Shanghai Trip - Day 6
The cast of characters changed on Day 6. Exit Aunt June, enter Aunt Christina and Aunt Marilyn.
Aunt June left mid morning, so just my mom, me and the Chinese Costanzas headed out for lunch. We had decided to try to find the noodle place Grandpa had recommended earlier - the one that was "across from a Watson's, down an alley." Since our driver was busy taking Aunt June to the airport, we had to take a cab, which made the whole process of finding the noodle shop even more difficult.
This is a picture of the back of Grandpa's head, in a taxi cab, when he's looking for a noodle shop THAT IS NOT ACTUALLY LOCATED ACROSS FROM A WATSON'S:
However, it WAS located in an alley. It's right where the red sign is in the pic below:
Like all really good restaurants, it was super small inside. We had to wait for a while to get a table, and even when we got one, we had to share it. Table sharing is very common in China. Not a practice I've ever seen in the U.S. There is one very basic rule to table sharing: Ignore Whoever Else is Sitting with You.
For the love of god, don't even make eye contact!! And saying "hi" would be as inappropriate as suddenly grabbing them, sweeping all the dishes on to the floor, and making out with them on the table!!
I just want everyone to take a second and imagine (no, i'm not asking you to imagine sweeping dishes on the floor - we're past that now) how strange it would be to if you found yourself sitting next to four strangers at a restaurant but, following Chinese Table Sharing Etiquette, you have to pretend they don't EXIST. And they have to pretend YOU don't exist. My own personal theory on this is that we must think that if we acknowledged each other's existence, we'd have to share our food with each other. That's the only explanation I got.
Anyway, my mom managed to get a pic of our table.
Going clockwise starting with Grandpa, Grandma, me, Seat for Mom who's taking the pic, and in the white shirt - The Woman We Have to Pretend is Not Sitting at Our Table
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to pick up my Aunt Christina, who had arrived from Hong Kong. After some resting (I was still sick) we headed out for some quick shopping and dinner.
I'm not going to give away Aunt Christina's age (cuz then I'd be in the WORST trouble of all) and I'm not going to remind anyone of my mom's age (although I did post about her last birthday much to her horror, "Sareet, how you could you do this, now EVERYONE knows my age!!!!" Relax Mom, 10 people read this blog regularly, 5 of whom are related to you) but their day was FRIGGIN MADE when a shopkeeper coyly asked, "Oh are the three of you (my mom, Aunt Christina, and ME) sisters????"
Me? Moi? Sisters with my mom???? Sisters with my Aunt Christina who is younger than my mom but definitely OLDER than me??? Anti-wrinkle cream is SO going back to the top of the Xmas wishlist this year. My grandma was also thrilled, figuring that the shopkeeper obviously thought she looked young enough to be MY MOM. I think they bought about $20 US of stuff from that shopkeeper, which is a lot of money there. I didn't spend a dime. Bitch.
This is a good time to mention that Shanghainese people are the loudest people I've ever met. By far. Along with heart disease and diabetes, I think the general population must have hearing problems from all the shouting and yelling. And sore throats. So of course, when the first shopkeeper got such great results from the simple question of, "ARE THE THREE OF YOU SISTERS???" the shopkeeper next to the first shopkeeper overheard this and tried it as well, as we walked in front of hershop.
"HEY, ARE THE THREE OF YOU SISTERS????"
My mom and Aunt Christina burst in a fit of giggles. "Oh, the two of us are, but she's (me) my daughter/niece! You can't tell, can you? How much is that blouse hanging on the wall? What about that one? What else you got? Let's go in, Sareet, and check this store out!" My Grandma added, "Yes, she's (me) my granddaughter! From the U.S. She doesn't understand Shanghainese. She has a brother and sister too. I have five daughters. This one (my mom) here is my oldest. She lives in the U.S. This one here is (Aunt Christina) is the third oldest. She lives in Hong Kong and has a son. My youngest daughter (Aunt Marilyn) is coming in tonight. From San Francisco, CA - United States. She has a dog named Boris."
And so on and so on.
I know I'm prone to exaggeration (always for humorous effect of course) but this seriously happened to us at least 3 to 4 shops in a row.
So we were all (except for me) in great moods when we found the restaurant we were headed to for dinner. Again, this was a very small restaurant, and also had the audacity to put up some sign basically explaining that it was for "members only" or on a "referred basis." Hmmm.
