The Meal That Should Never Have Happened
Well, I meant to post another entry yesterday, about the whole Chinese meal thing but didn't have any time, so that post gets written today. :)
In actual fact, the meal that I'm referring to was actually the Sunday before (that is, the 25th of June). The thing is, I thought that it was going to be a really good meal, even if I was somewhat apprehensive about the gathering for reasons that will become clear as this entry goes...
Be warned this may come across as a rant...
I had contacted a friend of mine from back in the bookstore days (hmm, remind me to write a journal entry about the store), Donald Fry, about going to eat Chinese food at Lai Lai (one of my favourite restaurants for that type of food). This the restaurant in Ottawa, not Kitchener, Ontario, or the couple that I found down in the States. I also invited a couple of other guys, Steven Ross (a good friend of mine, who games with me on Sundays) and another gamer from that group, Andrew Gravendick (who suffers from epilepsy, but that's another matter). Steven's folks heard the conversation and his mother, Shirley, asked if she and his dad, Gerry, could join us for the meal. Donald (never "Don", he hates the diminutive) said this wouldn't be a problem. I had also invited several of my Friday night players, but they couldn't make it, more's the pity. So, I figured, with six of us, it would be a terrific meal.
Little did I know, what was going to happen that night...
Things got off to a good start. I was pleasantly surprised when Donald arrived, as Sharon (his wife) was with him, so that made seven of us. Things started off well, with a pot or two of Chinese tea, and we ordered the appetizers (won ton soup, egg rolls, and two types of dumplings - potstickers (Gow Tien) and Hunan dumplings).
I guess it started with the soup. Steven and Andrew positively polluted the soup with the table soy sauce in those typical Kikoman containers found in restaurants. Sheesh! :( And then the dumplings... There were 6 potstickers and about 9 Hunan dumplings on the plates, so I figured everyone would get something... I had my won ton soup, and then the dumplings arrived...and Donald and I never had a potsticker at all because certain people (who shall remain nameless here, but you know who you are!) decided to pig out, and actually took 2 potstickers for themselves without even asking if anyone else wanted one.
Things progressed to ordering various other dishes. One of the rules one tends to live by is that with X people eating the meal you order X 1 dishes. With seven people, we ordered six dishes...and to add insult to injury, I don't eat seafood because I'm allergic to the stuff... so guess what? Yep, the group ordered Singapore noodles which come with seafood! The rest of the food was pretty good - Moo Shee panckaes with chicken, spicy chicken with pineapple (something else not for diabetics) and peppers, General Tsa'o (sp?) chicken, spicy beef with black pepper and onions, and almond chicken guy ding (Steve's mom wanted that and I didn't eat any since I don't like the dish, but didn't say no). Suffice it to say Steve and Andrew made pigs of themselves (granted Andrew had a few problems with the chopsticks), the almond chicken disappeared rather quickly, I never got any of the spicy chicken with pineapple and peppers, and didn't eat the shrimp dish. Not to mention, since everyone at the table knew that I couldn't eat the seafood dish, you would have thought that folks would have been kind to me and offered to order another dish that I could eat...
To make a long story short, I came out of the restaurant feeling quite hungry, although the one Moo She pancake with chicken that I had and the bowl of rice (that I promised I was not going to eat because of the dieting) gave me at least the feeling of having eaten some food that night. I went home that night, and after being dropped off at the house, had a 9 pm snack of mozzarella cheese and red pepper (delicious, and quite filling).
Donald still hasn't forgiven Steve and Andrew for their behaviour that night, and I wasn't all that thrilled with Steve and Andrew myself that night.
In actual fact, the meal that I'm referring to was actually the Sunday before (that is, the 25th of June). The thing is, I thought that it was going to be a really good meal, even if I was somewhat apprehensive about the gathering for reasons that will become clear as this entry goes...
Be warned this may come across as a rant...
I had contacted a friend of mine from back in the bookstore days (hmm, remind me to write a journal entry about the store), Donald Fry, about going to eat Chinese food at Lai Lai (one of my favourite restaurants for that type of food). This the restaurant in Ottawa, not Kitchener, Ontario, or the couple that I found down in the States. I also invited a couple of other guys, Steven Ross (a good friend of mine, who games with me on Sundays) and another gamer from that group, Andrew Gravendick (who suffers from epilepsy, but that's another matter). Steven's folks heard the conversation and his mother, Shirley, asked if she and his dad, Gerry, could join us for the meal. Donald (never "Don", he hates the diminutive) said this wouldn't be a problem. I had also invited several of my Friday night players, but they couldn't make it, more's the pity. So, I figured, with six of us, it would be a terrific meal.
Little did I know, what was going to happen that night...
Things got off to a good start. I was pleasantly surprised when Donald arrived, as Sharon (his wife) was with him, so that made seven of us. Things started off well, with a pot or two of Chinese tea, and we ordered the appetizers (won ton soup, egg rolls, and two types of dumplings - potstickers (Gow Tien) and Hunan dumplings).
I guess it started with the soup. Steven and Andrew positively polluted the soup with the table soy sauce in those typical Kikoman containers found in restaurants. Sheesh! :( And then the dumplings... There were 6 potstickers and about 9 Hunan dumplings on the plates, so I figured everyone would get something... I had my won ton soup, and then the dumplings arrived...and Donald and I never had a potsticker at all because certain people (who shall remain nameless here, but you know who you are!) decided to pig out, and actually took 2 potstickers for themselves without even asking if anyone else wanted one.
Things progressed to ordering various other dishes. One of the rules one tends to live by is that with X people eating the meal you order X 1 dishes. With seven people, we ordered six dishes...and to add insult to injury, I don't eat seafood because I'm allergic to the stuff... so guess what? Yep, the group ordered Singapore noodles which come with seafood! The rest of the food was pretty good - Moo Shee panckaes with chicken, spicy chicken with pineapple (something else not for diabetics) and peppers, General Tsa'o (sp?) chicken, spicy beef with black pepper and onions, and almond chicken guy ding (Steve's mom wanted that and I didn't eat any since I don't like the dish, but didn't say no). Suffice it to say Steve and Andrew made pigs of themselves (granted Andrew had a few problems with the chopsticks), the almond chicken disappeared rather quickly, I never got any of the spicy chicken with pineapple and peppers, and didn't eat the shrimp dish. Not to mention, since everyone at the table knew that I couldn't eat the seafood dish, you would have thought that folks would have been kind to me and offered to order another dish that I could eat...
To make a long story short, I came out of the restaurant feeling quite hungry, although the one Moo She pancake with chicken that I had and the bowl of rice (that I promised I was not going to eat because of the dieting) gave me at least the feeling of having eaten some food that night. I went home that night, and after being dropped off at the house, had a 9 pm snack of mozzarella cheese and red pepper (delicious, and quite filling).
Donald still hasn't forgiven Steve and Andrew for their behaviour that night, and I wasn't all that thrilled with Steve and Andrew myself that night.