Brunch yesterday with the fam (parents, brother, SIL and their baby) was fun. We met at a Chinese place a little ways from my downtown location, but not too too far away that it was a hassle or anything. You know the place is good when it’s always, always crowded and yesterday was no exception.
Dim sum is probably my favorite Chinese cuisine, but it’s truly a Southern China thing, and my SIL is actually from Northern China, so while she didn’t really “get” all of it, there were still many dishes she was familiar with and liked and the baby loved most of it too. My parents were meh about it, simply because they’d rather have steak and potatoes, but I always love dim sum no matter what or where!
This time I got to meet my niece while she was awake, and ohhhhhh, is she a handful. She was definitely not into me, which is unusual. Babies normally love me…or at least they used to back in my baby-ache days (when I really wanted a child of my own). Now, perhaps she could feel the childless vibe - she seemed pretty suspicious of me. That is, until I took her picture on my iphone and showed it to her! Hah, that kid is going to be a child of the Twenty-Teens, a selfie-loving girl! I made her laugh and smile and she even called me “guah guah” (phonetically), which means “Aunt” in Mandarin!
But she’s also a little squirmy, fussy baby, and my mom has decided that even though she’s only a year and a half, she’s already going through her terrible twos. My parents are cute with her, but you can tell that it’s been sooooooo long since they’ve had a baby in their lives that they are just in utter shock to have her around. My mom can’t handle my dog - imagine what having a precocious and noisy baby around is going to be like.
After brunch, we all went to the local Chinese cultural center, which was kind of a bust for my SIL. I think they wanted to get a feel for the local Chinese community, but it was also Sunday and the small center was busy with a calligraphy roundtable and sort of sent them away. SIL picked up some Chinese newspapers (there were a lot of them), and then we headed to the Asian Supermarket, which is always fun!
Always love to see the fruits and veggies and all of the other Asian goods you can get at the Asian market that you don’t always see in our local grocery stores. I ended up picking up rice paper wraps and vermicelli to make shrimp spring rolls (inspired by Athena, who posted a wonderful recipe and her results on FB the other day), and by that point my mother was about to die from the combination of activity as well as the blazing heat. She wanted to go home and nap. I don’t blame her.
We said our goodbyes, my mother telling me how much she loves me over and over, which sort of made me misty. I think having a brand new family has overwhelmed her in a thrilling but exhausting way.
I went home and did the same. Maybe it’s sort of hit me like that, too. I got back into bed and slept until the dog nudged me to take her out.
By this time, evening was upon us and I decided to take the dog out for a walk where we’d end up on a local patio for dinner. Doggie date!
We walked and walked - the place I had in mind decided to close at 7 instead of 8, so finally we ended up at this outdoor bar/restaurant that’s connected to a nice hotel. I’ve taken her there before, and they are extremely dog-friendly, so, perfect. We always end up making friends at this place.
Last night was no exception, and soon, with the help of my sweet Martini dog, I was talking with a guy and a few of his (girl)friends who were sitting at the bar watching basketball (Summer League? Who knew there was such a thing?).
Guy was really nice and I found out after asking a few questions that he’s the coach of a college basketball team just passing through town, visiting his sister before heading to New York and Vegas and other locations. And yes, you would know who this team is.
We chittered and chattered and before long I told him about Bumble dating (which, flatteringly, he was shocked that I was even on such as service - way to go, dude!), and when I told him about Friday night and the Sprinter, he suddenly told the bartender to put everything I was having on his tab!! He was all, SERIOUSLY?! How on earth could something like that even possibly happen? What was wrong with this jerk?
Of course, it made my evening, and he even got me another sparkling wine (hah!), and told me how amazing I am, and loved on my dog, and even told me that he’s going to be in Vegas next week (during the same time I’ll be there!), and that we should get together for a drink. He took my number before some other friends of his showed up.
It was getting dark out and I needed to walk the dog back home, so that, and the fact that more and more friends of his were arriving, were the perfect cues for me to cut out and say goodnight to all. The whole bar was incredibly lovely, warm and gracious.
I’d say that was the perfect cap to a weird weekend. Not that I needed to have my ego stroked that much, but it sure helped. What started out super weird, frantic and even comical, ended very nicely.
EDIT: Click here for the nicest text I’ve gotten in a long time!
xox,
GS
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