White Dog said, "It is the year of the Ox. I read it was a time of new beginnings and family being together." We were all gathered to enjoy a late lunch/early dinner to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
We started with eggrolls. "Who doesn't like egg rolls?" Roman mumbled through a mouthful of cabbage, sprouts, and baby shrimp.
Yo Yo Ma (the cellist, not our WDA jokester) played on the stereo.
Next were noodles in peanut sauce. "Remember, slurp don't chew," Bailey reminded, "the noodles stand for longevity and you don't want to cut them short."
Next Zsofia helped Steve serve Larb, a duck sausage and vegetable salad which is the unofficial national dish of Laos. The WDA version did not contain onions or red chile paste but we heaped both onto our servings.
White Dog ate the tiny little steamed beef dumplings from Steve's chopsticks prompting Bella to insist that she try to do the same...except she tried to eat the utensils as well.
We could smell the fish grilling as we ate. Steve had stuffed the red snapper with ginger, watercress, and radish and basted the outside flesh with rice wine and soy sauce. It was as delicious as it smelled and stained the underbed of rice with fragrant drippings. "Opal, your plate is clean. Stop licking it so dad can collect it and put it in the sink."
The Army agreed to save dessert until we all resettled comfortably around the television to watch Tan Dun's opera, "Tea A Mirror of Soul" (https://youtu.be/BlgBHxqS_T0). Over almond cookies, fortunes, and mandarin orange segments, we shared the dreamlike work which Steve and I saw in its American premiere at the Santa Fe Opera.
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