been writing for like 1.5 hours.

I am going to read what I wrote since I am writing this on an iPad in bed in the dark, giggling and laughing. I woke Kitty up twice.

It’s not easy writing on the iPad. I should use my supercomputer that I built in the other room… but I am super lazy to get out of bed.

I should drag my supercomputer into the bedroom and put the monitors on the ceiling like the astronauts have. Then I can lay down, talk to mission control, do Facebook, and organize my Netflix watch list.

I am pretty sure that’s what astronauts do.

Think about it. They are up in space for weeks!

Mission control: That is go for nap!

Me: Roger that, copy! Stand by for drool.

Every time you see a photo of astronauts in space, they are always fixing something. How much shit do they have to fix?

They are always fixing something with a wrench or using that space gun. What, no hammers or pliers?

Why didn’t they fix it before they left?

Then it is big news that he printed a wrench in space. You know why he did? Because he forgot to bring his toolbox!

My super hasn’t fixed shit in 10 years. I think astronauts would be great supers.

So yeah, typing is hard with two thumbs and the stupid spellcheck on the iPad, but that’s another story.

Shit. 7:15. I have not put the food part in…

Let’s go for it.

The Food Part: Lo Bak Go

Kitty goes outside for walks down quiet streets and under bridges with her mask, hat, and gloves, and sometimes goes to the store.

But she sometimes brings back odd things that don’t match anything else in the bag. It is almost like a game show where you have to do something with the ingredients.

She brought back some eggs, English muffins, and a potato.

Fine, that’s good for breakfast.

But why a daikon radish?

I figure you can do something with it?

Like, ok fine… wtf.

So, five days later, ok, I gotta do something with it.

We sometimes go to eat dim sum on weekends, and one of the things we eat is turnip cake, or lo bak go.

It is basically grated daikon radish with rice flour, steamed, then pan fried.

It also has bits of Chinese sausage or roasted pork, dried shrimp, and scallions.

I had pretty much everything in my tiny pantry except the dried shrimp. Kitty threw them out. She thought they looked old and dry.

They are supposed to be old and dry.

Lo bak go is served with oyster sauce and chili sauce on the side.

The cake itself has a soft, creamy, noodley texture with bits of sweet chewy Chinese sausage and smooth chunks of daikon, with a slightly crispy exterior.

Combine that with the briny oyster sauce and the heat of the chili sauce, and you are now back in Chinatown.

7:30 am done.

Nap nap time!

Cat! Caaat!!

Editor Notes

I am really trying to keep these posts shorter, but they seem to be snowballing every post. This one is 1547 words.

Editor’s sub note: don’t Google snowballing in the Urban Dictionary.

Editor’s sub-sub note: it’s 1564 words now because of the last sub note.

Editor’s sub-sub-sub note: but that did not include the previous sub note or this one.

Editor’s sub-sub-sub-sub note: if you like my stories, please comment, like, and share. The more people I get following and liking, the more incentive it is for me to write.

Editor’s sub-sub-sub-sub-sub note: I added some more details since I imported this to an actual blog.