Fathers & Dim Sum

May was a very active and busy month for us, between mother’s day and the debacle that unfolded over Memorial Day weekend. Moving into June, we already had several events planned as well. Father’s Day was naturally on that list. After all, how could we celebrate our mothers without consideration of our equally beloved fathers? We had set up a skeleton of a plan at the conclusion of Mother’s Day brunch. Making our intentions known and reserving people ahead of time has worked out well, especially with our parents’ busy traveling schedules.

Our past events that hosted family have been mostly catered or take-out food to be enjoyed at our apartment. We decided to change it up for Father’s day, and initially planned for a potluck. It seemed from Mother’s Day that people wanted to bring items, though Peter and I try to cover all bases. Covering all the bases can get a little chaotic, so we thought we’d embrace a new format and have people sign up for things they’d bring.

As June approached, we changed the plans. After being hosted up here during Memorial Day weekend as the chemical plant in OC threatened disaster, my parents wanted to take everyone out as a thank you. Going out also meant many conveniences, including less planning, less cleaning afterward, less preparation, and generally less fuss. We decided on dim sum which is particularly easy for Asian parents with its familiar food, circular seating, and abundance of options.

The day quickly arrived as June flew by. Peter and I were recovering from a long evening out with friends the night prior. We had several errands to run before the day started. Our reservation for dim sum was at 9:45 AM here in SGV. After sleeping in until 7:00 AM, we hopped out of bed to get gas for Peter as he’d be driving up to Fresno later that day, fix his tire pressures, cleaned the apartment, cut fruit, and brewed cold tea should our parents return to our apartment after lunch to hang out. We hustled throughout the morning, especially since Peter still needed to pack for his week-long trip up to Fresno. Good thing he was finally recovering from debilitating illness contracted from the visiting toddlers the week prior.

My parents arrived early that Sunday morning from OC. They showed up at our doorsteps at 9:00 AM and brought some goodies with them. Among these goodies was a jar of homemade Vietnamese pickled cucumbers. My mom grew a special varietal of cucumbers for this particular type of pickles. It also required significant amounts of labor in salting and wringing out all the water before pickling—truly a labor of love. They are designed to be eaten with plain foods, such as rice or porridge. Coincidentally, as Peter had been sick, his mom made him porridge. The combination went together like perfection.

We hung out in our apartment for a few minutes before heading out to the dim sum restaurant. The drive was short and sweet, and soon we found ourselves parked next to Peter’s brother Patrick in the parking lot. Lines were already forming as we pushed through the crowds of people. Thanks to our reservation, our table was ready for us and we got seated promptly. I hung out with Patrick and my parents at the table while Peter went back out into the parking lot to locate his parents and Jackie. Unfortunately, Patrick’s partner could not attend due to being sick.

Once the entire party was present, they exchanged niceties as Asian parents do. They eventually got seated, albeit in a slightly unorthodox arrangement. Peter’s parents sandwiched mine with the fathers seated side by side and mothers seated side by side. Despite this, they were comfortable enough to chit chat amongst themselves, and not feel awkward with the arrangement. At this point, Peter and I hurriedly put in our order of a gazillion items. We were already slapped a $20 charge for tea before any other orders even went in.

While the parents were engrossed in their own conversation on their half of the table, us kids were engrossed in ours. Because we do not see Patrick as often, we were all curious about developments in his life. He has some major life milestones in the pipeline. It’s always so interesting to hear about his siblings lives as they can be so different from Peter. Patrick couldn’t be anymore different in so many ways. We are all very eager to hear more about his developments, and all the imminent plans.

The food starting coming out as we wrapped up with grilling Patrick. We ordered many of the classics, including shrimp har gow, soup dumplings, chow fun, shrimp cheung fun, and turnip cakes. We spiced things up with a few unusual menu items, like a shrimp and spinach har gow. Jackie compares it to an overstuffed har gow straight from Green Eggs and Ham. It was subpar compared to the OG. Throughout the lunch, we were happy to see our parents insisting food and tea upon each other.

Thanks to both combined effort and Patrick’s strong appetite, we were able to clear just about every savory dish ordered. Next up was dessert. Seeing how everybody was stuffed, we kept it simple and only ordered a few items, namely lava egg buns, egg tarts, and panda buns with lotus filling. Brunch was now successfully completed. Patrick ordered some dishes to-go for Carol. We paid and then left so that the next party could be seated. The crowd seemed to have doubled in size from when we first walked in.

Our parents were all amenable to returning to our apartment to relax and chat some more. We busted out the barley tea and peeled oranges so they could relax in the living room. Jackie spent some time admiring our floral centerpiece, conveniently taken from a wedding we attended the night prior.

With the parents all cozied up, Jackie and I went to whisking some matcha. Something went terribly wrong with this batch of matcha, so we bastardized it further by adding espresso shots. They still tasted bad, just a different type of bad. And at the very least, we’d be tweaked out for the afternoon with all that caffeine. Peter helped himself to some coffee while finishing up packing for Fresno.

As conversation in the living room died down, our mothers came into the kitchen to hang out with us. As mothers do, they surveyed our space to provide us some lovely critiques. Apparently, Saran wrap boxes from Costco come with a safety blade which we did not install. Instead, we’ve been ripping it using the jagged blade much to their chagrin. We’ve since installed the safety blade and our Saran wrap use has become much smoother for it.

It was soon time for Peter to head out to Fresno so we concluded the festivities with a selfie, courtesy of Jackie. Peter’s parents and Jackie left our apartment first. My parents wanted to pick up some groceries before leaving down to OC. I accompanied them so that I could pick up all sorts of goodies to pack for Peter to bring to Fresno. With a full snack bag, everything was set for Peter’s departure.

I said goodbye to my parents as they departed back down to OC. Peter and I packed his car for his week long work trip before we said our own goodbyes. With that, it was time to bring the weekend to a close. What a wonderful Father’s Day!