Skip to main content

Pictures from a Chinese banquet

Captain's Log, Stardate 04.16.2008

In Sushi for One, the first scene is a “Red Egg and Ginger” Chinese banquet. At the end of the book, the last scene is in a Chinese wedding banquet.

Both types of banquets serve similar foods. There are some dishes that absolutely must be served at one or the other—for example, when Captain Caffeine and I got married, my Chinese father-in-law-to-be said we had to have some sort of chicken dish for good luck or good fortune or something like that.

The Captain and I went to the wedding of one of his cousins about a month ago, and it was traditional Chinese banquet style food. I thought I’d share the more interesting dishes.

WARNING: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART OR CHICKEN LOVERS.

First off, the fried rice dish. This was totally yummy! The rice was served or steamed in banana leaves, which gave the rice this absolutely fabulous fragrance and flavor. Isn’t it beautiful, too?



This banquet happened to be heavy on the seafood. Which was probably good, because I’m heavily allergic to crab and slightly allergic to shrimp and lobster. If there had been stuff I could eat tons of, I would have, piggy that I am.

Thing is, with Chinese banquets, I don’t know why, but they always make sure to serve the animal’s head with the dish. So even though this lobster was stuffed with some yummy shrimp paste so that it was no longer, technically, a lobster, they still served it with it’s lovely head. Staring right at everyone on the table as we spun the lazy susan around.




Lastly, the famous chicken dish that is required at a wedding banquet. This one was actually quite tasty, especially since I could eat more of this than the crab and lobster and shrimp dishes, but Chicken Little is, you have to admit, an unusual dinner companion.




I have a sick sense of humor because I found this quite amusing rather than off-putting. Maybe because I’ve been to so many Chinese banquets and seen so many other chicken heads?

I’ll be honest, the chicken heads at banquets was the inspiration for Kazuo’s art piece that Grandma Sakai buys for the bank in Only Uni.

Now, relax, there are other dishes at a Chinese banquet that don’t involve animal heads. Boring dishes like salad with crab and shrimp, fried noodles, black bean sauce clams (my personal favorite), and abalone with Chinese black mushrooms (one of my dad’s favorites). But those pictures are just not as entertaining to me as Sebastian and Foghorn Leghorn, up there.

Oh wait, Sebastian was a crab, wasn’t he?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I don't think I could sit and eat something with it's head staring at me. LOL
Donna said…
I am making sure I let my eleven year old son see this afterschool. He will agree with your sense of humor. I too would have been fasinated by the heads displayed.
Fedora said…
Mmmm... that looks like a pretty fancy banquet, BTW! My kids think the heads, etc. are hilarious ;) Uh, yep, I guess we're Chinese... :)

Popular Posts

Chinese Take-Out and Sushi for One

Captain’s Log, Supplemental My agent sent me an article from Publisher’s Weekly that discussed this incident: Chinese Take-Out Spawns Christian Controversy And here’s also a blog post that talks about it in more detail: The Fighting 44s This is Soong-Chan Rah’s blog: The PCS blog In sum: Apparently Zondervan (yes, my publisher), who has partnered with Youth Specialties, had put out a youth leaders skit that had stereotypical Asian dialogue, which offended many Christian Asian Americans. In response to the outcry, Zondervan/Youth Specialities put out a sincere apology and is not only freezing the remaining stock of the book, but also reprinting it and replacing the copies people have already bought. I am very proud of my publisher for how they have handled this situation. The skit writers have also issued a public apology . (I feel sorry for them, because they were only trying to write a funny skit, not stir up this maelstrom of internet controversy. I’ve been in youth work long enou...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

Excerpt - A HUNDRED YEARS OF HAPPINESS by Nicole Seitz

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.05.2009 Update: Sorry, this giveaway is closed. A Hundred Years of Happiness by Nicole Seitz A beautiful young woman. An American soldier. A war-torn country. Nearly forty years of silence. Now, two daughters search for the truth they hope will set them free and the elusive peace their parents have never found. In the South Carolina Lowcountry, a young mother named Katherine Ann is struggling to help her tempestuous father, by plunging into a world of secrets he never talks about. A fry cook named Lisa is trying desperately to reach her grieving Vietnamese mother, who has never fully adjusted to life in the States. And somewhere far away, a lost soul named Ernest is drifting, treading water, searching for what he lost on a long-ago mountain. They're all longing for connection. For the war that touched them to finally end. For their hundred years of happiness at long last to begin. From the beloved author of The Spirit of Sweetgrass...

Brainstorm - character occupation

Captain's Log, Stardate 03.23.2009 Hey guys, I could use some help. In my current manuscript, The Year of the Dog , which is a humorous contemporary romance, I have a minor character, Eddie. He’s my heroine’s ex-boyfriend, and they’re on good terms with each other. He’s a bit irresponsible, but not so much so that he’s a complete loser. He’s got a very easy going attitude, he forgets to pay his bills sometimes, he’s friendly and charming. He’s adventurous and fun to be around, but he’s a little forgetful sometimes, and he tends to spend a little outside his income. I need an occupation for him. What would a charming, easy going, slightly irresponsible guy do for a living? He’s not too irresponsible, because otherwise readers will wonder what in the world my heroine saw in him to date him in the first place. She was attracted to his charm, his easy going attitude (her family’s uptight, and he was a nice contrast), and his adventurousness. But his forgetfulness and irresponsibility ...