Sunday we went to Floyd's parents home. It was the New Year Celebration for his step dad's family.
This picture is of GrandPa, and Renee was born on his birthday. On July 2nd she will be one year old and he will be 100! His family came from VietNam to the US with his family of 7 children and his wife. He doesn't speak English, but Hoa has told us stories of how they were on little fishing boats and in camps. I just can't imagine how that must have been to have left your homeland without anything but your family. All of the 7 children have families and have done very well. They were all here to celebrate their New Year and his birthday. They don't celebrate birthdays on the birthdate, but on the new year, the adults hand out little red or gold envelopes with money inside to all the children that are there. Here is a picture of the envelopes that Renee got. In the picture is also a little rice cake wrapped up in banana leaves. The green is a cake too. There is a middle layer that is yellow. That was given to me.
There was so much food to eat. My northern stomach isn't used to many spicy things, and I thought I was being careful by eating only steak, 2 egg rolls and some rice. But my stomach has been upset since Sunday, so it may be from the one 1/2 shot of hard liquor that they were making sure everyone had to celebrate! I'm not a drinker and told Floyds uncle that, so he barely put some in, but it was really strong stuff! When you gulped it down, everyone shouted! It was a fun cultural day! Of course there was fire works - a long string that burned and was really loud. We took Renee inside then. One of the uncles had rented a big jumping thing to keep kids entertained. Some adults even jumped in it!
There was squid, buffalo insides, crab, oysters, ham (seasoned differently), crab cakes, different kind of seasoned steaks, and shrimp. There was so much food! Seaweed, a big pot of soup. The bright orange plate there is a carrot dish. I tried one bite of it, but it was already cold, so don't know if it was supposed to have been eaten hot or cold. It looks like carrots, but not sure what it was. I love the egg rolls, but they don't like me!
