2015-03-07

【Aiden in English】

        The older you get, the more valuable life is. Life at this point isn’t just about living with happiness, but to keep the quality with a strong courageous heart as the ending is creeping closer each and every day.  In contrast, we are immature like really, really young naive kids and think that life is so long and boring. When another year goes by, however, it seems shorter than before.  

        Grandma is turning 78 years old today and her life becomes precious. So mom and I have come to commemorate her birthday by taking her to a Pan-Asian diner in Princeton, NJ. It’s freezing and cooped up in our home buried in snow, and took about an hour drive. If you ask almost any Chinese about it in this pride and charm area, you’ll get a nod for “yes”. It’s called Peony Pavilion with something for everyone. From the location right off Route 1, I’d say it’s a place most people want to visit. 

        Inside, there were cozy booths lining the walls, a few round tables in the center, and much great decoration like the shaped ceiling and carvings engraved into the walls. All amazing décor was specifically designed in Ming-style and carried all the way from China by its owner Lisa Shao. It reminded the opulent and intricate historic story of Peony Pavilion by Xianzu Tang. "A walk in the Garden", "The Interruption of a Dream", "Reflection on the Lost Dream", etc., and all came back with the photos taken from the best-loved classical opera in front of us. 

        As we sat down, mom opened the menu almost immediately, considering all the choices. There were two menus, a small and a large. The larger of the two contained many more a-la-carte options, but mom mainly targeted the tiny one. This menu had most of the authentic choices you would have at the lunchtime when a Dim Sum was served on weekends. Mom talked to the waiter for a long, long time, asking the cuisines generally tailored to healthy diet. At last, she made up her mind. I was curious about what she ordered because sometimes Chinese food made me so confused with the weirdest names. Mom turned and said the most terrifying thing yet, which was even worse than practicing piano. She had ordered ten dim sums in medium and large sizes and one entree. Now I had a big appetite, not going to lie like all the other fat noobs out there, but one’s stomach could only stretch so big. 

        A while later, 10 plates and bamboo utensils appeared on the table. I made out Spared Ribs in Black Bean Sauce, Taro Dumplings, Pea Leaf Dumplings, Shark Fin Dumplings, Shrimp Bean Curd Skin Rolls, Shanghai Soup Dumplings, Stuffed Eggplant, Fried Fish Cakes, Yellowtail Crackers, and Clams in Black Bean Sauce. I didn’t know where to start, so mom helped to make the decision for me by filling my plate. Without much brain power involved, I began munching on whatever came into reach with shrimp, eggplant, and fish on the plate. What really surprised me through all that biting, tasting, swallowing, and regurgitating (not too much), I liked the eggplant. It tasted sort of sweet as if the sweet sauce Americans made, put off grilled chicken, and said “Chinese food”. With eggplant, however, it seemed to blend, almost like something out tofu blender but not always. Not when the person blending it was mom, and when the ingredients at hand were bananas and spinach. Don’t ask me how it tastes because I don’t want to remember. So here I was eating probably the best type of eggplant I had ever and would ever eat again, and I gagged at that memory. 

        Moving on was the three different stuffed buns. I purposefully told mom not to give me the one with the “green stuff”. Personally, “green stuff” and I didn’t have a good relationship in history, and so I steered clear of it. The other two looked good though, both squirting out juice, and both tasting basically the same. It was absolutely tasty. 

        I then bit down of a small cube of beef, and it was phenomenal. Explosions went off inside of me, sour, sweetness, bitter, fire, and salt. Combined into a small piece of beef, it’s really “beefing” me up (Ha! Like what I did there? Beef. Beefing?) The fish was almost just as good, but wasn’t spicy. The beef really lit me up the tiniest bit. That was the difference between the two. By the time I made my way to the seafood combo of Tofu & Shrimp in Casserole, my stomach was already trying to force food out of it. So I left this dish intact. But the next meal I had, it’s not going to stand a chance. 

        You can say I’ve been to more restaurants you can ever imagine, and you rarely go out to eat. But if an appropriate occasion arrives, the Peony Pavilion is always open for you not only its cuisine but Chinese culture, especially when you are dining with your beloved ones.

