I Am My Father's Daughter

This week has been pretty tough for Chhimi. He's been so stressed at work. Poor thing. So last night when he asked whether we can go for a movie on a weeknight, I didn't hesitate at all. Relaxation was much needed. He chose to see "AVP" aka Aliens vs Predators (blah!).

By the time we reached the movie theater, it was about 40 minutes prior to our movie starting time. Since we hadn't eaten dinner yet, we decided to go next door to the Mongolian BBQ place. We haven't had Mongolian BBQ for a long time (honestly, for me, it's not a favorite since it's basically a combo Chow Mein with some chefs playing with your food on a flat wok).

Anyhow, in front of us were a couple (I assume) but the guy was in a wheelchair, whether he was permanently disabled or just temporary, that I'm not sure of. As they paid up, the women walked to the Mongolian BBQ line to get started leaving the guy to find a table. The guy seemed to be a little depressed and not really much wanting to be at the place for some reason. It didn't help when the cashier was kind of rude when asking for ID.

As Chhimi and I started walking through the BBQ line, I noticed the guy was after me but it seemed that he was a little too short for the BBQ line to grab the items he wanted. Kinda hard to hold a bowl on your lap and then try to reach over your head to grab meat, veggies, noodles, and sauces at the same time. I didn't see the girlfriend offering help to him, even though she was only ahead of Chhimi for a little bit. So I offered my help to him to fill his BBQ bowl and he smiled and said "Yes, that would be nice."

He was smiling as we walked through the BBQ line and picking up items he wanted to eat. His girlfriend just giggled and said "...and you didn't want to come here." My hubby even offered his place in line to the guy so the chef will cook his food faster and so the guy can sit with the girlfriend at the same time.

"Sigh!", as Chhimi and I finally sat down, he whispers to me, "that was really nice of you"...and it dawned on me that I was my father's daughter after all :-). His traits really did passed down to me.

My Dim Sum Dad

This is one of my mid-morning Sundays that I was with my parents at Dim Sum. It's our usual meeting place for us to get together, eat, and chit-chat of my life and what I should be doing. You know, the normal Chinese parent to child conversations, where they will teach you all their wisdom. :-).

As my dad was chit-chatting about life, a middle-aged couple sitting at the next table was complaining about the food and the extreme slow service to their side. As the dim sum cart came around, my parents asked for "Shrimp Cheung Fun" - aka Steamed Shrimp Rice Rolls and that couple also looked at the same cart looking for their Steamed Meat Balls and BBQ Pork Cheung Fun....since they didn't see any, they started complaining to the dim sum lady that they've been waiting for a long time and they've ordered the dishes when they sat down (i.e. 30 minutes ago).

Being my dad, he loves to help people, including strangers, and since it's his favorite Dim Sum restaurant where his buddies work and get together. He quickly asked the Dim Sum lady to place the order in his name. "The chef will know who I am.", my dad declares. The wife sitting down was grateful that my dad stepped into their business ...of course, the husband was not. But my dad, being he's a nice person inside and a little rough on the outside, after waiting 15 minutes, the husband was lecturing the wife in a toned-down voice (as if we couldn't hear), "let's go...stop waiting for those 2 things...you're wasting time" My dad turns around and says, they're steaming it for you right now, wait a little and drink some tea please...and then gets up and marches into the kitchen to see what the heck is going on.

After 5 minutes, my dad marches out with a place of steamed meat balls for the couple :-) and tells them that it will only take 5 more minutes for the other item...so the couple graciously thanked my dad and asked for their hero's name. Of course, my mom and I were just laughing and giggling away at my dad for just being himself.

So my Dim Sum dad made somebody's day today :-).