October 26, 2008
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My dad has been addicted to a specific Chinese restaurant
for a few months now. Instead of me cooking
at his place on Sundays, we drive over to this Chinese restaurant. It’s about a 20 minute drive from his place
(mostly highway). On Sundays, I make
soup and sometimes a dish and bring it over for one of his weekday meals. But I used to bring food over and cook at his
place. Now that he’s found this
restaurant, we seldom eat at home anymore.He just devours the food there. It’s not fancy food but it appeals to
him. The waiters now recognize us as
regulars. So we get the free soup and
red bean dessert. The soup is usually
from a pork stock with chicken legs, some peanuts or black eye peas. Sometimes they’ll have other things in the
stock too. When we take the leftovers
home, the waiter also slips us a small container of soup.Inevitably my dad and I always confuse the waiters in any
Chinese restaurant. I speak a teeny bit
of Cantonese. My dad speaks fluent
Cantonese and Toisan. But he is also
deaf in one ear and refuses to wear a hearing aid. Since I was a kid, I’ve always spoken English
to my dad. So when the waiters ask us a
question. I simply repeat it to my dad in English because I know he probably
didn’t hear it. The waiters usually
conclude my dad doesn’t speak Chinese. But when they try to talk to me in Chinese, I just
stammer and smile. My dad then jumps in,
if he has heard the question, in Chinese.
They usually walk away with a confused look.My dad’s preference for this restaurant has created an
opportunity for my bf to tease me. “He
doesn’t like your cooking anymore?” We always tease each other about our
cooking. One time, I made this huge dish
of chicken with mushrooms in oyster sauce and brought it over to my parent’s
place. After dinner, my mom asked me to
take some of the leftovers home because they won’t be able to finish all of
it. Of course my bf laughed when he
heard that. “Matt, maybe she was trying to
tell you something.” Growl… Speaking of
my bf, he made hotpot tonight and also cooked 4 lobsters!
Comments (21)
I like that you share snippets of your life with us here Matt. Thank you.
hahaha that's got to be fun confusing the waiters like that. i sometimes pretend i can understand chinese when waiters or cashiers say something, because they assume i can speak and i'm kind of embarrased not to be able to speak or understand chinese. luckily i can pick up enough context from gestures and the few words i do know to figure out what they are saying!
wow, lobsters! that's beyond my skill level... tonight i made spicy eggplant.
@macphoto - you're welcome.
@kunhuo42 - For some reason, I always thought you spoke Chinese too. hee hee... I love spicy eggplant. What happened to all your food pics?
Hot pot and 4 lobsters, that sounds better than eating at the same chinese resturant every week. yummy
@stevew918 - I know... it's weird but he just eats like there's no tomorrow.
mmm~ lobsters~ *drool* lol
I guess I enter the age of those who like to return to the same restaurant over and over. It feels comfortable and, as you describe, one becomes a friend as well as a customer. My Chinese amounts to please and thank you. I did make a mistake of using the thank you as we were shown to a table and then had to spend more time explaining to the waiter I was just showing off
.
What a cute story. I love your Dad. He reminds me a lot of mine.
@ElusiveWords - um... too late, most of the eggplant is gone already. i will try take a picture of the pumpkin cheesecake i'm bringing to work on friday after i make it, and post it up for you.
Good that your father has a healthy appetite but a little sad that you don't have the regular opportunity to cook for him. Better warn your boyfriend to watch out: jokes about cooking quickly become fightin' words! =)
@Fatcat723 - it is a bit weird seeing him so much at this restaurant. But he eats a lot of veggies so that's good.
@CareyGLY - hahaha... thanks.
@kunhuo42 - pumpkin cheesecake - wow, that sounds yummy!
@christao408 - just curious, does Tawn cook too?
hey thanks for the comments Matt. Chinese food is addicting even though I'm Chinese. I need to lay off that and eat healthier before I become grossly obese. ha.
aww, you're making me hungry now!
and your 3rd paragraph story was hilarious. =D
It's always awkward to know a bit of a language, but not enough.
What's the resto!
@ElusiveWords - Yeah, Tawn does cook, but not very often. It is more of an issue of being really tired when he comes home from work, whereas I work from home so have greater flexibility with my schedule. In fact, the recipes in the magazine article I posted recently were Tawn's.
@christao408 - now that I'm on my own, I look back in amazement at how my mom managed to cook a full dinner after she came home from work. When I'm tired, I just don't feel like cooking at all.
@spacerboi - it's SamWoo. I think there's one on the east end of the city too.
@junshien - hahaha... my Chinese friends think it's weird that I only speak English to my dad.
@ElusiveWords - Yeah, it is amazing, isn't it? Goes to show you that mothers really do hold up more than half the sky.
hehehe, I enjoy hearing stories about you and your dad
there's no way of knowing what you're food tastes like, but it looks pretty good in pictures!
How good that you and dad share the evening and the dinner on Sundays, regardless of whether you cook it or a chef at the restaurant. The point is that he loves your company.
Mothers do those kinds of magical things.... Like Chris said, they hold up more than half the sky.
@kunhuo42 - Would you share the recipe for the spicy eggplant if asked?
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