happy lunar new year:

With the new kitchen and new me, plus some handy Christmas presents from my in-laws (serving bowls and a meat thermometer I'd been wanting), I decided to cook a full traditional feast for Chinese New Year this year, including char siu pork, drunken chicken, beef noodle soup, long vegetables, prawns, dumplings, etc.  It took as long as Thanksgiving dinner, except I did more mobilizing and active cooking with the New Year meal.  What I mean by new me, is that I used to think it wasn't a good idea to celebrate Lunar New Year too much because of some of the superstitious beliefs around it, but I've learned I can make of it whatever I wish.  For us, it'll just be about the food and remembering the cultural background, since my kids are culturally American and haven't been immersed in either Chinese or Mexican culture.  I tried to instill more ideas of Chinese and Mexican culture in them, like the a strong work ethic and importance of family, but it's not something they can understand from words the way I learned and lived it.  It's okay, though, my prayers are not for that, but that they will know and love God more each day.   I hope they find their identity in Christ first, but also that they accept and even celebrate people's differences, including their own.

Manny got back from his work trip the day before the New Year.  He brought back a lot of treats for the kids and some very thoughtful gifts, including a beautiful cross necklace for Naomi.  He got me these fancy crackers I really liked.  The day of the Lunar New Year (Friday, 1/25 this year), I got to the Chinese market before opening, and there was already a line at both doors.  The seafood section was insane.  Since Manny had to work that Saturday, and I have more energy in the mornings, I made a New Year's feast at lunch instead of the dinner.  Often the meal is served on New Year's Eve, but I left that open because we had an event to attend, but that didn't work out. 

There was so much food; it was enough for a few meals.  I like drunken chicken, but I used an American chicken instead of the small Asian ones, so it was a lot of chicken, and I'm not sure everyone else is used to the shaoxing cooking wine flavor.  So next year, either a smaller chicken or no wine.  I also made char siu pork (using tenderloin for ease and less fat), which I marinated overnight in a homemade sauce.  I think it should be marinaded for 2 full days.  The next day, it tasted even better and we finished it off.  I made a fish I often made for others in college--a Shanghai style braised tilapia.  I would use a different fish like snapper or mackerel, but we don't eat a whole lot of fish here aside from salmon and tilapia.  I made a Taiwanese beef noodle soup with a slightly different recipe than my standard.  I think my usual one is better.  Noodles are supposed to represent a long life.  I also made chili prawns.  For New Year, you leave the heads and shells on, but it makes it less convenient to eat, so I'm debated heads off next time.  I made yu choy (you tsai in Mandarin; many foods are named in Cantonese) for the long vegetables.  Maybe too long.  It can be a choking hazard.  I did not have time to make the dumplings or spring rolls, so I bought those.  I also bought the man tou (sweet rice flour bread), five spice bean curd, and the rice flour cake to save time.  In Chinese, rice flour cake is nian gao.  Nian gao also means year high.  So it's a nice play on words, as are many of the dishes.  I was very pleased overall with the meal, happy to cook it, but oh the clean-up was not fun. 

They are examining it in this pic so they look serious, but they were pretty excited.

Thank you, Papi!

It's the Year of the Mouse (and almost Valentine's Day, too).

Chinese New Year at the market.  This doesn't capture how crowded the seafood counter really was.

Time to eat!

Time to clean!

crazy underrepresented asians:

Last Saturday morning, I went to see Crazy Rich Asians (PG-13, not something for the little ones, and there is some raunchy humor).  Even though I don't go out of my way to watch romantic comedies on the big screen, I went to support this film for my friends who have struggled to make it in the arts and entertainment business, especially Christian entertainment.  It is very challenging to cross over, and in movies, the Asians are usually doing martial arts or being a sidekick or comic relief.  Many Asian roles are given to bigger-name Caucasian actors to play.  Growing up, it was amazing to see an Asian in a movie, even if it was the sensei or love interest of an Italian-American Karate Kid.  Joy Luck Club was a shining moment, although in the 25 years since, there's been little in the mainstream until this movie.  This one is made of many different kinds of Chinese cultures rather than just one, and it explores the contrast and tension of an Americanized Chinese person and a traditional Singaporean Chinese family.  It's nice to not just lump all Asians together.  Though we have plenty in common, our cultures, customs, languages, and food are fairly diverse.  People can appreciate that differences between Chinese and Indians, for example, because we look so different.  But culturally, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Thai, Filipinos, Vietnamese--we're all quite different from each other.

Naomi was going to watch it with me, but she was recovering from a cold.  I was recovering as well, but didn't have a cough yet.  I wouldn't want to cough during the movie.  I'm glad I was able to go.  I love my Saturday morning outings!  Check out the video below.  I share many of their same sentiments.

