An - Almost - Perfect Day!

Tuesday, I awoke to a call from Erin, to tell me that Marquette was playing Georgetown on ESPN.  I tried to find it on TV, and on my computer, to no avail.  I had subscribed to ESPN when we set up our TV, but it turned out to be Fox Sports and Fox Sports News.  Americans know that it is not the same thing!!!  And it's not an upgrade!!!  Anyway, I went to ESPN radio online, and listened to the game until about 3 minutes were left, and Homer said it didn't appear that Marquette would not have a miracle finish this time.
Rich had to make a brief appearance in the office to hand out "Hong Bao" - or red envelopes.  The head of the firm's son, Ken, lives in our complex, and gave Rich a ride to the office and back home.  I took advantage of the beautiful weather by going for a swim.  Since many people still did not have to go back to work, and many schools were still closed, the pool area was packed with families.  It was a good way to take my mind off of MU's loss.

Bertha, and her childhood friends, Sylvia and Joseph.

Ben's parents, Mae and Tony, and Ollie.

I would have to say the star of the day was Michelle's dad, George.  George loves to cook, and kept bringing out new dishes from the kitchen.  He made rice dishes, spicy noodle dishes, curry, crispy pork, mushrooms, coconut jelly, etc.  He kept telling us that certain dishes had to be tried for luck in the coming year.  He has promised to give me Chinese cooking lessons.  I can't wait!

There were also canisters upon canisters of Chinese desserts.  I've made and shared cookies at Christmastime, but nothing like this.  There were tiny butter cookies with pineapple filling, tiny cupcakes with sprinkles, cake slices made up of 20 layers of cake and filling, meringues, etc.  Everything I tried was so good, but I couldn't possibly try them all!  We forced ourselves to leave after about 4 1/2 hours.  I don't think I could have eaten or drunk another thing.

Rich, dining poolside.

Max and Alex in their Chinese New Year's garb.

Of course, a few hours later, we did eat again.  After our feast in the afternoon, we used the sandwich maker that Michelle had given to us, to have sandwiches for dinner.  On our first evening in our apartment, we had passed a woman and her parents eating at the poolside, as we had headed out to a restaurant.  It seemed so tranquil and pretty, I had wanted to eat at poolside ever since.  But, there had been very few chances to realize that dream.  On most days, the daily downpour would start right before dinnertime, and if it didn't last through dinner, it had made the seats too wet to sit outside.  But on this day, the daily downpour had happened at noon, so dinner at the poolside was a reality, at last!