Category: It Happened to Me

Actually, we’ve been back since Tuesday afternoon, but have been taking

it easy. Wendy and I arrived home to find a note from my sister

informing us that she left us some just-heat-it-and-eat-it stuff from

Ma Maison, a great French restaurant around the corner for her place. I

was expecting to order pizza that night, but instead we supped on some

very tasty salmon with shredded carrots and baby bok choy, salad and

apple tarts. Thanks, sis!

Wednesday was really “Wend’s Day”, as I took her about town on a

just-for-her kind of day. We first went to Rol San for dim sum (j,

we’ll have to take you here the next time you’re in town) and then to

Steve’s Music Store to pick out my wedding present to her: an acoustic

guitar. She picked out a lovely dark brown wild cherry solid-top Art

& Lutherie axe and has already learned a couple of chords. After

that, she got her hair cut at W on Queen Street West. She grew her hair

out for the wedding, but the long hair’s been driving her crazy. It’s

now a very cute bob. Finally, we grabbed a turkey/brie/avocado sandwich

at the Drake Hotel Cafe and headed home for guitar practice and to give

our new Playstation 2 game, We ❤ Katamari, a good workout.

I love this shot:

Photo by Ethan Zuckerman. Click it to see the source image.

As you’ve probably guessed, the blog’s been silent for the past week

because I’ve been getting ready for my wedding on Saturday. Things are

a little less crazy and I hope to write about what I’ve been up to in

my remaining hours as a free man.

I’ve been in Boston since Monday afternoon, staying with Wendy at her

parents’ place. Her folks are wonderful people and have made me feel

like one of the family (and yes, Mom, I’ve been helping clear the table

after dinner). Earlier this morning, I received a very sweet “on this

momentous occasion in your life” letter from

Mom and Dad.

The earliest of the early birds arrive tonight (Wednesday night); some

of my family from both Manila and Toronto should be in Camrbridge by

tomorrow night (Thursday). The wedding rehearsal will take place on

Friday, followed by a dinner for the wedding party and then a dessert

party to which all the out-of-town guests are invited. The big event, as the countdown

clock in the upper left-hand corner of this web page will show you, is

on Saturday.

I’ll try to squeeze in a quick post whenever I can, but there are no

guarantees. You know how it is with these life-changing ceremonies…

Meanwhile, back in Accordion City…

My nephew and sister’s youngest son, Ryan Joseph deVilla-Choi, turned

100 days old on Thursday. Ryan’s dad, my brother-in-law Richard, is

Korean, so we observed the Korean tradition of celebrating Baek-il, the

100 day anniversary of a baby’s birth.

The man of the hour!

The family gathered at my sister’s house, complete with Auntie Beth,

who’s visiting from the Phillippines, Mom and Dad, whom the boys refer

to as “Dodo” and “Yoya” (their pronunciations of “Lolo” and “Lola”,

Tagalog for “grandpa” and “grandma”) and Richard’s parents, who flew in

from Vancouver for the big event. The boys call them “Haroboji” and

“Halmonyi” (Korean for “grandma” and “grandma”).

From left to right: Nico, Ryan and Aidan.

We had a delicious Korean dinner of kimchi (spicy Korean cabbage),

galbi (barbecued beef), bin dae duk (vegetable pancakes), jap chae

(clear noodles) and Chateauneuf du Pape (okay, that’s not Korean — we deVillas and Chois believe

you can both pay homage to your own tradition and do the vive la difference thing). Richard’s folks certainly know how to cook up a tasty Korean meal.

If you’ve never had Korean food before, you’re missing out on a meat-a-licious treat.

100-day cake.

Dinner was followed by the traditional cake served on Baek-il: baeksolgi,

a very dense cake made of steamed rice.  Something along the lines

of “Happy 100 Days!” is spelled out in Korean on top of the cake using

raisins.

I’m not all that keen on the baeksolgi — it’s pretty bland

and almost as dense as depleted uranium — but I gladly finished the large slice that Richard’s mom gave me to be polite. However, I will always show up at an event where Richard’s parents are making Korean barbecue.

Nico, Dad and Aidan watch the 100-day cake.

Baek-il is one of two Korean traditions celebrating the passage of a

baby from one age to another. In addition to celebrating a baby’s 100th

day of life, another very important birthday is the first birthday,

which the Koreans call Dol. Both traditions stem from “the bad old

days” when medicine and hygiene weren’t as advanced and the rate of

infant mortality was much higher. Making it past the first 100 days was

a sign that you’d live to see your first birthday, and making it past

your first birthday was a sign that you’d at least make it out of

infancy.

Frustrated with the lack of milk, Ryan takes matters into his own hands.

Congratulations, Ryan! Happy Baek-il!

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