Being the rather conniving family that we are, we pretended that we referred by a Mrs. Lee from Hong Kong. I'm sure that didn't fool anyone, but the owner did give us a small table. A very small table. A very small table in the back of a totally empty restaurant (empty because all the tables were reserved according to her, even though, no one had shown up yet by the time we left) Granted there were large pictures of the owner posing with various celebrities on the wall, so maybe she was a big deal....I dunno. The food was very good though. We specifically asked for food that was less heavy and more like regular local homemade food.
Here's my Aunt Christina, who was rather unhappy with my mom for taking this pic, and will be even unhappier with me for posting in on my blog. The dish closest to the white teapot is a sort of Salted/Cured Duck. Going clockwise, there is I think Deep Fried Tofu in Soy Sauce again, then Pumpkins Cooked with some Lily Bulb type thing (pumpkins yummy, lily bulbs very very nasty), and then some super green veggie that I did not particularly like.
Below you can see the rest of the meal. The dark pile of stuff on the plate with the white spoon set on it is actually Whole Fish Steamed with Soy Sauce and Dried Veggies. Very yummy. To the left of it is a bowl of Tomatos Cooked With Rice Noodles.
You can't really see it, but in the pic below, the big pot is filled with Tofu Cooked with Hai Fun. Yes, Hai Fun. It was really really good, and I was convinced that my first bad experience with Hai Fun was merely a fluke so I ate a lot of it. And no, it was not a fluke.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel, where there was all sorts of drama. First off, Grandpa was beginning to show symptoms of getting sick. We were all worried that he had caught whatever I had. However, he still wanted to accompany my Aunt Christina, who had volunteered to go to the airport to pick up my Aunt Marilyn, who was due in from San Francisco at around midnight. Grandpa, who is 77 years old and weighs about 140 lbs, didn't feel it was safe for Aunt Christina to go by herself with our highly reputable driver. After much arguing, we finally put our foot down and made him go to bed. Aunt Christina and Aunt Marilyn made it back safe and sound late at night, while the rest of us were sleeping.
And that was Day 6.
Aunt June left mid morning, so just my mom, me and the Chinese Costanzas headed out for lunch. We had decided to try to find the noodle place Grandpa had recommended earlier - the one that was "across from a Watson's, down an alley." Since our driver was busy taking Aunt June to the airport, we had to take a cab, which made the whole process of finding the noodle shop even more difficult.
This is a picture of the back of Grandpa's head, in a taxi cab, when he's looking for a noodle shop THAT IS NOT ACTUALLY LOCATED ACROSS FROM A WATSON'S:
However, it WAS located in an alley. It's right where the red sign is in the pic below:
Like all really good restaurants, it was super small inside. We had to wait for a while to get a table, and even when we got one, we had to share it. Table sharing is very common in China. Not a practice I've ever seen in the U.S. There is one very basic rule to table sharing: Ignore Whoever Else is Sitting with You.
For the love of god, don't even make eye contact!! And saying "hi" would be as inappropriate as suddenly grabbing them, sweeping all the dishes on to the floor, and making out with them on the table!!
I just want everyone to take a second and imagine (no, i'm not asking you to imagine sweeping dishes on the floor - we're past that now) how strange it would be to if you found yourself sitting next to four strangers at a restaurant but, following Chinese Table Sharing Etiquette, you have to pretend they don't EXIST. And they have to pretend YOU don't exist. My own personal theory on this is that we must think that if we acknowledged each other's existence, we'd have to share our food with each other. That's the only explanation I got.
Anyway, my mom managed to get a pic of our table.
Going clockwise starting with Grandpa, Grandma, me, Seat for Mom who's taking the pic, and in the white shirt - The Woman We Have to Pretend is Not Sitting at Our Table
After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to pick up my Aunt Christina, who had arrived from Hong Kong. After some resting (I was still sick) we headed out for some quick shopping and dinner.
I'm not going to give away Aunt Christina's age (cuz then I'd be in the WORST trouble of all) and I'm not going to remind anyone of my mom's age (although I did post about her last birthday much to her horror, "Sareet, how you could you do this, now EVERYONE knows my age!!!!" Relax Mom, 10 people read this blog regularly, 5 of whom are related to you) but their day was FRIGGIN MADE when a shopkeeper coyly asked, "Oh are the three of you (my mom, Aunt Christina, and ME) sisters????"
