Chinese New Year Dinner
January 24th, 2001
@ Fu Lam Mum, Mountain View, CA

All Photos © 2001 Ting Vogel
 
Goldfish Tank Blocks Evil Spirits
 
Lone Goldfish in Tank
Fish Crowd in Side Tank

We met my brother at the Printers Inc in Mountain View and walked down Castro Street to find a place for dinner.  We settled on Fu Lam Mum Seafood. The clientele was mostly Chinese. A large goldfish tank sat at the entrance to block evil spirits.  A lone goldfish lives in the tank. To the side in a separate holding tank, a dozen odd fish piled almost on top of each other.  The tank was so small that the fish had no room to turn around. Only one or two fish attempted to swim around the tank. The rest sat as if prisoners on death row, awaiting execution in the kitchen. While we were waiting, a man fished out a few crabs from the tank to the side. I wonder at times what is the next level of enlightenment for a crab or a fish. And what can possibly be a crab's last thoughts before being sauteed? Even as a fish, there are statures in life. The goldfish lives in the tank as a princess in a castle and the fish in the holding tank are as immigrant workers in a city. And would they reincarnate to the same stature or would God deal them a better hand in the next life?

For dinner, we ordered Drunken Chicken, Sauteed Crab in Black Bean Sauce, and the traditional Chinese New Year Fare of Oysters and Hair Vegetable. Oysters phonetically sounds the same as "Good things"  in Cantonese. Likewise, Hair Vegetable phonetically sounds the same as "Become wealhy".  It's hard to describe what Hair Vegetable is.  I think it is a type of seaweed. It doesn't really have a distinct taste, but I can say that it does NOT taste like chicken - thank you very much! The crab stared accusingly at me from his dish. Good thing I am not the guilty type. It was yummy (and messy)!!

After dinner, we walked down to a place on Villa for Pearl Drinks. Pearl Drinks are sweet milk teas with doughy black tapioca balls on the bottom served with big straws to suck the tapioca balls up. Once in a while if you suck too hard, the ball plops all the way to the back of your throat in one leap and sticks to the back for a moment before slithering down the deep chasm that is your esophagus.

I called my folks from the shop to wish them a Happy New Year. They had just come back from Atlantic City where they raked in some winnings!  It's a good way to start off the year! I miss my folks. I wish they'd move to California. But talking to them is the next best thing. I wonder what people do before the telephone was invented - must've had a lot of estrangedness in those times.
 

Catching a Crab for Dinner
Siu-Fai Plays Mindsweep
Siu-Fai at Dinner
Drunken Chicken
Traditional Chinese New Year Fare 
Sauteed Crab in Black Bean Sauce
Randy at Dinner
Ting
Sesame Pearl Drink
Randy Wishes Pop a Happy New Year in Chinese
Siu-Fai Listens to Mom
 

Happy Year of the Serpent!!!