Fantastic Food

With this kind of title, I feel like I should be writing a children's book. Who knows, maybe I will! But actually, this is about some fantastic dinner parties I went to recently.

I met my friend Alvin at swing. He's super fun and quite hospitable, and he's thrown a succession of dinner parties in the past few weeks. The food was so amazing, that I thought I should share its greatness with you!

The first party was a turducken party! For those of you who don't know, a turducken is a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. To make it even more epic, there's also a different stuffing for each bird, and a lot of bacon to fill in the holes. Or just because bacon makes it better.

All the ingredients before assemblage.

It was an amazing feat of cookery, and all us guests were excited by the results. To top it all off, we even had the party on a rooftop! I've always wanted to go to a rooftop party, since I always hear my neighbors having parties, and they sound fun. Finally, my dream was realized! I had to waddle home, but I was happy.

Can I get an "ooh"?

See all the layers?

Our view from the rooftop.

The happy people.

This last weekend, Alvin decided to attempt a fish! I showed up a little early to see if I could help, and things were crazy! Apparently the outlets stopped working so that the convection oven would no longer work. Also, the crock-pot that was supposed to be cooking the ratatouille up and died. Wonderful. Iman, the guy whose house the party was at, called in some guys to fix the power problem so we were up and running again.

Cooking with Alvin!

The fish amazed me! Alvin stuffed it with herbs and garlic and then buried it in salt! I really mean buried, since he used TWO POUNDS! That's a cooking method I'd never heard of, but after tasting it I decided I was a fan. After cooking, he unearthed the fish and carefully peeled back the skin, revealing perfectly cooked fish that wasn't salty at all!

The fish, drowning in salt.

Excavating the the fish.

Oh, I should also tell you that it was a chocolate-themed dinner party. Alvin whipped up a sauce of white chocolate with shallots, herbs, cream, olive oil, and other things to go with the fish. I was skeptical, but it was really good! There was also chocolate/balsamic dressing for the salad, a chocolate apple pie, and chocolate chip oatmeal cookies! There was also the ratatouille and mashed potatoes with bacon, but I'm thankful that those dishes didn't include chocolate.

A plate of mashed potatoes, salad, and fish with chocolate sauce. You can see the pies in the background.

I was once again happy and satisfied at the end of the night. Not only was the food delectable, but the people were really fun as well. A successful evening. Although now I am much more dissatisfied with my own culinary exploits.

Music Monday: American Folk Songs

Wee Sing. Does it ring a bell? It's a set of audio books that teach kids classic songs, poems, and quotes. The set includes Wee Sing Fun and Folk, Wee Sing Silly Songs, Wee Sing Animals, Wee Sing Around the World, and others.

My all time favorite, though, was Wee Sing America, a collection of patriotic and folk songs. I loved the history, the stories, and of course, the music! What is really cool about it, is that they're all real folk songs. They may have been re-produced for a young audience, but they're still legit songs!

I've recently been searching for other versions of some of my favorite songs, and I thought I'd share them with you!

Revolutionary/Civil War

Yankee Doodle. I guess you can't get away from this one, and I don't really want to! It's pretty fun! This video is also cool, and it even has a little history lesson with it!

Dixie. I'm definitely not a Southerner, but I still like this song. It's so catchy! And this old recording is pretty awesome too.

When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again. Another classic song. This video has such awesome photos (and another history lesson). The first part is purely instrumental, but turns to singing around 2.20. I never knew that this song was actually about a Union soldier named Johnny, not Johnny Reb!

Railway Songs
Paddy Works on the Railway. I loved the old man voice that was on the Wee Sing tape, but this is a great version too.

Drill Ye Tarriers. This was one of my favorites of all! I would sing it when I was digging holes in my backyard (to make a pillhouse, of course). I often don't like live songs, but I like this guy. Also, fyi: tarrier was the nickname for the Irish immigrants who worked on the railroads.

John Henry. This was also a favorite of mine, and I learned all of the verses (in the Wee Sing book, at least). There seems to be a ton of different versions with varying tunes and lyrics. Here's just one (and I had trouble finding a version I liked), so look up some others to see the differences.

Well, I'll leave you with those for now. Next week, look forward to songs about settlers, pioneers, cowboys, and the like!

Worship/My Story

I just got back from a city-wide worship night! There's a whole worship conference going on (which I can't go to, sad day), but a friend got me a ticket for the first night. It was awesome to see people from many different countries and ages and walks of life all worshipping our God together. That's beautiful.

One thing that's stuck with me is a line from the last song we sang. It goes "I want to be a speaker of truth to all mankind." I realized on the bus-ride home (I have many epiphanies on buses) that that's what I want. I love writing, but I don't want to do it just for myself. I want my writing to speak truth. When I write poetry or songs (or even this blog), I hope that I would write words that are beautiful and true. Maybe sometimes a little weird, but true nonetheless.

