Me & Dave

Me & Dave
Originally uploaded by Tokyorosa

Ming, Lan's husband, took this photo of me and Dave on the day we all went to Dixon's Apple Farm and Cochiti Lake.

We actually had lunch with Ming and Lan yesterday at their place. Lan made bao tse (steamed buns, which were amazing) and a whole fish, Coca-Cola chicken (which is really good), and a salad. The salad was made from a vegetable that she didn't know the English name for, and when she described it, we told her it was cabbage. She said, "No, not cabbage." I said, "Yes, I think it is a kind of cabbage." She said that it was definitely not cabbage. She went to the refrigerator and pulled it out. "See? Is it cabbage?" she asked. I told her we called it Chinese cabbage, and that made her laugh.

It reminded me of when I was in Japan and had a little bit of cultural vertigo when Chie told me that what I was mistakenly calling Asian pears were really just called pears (nashi) and what I've always known as pears were more properly called Western pears (though I can't remember the Japanese for it).

Lan and her family have never celebrated Halloween, so we brought their son Patrick one of those plastic jack o' lanterns that kids carry to collect candy when they go trick or treating. Only, we pre-filled it with candy (m&m's, KitKats, Smarties, and goldfish crackers). Patrick loved it. He sat down on the floor of the living room and dug into the pumpkin, eager to try each kind of candy. After lunch, as we were getting ready to leave, Patrick picked up the pumpkin and walked it back to his room, where he put it away. Lan laughed and said, "He is hiding it because he thinks you're going to take it with you when you leave!"