The return of Mah Jongg!

My mom and I had a regular Mah Jongg group that met monthly back before and when I was pregnant with Our Little Helper. After he was born it became more and more challenging to meet up, especially since we were meeting on a week night. We decided to put together a new group last fall, but a broken leg by one of the ladies created more delays in scheduling until she conceded that her recovery wouldn't really allow her to play with us. I asked a married friend of mine who I seldom get to see since so that we could have a regular date if you will.
I learned to play Mah Jongg the Wright Patterson way, but my mom's friend prefers Chinese rules so that is what we are going to do with this group. This makes it a little bit easier since it is essentially gin rummy with tiles instead of cards. The big difference is that they keep score which me and Mrs. F have never done.
I thought it would be nice to set up the card table in the Parlor. I used a vintage chinosiere table cloth that was my great aunt's; I really ought to have ironed it first. This Mah Jongg set Mr. W brought me back as a souvenir from a business trip to Malaysia several years ago.
 
He happened to go on a business trip to Japan all last week and brought back a case of these seasonal KitKat. The chocolate is mixed with green tea powder and they have the flavoring of cherries. They taste so much better than they sound. I wish he had brought several more cases!
 
We met mid afternoon and I served Chinese chicken salad and pot stickers. After yesterday's trip to the Chinese Gardens we seem to be having quite the Chinese New Year celebration, but I hadn't even realized the timing when we set this date for Mah Jongg!
I'm so glad to be regularly playing  Mah Jongg again,!