On a side note, one of my friends has been working on an awesome project where he records people's stories of how they've found and grown in God. His blog, Unshattered Hope, is a huge collection of testimonies. I love reading them. They remind me that while we have one God and Father, all of us are different. God works in different ways in all of our lives to call us to himself and make us more like him. Check out his blog, if you have time.

Also, this week my story is being featured! Pop over and give it a read, if you feel the urge. It's definitely the Cliff Notes version, so feel free to ask me anything if you have questions or whatnot.

Woot woot!

Nathan's (2nd) Visit

I'm a little late on the draw, but here's my post about my brother's visit. Yes, my sister's still here, so I'll have to do another, possibly longer, post about her visit, but I figured I should at least go chronologically.

Nathan came to visit with his friend Dan. They were here for a few days and then headed to the Mainland to see Guilin. It's where Avatar was filmed, and it's supposed to be the most beautiful place in the world.

They got in on Friday night (I think?), and the next day was a public holiday, so I didn't have to work! In fact, for Easter holiday I had Friday, Saturday and Monday off! It was pretty glorious.

We kicked off their visit by wandering around Aberdeen on Saturday morning, of course riding the sampan (ferry) across. We walked through the Aberdeen wet market, which was pretty neat. There are SO many kinds of fish! After that we went to a restaurant called Greenland for specialty milk teas. You can probably guess why I like a place called Greenland!

Fish and clams (oysters?) at the wet market.

Delicious drinks at Greenland.

See why I like it? Of course, the bows make it look more like Christmasland.

After that, we met up with Mom and Dad and went to the Jumbo for a dim sum lunch. The Jumbo is a famous floating restaurant next to our house. I pass it every time I go to Hong Kong island (which is usually several times a day), but I'd never eaten there (it's expensive). We decided since Nathan and Dan were here, we should finally try it. It ended up being an interesting experience. It was very fancy, but the dim sum was SO STRANGE! We ordered spring rolls, and they had cream cheese and mango in them! Weird! I tried ordering something normal like shrimp dumplings (har gow) but it was $60 for three! Apparently it had gold flakes on it. Who puts gold flakes on shrimp dumplings anyway?

The Jumbo. It floats!

Seriously, have you ever seen cream cheese in a spring roll?

At least they had some normal things like chicken feet.

After our interesting experience, we met up with one of mom's friends. She has a car and was showing two other guys around town and invited us along. She took us to Deep Water Bay and then Stanley where we wandered for awhile, and then over to the Tai Tam reservoir. It was pretty cool. Then we ate dinner at MX, a Chinese fast food place (which the guys loved), and rushed over to TST to watch the light show. Fun times.

Deep Water Bay. It's a pretty ritzy place.

All of us (minus Dad) at Tai Tam.

Dan taking pictures at the light show.

Thankfully it cleared up!

The next day we went to Mom and Dad's church for Easter. After the service, we rushed off to Cheung Chau for the day. I think everybody and their mother had the same idea, because I've never seen crowds like this! The weather had started heating up and it was really humid. I was wearing jeans and felt pretty miserable. I had to will my legs to walk. We ended up going to the "pirate cave" where a historic pirate used to hid his treasure. Once again, everybody and their mother had the same idea, so we ended up waiting almost two hours to get into the cave, and it took less than five minutes to get through the cave. Oh well. After riding the ferry back to Hong Kong Island, the guys and I took a bus up to the Peak to take some pictures. I was pretty tired at that point, and we were all ready for bed, so we scurried back home after taking a few pictures.

Our ferry.

Hi everyone. Hi mothers.

They have all sorts of cool balconies on Cheung Chau.

I really liked this tea table and chairs. It has a great harbor view as well.

They were practicing for the upcoming bun festival. During the festival, the tower is totally covered in buns, and climbers have to make it up the tower and collect a lot of buns. Or something like that.

The beach was crowded too.

The night view from the Peak.

We did something on Monday, but I don't remember what. I think they went to look at computer stuff. On Tuesday, we went to Maxim's Palace at City Hall. It's one of the few traditional dim sum places left, where workers push carts of food around and you order off of the carts. I was excited for two reasons. First, it was real dim sum! Second, I could order easily! You just have to point and don't have to worry about the names of everything! It was SO good. After eating, the guys headed off to Avatar-land.

Traditional push-carts. Of course, not too traditional, since it has a tv on it.

One of my favorites: Shanghainese soup dumplings! Whatever you do, don't bite into them directly.

Vegetables. We try to be healthy.

Another favorite: sesame balls filled with either red bean or lotus paste.

