Hot Pot, Hot Pot

            I had dinner last night at a Chinese restaurant in Monterey Park. We had a thing called a Hot Pot. It's a soup with thirty-six different herbs in it. You choose the ingredients to add to it. We added vegetables, shrimp, and pork. You cook it yourself. At the center of each table is a round hole where they place the hot pot. The hot pot is the broth and you add what you ordered to it. There's a learning curve but it's not too steep. Mostly, you have to make sure you don't over cook things or they'll turn to mush.
            A troop of Chinese dragon dancers came into the restaurant, however, they weren't dragons, but lions in this instance. They were there to ward off evil spirits for the new year. Their costumes were impressive. They had big furry heads and their mouths opened up. They went around the restaurant collecting red envelopes with money inside. We didn't have a red envelope and we were wondering where they came from.
            There were two kids to each costume. A taller teenager that controlled the mouth and head, and a smaller kid who was in charge of the tail section. It was quite the spectacle. Of course one of the lions came up to me and nuzzled my head. I nuzzled his giant furry head back. It felt good and it made me laugh.