Holiday Week Mahjongg

A few weeks ago I was contacted by a young man who made me an enticing proposition.  No, not that kind!  Even better.  Jeffrey Orlick, Queens Qustodian, was orchestrating a food event on Christmas eve, an event for "lonely Asians and Jews" who did not celebrate Christmas.  He called it Woks and Lox, dinner for 20 and a party for 40, held at the Queens Kickshaw, a brick-wall-and-wooden-table hipster cafe in Astoria.  He had seen my name on the internet and wondered if I could talk some friends into playing mahjongg at the event in exchange for a free dinner.  Could I!

We arrived at 5 p.m. and unobtrusively set up our table.  We played through the arrival of the guests and stopped only when the wait staff served us course after course.  The chef posted the menu here:  Woks and Lox dinner menu and we will forgive her for saying that she made extra for the "little old Jewish ladies playing mahjongg".  Do we look like little old Jewish ladies?  It was all so interesting and delicious -  kasha varnishkes with ginger and scallions, red bean paste rugelach.  And it was so cute the way the waitress said var-NISHkas.  We even got gelt, which I put in my mahjongg purse for when I go pie.  Maybe I will call it going chocolate.

And, the event got a lot of press!  We were in the HuffPost!  Photos were taken by Stella Dacuma Schour! We are celebrities!  Stars!  We had so much fun we even forgot the brouhaha that went down the night before when SOMEONE forgot to write down her bet....

Well, let awkward mahjongg moments be forgot as we ring in the new year.  There are plenty of mahjongg marathons and pajama parties in our future.  The NMJL newsletter came today - the first intimation of spring and the new card.  Get your orders in now!  Don't be like SOME people who forget to order and always need to peek at your card...

I'm planning on buying a new set this year.  Do you have a favorite color combination?  Please leave a comment here or on the Facebook fan page.

This is my set now.
Pink tiles with black racks.
I'm thinking peaches and cream with wooden racks.
I'm not all that crazy about the "pushers"
Maybe clear racks?  It's an agonizing decision!

But here is wishing you all a happy mahjongg new year.  May you all be winners!