Happy Mother's Day
We did our usual Mother's Day thing, which is to say, Ed and the kids and I got together with my parents, and we all went up to My Le Hoa for dim sum. This year, a family friend was in town with his high-school-aged daughter (for whom I regularly babysat back when she was a chubby little dimpled infant) to visit the U of M; they joined us. Ken had never seen dim sum before, so for the benefit of any readers who might not know what I'm talking about, I'll explain.
Dim sum is like a Chinese brunch. Traditionally, the way it works is that you sit down at a table (ideally a large one with a lazy susan in the middle) and the waitstaff bring little carts around with little appetizer-y things in bowls. They show you each item and if you say you want it, they add it to your table. They keep a running tab of what you order so that you can pay at the end. Typical dim sum fare would include shrimp balls, fried crab claws, steamed shrimp or shark fin dumplings, egg rolls, spare ribs, sticky rice, fried squid, and Chinese broccoli. It might also include chicken feet. Or beef of some mystery cut in a tasty sauce. The girls love dim sum -- last year, Kiera was still a baby in my lap, and introduced herself to crab by grabbing my hand when I wasn't paying close attention and stuffing the crab claw I was holding right into her mouth. (You aren't supposed to give babies seafood until they're a year old -- it's a common allergen. Fortunately, she's not allergic to seafood.)
Back in 1997, Ed and I visited a friend who was living in Hong Kong (we were there a few months before the handover). Rick took us out to one of the best dim sum restaurants in the city, and rather than having the carts, they had wandering wait staff who'd take your order and then bring your stuff out from the kitchen a minute or two later, so it was all really fresh. But most of the Hong Kong restaurants used the carts, as well.
Anyway, that's our Mother's Day tradition -- dim sum for lunch, rather than a more traditional brunch. We had a good time.
