Lessons in gastronomy

Gluttony

Since I had to get up at 5am to go watch the Tai Chi again, dad understands that I’m tired. He proposes I stay behind and sleep. I gladly accept and go back to sleep. Meanwhile, dad leaves with Ayin and Harry to watch the Tai Chi. When I wake up three hours later I see the door open, it’s dad returning. We have work to finish. Dad asks Harry and Ayin to let us have the morning to work. Dad, who has to edit his photos in iView, puts his Mac on his knees and starts working. I do the same with my PC to write my text. When I finish my text, I read it to dad and he gives me some advice. Actually, we are both writing the text. At around 1pm someone knocks at the door. I open it and it’s Harry coming to pick us up for lunch. We ask him to give us an hour to finish everything. He accepts and sits next to me. Even though he’s quiet, the fact that he drinks a lot releases a bad smell that make me lose my concentration. I finish writing, dad finishes his work and we go eat. We arrive in a restaurant that Harry knows well. There’s a table on the floor above in a room that is even reserved for us. In the middle of the table there’s a kind of revolving glass tray; dad says that it’s called “the wheel of hunger.” Harry, who knows the local food well, orders a few small cold dishes to begin. Among these dishes, a mountain of cold tripes with a bit of salad. It smells so good! With the sauce, we have the sensation of hot and cold in the mouth, a little spicy but it’s delicious. Also, they brought us long green vegetables that dad savors with joy. Dad is very lucky, a few minutes after the vegetables comes another Chinese dish dad adores: tofu. The story of dad and tofu is a long one. It was two or three years ago, dad took my little sister and I to Lille for the day to see the vernissage of one of his exhibits. With friends, we went to an Asian vegetarian restaurant where I ordered tofu and proposed some to dad. But he told me that that the shape didn’t inspire him, so I ate it all while sharing with my little sister Djanan. A few years later, dad deigned to try tofu and ever since he orders it at every restaurant. It’s funny. After all these hors d’oeuvres comes the hot meal, it’s a dish of boiled raviolis. I take one with my chopsticks, dip it in the vinegar and eat it. It’s so good that I eat one, then another, and so on. After a while, I put an entire ravioli in my mouth that ends up like a balloon and dad laughs at me. So, I begin to eat slowly and with smaller portions.