10-Course Chinese Dinner of ...

On what kind of occasion will we attend a full 10-course Chinese dinner with friends and relatives around? Ha.. not a wedding this time. It's a 大寿 of the mother of one of my closest pals and I was invited along. Actually I can't tell the technical difference between a wedding dinner or this dinner I had attended.

(a) There was table arrangement. Alltogether about 15 tables, Okay! Just that the ones ushering us in are the grand-children or great-grand-children of the 寿星.
(b) The first dish was not the usual cool-plate. The content? Steaming hot 寿桃(莲蓉包 lah).
(c) There was also a MC. The MC being her grand-daughter, an undergrad.
(d) There were welcoming party and the farewell party. Oh, I am referring to the people standing at the entrance to welcome the guest and standing at the exit to see the guests off. They were made up by her sons and daughters-in-law.
(e) Alright, there wasn't a yam-seng team. Haha.. but we had enough merry noise around. They actually arranged to have a karaoke system set up within.

I can see that the 寿星 felt so happy as she was wearing a contented smile throughout the event.

Can we remember when we make our parents happy and contented? Haha.. In the (near) future to come, we may be parents ourselves. Perhaps then... perhaps then... we can truly appreciate what parental love is all about.