Chinese Version 09-23-2023， Saturday, Sunny
On Saturday, my daughter and her family attended her company Accell’s annual outdoor lunch party for the first time. This was a family event so she signed up for me too. Before attending, I was already excited, as this would be the second time I enjoy the Silicon Valley company culture of eating and playing benefits, after returning to California from Massachusetts. The first time was with Alex, enjoying the NVIDIA Hardware Engineering Division’s Potluck Party.
The party was held at a large park in Fremont. On Saturday morning, my daughter planned to leave home early enough to arrive at the Fremont park at 11:00 am. Being a “two under two” young family, it was very difficult to follow a timed schedule, so we got out late and naturally arrived at the park later than planned. From the parking lot to the lunch party, we had to cross the park. My daughter led the way and pushed Meimei, our baby girl, on the paved pathway in a hurry, as she felt that it was not good to be later than what she said. The paved pathway in the park was in an arc shape, Ben, Alex, and I followed my daughter and took a shortcut on the lawn. There were not many trees on the lawn under the scorching sun, and Ben walked very slow on the uneven lawn, struggling with one step high and another step low. To avoid Ben being sunburnt, Alex picked Ben up and carried him on his shoulder, rotating left shoulder to right shoulder and backwards. Ben laid on his father’s shoulders without making any noise, as if he was enjoying this unusual way of laying horizontal moving forward.
The lunch party was settled in a large shady area under several large trees, so people can sit together eating, chatting, playing, and rest, without having to scatter for shade. I thought that the organizer was very thoughtful on choosing this area.
Today’s lunch main course was Mexican cuisine, served by a Mexican chef, a big man in a black uniform. The chef was standing next to a barbecue grill flipping soft tacos about 3 cm in diameter and cheese quesadillas about 6 cm in diameter on the flat grill pan. There were also two pots of traditional Mexican food on the pan, cooked beans and fried rice. Three large pots of cooked ground meat: chicken, beef and pork were on the side of the flat grill pan. Before eating, we lined up to order our own taco or quesadilla from the chef, then went to a nearby table to add spicy sauce, diced onions, cucumber slices, and/or tomato slices, etc, for additional flavors.
As my daughter was taking care of Meimei and Alex was in charge of Ben, so I was fully enjoying my free lunch. I went to the chef three times and ordered three different cheese quesadilla, with just beef, with just pork, and without anything. I added a small amount of diced onions, cucumber slices, tomato slices, and spicy sauce for each quesadilla I ordered. Because the quesadilla is big and the filling is small, I rolled the quesadilla tightly into a thin stick and ate it slowly, I enjoyed every bit of it, as the quesadillas were chewy with layered flavors. I felt very full after finishing three quesadillas, as I also drank a lot of my favorite Mexican soft drink, Horchata, a sweet rice milk beverage that is usually made out of rice, milk, vanilla, sugar, and cinnamon. I thought today’s Mexican meal was very authentic and tasty. Later, someone brought several tables and placed beautiful fruit platters, vegetable salads, baked herb salmon, and unique cookies on the tables. Though my stomach was already overloaded, I still managed to have some salmon, fruits, vegetables, and cookies. I liked the moisture and soft texture of the cookies which were not too sweet. Before leaving, I was thinking about taking a few leftover cookies home; I did it and also learnt that the cookies, which cannot be purchased in bakeries, were the homemade creations of the youngest daughter of the director. I was very happy about it, being worthy of a good foodie, so my taste buds are sharp. Today’s lunch was filled with many delicious foods and I didn’t have any room in my stomach to try out the various cool drinks in the three large ice boxes.
Accell is a small company with about 20 people, mostly young, and most of their children are just a few years older than Ben, so Ben had the opportunity to closely watch older children playing soccer, riding on scooter, throwing sandbags, etc. He also got very close to two friendly dogs, as Ben likes dogs, but dogs usually didn’t like Ben and often barked at him. I heard that Ben also liked to drink Horchata too.
After eating and drinking happily, I casually chatted with people and noticed many dignified Asian beauties today, they looked very young, but already had many years of work experience. It’s true that people cannot be judged by their appearance. I like the two beauties, one was dressed in white from head to toe and another one was wearing goose yellow sweaters with light blue jeans. With the typical asian beauty figure which is the lack of sculptured facial and body features, I felt they were carrying a soft sense of fashion.
Because it was the first time for Meimei, my granddaughter, to meet her mother’s colleagues, my daughter received congratulations and gifts from colleagues one after another at the lunch party, which was an unexpected warm surprise. Before we went home, the director and his wife, Clara, used a wagon to bring all the gifts to Meimei and Ben, given by the company, to our car, as we couldn’t carry so many things across the park to the parking lot. Clara also said: “Sorry, we didn’t have time to give your daughter a baby shower. These gifts are to congratulate her on having a healthy baby.”
This is my first time visiting this big park, there is a big children’s playground on the left side of the parking lot and a lake in front of the parking lot, there are many concrete tables and benches, barbecue grills scattered on the lawn between the parking lot and the lake. I saw many volunteers picking up trash in the park and many large-scale picnic gatherings. After experiencing three years of the COVID pandemic, I was more thankful for the bustling scene of the park.
Little Episodes
09-23-2023, a company picnic.
（The view of our company lunch picnic under the shade of a few big trees.）
（Ben is playing soccer, while holding his gift of a stuffed animal playing soccer, eating, and watching the friendly dogs up close.)
（Lunch scene, Ben and the friendly dogs, a big balloon for Meimei: It’s A Girl, Clara showed Ben one of the gifts to him, a children book titled “I Am a Big Brother!”, which Ben liked to watch and listen.)