All I want right now...

...is lemonade.

Seriously. 

When the weather gets toasty (or above 60 degrees with the case of Seattle), I crave this citrus-y delight. It's so refreshing, and always quenches my thirst. At the amazingly beautiful 4th of July party I attended, they were serving an amazing mint lemonade, and I've been slightly addicted ever since. I found this recipe at marthastewart.com and have been meaning to try it out. Perhaps I will today. But I wanted to share it just in case you wanted to try it out too.

Mint Lemonade Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar

4 1/2 cups water

3 1/3 cups fresh lemon juice (about 8 lemons)

1/4 cup julienned mint, plus leaves for garnish (this is Martha Stewart after all)

Directions

1. Combine sugar and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat. Let stand until completely cool. 

2. In a 2 1/2-quart pitcher, stir remaining 4 cups water, the syrup, lemon juice and mint. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

I guess you could use lemonade from concentrate and add the mint. In any case, it was delicious!

Do you have any favorite lemonade flavors or recipes?

Hanami anyone?

 {Cherry Blossoms in DC. Spring 2009}

Yes, please!

Hanami is a centuries old Japanese custom of admiring the beautiful sakura, or cherry blossoms.  Even though hanamis were originally for viewing the cherry blossoms, nowadays people seem to go to hanami parties for the food and sake.

Since the cherry trees have been blossoming for a couple of months (at least it feels like it), a friend of mine decided to have a hanami party. Unfortunately it was a typical Seattle evening full of wind and rain, so we weren't really able to see cherry blossoms. Despite the weather, the evening ended up being fabulous.


Mary had gone to Uwajimaya, the famous Asian grocery store that's provided Seattle Asian goods since1928 (pretty cool, huh?) and bought a ton of cool Japanese treats. I felt like I was in Taiwan again with all the Pocky and Hello Pandas.

We also learned how to roll our own sushi (hoorah!) and watched a very cute Japanese flick called Linda, Linda, Linda. Even though Linda, Linda, Linda wasn't Death Note, it was still very good.

Here are some more pictures of the evening:

Despite what it may look like, there was no sake involved. Girl Scout's honor. We were pretty excited to try out Ramune, though. It tasted like candy in liquid form. Enough sugar to hype anyone up for a week. 

{Me, Matt, and my sushi roll (not in that particular order). It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself.}

 

{The whole crew chillin' like villains.}

Here's to the Japanese and their 

fabulous custom of

Hanami!

The Best of 2009

I happened upon this blog sometime in the middle of December and decided this was a cool idea. Though it may be a bit late, I still want to celebrate the end of the past year and the start of the new. So here goes!

The Best of 2009

Best Trip

 Can you guess where this is? I'll give you a couple of hints:

• I was there exactly a year ago.
• It's hot. 
• I road an elephant and slept with a hill tribe.
• And I went with 3 other incredibly cool people (the fourth, not as cool as of late).
• The air smelled of curry and coconut milk!
  

That's right! It's Thailand!

And I absolutely loved it. I'd go back in a heart beat.

 

Restaurant Moment

This one is a toss up between two. One is Ethipian food in Georgetown with a friend and her husband from Washington Seminar. Eating with your hands is always fun, and it was great to catch up with both of them.

This was the other:

The Modern Toilet as found in Taichung, Taiwan. It was wild, and the food was surprisingly good. Only in Asia would bathrooms, toilets, and poo be cutesified. 

Best Book

This one is hard as well, considering I've read so many books this year. But I think there are two that really helped me. Those of you who know me well, that this year was a tough one for many reasons, and I had to find a way to be happy. Authentic Happiness by Dr. Martin Seligman was excellent as well as Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I felt like her memoir, in particular, of getting over a heartbreaking relationship and learning to move on and love yourself was the kick in the pants that I really needed.

And... I'll end this entry right here. There are many more things where those came from, but I dare not make you suffer through a blog novel and a half. As much as I'm sure you adore my writing skills, I won't put you through that...

At least for now.

After all, tomorrow's another day.

(Muahaha!)

Stinky Tofu? Yes, please!!!

Ever heard of stinky tofu? I hadn't either until I made it to Taiwan. It's one of the most beloved snacks of the Taiwanese people. We even have an entire food alley dedicated to it in Feng Yuan (or maybe we just named it Stinky Tofu Alley because of the smell). The smell is pretty undescribable. It's foul at best, and the first time I got a whiff of it's not-so-pleasant aroma I wanted to hurl. Needless to say, my first six months in Taiwan I passed.

Yet, this time around I decided to not be a wus and actually try some of the strange foods offered at the night markets. And the opportunity to try stinky tofu presented itself while I was Kenting. I was feeling pretty gutsy, plus I was hanging out with two of my Taiwanese friends, Kelly and Charlene, an they convinced that I should try it. So I did. And I liked it. And here's a video to prove it:

Those three guys were kinda walking with us and we kinda challenged each other to try it. It was quite funny. Before I tried it, I saw the one guy take a bite and then spit it out. It made me a bit hesistant, but I had to go through with it.

Tonight I decided to see how they made stinky tofu, and I've also decided that I may not ever eat it again. Click here to find out why.

Here's to stinky tofu even if it does stink!

5 things...

