We were invited to my wife’s friend’s cousin’s house in another city, QingYuen. The day before we left, my father-in-law called a friend and said basically, “Hey, can you take my daughter, her husband, and his father to this town, two hours away, for a COUPLE OF DAYS?” The guy dropped everything and drove us there, no questions asked. He hung out with us, but tried to stay out of the way. That’s the nature of relationships here. And I have friends who bitch when I ask for a ride to the airport…
The family who had us over in QingYuen is huge and happy. 7 sons and daughters and their kids, 24 in all, get together at Mom’s house every weekend for MahJong and food. It reminded me of a 4th of July cookout, without the need to be totally drunk. When people come to my house for dinner, we might throw together a dish or two, or get takeout. They prepared a feast for us. Rabbit stew, shrimp, crabs, stuffed fish, steamed chicken, beef and peppers. fish-stuffed peppers, sauteed mushrooms, exquisite chicken soup, and pan-fried bamboo piled on the table until we were laughing out loud at the sheer audacity of it. And here’s the thing – it was all for the four of us. They had all already eaten.
My dad said, “I’ll never again tell my grandkids to eat up because there are starving people in China.”
Peace through superior food power
That’s awesome!
I’m American-Caucasian and my wife is from Taiwan. Her family is the same way. They’ll do anything for you to the point of breaking other commitments. Her mom is also an amazing cook and whips out a 7-10 course meal every night for the family with only 1 burner & wok and it ALL gets to the table hot. They never know which of the rather large family will be coming by for dinner as no one ever ha to call first, just show up.
Her family is always concerned that I “never eat” because I simply just cannot consume THAT MUCH FOOD!
It’s great, isn’t it?