For our next course....

Before I left the U.S., I had dinner with a few family friends about their trip to Hong Kong. They gave some great advice. But, they did warn me.

“Watch out for the fancy dinners.” ~Rene.

Oh, Lordy – Mom, you can tell Rene that she was right. I just lived a scene out of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” No snakes. No monkey brains. Now, I am an experimental eater. But… this?

Yea…

Tonight was my hall’s High Table Dinner, one of three we are required by the University to attend. It’s a very important function for the Hall. I was excited to go.

Now, Chinese food is served differently here than in the U.S. Traditionally, you serve one dish at a time, and you finish off one/two dishes at one sitting, and then another set will be brought to you.

Let’s start with the first course:

Suckling Pig. That pig was served to me with its face facing me. I had to stare the pig in the face while we ate. And the meat served was not the interior of the pig... it was the outside. I had to eat the skin off a pig... while it looked it at me.

I suddenly wasn’t that hungry. Allison, oh lordy, Allison.

After the pig, here we go.

Shrimp. Now, I like shrimp. But, I don’t enjoy having my food look at me when I eat. And I swear one of them moved. No one else believed me. I actually won’t have Shrimp at Sushi restaurants anymore because I went to one that served me shrimp with the eyes. I don’t want to look at my food while it's looking at me.

Things just kept getting worse. Damn fish...

I am missing a photo of the whole chicken that was served to us... head and all. Again, the bird looked at me while we ate. I miss Chicken Nuggets.

This pastry was actually good. I have no idea what was in it, and how my night was going, I didn't want to know.

In all our table was served something in the neighborhood of 15 dishes with tea. The majority of the food was quite good. I just like not..... well, looking at my food.

And the endless combination of Pork, Shellfish, Dairy, Beef and Dairy taints my body so much, that God himself would ban me from ever devoting a life to Kosher dietary laws.

After dinner, we had a series of speeches (given in Cantonese) and other stuff. Again, I bring up the mentality of the Chinese compared to Western thought. We had the whole series of applause again for people. We were introduced to committees of students and alumni. Everyone in that echelon of power wore the same outfit.

Anyways, the dinner was quite good, despite the looking at my food thing.

Please Mind the Gap, and stop looking at me!

~Ken