Next Door Neighbors


Fourteen people squeezed in around the table for another round of Chinese New Year feasting. See what a basket of fruit can do to open doors? In short, my neighbors know how to cook. The eldest at the dinner were his brother and his brother's wife; 76 and 75 years old. Good thing I like jellyfish. It was both fun and torture simultaneously as 95% of what was said was in Shanghainese. Once in a while they would take pity on me and translate into Putonghua or the common Mandarin. And fortunately I was spared from the baijiu commonly drunk at such affairs as this family prefers red wine. They seemed pretty happy with a bottle of Australian Shiraz I provided, calling it "the good French wine" which to them was what they were drinking. I did not try the special dish of "small cat."

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