Japonaise Et Chinoiserie

Following from the previous post about a prime example of great Japanese design, we had lunch at Cafe Ish, an Australian-Japanese cafe, run by an Aussie bloke and his Japanese wife. My soy flat white came in a white cup with a streamlined overhanging handle. A little biscuit sat in the nest of the teaspoon, a perfect, tiny accompaniment to the coffee, more for visual gratification than for gastronomical, in my opinion, seeing that it was about the size of a pea (or 2). Again, clean and simple lines/curves of the cup made for a great design, no clutter, very minimal. The aesthetic appeal continued with the placement of a small biscuit on the teaspoon, everything was just so.

M arrived Sunday morning, with her son, J and the precious commodity I had requested (craved) - a box of Teochew mooncakes with yam paste filling. Moon worship of course is sight (sometime next week I was duly informed) but the only type of mooncakes available in this place is the traditional baked mooncake with red bean paste or lotus seed paste with egg yolks and more egg yolks. Unfortunately, this is not my favourite sort of mooncakes. I like the snowskin and the Teochew mooncakes much better. And so I rationed out little cut segments of the 4 mooncakes that arrived, slowly drawing out the time spent savouring them. At this point, I think I have 5/6 of a mooncake left. They go so well with the lovely stash of Oolong tea my Taiwanese colleague brought me some time back. I sure am lucky to have friends who bring me quality, hard-to-come-by edible treasures.