I Suck At The Great Chow

Sunday was the continuation of in-law weekend. Many of Karen's relatives came up from the south for this weekend. After all, there was a 50th wedding anniversary celebration on Saturday. Needless to say, Sunday was the climatic finale. That finale entailed a memorial mass followed by dining at the Great Chow located in Quincy. Unfortunately, I suck at the Great Chow.

Every year since Karen's grandfather passed away, Karen's family has scheduled a memorial mass. The mass was generally held near the time of his passing, which consequently resulted in the scheduling of the memorial mass on Super Bowl Sunday. This year, however, the family decided to switch things up. They decided to have the memorial mass to coincide with another relative's recent passing.

It has been about ten years since Karen's grandfather passed away. With the concept of life being so finite, there is sometimes the notion that one must leave a legacy. In other words, one wants to leave his or her mark in the world to make a difference in the lives that follow. With the way Karen's family habitually attends the memorial mass for the past decade, I would say that Karen's grandfather definitely left his mark.

When I pass (hopefully in the distant future), I can only hope that I too will be remembered with such love. Heck, I would want all my adult grand children to cry like babies in the kitchen of my favorite sister-in-law's (Janine) house. Just kidding.

Regardless, the memorial mass for Karen's grandfather was okay. Truth be told, I was actually more concerned about our baby daughter (Briana) uncontrollably crying during the mass. I didn't want to be THAT parent. For anyone curious, Briana was very good. She did not make a peep during the entire mass.

As far as masses go, I remember why it is that I dislike religion so much... because it's the opinion of whoever is on the altar. Personally, I thought the priest's homily was terrible. (It's all about presentation after all.) The gist of his speech was that people can not have love without forgiveness. And naturally that we need to spread forgiveness and consequently love. Sure, I get what he was trying to say in his attempt to spread the word of God. I just disagree with his original claim that there cannot be love without forgiveness. The way I see it, there is no causal relationship between the two concepts of forgiveness and love. You can have love without forgiveness.

Anyway, following the mass everyone gathered for Chinese food at the Great Chow. Now Karen's family is known for its "rigamaroles" and the Great Chow was no exception. Karen's mother had organized the excursion to the Great Chow as a way for the family to hang out after the mass. I have not been to the Great Chow is quite some time. Apparently the restaurant has expanded whereby they now have a large dining area on one side of the restaurant.

Needless to say, 30+ white people with one token Asian guy in a Chinese restaurant... never a good sign. It took forever to order anything because my mother-in-law did not know what to order for all the tables. (I have noticed a common theme in this family... good intentions... bad execution.) Luckily, Karen took charge of the situation and made a list of items to order. I actually felt pretty proud of myself for having Karen order a Chinese dish that the general white populace would not have normally eaten... not that it looks bad or anything... just that they would probably never have known to order it in the first place. And they ended up enjoy the dish. (The dish was wok tossed chow foon... which is just a noodle dish.) Leave it to the token Asian guy... in a Chinese restaurant.

The food was actually pretty good at the Great Chow. I enjoyed it. Of course, it may also have been the fact that I was hungry by the time we got around to ordering food because it took so long. Nevertheless, it was a good time.

Following the meal, Karen and I (and Briana) headed home where we ended up watching a movie. That movie: Julie & Julia.

(The video below is a trailer for Julie & Julia.)


The movie is based on the lives of Julia Child and Julie Powell, a writer who decides to cook 524 recipes from Julia Child's cookbook within a year. Originally I had planned to watch the movie with my BFF (Kerry), who was quite interested in seeing the movie. Unfortunately, I was running out of space on the DVR and most likely I would not be seeing Kerry for some time. (Heck, we still have a season of Veronica Mars to get through.) And so the movie had to be watched and deleted.

All in all, the movie was entertaining. It was definitely a good way to unwind after a long weekend.