Saturday, August 17, 2024

Chopsticks at home

It's a bit like typing on your phone. From my observations, the kiddies, which are now reaching their forties, type on their phones with their thumbs. My thumbs don't work like that and yours probably don't either. It is very much a digital natives against people who have learnt digital later in their lives. We boomers poke at our phones with our forefingers. 

I'd like to tell these young people with their extra special thumbs about what what it was like to send an SMS in 90s, where you pressed the 1 key three times to make the letter 'c', then once on 1 for an 'a', twice on the 6 key to make 'n', then once on the 8 key to make a 't'. You then have the word cant. I forget how we did punctuation. I was quite fast at phone writing then. I fell behind. My first phone was an Ericsson 218. The large battery was detached from the back and put onto a charger. My version of a power pack back then was a spare battery. When I bought my next phone, I sold this one for $100, quite a sum in the late 1990s. 

I was also behind the eight ball when it came to using chopsticks. Now young Australians are very adept with chopsticks. I suppose I learnt to use them in my mid twenties but I was never very proficient with them. I could use them to the point where I wouldn't starve. 

When Ray cooked an Asian meal, the Asian styled crockery would come out. A large bowl for the food. A bowl with a lid for the rice, small bowls to eat from, Asian china spoons, and....chopsticks. I would use them for a while and towards the end,  use the Chinese spoons to finish off. My hand shaking doesn't help with the use of chopsticks and now if I eat Asian food out, I ask for a fork and spoon.

We stopped doing so a few years ago but we used to also make Chinese green tea in a Chinese teapot but I can't remember what cups we used. Well, now I think about it, I can. They were small without handles but where are they? Maybe at the back of this shelf that I can no longer reach as my height shrinks. When unloading the dishwasher, I used to be able to put the Chinese crockery up on this shelf but in recent years, I could no longer reach so I left the crockery on the bench for taller Ray to put up. I'll have to get the steps out to see what is up there, but then why should I bother. 

I am away for a couple of days for a great niece's birthday party. Catch you all next week sometime. 

25 comments:

  1. I've never mastered chopsticks, and if it means I have to eat rice then I don't want to.

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  2. I did manage to use chopsticks when I was working in Hong Kong but can't get the hang of it now.
    Enjoy your party.

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  3. What you are describing is nostalgic for me to relive the time. All very true

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  4. Deb in Missouri USAAugust 17, 2024 at 7:59 AM

    I can't use chopsticks, maybe because I've never had the patience to learn. I do love Asian food, with a fork. Of my two daughters one of them learned to use chopsticks somewhere along the way. My two grands are proficient with chopsticks, as well as texting with their thumbs. I guess when you've used a computer since the age of 3 or 4 it's all easy. (smile)

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  5. I'm a whiz with chopsticks but I am a single digit texter!

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  6. Our first phone had a large battery that lasted 24 hours (less if you actually used the phone) and smaller one with 8 hours. I don't think we got the sms gizmo until we got the first of many nokias - with a tiny screen! But oh I was a whizz at spelling out those messages. And they had to be short.
    Even though I grew up in Hong Kong I have never mastered chopsticks. I can use them but not the way they are meant to be used. Enjoy your wee break with young folk. You can tell them a thing or two about how we used to use phones to talk to people.

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  7. I've only had Chinese carryout, and don't recall they're being chopsticks. I just whatever utensils I had at home. I use my index finger when typing.

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  8. I have dropped more food on the floor than into my mouth using those chopsticks. My gr-daughters tried to show me when they were about 5 yr. old. It was embarrassing.

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  9. Have a good time. Take care.
    I used chop sticks when out eating at a Chinese establishment, but end up using a fork.
    Remember the old phones, got quite quick at sending messages pressing the one key 3 times.

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  10. Chopsticks, well perhaps if I gave them a go I'd lose a few unwanted pounds!
    Thanks for the memory about the mobile phones of yesteryear - I got very proficient at ' swiping ' .......unbelievable isn't it the speed which younger generations operate at with tech?!
    Have a good few days
    Alison in Wales x

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  11. I don't use chopsticks - too fiddly and I like my food to be still warm when it reaches my mouth. Enjoy your days away.

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  12. Your height is shrinking? I got measured last year when I had my bone scan and learned I haven't lost any height at all and my bones are all nice and solid. Made me feel good that did.
    I never mastered chopsticks and won't ever try again though I have a half dozen pairs somewhere here. I use a fork and a spoon.

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  13. Oh, Lord, I remember that old-fashioned method of texting. So tedious! I think many people learned to text with their thumbs on Blackberry devices, which I never had. Have fun at the party!

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  14. I hope you have fun at the party. :) As for reaching things, I've never been tall and have short arms. lol Now my fat belly has compounded the problem. ~sigh~ I finally bought a nice, heavy duty folding ladder, though my simple plastic step stool usually suffices. Be well and take care of yourself.

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  15. See you later alligator! Have a fun time away. The Chinese may have invented fireworks, the compass and paper but when it came to eating utensils all they could come up with was a couple of dumb sticks! Thank God Europeans introduced them to the fork and spoon!

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  16. Have fun, Andrew. I'm sure there will be forks and spoons at the party. I can do chopsticks but it sure slows me down.

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  17. I think I see the hint of a Chinese tea cup in the back of the cupboard there!
    I recently realised that it's almost 6 years since my ex who owned the Chinese tea set left and if he hasn't wanted it in that t ime, I can get rid of it. So I did.
    The young ones don't even "type" with taps on the screen to write messages, it's all zig zag on the screen with no time to lift a finger! i cant do it. Does that make me a dinosaur?

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  18. Off to yet another fete? Your life seems to be one wild social whirl, Andrew!

    I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for the boarder. I hope it works out.

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  19. I love those little handleless tea cups. I text with my thumbs. Thought everyone did. I remember the old phones punching a button three times for a certain letter, two times for another, that was funny.

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  20. I've never learned how to eat with chopsticks, knife and fork for me always :) I can't figure out how the youngster type with their thumbs, I just use my forefinger too. Enjoy your mini break Andrew.

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  21. I am not very good at using chopsticks either, and usually ask for a fork when I'm out.
    I have a case on my phone so it is impossible to type with both hands. So I also use my forefinger.

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  22. I am still using a flip phone which needs the keys pressed one, two, three or in some cases four times to produce the desired letter. I pride myself on how fast I have gotten! (have to take my wins somewhere) Chopsticks are something I've never tried. I don't think I'd have the patience. When I am hungry I just want that food in my mouth, ha ha. Enjoy your away time.

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  23. Nunca he comido con palillos y lo mejor sería probarlo en casa, ya que en un restaurante si no lo manejas bien, te expones a hacer el ridículo.

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  24. thecontemplativecat here My thumbs hurt, arthritis. Youngsters who use the thumbs will have some cartilage troubles later in life.

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