Not feeling 100% yet, but ready to support Asians in cinema.

LA Times feature.

día del niño:

(Yes, way behind here, trying to catch up to let you know about Mother's Day.)  The Friday before Día del Niño (April 30 in Mexico), our neighborhood center held a celebration outside.  I think we were expecting warmer weather, and it got quite cold.  One of the staff of the non-profit organization that oversees the school programs invited me, so I just went for an hour.  These days, I either decline invitations or try to limit my time anywhere and make sure I get done what I need to at home first.  It was fun, and nice for Isaac to see that side of his heritage.

Jump house gone wild.  Good thing it was just Isaac in there.  Lucas really has a hard time with crowds and kids breaking rules.

Some of the newer kids in the baile folklórico program about to perform.  

Isaac watching the ladies' performance.

I love those skirts!

They did great!

More of the group.

Ticket and goody bag, which included all kinds of Mexican candies and treats.

japantown:

During Naomi's winter break, I took the kids to Japantown for a day trip.  Naomi's friend Z was also on winter break, so Naomi asked if she could come as well.  Z is very loving and gets along well with our boys.  I'm also friends with her parents through church.  We were happy to have her.  Z tried mochi for the first time, but I think it was a little sticky for her (that's actually why I like it fresher).  Naomi and I like mochi, but the boys, not so much.  They got Hello Panda instead.

We also wanted to try a ramen place.  One had less variety and was more highly rated, but the other one had more options, including the specific ramen the girls were craving.  We decided on the one with more options.  We were happy with the choice we made, though we had to wait about 20 minutes for two tables to open so we could combine them.  They gave us Dum-Dums, and we watched some Olympics and chatted while waiting.

We went to a few shops afterward.  Naomi and I were hoping for more cute/kawaii or cool stuff like we've seen in other places like Little Tokyo or San Francisco, but there wasn't a store like that.  The shirt shops didn't have anything that caught our eye, either.  Naomi ended up not getting anything, but her friend got a Ryu (from the Streetfighter video games) bobblehead and some stickers.

Z knew of a good boba place (she's been to Japantown before, but none of us have).  Walking there and back would be about a mile total.  That wasn't a problem for any of us except Lucas.  He has issues with his feet sometimes.  I couldn't carry him piggyback, so I decided one had to suffer for the many.  He managed, plus he got a nice mango boba drink out of it.

I liked how sparse it was, maybe because it was a weekday or due to the weather.  It went from windy and gloomy to sunny and back rather quickly.  The ramen and hot tea I had helped a lot.  I tend to get too hot or too cold easily.  On our way back, it started raining.  I was glad we made it back to our car right at the start of the rain.  We were sorry Manny couldn't join us.  I appreciate how hard he works and how it allows me to take the kids out like this.

Fresh mochi (manju) from Shuei-Do.  I enjoyed the kinako (peanut flour) and white bean with raspberry (pink one).  I will have to come back sometime to try some others.

History of Japantown inscribed on the benches.

Reportedly the best mochi in our area, and I agree.  They also sell Hawaiian shave ice in the summer.

Watching the Olympics while we wait for a seat at the ramen shop.

Time for ramen!

Naomi and I got tonkatsu ramen and enjoyed it.  She took this photo.

This photo displays all their personalities well.

Sad that SJ Tofu had to close for good after 71 years.  They just closed in December.

Funko Pop! bobbleheads.  They didn't have Chun-Li available, but Z. got a Ryu.

Only one arcade game in the store, and still a quarter.  I was happy to find it's one of the StreetFighters.  I used to play SFII all the time.  It was also often the only arcade in the shops, even at our engineering store at UCLA. Never seen this one (EX Plus Alpha), though.  Isaac wanted to try it.  Lucas didn't want me to waste the quarter.

Pretty much a mural of my childhood, thanks to my older brother.

What it looks like in the winter.  Hope to go back in the summer.  They also have the festival coming up, but I won't be able to make that weekend.

Crossing the tracks out of Japantown.  Nice walk, especially for Isaac.  He loves going on walks and hikes.

Deciding between everything.

Enjoying my specialty hot tea (I think it was osmanthus green tea) with Lucas.  The cactus is a set of coasters, but the kids just used them to build things.