Mom and Dan.

They got back from China on Friday, and that night we went out to dessert. I forgot to take pictures of that, so oh well. On Saturday, I had to work all day, but we met up for dinner after work. My friends Lillian and Josh were able to join us, and we all went to an Indian restaurant. Hooray for Indian food! After stuffing our faces, they hurried off to the airport to go home. Thanks for coming, guys! It was pretty fun.

Taking pictures of our Indian food. We were drinking mango lassies.

Lillian and Josh joined us for dinner.

Chicken Tikka.

We were pretty full by the end.

So doesn't this make you want to come visit too?

Music Monday: With Shivering Hearts We Wait

I am one happy camper. Not because I'm camping (I wish), but because I'm LOVING Blindside's new album. You might remember a previous MM post about Blindside. I was pretty psyched for the album, and now I'm just in a happy, blissful state. I thought I'd share some of the goodness with you guys! If you like the songs, buy the album and give Blindside some support!

Our Love Saves Us. I really like the music that goes with this song, but the lyrics are especially powerful. He's singing about his relationship with God, a typical Christian topic, but I love the depths of his lyrics. You can tell that he's had a long, sometimes hard, journey but he trusts God to carry him through. "Don't you worry; it's fine. Your hands not letting go of mine. If worse comes to worse, I'll hold tight even if it hurts. And now the ground is shaking; it's trying to tear us down. But we won't be forsaken because we know what we've found." Isn't it funny how music can somehow make words more meaningful?

Withering. Here's another gorgeous song. Props for the strings! To me, this song seems to be in a similar topical vein to their older song Pitiful. I could be wrong about the interpretation, but it seems that it's about a guy who feels like hiding from God. He knows that he's still God's child, but he feels like his sins are eating at him ("I know I'm still glorious but I'm withering like roses in the fire"). And the last part of the beautiful screaming portion, "...you hold my hand. I scream no. You stare right into my shame and but you stand your ground." Sigh. Feel free to add any other insights on the song.

Bring Out Your Dead. This is a great song to rock out to. While a lot of the album is softer than some of their previous offerings, this song hails back to their heavier past. There's not a ton of screaming, but each and every one is meaningful and adds to the song.

These are just three songs, but the whole album is truly delightful. I hope this post will motivate you to buy the album for yourself!

Now I just have to wait for them to go on tour!

Laura's Austerity Budget

My finances are always a funny thing. I'm usually motivated for a few months (or one month). I write down everything I buy, I order the cheapest thing on the menu, I say no to ice cream. And then....I conveniently forget. Well, I usually don't forget, but I choose to let it go.

Often there's something that starts my downward decline. Maybe I go on vacation or have to buy clothes for work or something. Either way, I let go of my good habits and start to stray. These last couple weeks have been no exception. First, I had to get more summer clothing. The weather is starting to turn HOT. Well, not really too hot yet, but my soul is shivering in fear at the thought of the upcoming summer.

Then I've had two sets of siblings visit (one is still here), so I've spent a little more money doing stuff with them. Also, I've done a few more things with friends that have cost me. It's been fun, but maybe I've had a little bit too much fun. Finally, I've been really bad when I'm at work. When I'm tired or feel like I need a pick-me-up, I've been buying more drinks during the day. Coffee, juice, milk tea. And also, we haven't made stuff to take for lunches, so when I don't take anything, I"m forced to buy something. Aiiyahh!

But I have resolved to be better. I've made up a new budget, and I plan to stick to it. I'll write everything down! I'll say "no" to drinks! Well, at least I'll curb my drinking habits to one or two coffees/teas a week. With this new austerity budget, hopefully my paying-off-the-loans plans will keep going forward at a good pace.

Whenever I get frustrated or am craving a milk tea, I'll just tell myself....

Silence, Again

Sorry, again, for the long silence. And it might even be longer after this. Last time, my brother was visiting, and this time it's my sister. We've been having loads of fun (squid fishing, seeing pink dolphins, going to markets, etc.) but of course that leaves me less time. Which is ok!

The point is that I should have many exciting posts in the future, full of pictures and fun. That's the other problem that I've been dealing with. Since I switched over to a Mac, I've had trouble posting pictures on Blogger. I had a bunch of lovely ones to go with my fairy tales post, and for some reason it wouldn't let me post them. BUT, we can all rejoice because I finally figured out how to fix the problem. If you have the time, wander back over to my fairy tales post and you can enjoy the beautiful pictures I was originally trying to post.

Hopefully I'll start posting more wonderful things. But don't expect me back full-force too soon. My sister will still be here for another week, and then I'm going to TAIWAN! I'm very excited.

Here's a teaser picture for you guys, showing what's to come!