Ireland/China 2025, continuing (18)

[aadler]

Eighth day in China – June 28 Satirday

Up 7:30AM. Susan took a shower as soon as I was up, and I showered and shaved when she was done. We had cups of noodles for our breakfast.

Mei-li’s brother Jack has a business of his own now, a restaurant, and its official opening was today. We’d spoken yesterday of being there for that, and we made an inquiry of Mei-li by WeChat. She said the opening ceremony was at 3:00PM, and wanted to be there about 2:00.

That changed, as it happened, because it was close to 1:30 before Kevin came to our apartment, and we talked and visited till about 4:15. Then we all went downstairs and he called a cab, which took us downtown to the new restaurant, where Mei-li and Amber and Laura were already waiting.

Jack’s business goes by the name of Yunxi (yoon-shee), and Kevin didn’t know any meaning for that, just said it had a good sound. It’s mostly open-air, with frequent canopies and even a couple of tents to cover table seating; there’s a central shrimp pool, also under a canopy, where patrons can fish for shrimp using provided fishing poles, and their catch is cooked up for them on the spot or they can grill it themselves. There are other treats available; Joy (Jack’s girlfriend, as I mentioned in a previous entry) brought us a serving of chicken tenders and French fries, and Mei-li had a corn dog for herself.

After we’d hung around for a bit, we left to go to a different restaurant for dinner, a fancier place located in the Hotel Huafu. The meal was something called iron pot cooking, which has things in common with hot pot cooking but — we were assured — is different. Multiple ingredients cooked in a large pot in the center of the table, including two different kinds of bread, one from corn flour and one from rice flour. There was so much that even with six of us, we managed to eat only about two-thirds of it … well, maybe as much as three-quarters. Then out again, Laura and Mei-li and Amber heading for home in the family car, and Kevin calling a cab to get us back to our apartment, where he visited for a few more minutes before leaving for home maybe 8:30.

Susan and I did a Rosary together. She was in bed by 10:00PM, and I was ready myself a few minutes later after catching up on a few more items.