Randomness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
randomness) wrote2003-09-25 08:59 pm
randomness) wrote2003-09-25 08:59 pm
Okay, back to food.
I haven't posted much about food lately. This posting is an attempt to balance things a bit.
So, a few days ago, back in Swaziland or something, I got a food craving. I get these fairly often, and various of my friends and lovers have found it comical. (At least, they tell me it's comical. Perhaps it's actually quite annoying.)
Anyway, I got a food craving, but it was clear that there was no way I was going to be able to satisfy this craving either in Swaziland, or in Mozambique, my next stop.
I wanted a jiandui. Or, as some Chinese call them, a zhimaqiu (sesame ball). This is a deep-fried pastry, kind of like a donut, made of rice flour, filled with bean paste and covered with sesame seeds.
Where there's a reasonably-sized Chinese community you can usually find a place that makes them. They go stale easily, though, so you can't really ship them. They have to be deep-fried locally, then sold that day.
I didn't think I'd be able to find them anywhere in Africa, really. I was kind of resigned to waiting until I got back to Thailand where I'd just be able to go into Chinatown and find them there.
Then I found out there was a Chinatown in Johannesburg. I drove by it and found it was just a few shops and restaurants on both sides of a single block in the suburb of Cyrildene, and a couple of small shopping malls in the nearby suburb of Bruma.
I stopped in at the shopping malls, which were rather lame, and contained no restaurants other than scary-looking takeaway places. So I drove over to Cyrildene.
I went into a couple of small grocery stors, looking to see if anyone was selling any pastries. Nothing.
I was about to lose heart and give up when I saw a very small pastry shop. Pretty much just an aisle, really. I went in. They had them! They were very small, bite-sized sesame balls, but they did have them. I got two, and a small egg custard tart, for R. 5.50 (about 77 cents).
Yay! They weren't bad, even if they were miniature.
I can't remember the name of the place but I'll post the street when I get a chance to look at a map. If you get to that street you can't really miss it.
There's lots of private security guarding the street, and so the restaurants look safe to eat at even at night.
So, a few days ago, back in Swaziland or something, I got a food craving. I get these fairly often, and various of my friends and lovers have found it comical. (At least, they tell me it's comical. Perhaps it's actually quite annoying.)
Anyway, I got a food craving, but it was clear that there was no way I was going to be able to satisfy this craving either in Swaziland, or in Mozambique, my next stop.
I wanted a jiandui. Or, as some Chinese call them, a zhimaqiu (sesame ball). This is a deep-fried pastry, kind of like a donut, made of rice flour, filled with bean paste and covered with sesame seeds.
Where there's a reasonably-sized Chinese community you can usually find a place that makes them. They go stale easily, though, so you can't really ship them. They have to be deep-fried locally, then sold that day.
I didn't think I'd be able to find them anywhere in Africa, really. I was kind of resigned to waiting until I got back to Thailand where I'd just be able to go into Chinatown and find them there.
Then I found out there was a Chinatown in Johannesburg. I drove by it and found it was just a few shops and restaurants on both sides of a single block in the suburb of Cyrildene, and a couple of small shopping malls in the nearby suburb of Bruma.
I stopped in at the shopping malls, which were rather lame, and contained no restaurants other than scary-looking takeaway places. So I drove over to Cyrildene.
I went into a couple of small grocery stors, looking to see if anyone was selling any pastries. Nothing.
I was about to lose heart and give up when I saw a very small pastry shop. Pretty much just an aisle, really. I went in. They had them! They were very small, bite-sized sesame balls, but they did have them. I got two, and a small egg custard tart, for R. 5.50 (about 77 cents).
Yay! They weren't bad, even if they were miniature.
I can't remember the name of the place but I'll post the street when I get a chance to look at a map. If you get to that street you can't really miss it.
There's lots of private security guarding the street, and so the restaurants look safe to eat at even at night.