Memory Of An Invitation To A Dinner
On New Year’s eve I was invited to have dinner in a first rate restaurant. My host would introduce me to the sophisticated art of eating. The guests came in Mercy’s, luxurious cars and were welcomed as VIP’s. The dining hall was lighted as though in a palace. The men serving were wearing coats the women dressed as charming stewardesses
With the first round came a giant dressed lobster. Only its head was imposing, impressive, large and frightening but could not be eaten. Next came the most expensive Chinese shark fin dish, then came the “scallop” dish with champignon, decorated with broccoli .
After the fourth round of “Lazy Fish” I was more than full and still more was served before me and it became a torture. There’s no dog that could be persuaded to eat more but the others still ate. Then as a New Year’s “dessert” we were surprised, served with deafening blasts of new years trumpets blaring shrill sounds in the dining hall and so my suffering was complete.
So, what is nice, delicious, I wonder. Calculated, only its price is most delicious, with a sum of “only” two hundred thousand Rupiah (that was at the end of 1994).
And I remembered the so appetizing dish of just roasted petai (stinking beans) with kecap (soy bean sauce), or goat legs soup with a lot of rice. Seeing, smelling food that’s still warm in food stalls along the street, so cheap. If I were so lucky, some one send me a draft for two hundred thousand Rupiah as present, my family could have twenty feasts eating very delicious food. Or I could buy me a mountain bike!!!
Sure, people say that common, petty folk has a poor taste. They don’t know the art of eating. Invited in this first class restaurant has indeed a lot of pluses. Then pak Arif with naughty eyes whispered: “the pluses are in the unforgettable very bad, stupid way of eating. Instead of enjoying, it became a punishment. More over if you have to pay the bill. A government clerk would be forced to fast a whole month, you know?”
Regularly done is a sure, effective exercise to make you like it and drown, kill your good taste. Who ever was so innovative to invent this art of eating for those who don’t know what to do with their money? And it’s still praised, admired. Ha, ha.
Jayakarta, June 15, 1995
On New Year’s eve I was invited to have dinner in a first rate restaurant. My host would introduce me to the sophisticated art of eating. The guests came in Mercy’s, luxurious cars and were welcomed as VIP’s. The dining hall was lighted as though in a palace. The men serving were wearing coats the women dressed as charming stewardesses
With the first round came a giant dressed lobster. Only its head was imposing, impressive, large and frightening but could not be eaten. Next came the most expensive Chinese shark fin dish, then came the “scallop” dish with champignon, decorated with broccoli .
After the fourth round of “Lazy Fish” I was more than full and still more was served before me and it became a torture. There’s no dog that could be persuaded to eat more but the others still ate. Then as a New Year’s “dessert” we were surprised, served with deafening blasts of new years trumpets blaring shrill sounds in the dining hall and so my suffering was complete.
So, what is nice, delicious, I wonder. Calculated, only its price is most delicious, with a sum of “only” two hundred thousand Rupiah (that was at the end of 1994).
And I remembered the so appetizing dish of just roasted petai (stinking beans) with kecap (soy bean sauce), or goat legs soup with a lot of rice. Seeing, smelling food that’s still warm in food stalls along the street, so cheap. If I were so lucky, some one send me a draft for two hundred thousand Rupiah as present, my family could have twenty feasts eating very delicious food. Or I could buy me a mountain bike!!!
Sure, people say that common, petty folk has a poor taste. They don’t know the art of eating. Invited in this first class restaurant has indeed a lot of pluses. Then pak Arif with naughty eyes whispered: “the pluses are in the unforgettable very bad, stupid way of eating. Instead of enjoying, it became a punishment. More over if you have to pay the bill. A government clerk would be forced to fast a whole month, you know?”
Regularly done is a sure, effective exercise to make you like it and drown, kill your good taste. Who ever was so innovative to invent this art of eating for those who don’t know what to do with their money? And it’s still praised, admired. Ha, ha.
Jayakarta, June 15, 1995
No comments:
Post a Comment