Wing Yee

Sophie had her 1-month birthday celebration recently. She is so lucky to have such a diverse set of cultures with such rich traditions. Especially when the centerpiece of those traditions usually involve amazing Chinese and Cambodian food. At the event, which took place at the outlaws house, the entire family (both mine and my wife's) showed up to take pictures with the new baby, present her with gold or red envelopes stuffed with cash, burn incense while showing respect to their ancestors and burn money (fake that can be bought in Chinatown). Some of the dishes include an entire roasted pig, shrimp and ground pork spring rolls with fish sauce, beef tripe salad, pickled (sour) vegetables, rice and other dishes that I can't remember right now. Of course to wash it all down there was your regular assortment of drinks along with some high-end cognac. I so look forward to these events which happen at least 5 to 8 times per year. The house is always packed full of people and it's a chance to sit and chat with family members or just play with their kids. Sophie slept through all the manhandling and picture taking. As part of the ceremony the outlaws give her a Chinese name. Sophie's name is Wing Yee which means something good but I'll have to do more research to figure out what that something is. Now all three kids have a Chinese name (Juliette is Wing Kay and Nicholas is Mun Ming). I'm the only one in the family without a Chinese name (or not one they'll translate for me). That's fine, as I always say, you can call me whatever you want just don't call me late for dinner.