Me? Moi? Sisters with my mom???? Sisters with my Aunt Christina who is younger than my mom but definitely OLDER than me??? Anti-wrinkle cream is SO going back to the top of the Xmas wishlist this year. My grandma was also thrilled, figuring that the shopkeeper obviously thought she looked young enough to be MY MOM. I think they bought about $20 US of stuff from that shopkeeper, which is a lot of money there. I didn't spend a dime. Bitch.
This is a good time to mention that Shanghainese people are the loudest people I've ever met. By far. Along with heart disease and diabetes, I think the general population must have hearing problems from all the shouting and yelling. And sore throats. So of course, when the first shopkeeper got such great results from the simple question of, "ARE THE THREE OF YOU SISTERS???" the shopkeeper next to the first shopkeeper overheard this and tried it as well, as we walked in front of hershop.
"HEY, ARE THE THREE OF YOU SISTERS????"
My mom and Aunt Christina burst in a fit of giggles. "Oh, the two of us are, but she's (me) my daughter/niece! You can't tell, can you? How much is that blouse hanging on the wall? What about that one? What else you got? Let's go in, Sareet, and check this store out!" My Grandma added, "Yes, she's (me) my granddaughter! From the U.S. She doesn't understand Shanghainese. She has a brother and sister too. I have five daughters. This one (my mom) here is my oldest. She lives in the U.S. This one here is (Aunt Christina) is the third oldest. She lives in Hong Kong and has a son. My youngest daughter (Aunt Marilyn) is coming in tonight. From San Francisco, CA - United States. She has a dog named Boris."
And so on and so on.
I know I'm prone to exaggeration (always for humorous effect of course) but this seriously happened to us at least 3 to 4 shops in a row.
So we were all (except for me) in great moods when we found the restaurant we were headed to for dinner. Again, this was a very small restaurant, and also had the audacity to put up some sign basically explaining that it was for "members only" or on a "referred basis." Hmmm.
Being the rather conniving family that we are, we pretended that we referred by a Mrs. Lee from Hong Kong. I'm sure that didn't fool anyone, but the owner did give us a small table. A very small table. A very small table in the back of a totally empty restaurant (empty because all the tables were reserved according to her, even though, no one had shown up yet by the time we left) Granted there were large pictures of the owner posing with various celebrities on the wall, so maybe she was a big deal....I dunno. The food was very good though. We specifically asked for food that was less heavy and more like regular local homemade food.
Here's my Aunt Christina, who was rather unhappy with my mom for taking this pic, and will be even unhappier with me for posting in on my blog. The dish closest to the white teapot is a sort of Salted/Cured Duck. Going clockwise, there is I think Deep Fried Tofu in Soy Sauce again, then Pumpkins Cooked with some Lily Bulb type thing (pumpkins yummy, lily bulbs very very nasty), and then some super green veggie that I did not particularly like.
Below you can see the rest of the meal. The dark pile of stuff on the plate with the white spoon set on it is actually Whole Fish Steamed with Soy Sauce and Dried Veggies. Very yummy. To the left of it is a bowl of Tomatos Cooked With Rice Noodles.
You can't really see it, but in the pic below, the big pot is filled with Tofu Cooked with Hai Fun. Yes, Hai Fun. It was really really good, and I was convinced that my first bad experience with Hai Fun was merely a fluke so I ate a lot of it. And no, it was not a fluke.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel, where there was all sorts of drama. First off, Grandpa was beginning to show symptoms of getting sick. We were all worried that he had caught whatever I had. However, he still wanted to accompany my Aunt Christina, who had volunteered to go to the airport to pick up my Aunt Marilyn, who was due in from San Francisco at around midnight. Grandpa, who is 77 years old and weighs about 140 lbs, didn't feel it was safe for Aunt Christina to go by herself with our highly reputable driver. After much arguing, we finally put our foot down and made him go to bed. Aunt Christina and Aunt Marilyn made it back safe and sound late at night, while the rest of us were sleeping.
And that was Day 6.
posted by S at 12:58 PM
1 Comments:
scratch the anti-wrinkle cream off your xmas list. you have the same good genes that keep your mom and aunts looking so youthful. you gots nothing to worry about...
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