Red Egg Revelry

This weekend, I had the pleasure and privilege to attend my first Red Egg party, a traditional Chinese banquet to celebrate a newborn reaching its first month. Hosted by the baby's grandparents, the party was held in a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, with a few dozen guests spread across four large round tables.  The lavish menu was served to each table family style, with about 10 courses arriving in pretty quick succession.  After appetizers and soup, the crab, lobster, steak, scallops, and chicken arrived.  Just sampling everything required pacing oneself.  The banquet continued for over two hours, not including the toasts and thank-you's, and the singing as the meal would down.
And the red eggs?  Each table received a plate full of hard-boiled eggs dyed red, with a bowl of pickled ginger on the side.  Iconic, but not so exotic as the jelly-fish appetizer, my favorite first-time taste.