Week 19_Chinese New Year dinner aftermath!

~~~*** Side Note: Fans, it turns out that the company photographer 

actually did not catch me singing karaoke... Whew! 

He had already retired for the evening... Therefore, there is no evidence! Ha. 

I guess I will have to go to Asian karaoke again sometime for your entertainment...***~~~

Beer from the company Chinese New Year dinner - Beer drinking competition:
The women were challenged who could drink this amount the fastest...
The men were challenged to drink the full glass...

The ladies in action!
One of these women is one of our partner's wives! Impressive.

As seems to be the tradition, the winners of each contest were rewarded with red envelopes filled with cash - hong bao - and have since generously donated some or all of their prize money to tea time(s) for the office. Monday the beer drinking winners treated us to gigantic sushi hand rolls, & milk tea. The office desktops were also scattered with pineapple cake gifts received from various clients. Pineapple cakes are a traditional Taiwanese holiday treat. The "cakes" are reminiscent of an American pie crust wrapped around a candied pineapple filling. In reality, the pineapple cakes are not filled with pineapple at all - but are instead made with blended winter melon and artificial pineapple flavoring - the real pineapple is not a desirable texture for the little cakes; I'm told it's too chewy and rough.

On top of all of that, as if Monday did not bring enough treats... our company also gave us each a little bag of chocolates for our own personal New Year's gifts. I am keeping those in my desk for a rainy day...

My fancy little box of chocolates :)