Mushroom and Chicken Congee

Mushroom and chicken congee (with peanuts and extra spring onions)
$7.5
City University of Hong Kong canteen

Although the canteen vendor has changed recently, an upstart having usurped Maxim's place in the kitchen, the congee still remains the same.  The physical consistency of the congee, to begin with, is itself rather diluted than thick - there indeed seems to be more water than rice boiled in the mixture; and the value of the product is not in that boiled rice, of course, but in the bits of chicken meat and mushroom, dashed with plenty of peanuts and spring onions, that can all be had for less than one US dollar.  Consequently, though I would gladly prefer to pay the same price for some plain congee at another restaurant that I frequent and whose porridge is as thick as a creamy soup, to the extent that a person enjoys the generous portion of toppings included in the canteen congee, the meal can be considered a success.