Saturday, November 20, 2004

Xiao Loong (250 W Portal): deep-fried spring rolls, cashew chicken lunch plate for me, black bean chicken for Patrick: $22.35 after a $3.00 tip. They gave us 4 fortune cookies. Patrick's fortunes: "You have an unusual magnetic personality. Just be aware of your polarity." and "An old friend introduces you to new people and pleasures." I lost one of my fortunes. The one I didn't lose was "Others are anxious to get to know you better." Errands: drug store, grocery. My sister called today with extremely disappointing news that my mom was coming to my nephew's birthday party, so of course we aren't going now. I was stunned at the sudden turn of events, and very sad because I had been looking forward to giving Jeremy the present we had picked out for him and seeing the party that my sister had planned. Dinner with Tony, Bobby, Galen, Yan-Hui, Sergey, Mark, and Stephen—our first time meeting the latter 3. Patrick and I arrived early to help make dumplings (from scratch). We brought wine, apple juice, and Hansen's Mandarin Lime soda. Galen brought a Canadian salad: spinach, pomegranate seeds, slivered almonds, sesame seeds, and a sweet vinaigrette. Mark and Sergey brought borscht. Yan-Hui brought a bowl of mixed fruit for dessert. In addition to dumplings, we had sticky rice and Vietnamese spring rolls.