Brunching With Bing

2Summers | 12 August 2011
johannesburg food cooking

Joe and I recently received an invitation to brunch at the home of our friend Karen, a.k.a. Bing. (Her name is Karen. Her name is Bing. She has other names too, but I won’t get into that.)

This was no ordinary brunch invitation. Bing writes a very popular blog, the Story of Bing, and devotes an entire section of her blog to cooking. I’ve been drooling over her food photography for months. This was my chance to experience the real thing.

Bing, a fellow expat, is Singaporean of Chinese descent. She described our brunch as “a really really traditional lunch. It’s what my Mom would prepare every weekend for us.” This was my first time eating home-cooked Chinese food. And it happened in South Africa. Who would’ve guessed?

Bing finishes setting the table. Joe is visibly excited.

We dined on onion omelettes, minced chicken with French beans in a basil duck soy sauce, stir-fried cabbage with bacon, Chinese pickled lettuce, and pork floss, all eaten over traditional Teochew porridge meal.

Adding the finishing touches to the minced chicken.
The best cabbage and bacon you’ll ever taste.
My bowl. Minced chicken topped with pork floss (I’m not sure what pork floss is but it tastes way better than it sounds) and pickled lettuce. I used to be afraid of any pickled thing that isn’t an actual pickle. No more. Pickled lettuce is delectable.
I contributed an American dessert – the only dessert I know how to make. The brownies didn’t turn out as well as they should have because the recipe calls for unsweetened baking chocolate, which is impossible to find in South Africa. I used cocoa powder instead and it’s just not the same.
Bing also made a Western dessert: a yummy trifle-y thing made of whipped cream, lady fingers and fruit. (The other great thing about brunching with Bing is that she let me borrow her camera equipment. The dessert photos were taken with her nifty macro lens.)

We had an amazing time – not only eating, but chatting away about Singapore, China, South Africa, photography, food, blogging, and life as an expat.

One of the things I like most about being a Jozi expat is the people I get to meet. Jozi is filled with seriously fascinating people, locals and foreigners alike. Bing is one of them.

Brunching bloggers. (Photo courtesy of Joe.)

Thanks for brunch, Bing!

Joe and I are heading off into the wild blue yonder this weekend, on a road trip that will hopefully include blog-able adventures. I’ll post when I can. Don’t go away.