MUCH LAUGHTER AND JOY AT THE GREAT PARTY
The call came last week from Wei Han: "My family would like you and Mary to come to our house next Friday." "So sorry, but Mary can not go out in the winter to gatherings, but I will try to come. What time please?" "Oh, we start the cooking at noon." "Okay, I'll try to be there before five."
Friday afternoon I set out to the home of Wei Han and his parents. They live at the north end of town in an area of orchards. They own an orchard and market garden. Their house is much larger than ours, so they have lots of room. I thought it was just a little dinner party. The family with three children, the youngest nine years old, had been our guests just after Christmas. When I arrived at the house, I already noticed several cars parked. I parked too, and went to the door and knocked. Wei Han opened the door and he and his younger brother received me. I took off my shoes and put on slippers I had brought. Then I handed over my contribution to the meal: some nice hard candies and a kilo of fresh red grapes from Chile.
The parents ushered me into the kitchen where, to my great surprise, at least eight young Chinese ladies were very busy with making supper. I was introduced and then taken into the adjoining casual sitting room, where there were more guests, some of whom I already knew. I received tea lovingly served by Wei Han, and settled down to hear what the people were talking about, but with the background noise from the kitchen, and my bad ear, I could not hear too well. So, after the tea, I went into the kitchen, a much more interesting place, anyway.
Here I was immediately introduced as also being a Chef. A lady at the stove was apparently a Chef, too, and busily engaged in frying small, thin slices of pork on a wok with hot fat. So I stayed in the kitchen. The chef lady gave me a sample of the cooked pork. It was very tender, and tasted delicious. Then she explained two other types of pork waiting their turn to be cooked. The whole meal was mostly Chinese dishes, with a few dishes the guests had brought as "Pot Luck", so a very international meal was in the making. In the oven was a large Italian pizza made by the hostess. A Persian man, whose wife would come a little later since she was detained at work, got ready to make a cake.
Now I must describe the house for you, so you can picture it all. Standing outside viewing from from left to right: a large formal sitting or living room, entry, dining room, kitchen (farm style, and large, with a TV). The formal sitting room has beautiful Chinese lacquered furniture, chairs and a TV. The kitchen is the heart of every home. Most of the time is spent here. Along the wall with the window is a kitchen counter with the wash basin and dish washing machine. Cupboards above it. In the middle is a large built-in table for food preparation. To the side, the electric cooking range (or "stove", it is still called a stove, the name from the time of wood burning), At the rear wall, a large electric refrigerator. The back of the house has the bed rooms, bath rooms, etc. The whole downstairs is being used as living quarters for another family who work on the farm in the orchard and garden.
So, the Persian gentleman is getting ready to make the cake from a receipe in Persian writing, which he explains as he goes along. The ladies are writing down the receipe in Chinese, as he makes the batter. Then the batter is put into the cake form and set into the oven.
Now came time to eat. All the dishes were lined up on the centre table. You walked around it as you filled your plate. Starting with steamed rice, there were all these goodies: crispy fried shrimp with pineapple pieces; a Canadian dish with vegetables and potatoes, baked in the oven; fried pieces of halibut in batter, with sweet and sour sauce; Italian Pizza with sausage slices, tomatoes and cheese; three kinds of delicious, tender pork slices, fried in the wok; some slivers of fried beef; a soup with meat and noodles; a Portuguese soup with slices of sausage.
I will now mention the dessert that we ate afterwards. The Persian cake was sliced and served; Chinese round cakes made with rice flour, these were more like dumplings and were not Moon Cakes; another Canadian type of cake; and then the most famous "Mooncakes" of the Spring Festival.
You might say with all this food "we felt like we had died and gone to heaven!" I sat with the host and some other older guests and a younger Chinese lady, who had married an older Canadian. At this table most of us ate with forks, except the host and me. The Chinese lady complimented me on my use of chopsticks. This greatly increased my good mood.
Now, from the kitchen, came much laughter. There, at the breakfast table sat seven young Chinese ladies and the young man from Shanghai, and one Canadian young man. They talked together in Mandarin and made lots of jokes. So, for desert I joined that table, the Canadian having left there was room for me. Oh,how I enjoyed the laughter, and laughed with them, even though I could not understand one word I laughed with them and had a good t. Of course, they could speak English, but it is so much easier for them to use their mother tongue. One lady offered to translate for me, but I said, "never mind, we speak heart to heart." Later she did translate one little joke: "A policeman stopped a driver who had gone through a red light and asked: 'Did you not see the red light?' and the reply came back: 'Of course, but I did not see you!'" That little joke was so hilarious, but you see, we were all in a very good mood, even with no alcohol being served. After that fantastic food we had shared, how could we not be joyful? I actually then told them a joke in English, and was rewarded with much laughter. I felt so much joy. Altogether there were at least 32 peoplethere, and half were Chinese, all recent immigrants. Of the others, only about five were born in Canada.
Soon the hostess called us into the casual room, and then we sang together a song, with a man who played his guitar. After that, a married couple, the man extremely tall, from Holland, and his wife a black lady from Jamaica sang a song together. They had been in China studying and teaching their professions, and to my surprise they sang a Chinese song. The young ladies sang happily along. This one was about the moon, a mountain, and love. I am sure you all would know it too, if you could hear it. After this, the very vivacious young lady who is married to the Canadian acted as Master of Ceremonies, and started to introduce all the people.
Now it turned out that this party was the going-away party for the Chef lady. She came here four and a half years ago from Taiwan, and now had received her Canadian Citizenship and was going back for some family affairs, and would be gone for some time. We all wished her happiness, and then I went home. It had become late. I arrived home at ten p.m., tired, but oh, so happy. In fact, it was the best party in fortyfive years.
I brought a Moon Cake and a nice rice dumpling cake for Mary, which she enjoyed after breakfast this morning. They both had yellow pea-flour centres. When I told her it was the best party in forty-five years she asked "Even better than the Spanish and Mexican parties, and the party of the Filopina nurses, which were wonderful parties?" "Yes, I said. "YES!
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