I've died and gone to heaven.

So, the focus of the day was on the CNY dinner. By the way, Happy Chinese New Year to me and everyone who celebrates CNY! Since it was a special day, I decided to spiff it up for Mass and that normally throws people off guard. You see, I'm a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy for Mass so whenever I dress up, those who know me well always wonder what's up!

Dinner was at 5PM and I was a little early which was fine. I spoke to the chef letting him know that I was there for dinner and he was ready for me. The rest of the people started trickling in and I had time to see what one group of people had. It was nice to see that they had ordered off the menu too. I could not get a good glimpse of what they had, but one of the dishes was spare ribs. All I know is that they thoroughly enjoyed their meal and thanked the owners profusely. Looks like the restaurant has their fair share of regulars.

Our meal started with a nice chicken soup the way mom made it. It had chinese herbs and was very flavorful. Talk about a good way to start a meal! The dishes then came fast and furious. Not in any particular order, we had tofu with beef, baby bak choy, salt and pepper shrimp, steamed chicken, sweet and sour pork and finally, steamed tilapia with scallions, cilantro, garlic and soy sauce. How can I even do justice to tell you how the food was? Let's just say I thought I had died and gone to heaven!!! The food was that good and do I even need to say that it was as authentic as can be? You bet it was! Even the sweet and sour pork was good. It was not the best I've had, but definitely the best here in US and that's saying a lot. I loved the steamed fish and the shrimp the most. Heck, I loved all the dishes, but those two stood out the most. The others really liked the chicken and shrimp dish. The only thing that was left were some chicken which I took back home with me. John summed up my dining experience the best - we heard very little from Anthony over dinner, because he was thoroughly enjoying his meal and taking the entire experience in. I even took photos of the dishes. Yeah, it sounds kind of corny, but I could not resist it!

What a way to start the new year! When it came time to pay, I said thank you to the chef and his wife. Both of them were cooking and were very appreciative. I asked them if I were to bring a list of food written in Chinese, would they be able to cook it and they said it should not be a problem. That's just music to my ears! I'll most definitely be back and that's a promise. I do not make promises because when I make a promise, I keep it. But in this case, I know I'll be back! Now, I just need to start plotting the next group to bring to this restaurant.

That's all for now. Happy Chinese New Year once again.