The cost of living

Weather: Warm
Caption: We still look the same... going to the Diana Kroll concert

I'm constantly amazed at how cheap or expensive things are here. We went for dinner last night at Hatsune, a much raved about Japanese restaurant near the new CCTV building. I've been craving sushi since I got here and Frikkie had been there before and said it was pretty good, so off we went. Normal, gewone tuna sashimi was 90RMB, which is about R100. The portion contained 6 pieces and I wasn't particularly blown away by it. I know Joburg isn't the sushi capitol of the world, but I thought it was expensive for what I got. Compared to how some stuff is, I thought it was a bit of a rip.

But then today I went to the supermarket and market. I bought 2 bringals, some pinenuts, 2L dishwashing liquid and really fresh asparagus. For the princely sum of 48 RMB. I love the fresh produce markets here. I don't understand why there isn't more of a market culture in SA - what could be better than getting fresh produce every day? The veggies are beautiful - long runner beans, fresh spring onions... and then of course some fruit and veg I don't know, but I'm sure will be cooking with in the not too distant future.

Before I headed to do the grocery shopping I joined Frikkie for lunch. We went to the Bellagio restaurant (yes folks, Vegas is everywhere) just around the corner from his office. Frikkie was raving about the boiled fish, a delicacy from the Szechuan Province, which is famous for its spicy cooking. It would seem that there is no set way in which food is served. Whatever is ready get taken to your table, and there is no distinction between savoury and sweet. You can have sweet pastries at the same time as you have your savoury dishes. The fish arrives in a big bowl, filled with broth, greens, garlic, pepper corns and chillies. It's literally covered in chillies. But the chillies aren't the hot, blow the top of your head off chillies, they're quite mild and really there for flavour. The peppercorns on the other hand... Now that's a different story all together. It's nothing like black pepper. It gives off short burst of taste explosions. I don't know how to describe it otherwise. Quite pleasant, but something to get used to. The fish was indeed delicious, although I gave the head and fins a miss.

Otherwise all's quiet on the Eastern Front.