use real butter

lobster noodles being served

cold plate of appetizers including amazing seaweed salad

lotus and other vegetable stir fry

We ate at a shanghai style dim sum place (I realize dim sum is cantonese and hence, not shanghai - I guess it’s called tsao dien?) on Saturday morning. They specialize in the soup dumplings that Nicole S.D. and Laura rave about. The ones where you bite into a dumpling and the soup spills out? My dad said the way to eat them is to hold the whole dumpling in your chopsticks, then with the other hand, hold a chinese soup spoon under the dumpling. You bite it and let the soup spill into the spoon. Fascinating. Okay, but call me a heathen - I still prefer the cantonese style dim sum.

soup dumplings

Grandma’s 85th birthday banquet at Chef Chu’s in Palo Alto was quite an event. Grandma was surprised, the food was amazing, the room was tight, and I am pretty sure Grandma enjoyed it. That’s most important. Well, here are some shots from last night.

mom (right) and her two best friends of 50+ years

joanna (mom’s cousin), mom, grandma, my three aunts

100 steamed sweet buns and the crazy lotus candle

the best damn hunan tofu EVAR

I have been summoned for coffee by Jim…

We’re finally down to one cheesecake in the house! I’m sure Jeremy can make quick work of that tomorrow.

prettied up

Jeremy took the two 6-inch cakes to Marcus tonight while I made dinner. The kids were very excited. Jeremy said Marcus looked pretty happy too. Marcus went backcountry skiing today at Berthoud Pass. He said it began snowing there this afternoon. Our forecast was saying 9-12 inches tonight, then 10-16 inches, and now we’re down to 6-10 inches. When we walked the dog this afternoon, it was sunny and warm… I guess it’s coming.

My lightsphere II arrived today along with a dog biscuit courtesy of the UPS man. Actually, I should say my lightspheres because I got both models (cloud and photojournalist). I tested one on Jeremy before he delivered two more of the 4.5 inch cakes.

my handsome, brilliant man

I like the way it works! Unfortunately, the restaurant has a grey ceiling and two mirrored walls. Sigh, the decor of Chinese restaurants will forever be my bane. I’ll make due with what I’ve got. Now to go test how it does with food photography (because that’s just as important as the people photography!). Thanks for the tip, KJ!