CNY time

It was an unseasonably warm Saturday that I ventured out to SF's Chinatown. The plan was to have dinner with the folks but before collecting them, we snatched a look around our childhood haunt during the festive lunar new year. Mr. P had incorrectly pictured the streets of Grant Avenue lined with booths for the annual CNY street fair. Actually, that happens on a different weekend, so he pictured the wrong day. No matter; we were up there anyways...to get our exercise climbing down and then up the steep streets. ;P

Grant Avenue's lined with shlocky souvenir stores which all carry pretty much the same junk. I tried on a green Mao hat, or was that merely a China military cap? For a second, I lingered over the girl's kung-fu shoes thinking it'd be cute on girl-child but thought better of it. I used to wear them to school because it had been the fad. Nobody wears them to school these days unless they want to be ridiculed. ;D No matter how pretty the embroidery happens to be.

Passed by the building that houses the Empress of China restaurant. I don't know how many wedding banquets where I passed the time here. Too numerous to count. The food was never all that great. I've not noticed the decorations until I came to their website in the process of writing this blog. I have to say that the restaurant's appearance is very authentically, ancient-y Chinese. Hah, the place has probably been around since before the China fell (er, was elevated) to Communism. The place calls to memory dark, dank and musty. I think this restaurant was (is?) popular for banquets bc the dining room is big and a parking garage is just across the street.

In the foyer of the same building are some souvenir shops. There's a circular walkway with what once used to be a diabolical-looking dragon, ready to pounce unbelievers or evil-doers. During many long and boring wedding banquets, my cousins and I used to run out of the dining room and play in the elevators or in the downstairs shops. For something a little more exhilarating, we'd invent games revolving around the golden dragon looming over our heads at the walkway. I think we used to make a lot of racket out there by the stinky eyes the shopkeepers would throw us.

Walking the streets, I'd hear lots of pops and crackles. Firecrackers are banned in SF. A good thing cos those things are a nuisance, if not a tad dangerous. Those pops were from products similar to these boxes of "Pop Pop" I bought for a buck from an old man roaming the streets. They're little tissue wrappers containing a bit of gun powder that one throws not gently onto the pavement to make them pop. It amused us during our stroll. Not all of them popped which didn't surprise me for a product that came out of China.

Had a big Chinese New Year dinner with the in-laws and mom. New Face girl and her parents were also there. Peking Duck and free-range chicken were present and accounted for, and quite delicious. On the LCD TV, Hong Kong's LNY parade was being shown for our entertainment.

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