Meeting up with friends -- Mai Quach

On Tuesday, we met up with one of Dwayne's former co-workers, Mai. We met her at one of her family's sandwich shops near here - Lee's Sandwiches. The shop where we met her is in a "Little Saigon" area of Westminster, CA.

We did not realize that tomorrow (Thursday, 2/19) is Chinese New Year - if we had known, we should have planned to be with Mai and her family during this holiday. But, we got to see the area already preparing for the holiday.

In the sandwich shops, and in the open markets, there are "Mai trees" - these trees with yellow blooms are considered "lucky", so you want to have them in your home on new years. Mai said that since her name is "lucky", her friends would want her to be the first one to visit her in the new year, to bring "luck" to their homes for the upcoming year.

Mai tree, and Mai, and Dwayne

Mai tree, Dwayne, and Patti

"Dancing lady" orchids in the open market

One of the Lee's Sandwiches shops

We had a wonderful visit with Mai, enjoying delicious food at Lee's and at a Vietnamese/French restaurant in the area. It was so interesting to hear about Mai's family and how they came to the US - and made Dwayne and me grateful for that we were able to be Americans just by being born here.

If you see a Lee's Sandwich shop (there are more than 50 around the US), stop in and try their drinks (we can specifically recommend the coffee and boba drinks) or food - I think you'll enjoy them!
http://www.leesandwiches.com/