終成眷屬

Sunday, the Old Man and I found ourselves laughing cynically that the first really good news to come out of his work situation is that one of his best friends there is leaving. This is the day she was slated to submit her resignation to their absentee CEO (by e-mail since she's on the road again, natch). There's a chance this could rattle her enough to get her shit together, but only a chance. Regardless, it's definitely the right decision for Turtle: reduced benefits, but more money and a chance to essentially design and build her own organisation.

I was taken aback to hear her say in the car on the way down to Chinatown to celebrate that she hoped we'd still meet regularly for dinner even though she and monshu would no longer be coworkers. If anything, this will make it easier to socialise with her, since we no longer have to worry about workplace tensions spilling over into their relationship

Chinatown was my idea, of course; I saw my opportunity to get my mooncakes and I seized it. The GWO was lured by the prospect of trying out the swank new restaurant we'd spotted months ago in the old Mountain View space. And Turtle was so chuffed she was game for anything. So we all hopped into the hybrid with her wife at the wheel and the four of us headed down to Ming Hin in Chinatown Square.

It's both a good and a bad thing that when I'm with them, we end up ordering what I never would otherwise. Mostly good, once I've given up on any hope of pork and fully embraced the novelty. It was Turtle's first taste of bitter melon and she seems to have enjoyed it, not to mention the pea sprouts with preserved egg. I don't remember having had "king mushroom" (皇子菇) before, but I could've stood a lot more of it. The yellow chive and dried scallop soup was also a winner, but the dan dan noodles were--as I told the waiter--"Cantonese spicy, not Sichuan spicy."

He was a hero, by the way. Sure, he may have written the wrong thing down for one of the dishes, but no sooner had we caught the error but it was rectified and it didn't seem to slow the arrival of our entree at all. The one commonality between the current decor and what was there before is--oddly--the oversized tv screens at either side of the dining room. Everything else is a heap classier, not least of all the large display of yixing teapots opposite the restrooms.

So yeah, definitely a place for return visits provided we stick to the Canto cuisine and go next door to Lao Szechwan to scratch our itch for spicy. It's a massive menu that would take months to explore properly, but most impressive of all is its inclusion of Chinese wines. I don't think I've ever seen an eatery with a Chinese wine list anywhere in the USA before. By the time I noticed it, monshu had already ordered a Gewürztraminer, but it's definitely something to keep in mind for next time.