[6] The Worm Turns
3 Nov 2022 08:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kilerkkiWell, a Muskrat is eating Twitter,
and back I come to see if I can remember how to organize thoughts in paragraphs longer than 280 characters. (That shouldn’t be hard. Editing tweets down to the character limit is usually hard. But somehow a journal-style post seems to demand more energy and thought — or at least forethought, not off-the-cuff quips.) Even in 2005, in the LJ era, I was always an erratic journaler. I suspect I shall be even more erratic here. But look how long-winded I’ve already let myself become!
(I’m typing this on a phone, so real dedication at work.)
Let’s see. What’s happened recently?
Last weekend my wife’s parents arrived, from China, to stay a weekend in Toronto before heading on to the US for the next few weeks. We cleared the weekend to spend with them, and were glad we did; it was really nice to share meals or a few excursions together, but also pretty tiring.
On Friday we both wrapped up work early and picked them up from the airport, then dropped them off at their (nearby) hotel for a few hours’ rest while we went home to make dinner. We’d been planning (and practicing) for months the dishes that we’d make when we saw them again, and we settled on: 1) red-braised chicken with chestnut and mushrooms, adapted from Fuschia Dunlop’s EVERY GRAIN OF RICE; 2) tomato and egg, made with the very last of this summer’s balcony-grown tomatoes; 3) Bok choy stir fried with garlic; 4) a soup of pork bone broth simmered with ham, napa, and tofu knots; and 5) white rice.
Dinner was a tremendous success. MIL praised the first two dishes particularly (I felt validated in those weeks I’d nurtured and ripened the last tomatoes!) And they’d brought gifts: my wife’s beloved roasted hickory-nuts; a couple of lovely sweater/shawls; and for me, a gorgeous jade pendant. I’d mentioned to Aubrey a few weeks ago that I wanted a jade pendant, and she’d immediately told her mom, and MIL immediately went shopping. She was tremendously pleased with her success in bargaining the seller down to 50% of his asking price, although it must’ve been expensive even so — Aubrey refused to translate the price for me — but it does come with a certificate of authenticity, and it is so perfectly beautiful and exactly what I’d wanted. And so, so kind of her to go out searching for it. I hate to say that a piece of jewelry really does make me feel accepted and loved as her daughter-in-law but — it does! At least I think she felt the love & effort I put into dinner in return.
And of course that wasn’t all of it; we met up on Saturday for an extended family dinner at Nabu’s place, with Aunt Gloria and her husband as well. Aubrey and I got ten dishes of takeout from Asian Legend, but Gloria and Nabu insisted on making a few extra dishes anyway—and Gloria’s homemade fish ball soup was in fact the highlight of the evening (and the first time I have really LIKED fish balls). We had a wonderful time with everyone, and Nabu sent me off with several hugs AND a new cutting off her spider plant. She is always so enthusiastic about hugging me and saying that she loves me. I’m not sure if her Shanghainese family has deprived her of hugging opportunities all these years, or if she thinks that I, away from my family, am desperately missing the hugs I’d otherwise be getting… Maybe I just look very huggable!
On Sunday morning we collected MIL and FIL from their hotel and drove up north to the cemetery where FIL’s parents, Aubrey’s Yeye and Nainai, are buried. A few weeks ago Aubrey and I had tried to dig a trench and plant tulip bulbs at the foot of the headstone; we’re not sure they’ll take, but at least it didn’t look like squirrels had dug them up. We cleaned the headstone and offered flowers, and FIL had a little time to commune with them. They both died while he was away — Nainai during the early days of lockdown in May 2020, and Yeye seven years prior — and this is only the second time he’s been able to visit the grave, after coming to Canada for our belated wedding reception in October 2021.
After the cemetery we went to Costco — or rather Aubrey ran into Costco to return an item, while I looked for parking and only found it literally as she was coming back out. Then back to our condo for lunch: leftovers and fried rice. Aubrey had boasted about my fried rice and I had to back it up! I used Friday’s leftover rice plus diced carrot, Chinese sausage, edamame, green onion, eggs, and a touch of oyster sauce and sesame oil. It came out well, and we all had a good lunch — and more gratifyingly, a good conversation — before they left and we fell over.
