prompts for november 2026

It’s National Chinese Takeout Day. What do you typically order at a Chinese restaurant?

I didn’t eat any authentic Asian food until I was about 19 years old and living in Winnipeg. There was a Thai restaurant right across the street from my apartment building and once a month or so my boyfriend and I would go and indulge. It was so delicious.

Prior to that, growing up near a small town on the prairies in Canada, our town had two restaurants that served (and actually still serve), Chinese food.

When I was 17 years old, I applied to be a server at one of those restaurants, Ten Hsiang Garden, which was the Chinese restaurant across the tracks.

Lee, the co-owner of Ten Hsiang Garden hired me on the spot and I dove into the world of Chinese cuisine. It was my first taste (pardon the pun), of Chinese fare and I didn’t know chicken chow mein from chicken chop suey in the beginning.

Lee moved fast, was great with the customers, in her blunt and direct manner but wasted no time coddling me. I needed to learn fast and move fast, to keep up.

In contrast, her husband, and the only chef in the back, was sweet, calm and smiled a lot. Emo didn’t speak much English but understood what I said and always replied with a generous smile.

As Lee’s sort of assistant-server, (she seemed to like to make it known she was on top and the boss), I was also in charge of all of the dishes in the back, once things had slowed down out front.

At the end of the night, we divvied up our tips and she took half. People would say to me that it wasn’t right, she should not be taking her share of the tips since she owned the place but she was serving right alongside of me so I was okay with it.

It was an interesting place to work in the mid-90’s, between the cost-saving measures she insisted I follow, which more than likely broke food safety violations and the British gentleman who frequented pretty much daily, sipping on coffee and whispering things to her that made her giggle (the only time I saw her giggle), I was, enthralled. There were rumours about them, of course. But who’s to say they were nothing more than rumours. He’s since passed away.

My parents still go and eat there, more than 30 years later and Lee is still there, she asks about me now and then, so they tell me. One of these times I need to go there, say hi to Lee and order a Combination #2: sweet and sour chicken balls, chicken chop suey, fried rice and an eggroll, if memory serves me right.