Dimsum in Chinatown

I have been taking a real estate class each Saturday morning from 9AM to noon. I never thought how about how hard it would be to read a chapter in a book while working at the same time. I don't know how others manage to go to school and get C's and B's. You are so tired after working, how the heck do you find the time to study? And how about kids? How do you manage to take care of them, take care of you, and take time to cuddle with your wife. Mysteries of life, indeed.

One of the bonuses, however, is that I get to go and ask my SO the tiger if she wants to join me for dimsum. This is the beauty of the Bay Area. Chinatown is next to public transportation that you can just about go there any time. Yesterday was one of those days in which the monkey asked if the tiger would like to hunt and eat in a dimsum restaurant. The tiger pounced on the opportunity without delay.

The restaurant is at the end Franklin in the midst of Oakland's Chinatown. Surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Asian families celebrating the family during the weekend, the tiger and the monkey walked the streets filled with little dragons, snakes and horses. Those little ones sure are growing up fast. I can see them now in their teen-age years making a mess out of the freeways. The cycle of the zodiac just continues each year.

The restaurant is set in a restored building that sat decaying for nearly a decade. With the depression from the Reagan and Bush years enveloping the area during the early 90's, the whole of Oakland Chinatown represented urban decay. Thankfully, the Clinton led boom years led to a loosening of the money supply and a tremendous redevelopment of the area. Rejuvenation replaced decay. Bush the Second is trying to continue the legacy of decay and recession which Bush the First manage to foist upon America. Hopefully, someone will manage to stop him before it is too late.

Because the tiger and monkey entered at one in the afternoon, the line was non-existent. The tiger jumped to the second floor which was a ballroom of dimsum delight. The monkey noticed that the tables and seats were closely packed together. There were barely any aisles. How were the carts carrying the delicacies of the Third Kingdom ever reach the table of the monkey and the tiger?

The owners of the restaurant had to pack in the tables to earn as much dollars per square foot. Carts will not travel the busy aisles as much as in other restaurants. In this restaurant, food will be carried by women on trays. The women will each approach the table, smile, and say the name of the food in Chinese. As the mastery of the Chinese language was not offered in the educational system of California, the monkey and tiger will have to ask to see the food in English. Luckily, the food servers are experienced. As soon as English is spoken, they simply open the containers to reveal the smoking freshly made fast food.