The Year of the Ox

Last night the Montaglia's* (James, Megan, Susan and I) went to Chi Thai (one of our favorite restaurants) to celebrate the Chinese New Year. We've all been going to Chi Thai for the last several years and are regulars. So much so that I don't even have to order a Mai Thai when we go in, they just bring it to the table (best Mai Thai I've ever had - secret recipe the owner won't share, but he will make a special one with an extra shot of spiced rum!). So last year Steve (the owner) brought in a troup of lion dancers to celebrate the new year. We went and had a blast. It was so successful last year that he decided to do it for two nights and remove a few tables so the lions would have more room to dance. It was definitely a lot of fun with the extra space, and there seemed to be more families with kids too.

We had a prime location and had the lions dancing right next to our table. This meant I had the extra treat of lots of Chinese New Year dancing lion booty all up in my grill! Not to mention the lion goatee hair dragging across my food as it was looking for "hong paos". DD found this to be particularly amusing - which it was. At one point I thought about sticking a fork in the lion's butt, but decided just to give it a smack instead. Turns out is was a good thing I didn't go with the fork since the performers are typically members of a local Kung Fu club! Not sure getting my butt kicked by a lion costumed kung fu master is a good way to start a new year.

Unfortunately, none of us thought to bring a camera - even though this was our second Chinese New Year celebration here. Even more surprising is that one of the Montaglia's received an amazing 12.1 gazillion mega pixel digital SLR for Christmas! Wow, think of the cool pics we would have if we'd brought that camera. Instead, you'll have to settle for a couple of pics snapped with DD's crackbery.

* Montaglia (mohn-tag-lee-yah) - This is the name Megan created to describe events where the Badaglia's and Montgomery's team up for an adventure. It was coined this year by DD after the four of us undertook our second annual Christmas Tree hunt. With Megan's permission, I will be using this term here on the blog from time to time.