Thursday, Chinatown

Last week, our class had done a field trip to Chinatown as the city prepared for Chinese New Year.

One of Nate's BFF's had a fever that day, and couldn't come, so I suggested that we take a day trip during Ski Week, and revisit all the fun places, so he wouldn't feel like he missed out on the best field trip of the year.

So yesterday, I picked up Q, and his brother and his mom, and the six of us (me, with Nate and Kelly) headed up to the City to tour Chinatown.

For the record? I'm a big giant nervous wreck when I'm driving in city traffic, but I fake it well. Fortunately, the GPS led us almost straight to the parking garage at Portsmouth Square, which is where we started last week's field trip, too.

If it's even possible, there were MORE decorations festooning the place than there had been last week.

So much red. So much gold. It was like being in the middle of a swirling sno-globe of glitter.

Of course, we had to re-visit the fortune cookie factory...

But this time, I opted to not pay the fifty cents to take a photo. There were a zillion school groups crowding the place, and I couldn't really get a good angle, anyways.

After wandering around a bit (and poking into a dozen little shops), we stopped for an early lunch at the Four Seas. This time, we sat in the REAL dining room, not in the upstairs conference room that they reserve for loud and obnoxious school groups.

It was serene, even with the three boys.

We tried a little dim sum...

But I kind of felt like the steamed pork dumplings were emulating "Alpo in a wrapper", so I opted for beef chow fun, lemon chicken, and garlic string beans.

DELICIOUS! I was too busy eating to take a photo.

The next stop was a wok shop, where I picked up replacement implements for Ken's wok. He's had the same wok for 27 years, and I think he's had the same two scooper-scraper utensils, too, and they're falling apart. And so, for $1.95 I was able to get him a shiny new scooper. No photo of the scooper, but look at all those woks!

And look up... way up... (and I'll call Rusty!)... they'd even decorated the ceiling for Chinese New Year.

Kelly found her favourite part of Chinatown...

"I'll just stay here, mom. You can pick me up here when you're ready to go home..."

The afternoon snack was a trip into The Eastern Bakery, the oldest bakery in Chinatown. And it must be good... Bill Clinton ate here in 1996.

The steamed egg custards were FABULOUS!

And a few more shops got invaded...

We got some popper-type things, little explosive caps that I'm sure can take out an eyeball if you're not careful, and a bunch of multi-colored sparklers. My first batch of night-photos with the sparklers was a bust, but I have good hope for a better session tonight. Kelly got a birthday present for her BFF (party is this afternoon), and a new eyeglass case, seeing as hers is starting to fall apart.I bought candied carrots, candied water chestnuts, and candied melon, and tried feeding them to my family last night for dessert.

They now think I am trying to poison them. Even Ken made a face. And he'll eat anything.

But other than that, the trip was made of win.