William Chong

Website: http://www.spiceiam.com; Ph: 92800928; 90 Wentworth Ave, Sydney 2010; lunch from $7.90, mains $14-26.

Rating: A
(A=return customer, AA=worth every cent, AAA=someone else must have paid for it)

Taking my now-usual route home from work, I chanced upon a small, well-presented restaurant – no fancy tables, plastic chairs packed in front of a small but bustling kitchen. Staff run between tables and clear them fast for the queue of patrons waiting outside patiently for a place. Apparently the foodies share this sense of regard, the LA Times rating it “one of the best 10 restaurants in Sydney”; the Morning Herald naming it “Sydney’s best Thai food – don’t go unless you expect the real thing, chillies and all”.

As most of you are well aware, I’m not a chilli aficionado – their dishes included basil pad kra prao (stir-fried with chilli, vegetables and Thai holy basil), their famed crispy pork belly (either in a pad prik king or with chinese broccoli and oyster sauce), and even signature dishes such as hoy tod (pan fried mussels with bean sprout and crispy flour served with chilli sauce) and whole fish dishes with even more spice.

I was in a hurry so I tried the safe option of chicken praram (stir-fried chicken and steamed kangkong vegetables topped with satay sauce, $13.90). The food came presented in gourmet-style plating removed from its hawker-table feel. The speed of delivery was amazing too – highlighting the amount of customers that come through each service a la wagamama. The satay flavour was delicious, not too peanuty – and the portion was large enough to eat without rice. The staff were a bit touchy about photos, but all in all the place was bubbling with a lively atmosphere. Probably would need to have spent more time (and money) to affirm without doubt its reputation, but overall spice i am was impressive nonetheless.

Incidentally, a table next to me had patrons matching a marvellously-presented whole fish main with an Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc all the way from good old New Zealand. Good to see some solid proof our savs are exportable.

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This year I’ve found many things.

I’ve found that living at home this year has really tested and challenged me. Who I am, who I want to be. Who are important to me.

I’ve found that people make time for others only if they really mean it, and there’s no sense in routine for the sake of it. I’ve found that if you seek to satisfy yourself, your friends won’t tell you about it but you will still see that you are left behind. I’ve discovered my love for music currently exists not as a passionless career but a careerless passion.

I like it that way – there is no expectation of fitting a marketable mould and castrating your sound for the sake of selling it. I write music when I can, and I enjoy it. I can record a tune that no one but myself enjoys, and that is my prerogative. This year I’ve had more time to pursue other challenges in my music – ATCL, CCM, other acronyms that translate to metaphor and melody, a tapestry of love and care.

This year I chose to be more of a pragmatist. My dreams are not rock-star fashion, not even town hero. I want a house and a family, to lead and to serve. I tell myself my fantasies are frivolous, and that these are things worth working for, earning a salary for.

This year I learned Chinese. I may not remember my vocabulary, but I remember my heritage.

This year I enjoyed building up friends and family. This year I churned through house and life-work, trying to balance keeping a fractured family reasonably together yet holding firm to who I was and who I stood for. This was hard and sometimes I wished I had more strength and resolve to challenge those around me.  But slow and steady wins the race, and when others fall by the wayside, perhaps you accept they alone chose that path.  So this year I was sad to watch them go.

This year there was great fun in cooking. Gastronomic awareness is a life-long journey, and there are no limits save your wallet and appetite. I am happy to say that I can cook and I would have loved to have cooked my mother dinner.

If you read this, I would encourage you to make one meal. Just one. For your parents, your mother, your father, your step-parents, your bio-parents, your sister, brother. Try it. When you cook for someone else you think of who they are, what they would like. Do they like pepper? What about those tomatoes? You craft a personal serving of humility and servitude for another.

I would have love to have cooked her something today.

As others have pointed out, Jesus is the reason for the season. That’s my Christian plug.

This year I have grown to love the life ahead of me. I like my friends. My family. Writing and singing. Cooking and cleaning. Working, phasing between social circles. People love to be listened to. We all need each other.

This year I have lived.

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I’m happy sitting here.

On Friday the Corbans judge came into NYNY, and I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to serve him.  I can’t wait to hear what the results will be like!

I ate an apple today for the first time in 2 years.  I mean like, headfirst “crunch” experience, you know.  Totally refreshing.

Oh and paperclip last night went from dinner to a discussion that repeated the same thing over and over.  I’d prefer a movie next time, or something more inclusive (imagine wine buffs reiterating to each other that reds should not be chilled.  Again and again.  It’d put you off the wine industry given enough time…)

I have this DVD of Battlestar Galactica that Kenneth passed to me.  I’m not sure what I do with it.  *scratches head*

Food smells really delicious from across the road… but I’ve had my lunch.  There are midterms to consider across most of my papers, so I’d better get back to them.

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Oh, and apparently Brian’s concert went pretty well.  There’s a review here, but it mentions little of grammatical value.  You can see my name in the background image, and I’ll be chatting with Brian about how my piece was received.

Have a good day!

 (it was a yummy apple)