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"The sunset is magnificent as dusk is approaching." The older you get, the more valuable life is. Life at this point isn’t just about living with happiness, but keeping 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's 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 the Peony Pavilion by Xianzu Tang. "A Walk in the Garden", "The Interruption of a Dream", "Reflection on the Lost Dream", etc., 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 one. 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 lunchtime when Dim Sum was served on weekends. Mom talked to the waiter for a long, long time, asking about the cuisines generally tailored to a healthy diet. At last, she made up her mind. I was curious about what she ordered because sometimes Chinese food made me so confused by 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 a 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 where the three different stuffed buns are. 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, so I steered clear of it. The other two looked good though, both squirting out the juice, and both tasted basically the same. It was absolutely tasty.

I then bit down a small cube of beef, and it was phenomenal. Explosions went off inside of me, sour, sweet, 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 was not going to stand a chance.

You can say I’ve been to more restaurants than 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 in its cuisine but Chinese culture, especially when you are dining with your beloved ones.

【红霞译文】

“夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏”。人一旦上了年纪，生命变得越来越有价值，因为未来的每一天每一刻靠的不光是生活热情，更有生活勇气。相反地，像我们这些年轻幼稚尚未长大成人的孩童“朝看水东流，暮看日西坠”，总觉得人生之路漫长无聊，因此常常胸无远志，当一天和尚撞一天钟。

今天是外婆78周岁生日，时间依旧，岁月前行，生活于她老人家更加弥足珍贵。因此，我和妈妈冒严寒踏冰雪不惜驱车一个钟头，特意从宾州赶往新州一家温馨优雅的现代亚洲餐馆为婆婆庆生。凡是有幸生活在这座地杰人灵的王子镇，几乎无人不晓“牡丹亭”大名，单凭它紧邻一号公路交通便利，就值得我们光顾此地鉴赏舌尖上的东方文化。

“牡丹亭”内部装修考究，宽敞舒适的隔间依墙而立，几张大型圆桌占据中央，天花板、门饰、窗框、屏风等沿袭了明代戏剧家汤显祖《牡丹亭》的古韵遗风，所有雕梁画栋吊灯壁挂刻均由店主邵太太精心设计并由国内工匠手工特制而成，让人触目生情，禁不住想起亘古流传的经典诗句：“游园·良辰美景奈何天，赏心乐事谁家院”、“惊梦·朝飞暮倦，云霞翠轩；雨丝风片，烟波画船——锦屏人忒看的这韶光贱”、“寻梦·這般花花草草由人恋，生生死死隨人愿，便酸酸楚楚无人怨”。餐厅一角墙壁上挂满了杜丽娘和柳梦梅一对有情人终成眷属的昆曲剧照，营造出浓郁的民族文化氛围。

等我们坐定，妈妈立刻打开菜谱斟酌要吃的东西。眼前有大小两种菜谱供我们选择，大本的为正规点餐，但妈妈最感兴趣的还是小本上面的午茶拼盘，因为这正符合我们周末想要品尝正宗家乡小吃的原意。妈妈已与服务生聊了好半天，无非想全面挖掘本店既富特色又利健康的烹饪秘籍。终于妈妈拿定主意，我十分好奇到底点啥玩艺，因为中餐菜名有时叫的特邪乎，听起来一头雾水。妈妈告诉我，这回她一口气总共要了十来样大中型午茶点心，简直骇人听闻，说来要比练钢琴更加恐怖。我承认自己肚皮大胃口壮，不像那些肥硕却号称苗条的人，但胃口再好，也吃不了这么多东西耶。

过了一会儿，前后十个瓷盘和笼屉依次送上桌前，我认出了豉汁排骨、香芋饺、豆苗饺、鱼翅饺、鲜虾腐皮卷、小笼包、鱼香茄子、煎鱼饼、黄尾鱼饼、豉汁蚬。可我一时不知道该从哪开始，这时妈妈眼疾手快，迅速帮我准备好一盘食物。毋需多想，我闷头开吃鲜虾腐皮卷、鱼香茄子、鱼饼，经过咬、嚼、咽、反刍（不算太多遍）等几道工序之后，我觉得鱼香茄子最好吃。茄子发甜，像美式甜酱浇在烤鸡上被标榜为“中餐”的那种味道。不过，茄子的肉馅搅得较细，与捣碎的豆腐有几分相似之处，只要不是妈妈搅拌的、尤其把香蕉菠菜混在一起的东西什么都说得过去，千万不要问我味道如何，因为我恨不能忘得一干二净。总而言之，眼下这道鱼香茄子是我至今吃到的味道最棒的，如果再来，我还要吃鱼香茄子，印象极为深刻。

接下来是三种不同的面食，我执意要求妈妈不要逼我吃绿色豆苗饺子，说起来冤家路窄，我跟所谓的“绿色食品”不共戴天，所以索性躲着它。剩下的小笼包和香芋饺倒蛮不错，一个汁多，另一个也差不离，非常好吃。

我还咬到一小块牛肉，那味道真够叫绝，酸甜苦辣咸五品杂陈，人生百味能激起满腔热血，让我也跟着“牛”了起来（哈！向我学习？牛肉，牛气烘烘？）。鱼饼虽说好吃，但一点也不刺激，还是牛肉厉害，两种食物的区别就在这里。等轮到最后一道砂锅豆腐鲜虾煲的时候，我已经撑得吃不下去，这回暂且高抬贵手，以后肯定不会放过。

你可以说我去过许多你前所未闻甚至从未涉足的餐厅，但是，倘若有机会外出就餐，你不妨考虑一下“牡丹亭”现代亚洲餐馆，尤其在与家人共渡良宵的时候，你不仅能够饱尝可口的饭菜，而且还会享受到与之相关的饮食文化。

2015-03-07_Lisa Shao0001.JPG Peony Pavilion Asian Fusion