Asian Star Smorgasbord

Mom/Margie's 80th birthday was coming up, and it was Wendy's idea for the six siblings and spouses to get together for a birthday dinner celebration- sans kids, just the grownups. Wendy was also the one who traveled the furthest (4+ hours, but she had a longer visit with the folks staying over at their house, and stopped to see kids and grandbabies). Friday, November 11 was the date that seemed to work out for everyone. Originally, Shane and Alicia had been scheduled to move that day, but it got bumped. 

With the need for gluten-free gourmet (Derek has now joined Dad/Lamar, Scott and Wendy) Asian Star was mentioned as a good choice. Scott is well known there (the staff know him by name, "Scotty") and arranged for a reservation for the family (13, as Rick was on a cruise and unable to attend).  Scott also had recommendations for the menu:

All Gluten Free, 1 of each:

Walnut chicken 

Walnut Shrimp 

Broccoli Beef 

Cashew Chicken 

Tangerine chicken 

Veggie stir fry/chicken

Ham fried rice 

2 Pon Pon chicken  (Not gluten Free)

9 dishes for 13 people

Jen (no dietary concerns, just finicky eating habits) and Chris did end up needing their own specialized meals, but everyone else thought Scott's recommendations were good, and it was served up family style, with everyone just taking a little bit of whatever looked good.

Due to the table seating, conversation among everyone was difficult, but the bottom half of the table talk consisted of Grayson and Scott comparing Peloton trainers, discussions of the Great British Baking Show, home improvement conversations and Tesla talk. 

The folks usually pick up the check for dinners out, but as it was Mom's birthday, this was split between the six siblings. Scott paid in full and then the others reimbursed him via Venmo.  Just a "did you know" moment ... Venmo was first brought up by Scott in an email sent July 2015. Looks like Jen's family was the last one to join (Dec2016). 

There was some teasing as Wendy pulled out an actual camera (those are still in use? Jen still uses a dedicated video camera for the boy's basketball games) and one of the waitresses snapped a picture, and then took another with Chris's phone. 

A smaller group went out to dinner at Asian Star back in 2014, that was also for Mom/Margie's birthday!