Valentine's meal

I needed this weekend.

Today was Chinese Valentine's Day. Tan went out in the morning and then told me men should give women a present. Just for an alternative opinion I called A Wu to ask what the tradition was on such a day. He said that the women should give a present to the men. Somehow I expected that response.

Actually, on the way back from getting breakfast I had seen a couple of blokes with a red rose in their hands. But I think that's a bit tacky. And as And and I agree, growing flowers when so many people are starving is one of the worst uses of land you can possibly think about.

So I called Tan and we mutually suggested and agreed that a nice meal for the two of us would be appropriate and romantic, and that the Ming Dien hotel would be the most appropriate and romantic place in Pingguo. I just hoped that there would be no pianist as the last time I was there he was playing what would have been a most passable rendition of Chopin but the strings were so out of tune I wondered how such an artist could ignore this and still play through. We agreed that we'd eat at around 5pm. Tan had gone out with A Xia around midday so I presumed she'd eaten, but I got a call at 4.30 asking me to go to the Ming Dien now as A Xia had already taken her there. I assumed that meant they were both there, so told her I needed to finish drying the clothes. This I did and then put on long trousers, socks and shoes, and a long sleeved shirt, all for the first time this year here. As I pulled in to the Ming Dien car park I got a call from her asking where I was. It wasn't even 5pm but apparently she'd forgone lunch that day - as if I'd known that...

Well Tan was on her own, which was good for a Valentine's meal. But we moved tables as the people next door were smoking. They had a special Valentine's meal for 220 kuai each, which included two glasses of red wine each too. Based on my experience, and knowing we don't exactly have loads of cash, we (I) decided on something slightly more frugal, and had a couple of lovely dishes, followed by pecking food such as my favourite black eggs, plus shredded beef, cucumber and dried squid with wasabi and soy sauce. We were both stuffed, and stayed there a good two hours, sneaking home the uneaten beef in an empty tissue bag.

On the way back we stopped off at the supermarket, where Tan nearly bought a bed-table, for putting your laptop on while you laze in bed. I pointed out that these were kids' tables and that I could get a proper one at Ma Laoban's computer shop. We ended up doing some normal house shopping and I bought a water-filled cushion that was meant to make your bum a bit cooler when sitting down. Maybe it will work if I put it in the fridge first, but either way, it's quite a comfortable way of sitting down. As we'd bought quite a lot, including 6 bottles of plum juice, Tan got a san lun che home, and I took the bike to Ma Laoban's to get that most romantic of Valentine's Day presents - the bed-table.

Unfortunately Ma Laoban wasn't there, so his beautiful assistant sold me the table at normal price - 80 kuai. What a mug, I could have got virtually the same table, but with a kiddy picture on top, for 25 kuai a few minutes ago. But she really liked the table and that evening was worth it!

I'd not seen the kids all day. Apparently they'd gone to Bangxu with Jiuma as Waipo was there for some reason. Tan said they'd be home at 8pm so at 8.30 I gave Jiuma a ring to find that they'd just got on the bus and would be in Pingguo at 10pm. So Tan went to meet A Xia for some chatting, which is what she spends most of her time doing it seems. I went to get my hair cut at Lu Hai's, before heading back to the supermarket to swap the shoes Tan had bought for Leilei to a bigger size. I'd even said in the shop that the ones she chose were too small...oh well. A while later she rang to say A Xia's husband was pouring tea and needed some male company. Poor bloke, having to listen to women's natter. I came down and we had some pu er cha and finished off the dried beef with them and Tan's friend Huang Chen, who now has her own 2 year old daughter. The conversation was all in Pingguo Mandarin so I struggled to catch up until 10pm when I called Jiuma and found they had arrived in Pingguo. I intercepted them on the way back to Waipo's house and brought them to where we were drinking tea. By now they were on bbq but the kids just wanted me to take them out on the bike. This I did till gone 11pm when they said they were happy to go to Waipo's house to play and sleep.