Cooking fantasies

I spent half an hour exploring Ban Ban Homewares in Victoria Street, Abbotsford this week. It is an Asian cookware store, with shelf upon shelf of cheap items. There is a whole section devoted horrible plastic things, you know, the kind that will discolour within a few weeks of use. The store attendants seemed to spend the whole time I was in there screeching violently at one another. Of course I don't speak their language so it is presumptious (and maybe gasp...culturally insensitive) of me to presume they were screeching. Nonetheless their tone was so intense that I hesitated to ask them questions such as "You see this lovely looking metal thing here, what does it actually do?"

I spent my time there in a bit of a daze, imagining myself as some sort of Kylie Kwong cook, with a whole kitchen full of interesting utensils, dazzling my friends with dinner parties. The reality is however that I have a tiny kitchen which is already crammed full, very modest cooking ability and I hardly ever host dinner parties. I also have an aversion to cooking any animal which resembles the creature it once was. As a result I'm great with mince and chicken breasts, but not much else. So after my flight of fancy, accompanied by background screeching, I left with a tiny purchase of six chinese soup soons - perfect for those not very frequent occasions when five friends join me for takeaway Asian soup! A bargain at 90c each, but not when you consider that it could be years and years before they get used (if ever).