Saturday, February 12, 2005
Breakfast at home. Dropped off books and videos at the library. Picked up a birthday cake at Albertson's. Napped. Went to Johnson and Chika's house in San Jose for the first time for Chinese New Year festivities. His mom and dad were over, and they cooked a huge banquet dinner that would have required 2 or 3 panoramic photos to capture. Corinna and Pat flew up from San Diego, Dex and Fletcher in from the Santa Cruz area; Jennie from Irvine; Lani, Rob, Jeremy, and Matthew lived the closest but were the last to arrive. Before dinner: the usual appetizers: cut vegetables with dip, tortilla chips. We ate giant (24-inch) crab legs, spring rolls with peanut sauce, sticky rice, mi fun, chicken, duck, bbq pork, and broccoli with garlic —all cooked to perfection by Uncle Peter and Auntie Julie and Chika. For dessert we had flan made by Aunt Julie. We also celebrated Fletcher's 21st birthday with a cake I brought from Albertson's. After dinner, some played poker on the poker table which Rob had brought and others watched kids videos with the kids in the TV room. Today was the first time I had ever seen a coffee table with a heater built in to the underside of it. A comforter-like blanket is laid across the table then a tabletop on top of that. The idea is you sit on the floor (or, in this case, mats and padded blankets) so that you can keep your legs and feet under the table blanket. The heater is turned on, keeping you toasty warm and comfortable. I wanted to see a version where you push a button and the heater flips and becomes a table-top device for hot pot or korean bbq, but I think they don't have that yet. Today was also the first time I watched a children's television program about anthropomorphized Christian vegetables teaching lessons like perseverance through sumo wrestling. It was surreal and entertaining, and the kids loved it.