A Friend from New York

We had a guest, a New Yorker in the house last night. He came in and unloaded some beautifully decorated presents to each of us - New York style.

He is a dear friend of our dear friend. In our book, that makes him an instant friend of ours. He is in some kind of financial business. I don't always get a clear idea about what our friends do for a living. I only know he is moving his business into becoming a professional artist. So we were talking about art and the business of art. We talked about how Jewish like him and Chinese like us seem to hit off quite well. At one point of time, being crazy like us, he attempted to call from his Blackberry another Jewish brother of ours in Dallas, who he never knew but is of his namesake. Then he referred to a wildly successful Jewish artist, a friend of his, in New York who was raised in Shanghai, China in the early years of his life.

Food wise, they might have a different opinion. To me, the fresh boneless tuna fish steaks were a turn-off. It was a wrong kind of fish or I cooked it the wrong way. We also had plenty of veggies and fried brown rice. The seafood soup was a hit. I came up with the idea of mixing dried and fresh scallops. Original flavor, no salt added. Afterwards three kinds of mushrooms went to join the pool. At the end, we each had a scoop of green tea ice cream over a pot of green tea.

To surround yourself with friends and friendship, a little effort goes a long way, especially when you cook. I sure made an effort. I only missed getting some new napkins. For that I warned our new friend while throwing a box of kleenex on the table, "We Chinese use the back of our hands." See, he didn't mind. He only made a joke about leaving for the lack of napkins.