Feeding ten people (@ Hong Kong Chef)

[afuna_archive]

*dies*

I had no idea how expensive it was to foot the bill for dinner for ten people. I now have a greater appreciation of just how hard it is to keep people stuffed but happy.

Including tax, it was almost half of my net monthly salary (this was literally a hundred times more than I normally spend for lunch. Divided by ten, as there were ten of us at the table, it was still ten times as much as I'd normally spend on myself for a single meal). I had to borrow some money from my sister because I had enough money in my wallet for the bill, but not enough for the tax -- bit of a miscalculation there. Better from my sister, than from my mom/dad/grandpa, though! Especially not after they all tried to ask me how much the bill was. Not like I'd tell them, considering how much trouble it took to convince them to let me take them all out in the first place, and especially considering how unsubtly they mentioned before dinner that they could lend me money if I ran over-budget ;p

Okay, so food! A big plate of cold cuts as appetizers; the usual: asado, chicken, jellyfish, century egg, and slices of other meat. Steamed tiger lapu-lapu (tender, slightly sweet). Crab in sotanghon (I love this <3). Fresh steamed shrimp. Something chicken, or chicken something. Hot prawn salad. Spinach something soup (slightly spicy; I have not had it anywhere else). And some rice to make the meal complete.

No pork, as my grandfather doesn't eat it for health reasons. No beef as my mom doesn't eat it for religious reasons.

Crab and steamed lapu-lapu are ridiculously expensive. They are such staples at big family dinners, that I assumed they were in the middle-range; I didn't realize they were among the most expensive on the menu.

I doubt I'll have enough money to do this again for years, but it felt good to have something to spend my first real paycheck on :-)

Comments

[pauamma]

Based on what I read, it's cooked alive? And at that stage of development, I assume it already has a nervous system able to feel pain. That (painful death) would pretty much make it off-limits to me, even not taking in account the yuck aspect.

[afuna]

Interesting. I've never thought about that aspect. Most of the time, all everyone fixates on is the "yuck aspect" (as you so eloquently put it.)

I can't think of any way it would be possible to kill them while in the egg. And I really don't know just how much pain they can feel at that stage.

[pauamma]

To be completely truthful, I don't know that they do either. But I have to be open to that possibility, and I choose to err on the side of caution.

[afuna]

*nods*

IYDMMA, when you said earlier that it was off-limits, were you referring to religious reasons?

[pauamma]

Yes. (I'm a Muslim, in case it didn't come up before.)

[afuna]

(I knew that, but I wasn't aware of any dietary restrictions other than the one against pork and alcohol :) )

[pauamma]

There are rules against eating meat from an animal that died from wounds, injuries, or a fall, which I kinda generalize into "any slow or painful death". (Plus, technically, it's not bled at the time it's killed either.)

[afuna]

Thank you! This is all very interesting to me.

(PS. If I understand you correctly, any meat you eat has to come from an animal that was be bled when it was killed? )

[pauamma]

Normally, yes, but that's a rule I don't pay much attention to, hence "technically". (I won't eat blood sausage or similar stuff, but that's about all.)