M-whY

I've spent all but my first two years in US. Having gone through the public education system, I am American from head to toe. Not that my life has been devoid of culture from my Chinese background. My mom cooks Chinese food, I can understand and speak a bit of the language, and I'm familiar with things like dim sum. While writing this entry, I have to keep in mind that many things I may take for granted may appear new and fresh to other people.

For example, at our table were two tea pots. One filled with tea, the other with hot water. Whenever the tea is finished, the hot water is poured into the pot with tea leaves. The lid of the empty pot is then removed and placed on the handle to signify a refill. In this manner, there was always a hot pot of tea ready to drink.

The first thing everyone did was 'wash the dishes.' Hot water was poured into bowls, and the tea cups were rinsed out. This practice seemed a bit curious to me, since I supposed the cups were already clean when brought to us.

Aunt Ping did most of the ordering. I'm generally not a picky eater, and on this trip, I've tried my best to suppress my "Eww, that's gross" reaction and just try things. There are certain foods I won't touch, like chicken feet (which I swear I'll never eat), and water chestnuts (which I don't like the taste of). Though there have been things that have made me feel queasy after discovering what they were (like when I found out I was eating baby bees in Thailand). As dishes arrived, my aunt told me what they were.

"Fish." "Pig skin." "Ostrich."

"[So you can speak english,]" I told her.

"[Just a bit. I can say individual words. If you ask me to make sentences, I couldn't do it. I don't understand enough of the grammar. How's the ostrich? Tastes just like beef, right?]"

Nothing that made it to our table were too exotic that I couldn't try. The fish evoked the most wonder in me, as the whole body seemed to be made of eggs.

"[The eggs were stuffed in after right?]" I asked.

"[No, that's just how the fish is.]" She showed me the name of the name of the fish on the menu. Translated, it literally meant fish with many eggs.

"[How can a fish have no flesh? It's like it only has head, tail, and eggs.]" I carefully observed (ie, ate three more) and discovered that there was flesh, just very little of it.

Prices were slashed at two o'clock, so at that time, there was a new flurry of activity from the kitchen as everyone took advantage of the cheap eats. Three more dim sum dishes were ordered by my aunt. We ended up staying for another hour, making lunch a two and a half hour affair. With such good food available in Hong Kong, it's a wonder how McDonald's ever got a foothold here!

Thanks to everyone for their support and comments! Knowing people are reading keeps me motivated to continue the updates!