hot pot experience

Last night Shawna and I went over to her grandparent's house for his 83rd birthday.  Admission:  I didn't actually know the gathering was for his birthday, I just went to hang out and try hot pot.  Hot pot is a type of cooking where you have a pot full of simmering water (or stock) in front of you and everybody just drops in the foods they want to cook--veggies, herbs, thinly-sliced meats, seafoods, etc.  The food then cooks in the hot pot.  Pretty straightforward naming system.  After the food is cooked, you take out whatever you threw in the pot and put it or dip it in a bowl with sauces you can mix up to make it spicy or salty.

At the table we had two burners with pots on them.  Our water came pre-installed with mushrooms and some other stuff that I couldn't make out.  In front of us there were plates full of onions, cabbage, spinach, fish balls, lamb, beef and a bag of carrots that I never saw get opened.  That bok choy stuff was there too.  Later shrimps were introduced as well as remnants of tiny octopuses.  There was a second table with a pot on a burner and that was for vegetables only, for those who don't like to eat meat; it just had tofu and veggies.  Since Shawna was the only vegetarian that one was basically all her.

I had the camera in the car but I didn't bring it in.  I have to start bringing it and taking pictures more but sometimes I feel like it is belittling the whole situation or like I am using them as a spectacle or circus and it is all for my entertainment.

I really like the idea of hot pot.  Warm soup-like foods seem to have a calming nature.  Though it hasn't felt like winter and I don't like winter, it is nice to imagine eating hot pot during a cold day.

Beyond the actual food, the dinner experience was good as well.  I got some chopstick practice in.  Lots of Shawna's biological and by-marriage family members were there.  I like her grandmother and grandfather's voices and they both look like they have a lot of stories to tell.  We didn't practice much Chinese while we were there but we plan on going back.