Starting to pour.  Time to go!

misc post (optometrist and the kawaii culture):

I set an appointment with my optometrist of two decades, and unbeknownst to me, it turned out to be his very last day before retiring.  Manny's insurance coverage wasn't even ready yet for his frames, only the appointment, but we were busy other weekends, so I just chose this one.  So thankful I got to say goodbye and congratulations.  Two decades ago, I was a student in college in desperate need of new glasses.  I was wearing broken glasses that were taped together, I kid you not.  I don't remember how exactly I found him, but most likely I used yellow pages online or in an actual phone book.  His children were very young then and are now adults.  I of course have gotten married and had three children, with everyone in the family having been to his office.  Isaac of course came to the office only to visit as he hasn't needed to be checked yet.  We no longer live that close to his office, but I would never switch optometrists unless I had to.  Now I have to.  So I signed the farewell card and took a photo with him.  

  

I've been asked more than once recently why Asians like cute things so much.  I think the agreed origin is that Japanese teen girls started writing Japanese cutely in the 70s, and then came Hello Kitty  (and probably anime as well) promoting cute as an aesthetic.  I think Japan's cherry blossoms, kimonos, and natural scenery lent itself well to light colors and clean lines, which you can see in architecture and even in the foods, like sushi and dish presentation.  (More capitalist-leaning) places like Taiwan and Hong Kong were influenced by this aesthetic.  As for the actual question I had, which is why grown Asian adults like me like Sanrio, Snoopy, and other characters seemingly made for children.  My answer to that--and I could be wrong--is that Asians are generally under so much pressure to work to the bone and pursue education and climb the career ladder.  Things like Snoopy present a sort of simplicity, innocence, nostalgia, or escape (at least something very different) from those pressures in a simple, aesthetic way.  I personally didn't know anyone who liked Snoopy growing up as I didn't grow up around too many East Asians, but what personally drew me to him was yes the way he looked, but also the Peanuts story arcs themselves.  Sanrio was just cute to me and part of growing up without growing up.  I think it would be interesting to find out the reasons other fans are fans.

  

I've grabbed a Jolly Rancher from the bowl for 20 years.

Happy retirement to my optometrist of 20 years.

Presents from friends--Snoopy memo pads and Hello Kitty Cafe shirt.

I never could get Naomi to write characters, but she's doing kanji in Japan Club at school.  I never pushed my interest in Japanese culture on her; she just took to it.  Now she's too old for Hello Kitty, but I think she'll be back.  :) 

The 80s and 90s-era Sanrio characters and style are my favorites.

A sketch I made of one of Pochacco, one of my favorite Sanrio characters.

manny in taiwan:

Manny was given less than 2-days' notice that he had to go to Taiwan for work.  Thankfully his passport was still valid, so he just had to book the plane and hotel.  We spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out the transportation and routes, and his Chinese coworker wrote out some things in Chinese he could hand a driver if they did not speak English.  He flew into Taipei, took a bus, then a bullet train, and then a taxi to his hotel in Taichung.  I think it was 20 hours of traveling time total, and I'm sure it wasn't easy.  

I have not been back to Taiwan since we left.  My mom went back several times, but never at a time I could go.  So Manny has now been to my homeland more recently than I have.  I'm glad he finally got to see Taiwan.

The kids and I missed him a lot, even though it was sort of business as usual since I do almost all of the caretaking of the children and the house as he has to work a lot.  I was just more cautious at night and sometimes left lights on.  I also made things the kids liked that Manny wouldn't usually want to eat, like foods with simple carbs (pasta, stuffing, etc.).  This was helpful as I had to pack up and clean before our trip to see the grandparents.

He had a lot of work to do there, even though it appears they actually needed an executive to go over there to make the higher-level negotiations and plans or whatnot.  He did get to go to Taipei during the weekend with coworkers, which I was glad to hear.

He returned with fun gifts, and I always appreciate his thoughtfulness in that.  Well, he bought the boys these spinning light-up tops which he didn't know played "Gangnam Style" and rather loudly at that.  I got a headache by the end of the next day.  He got Naomi Hello Kitty candy and this nice backpack for traveling/overnights.  I got the HK candy as well, and a Hello Kitty car, which I really like.  The gifts were perfect for all of us, but the best gift was his safe return home.

Roasted corn at the Night Market.

Manny's fingers are long, so this is actually a huge bao.

Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world for many years.  Manny said it was hazy, so it was hard to see anything from the top.  He also said it sways, which is enough for me to say no thanks.

Having boba from the place that supposedly invented it (there's a dispute whether it was this place or a different one).

Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial.  Pretty sure I have a photo of me nearby as a kid, although it wasn't completed until maybe a few months after we left Taiwan.

Taiwanese food.

I forget what this is called, but it's a dessert soup.

Sour Skittles and a gummy hamburger.

Flashing, spinning tops that play the same music again and again.  Boys love them; Mom not so much.

Lucas' gummy hot dog.

Presents for me and Naomi (and a backpack, not pictured).

It's been a while since he's indulged my love for Hello Kitty and/or Snoopy.  Getting this little car from him after all these years was something special.