【紅霞譯文】

        “夕陽無限好，只是近黃昏”。人一旦上了年紀，生命變得越來越有價值，因為未來的每一天每一刻靠的不光是生活熱情，更有生活勇氣。相反地，像我們這些年輕幼稚尚未長大成人的孩童“朝看水東流，暮看日西墜”，總覺得人生之路漫長無聊，因此常常胸無遠志，當一天和尚撞一天鐘。

        今天是外婆78周歲生日，時間依舊，歲月前行，生活於她老人家更加彌足珍貴。因此，我和媽媽冒嚴寒踏冰雪不惜驅車一個鐘頭，特意從賓州趕往新州一家溫馨優雅的現代亞洲餐館為婆婆慶生。凡是有幸生活在這座地傑人靈的普林斯頓小鎮，幾乎無人不曉“牡丹亭”大名，單憑它緊鄰一號公路交通便利，就值得我們光顧此地鑑賞舌尖上的東方文化。

        “牡丹亭”內部裝修考究，寬敞舒適的隔間依牆而立，幾張大型圓桌占據中央，天花板、門飾、窗框、屏風等沿襲了明代戲劇家湯顯祖《牡丹亭》的古韻遺風，所有雕梁畫棟吊燈壁掛刻均由店主邵太太精心設計並由國內工匠手工特製而成，讓人觸目生情，禁不住想起亙古流傳的經典詩句：“遊園·良辰美景奈何天，賞心樂事誰家院”、“驚夢·朝飛暮倦，雲霞翠軒；雨絲風片，煙波畫船——錦屏人忒看的這韶光賤”、“尋夢·這般花花草草由人戀，生生死死隨人願，便酸酸楚楚無人怨”。餐廳一角牆壁上掛滿了杜麗娘和柳夢梅一對有情人終成眷屬的崑曲劇照，營造出濃郁的民族文化氛圍。

        等我們坐定，媽媽立刻打開菜譜斟酌要吃的東西。眼前有大小兩種菜譜供我們選擇，大本的為正規點餐，但媽媽最感興趣的還是小本上面的午茶拼盤，因為這正符合我們周末想要品嘗正宗家鄉小吃的原意。媽媽已與服務生聊了好半天，無非想全面挖掘本店既富特色又利健康的烹飪秘籍。終於媽媽拿定主意，我十分好奇到底點啥玩藝，因為中餐菜名有時叫的特邪乎，聽起來一頭霧水。媽媽告訴我，這回她一口氣總共要了十來樣大中型午茶點心，簡直駭人聽聞，說來要比練鋼琴更加恐怖。我承認自己肚皮大胃口壯，不像那些肥碩卻號稱苗條的人，但胃口再好，也吃不了這麼多東西耶。

        過了一會兒，前後十個瓷盤和籠屜依次送上桌前，我認出了豉汁排骨、香芋餃、豆苗餃、魚翅餃、鮮蝦腐皮卷、小籠包、魚香茄子、煎魚餅、黃尾魚餅、豉汁蜆。可我一時不知道該從哪開始，這時媽媽眼疾手快，迅速幫我準備好一盤食物。毋需多想，我悶頭開吃鮮蝦腐皮卷、魚香茄子、魚餅，經過咬、嚼、咽、反芻（不算太多遍）等幾道工序之後，我覺得魚香茄子最好吃。茄子發甜，像美式甜醬澆在烤雞上被標榜為“中餐”的那種味道。不過，茄子的肉餡攪得較細，與搗碎的豆腐有幾分相似之處，只要不是媽媽攪拌的、尤其把香蕉菠菜混在一起的東西什麼都說得過去，千萬不要問我味道如何，因為我恨不能忘得一乾二淨。總而言之，眼下這道魚香茄子是我至今吃到的味道最棒的，如果再來，我還要吃魚香茄子，印象極為深刻。

        接下來是三種不同的麵食，我執意要求媽媽不要逼我吃綠色豆苗餃子，說起來冤家路窄，我跟所謂的“綠色食品”不共戴天，所以索性躲着它。剩下的小籠包和香芋餃倒蠻不錯，一個汁多，另一個也差不離，非常好吃。

        我還咬到一小塊牛肉，那味道真夠叫絕，酸甜苦辣咸五品雜陳，人生百味能激起滿腔熱血，讓我也跟着“牛”了起來（哈！向我學習？牛肉，牛氣烘烘？）。魚餅雖說好吃，但一點也不刺激，還是牛肉厲害，兩種食物的區別就在這裡。等輪到最後一道砂鍋豆腐鮮蝦煲的時候，我已經撐得吃不下去，這回暫且高抬貴手，以後肯定不會放過。

        你可以說我去過許多你前所未聞甚至從未涉足的餐廳，但是，倘若有機會外出就餐，你不妨考慮一下“牡丹亭”現代亞洲餐館，尤其在與家人共渡良宵的時候，你不僅能夠飽嘗可口的飯菜，而且還會享受到與之相關的飲食文化。