And that was the weekend!
and back I come to see if I can remember how to organize thoughts in paragraphs longer than 280 characters. (That shouldn’t be hard. Editing tweets down to the character limit is usually hard. But somehow a journal-style post seems to demand more energy and thought — or at least forethought, not off-the-cuff quips.) Even in 2005, in the LJ era, I was always an erratic journaler. I suspect I shall be even more erratic here. But look how long-winded I’ve already let myself become!
(I’m typing this on a phone, so real dedication at work.)
Let’s see. What’s happened recently?
Last weekend my wife’s parents arrived, from China, to stay a weekend in Toronto before heading on to the US for the next few weeks. We cleared the weekend to spend with them, and were glad we did; it was really nice to share meals or a few excursions together, but also pretty tiring.
On Friday we both wrapped up work early and picked them up from the airport, then dropped them off at their (nearby) hotel for a few hours’ rest while we went home to make dinner. We’d been planning (and practicing) for months the dishes that we’d make when we saw them again, and we settled on: 1) red-braised chicken with chestnut and mushrooms, adapted from Fuschia Dunlop’s EVERY GRAIN OF RICE; 2) tomato and egg, made with the very last of this summer’s balcony-grown tomatoes; 3) Bok choy stir fried with garlic; 4) a soup of pork bone broth simmered with ham, napa, and tofu knots; and 5) white rice.
Dinner was a tremendous success. MIL praised the first two dishes particularly (I felt validated in those weeks I’d nurtured and ripened the last tomatoes!) And they’d brought gifts: my wife’s beloved roasted hickory-nuts; a couple of lovely sweater/shawls; and for me, a gorgeous jade pendant. I’d mentioned to Aubrey a few weeks ago that I wanted a jade pendant, and she’d immediately told her mom, and MIL immediately went shopping. She was tremendously pleased with her success in bargaining the seller down to 50% of his asking price, although it must’ve been expensive even so — Aubrey refused to translate the price for me — but it does come with a certificate of authenticity, and it is so perfectly beautiful and exactly what I’d wanted. And so, so kind of her to go out searching for it. I hate to say that a piece of jewelry really does make me feel accepted and loved as her daughter-in-law but — it does! At least I think she felt the love & effort I put into dinner in return.
And of course that wasn’t all of it; we met up on Saturday for an extended family dinner at Nabu’s place, with Aunt Gloria and her husband as well. Aubrey and I got ten dishes of takeout from Asian Legend, but Gloria and Nabu insisted on making a few extra dishes anyway—and Gloria’s homemade fish ball soup was in fact the highlight of the evening (and the first time I have really LIKED fish balls). We had a wonderful time with everyone, and Nabu sent me off with several hugs AND a new cutting off her spider plant. She is always so enthusiastic about hugging me and saying that she loves me. I’m not sure if her Shanghainese family has deprived her of hugging opportunities all these years, or if she thinks that I, away from my family, am desperately missing the hugs I’d otherwise be getting… Maybe I just look very huggable!
On Sunday morning we collected MIL and FIL from their hotel and drove up north to the cemetery where FIL’s parents, Aubrey’s Yeye and Nainai, are buried. A few weeks ago Aubrey and I had tried to dig a trench and plant tulip bulbs at the foot of the headstone; we’re not sure they’ll take, but at least it didn’t look like squirrels had dug them up. We cleaned the headstone and offered flowers, and FIL had a little time to commune with them. They both died while he was away — Nainai during the early days of lockdown in May 2020, and Yeye seven years prior — and this is only the second time he’s been able to visit the grave, after coming to Canada for our belated wedding reception in October 2021.
After the cemetery we went to Costco — or rather Aubrey ran into Costco to return an item, while I looked for parking and only found it literally as she was coming back out. Then back to our condo for lunch: leftovers and fried rice. Aubrey had boasted about my fried rice and I had to back it up! I used Friday’s leftover rice plus diced carrot, Chinese sausage, edamame, green onion, eggs, and a touch of oyster sauce and sesame oil. It came out well, and we all had a good lunch — and more gratifyingly, a good conversation — before they left and we fell over.
And that was the weekend!
