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.
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