On Sunday, Shanshan and I hosted her parents and five of her mother’s friends at our local Old Beijing Restaurant. It’s the same place in which we had our Beijing wedding ceremony (pictures here). Actually, we used one of the same rooms — the Wang Room — which is/was kinda cool since that is Shanshan’s last name. It’s not so unusual in the sense that there are a lot of Wang’s out there… Wang meaning emperor, and since there aren’t any emperors around anymore to object,  why the heck not?

The reason that we hosted them was because some of these friends had helped Shanshan’s mother find my nuts. Now, if you don’t know the context of this, well, sorry.

Shanshan’s mom can trace her lineage back at least six generations in Beijing. As I mentioned previously, she’s of Old Beijing Stock. One of her friends can trace his lineage in the city back 14 generations. Kinda wild to think about.

Two key things happen when old Beijing people get together:

• They talk a lot about Old Beijing
• The room sounds like it was invaded by a bunch of pirates… far worse than any “talk like a pirate day” you’ve ever heard. [see this for context]

One of the dishes we ate was Dong Po Rou, a variation of Hong Shao Rou, that is named after Su Dong Po.

Here’s a picture of it:

I’ve described Hong Shao Rou as my favorite dish for quite awhile. But, no more. I mean, this was fantastic and all, but I’ve just had way too much lately. And, this stuff ain’t good for a diet… no, not at all.

Anyway, the gathering was fantastic, and I look forward to meeting with folks again… feel very fortunate to have this type of exposure to the city’s history.