Happy New Year Again!

When we went to Tony and Pat's for dinner, we were in for a special treat, and I'm not even talking about the outstanding meal they served. One of their neighbors held a Lion Dance to celebrate the Chinese New Year and his daughter's upcoming wedding.

The troupe had a mix of ages and seemed like a family business.

The Lion Dance, dating back to 300 B.C., is performed to the accompaniment of a percussion band with at least three instruments, a cymbal, a drum and a gong. The movement is synchronized with the music and the lion moves like a feline. The lion movements and loud music are supposed to scare away evil spirits so good luck will follow.

The Lion rears up on its haunches to be rewarded its red envelope.

Payment to the group is made through "Choy Cheng", eating of the green. Usually it is paid with a special red envelope called hung bao. The Lion is fed the red envelope and the resulting dance of joy symbolizes the spread of prosperity.

The performers were tired and sweaty after a grueling performance;
the tail must constantly lift the head to create lifelike movements.

I hoping that some of the good luck will rub off between feeding the lion a red envelope and it being the year of the ox, a portent of economic stability. One can only hope!

Pat and Tony enjoyed the Lion Dance almost as much as we did.

We feasted on nibblies (appetizers here) before the Dance but our taste buds had no idea what was in store next. Normally, I'm not a calamari fan but their grilled marinated version was far better than the other ways I've tried it. The main was absolutely heavenly - grilled lamb tenderloin with a grilled tomato half, grilled eggplant, goat cheese and a pesto sauce accompanied by perfectly baked potatoes and asparagus, my favorite vegetable of all time. (And one I haven't eaten much of here at $20 per kilo!) George is still talking about this meal a week later. The only disappointment was the tropical carrot cake I made was too gingery because the crystalized ginger here is stronger than what we buy at home.

What a gorgeous setting for entertaining!

Pat looks so small next to George!

The conversation was also lively. We really enjoy Tony and Pat and were so happy to meet Liz and Ian, good friends of theirs. I especially was enthralled with Ian's stories of his recent backpacking trip through Africa. The evening flew by and I couldn't believe we got home at 1:30 a.m.

Our hosts made the evening seem effortless but we
know better! Now what are we going
to make for them? The bar is way too high!

Tony insisted that I needed to be in the group photo.
I really need to figure out how to use the timer!