Etiquette lessons, anyone?

Roast Goose- more meat than roast duck...but the textures the same. yummi

FISH - can't remember what kind...but it was freshly killed

My mom's highschool friend and me...with shrimp. you peel it and dip it in soy sauce...but smaller shrimp is actually better if you eat it steamed.

This is for those who wish to impress the Chinese with your cultural knowledge of Chinese etiquette at the dinner table:

If there's one thing that sticks out between Americans and the Chinese (besides obvious physical differences), is etiquette at the dinner table. As I was explaining to my small-town American friend, the Chinese have small idiosyncrasies that mean quite alot in the eyes of a Chinese person. When you go out with elders, these are especially important!

1. When you get food at the dinner table, you always serve others before you serve yourself. This is the key rule in being polite. You don't want to seem like a greedy, gluttonous person...do you???
2. When anyone serves you tea (usually the youngest person at the table, or in modern China, the person closest to the tea!), you can either say thank you but the usual custom is to tap the table. This signifies that you are appreciative of the service without you having to interrupt your conversation to say thank-you.
3. you always clean your plate. There will be no food-wasting in China. This is actually a problem I have because I have such a small stomach, and I get full very easily...I think I'm actually going to gain weight this semester for eating so damn much (just because it's rude not to finish the food on your plate, especially if someone is taking YOU out and not vice versa).
4. If you are offered food, you can politely decline....which will do absolutely nothing - because the person offering will give you the food anyway. No matter how much you insist that you don't want to eat and that you're satiated, you will always be given the food anyway. it's just a fact.

Makes you wonder how Asians stay so skinny, doesn't it?

By the way, the last picture is of my mom's friend and me with a Chinese dessert. can you guess what it is?

*ans: it's coconut milk mixed with the fat from the back of a frog :-)
it's quite sweet and tasty!