Sunday Dinner Party

7.4.2008 von Ines.

My Chinese friend Echo and me planned to host a party together. Due to the public holiday we decided to have a Sunday evening dinner party.

The preparation was longer than for parties I used to host, because of the preparation of the food. Echo arrived at my place more than 3 hours before the start of the party with lots and lots of ingredients like all kinds of vegetables, various kinds of meat, shells, tofu, spices, pots, bowls… and another friend who wanted to help cock but decided that my kitchen is too small. So she went back to her place to cook some dished herself. After about half an hour Echo’s brother and wife arrived in suit and tie to help cook. After first taking some pictures with the huge flower bouquet that they brought they got started with the cooking. I went out to buy the drinks. When I came back I found them all just relaxing on the couch because of multiple problems. Some kitchen utilities were missing so they asked a friend to bring them when she arrives. The bigger problem was that the vegetables could not be washed because my household did not have a good quality vegetable washing fluid and the nearby supermarket did also not have anything satisfactory. And the most frightening: There was no gas (for the stove and oven). We called a worker to check our gas meter and he found out that the batteries of the gas meter were just dead. So with new batteries we could start cooking the meat, but not the vegetables.

When the door bell rang 20 min before the start of the party my heart jumped for joy as I was expecting our friend with the vegetable washing fluid to arrive. But no - it was 3 guests that all arrived early. But the next door bell ring was the washing fluid. Now it was slightly more chaotic to cook as there were now quite some people in my small kitchen. But it was a lot of fun to cook and prepare together - “da jia yi qi”. Echo and some other Chinese friends said that it felt as happy as on Chinese New Year. Thank you all for the great evening!

Echo showed all of us a video of the school for mentally challenged people that she volunteers at one day per week. That was very moving and I am happy to see that my Chinese friends are helping others in need. There are way too many people on Earth that just think about themselves and what kind of new car they should buy.

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