Hong Kong style

Birthdays are tricky business and I don't like celebrating mine. The attention, the planning, the "Oh, how old are you? You're so young!" gets to be a little bit annoying for me. I would much rather pass the day as any other day--not having to say the obligatory "thank you" after every "happy birthday," not having to pretend to like bad cake, and not forced to suffer through a rendition of the birthday song belted out by waiters and people trying to eat their meals.

But this year is different. I'm planning something. Nothing big. Just dinner with friends. And it was still tricky. How to find a restaurant that everyone would enjoy and that would be vegetarian friendly? How to find a place where a large group wouldn't get stretched out across a long table, allowing people to only talk to the people directly across from or beside them? My solution: Chinese dinner banquet.

What better way to celebrate the birth of me than to celebrate in Asian style? Red lanterns, large round tables and lazy Susans to play pretend DJ with, Cantonese-speaking waiters. Brilliant. But I knew of few places that had what I wanted and needed to do some test runs.

Ryan offered to have a pre-birthday birthday dinner with me since he'll be in the middle of the Pacific when my birthday actually rolls around. We met at the Apple Store downtown and rode the 38 bus (we met a very nice Israeli man looking for a "nice bar," which apparently is code for "gay bar", and who asked us if we'd like to join him) to Parc Hong Kong, on Geary at 17th. Stepping through the doors, I knew this was the place. Lots of red and pink covered the walls and tables. The hostess and waiters spoke to me in Cantonese and I tried to not embarrass myself. Large tanks held fresh fish, lobster, and crab. Lazy Susans dotted large tables. This had to be it.

We sat by the window and studied the menu. I had no idea what I wanted and so did some adventurous ordering. I chose one of the chef's specials, the dried scallops with fish maw and egg white, not knowing what fish maw was. It would be a surprise. Ryan ordered something safe, the cashew chicken.

My dish came out first. It was a plate of white. I didn't know what to expect really but wasn't expecting egg whites topping bean sprouts and some crispy fried noodles. I dug in slowly, poking around with the spoon at first. It tasted of the sea and slowly I was able to identify all the different things that I was scooping up. I knew what part was egg white, what were the dried scallops, and, through process of elimination, I figured out what fish maw was. I'd actually eaten it many times before when my mom makes fish stomach soup, one of my favorites. Now I have a name for that slightly crunchy tubular mesh thing. The dish was good though, even though I was suspicious of it at first. It was slimy and crunchy and chewy. The bean sprouts softened from the heat of the egg white saute and the noodles became more chewy than crunchy. Ryan had a little bit and politely declined when I offered him more.

I think I found a good one for Monday's birthday dinner. I just hope my friends think so too.