Today it's going to be short and sweet (hopefully) because it's getting late. :)

1. My friend Lex. I just had the most amazing chat with her over facebook (it is good for something!), and it was exactly what I needed.

2. Running. I love the way I feel after I go running. Endorphins are amazing. And I especially love running when i have new music to run to. Today it was Lady Gaga.

3. Hamburgers. Every once in a while I crave a good ol' hamburger. Unfortunately the best place to get a burger here is at McDonald's, but today it sure did hit the spot.

4. Having a new teaching schedule. This was the first week of Chinese school for our classes, so my teaching schedule got switched around a bit. Now on Tuesdays I only teach one class. It was so nice to have those extra hours to myself which I then spent on doing progress reports for my first graders.

5. Good health. Today when I went into my class two of my students had eye problems and another wasn't feeling very well. I'm grateful for being healthy, and for not being sick at the moment. Hopefully I will stay that way for a while. And I'm grateful for cheap medical insurance. If the States could go to a system like Taiwan's, I'd be a happy camper.

That's all for today, but like I promised before, I'll be posting something else soon. I promise!

I ate poo?

Well, not really, but it sure looked like it! To many of you Americans this may look totally disgusting. Why would anyone want to eat their entree out of a toilet, slurp their beverages out of urinals, and devour their ice cream presented to them on ceramic squatters? The answer is:

This is ASIA.

I have to admit that Asians think that some of the strangest things are absolutely adorable. Like poo for instance. We don't quite think the same way about the bathroom in America, but here poo shows up as cutesy cartoons in the bathrooms, on T-shirts, and is even the theme of this restaurant, Modern Toilet.

It was a riot! Our table was made out of a bathtub, and the seats were made out of toilets, albeit with really cool toilet seats. As always, us crazy Americans were having the time of our lives taking funny pictures while to locals sat by and watched (sometimes I wonder how annoying they find us).

{Our table after we licked our squatters clean}

{Sunny, Connie, and Michelle}

{This image just makes me laugh. Gotta love the sparkly diva seat.}

Fourth of July Weekend!

So I was bit disappointed when I realized that I'd be spending a second 4th of July in a row outside the lovely, grand, country of America and was determined to celebrate it this year no matter what (last year I missed out on the festivities because I had to finish lesson plans). So where else should an American girl celebrate the 4th, but at the restaurant of awesomeness--Humanitics. Yes, I look kinda discussing. The humidity has caused my hair to fro, and for my makeup to melt. But that was one mighty fine rasperry drink thingy.

The plan for after our amazing dinner of sorts was to see a totally American movie--Transformers. But we were somewhat delayed by the monsoon rains that sporadically come and go, but on that particular day, a bit more frequent than usual. After running from one convenience store to another trying to find coveted ponchos we finally set out for our destination, only to find that all the tickets were sold out. Dang it!

But we did not despair...Sarah, my newly made friend, is an avid Chuck watcher, as am I. So instead of watching the heavily anticipated blockbuster we returned to the school and dreamily watched the tale of a computer nerd turned CIA/NSA's top-secret secret.

There were no fire works, there were no anthems, but that will never change the fact that deep down inside that I am proud to be an AMERICAN!

America,

Peace!

I...

1. Decided that this is my new favorite font, so hopefully you like it too.

2. Am craving this: And this would be my favorite tepanyaki place in Feng Yuan. I got addicted to certain restaurants, and would frequent them. After my 6:40-8:40 pm class I was too tired to cook anything, so I would get take-out. It was actually cheaper than cooking for myself. I am craving the lamb, the bean sprouts, and the fried cabbage like none other!

3. Am reading this:

The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeannette Walls. A wonderful story-teller, Walls shares with her readers her bizarre upbringing, and I'm guessing (because I'm not done reading it yet) how she was able to come out a normal person. And of course my incredibly small summary won't do the delicious book justice. Her writing is amazing. I wasn't sure I was in the mood to start this book because it seemed like it would be depressing, but her ability to tell her story is remarkable. I recommend it to anyone who hasn't read it yet.

4. Want to play this:

Red light, green light was my BR class' favorite game. I miss their rambunctioness!

5. Miss her...:Gloria is one of the secretaries that works at Berhan, and is one of my great friends. I could go to Gloria for anything. She taught me Chinese, took me to the doctor, let me use her internet when the school's wasn't working, took me hiking, and supplied me with hours of good conversation. Gloria was like my mom away from home, and I miss her so much!

6. ...And them:
These are the four girls from my fourth grade class: Leia, Nancy, Wendy, and Madline. I looked forward to going to this class every day. They were the greatest!

7. Want to rock out like this:

This was an FHE activity where each room had to come up with a lipsinc. Sadly, I don't remember the song we did, and I think we had more fun dressing up than doing the actual lipsinc. And I just think that Connie looks freakin' awesome! Not to mention Megs awesome tattoo!

8. Miss the freedom of driving one of these:

Or should I say ride, because I was often too scared to actually drive one. And when I actually did, I happened to end up in a ditch all to often. Go figure. But I do really miss zipping around town and the feel of the wind blowing through my hair, the bugs in my mouth...you just got to love the whole experience.

9. Am currently obsessed with this:

The Soundtrack to the Original Motion Picture Amelie= HEAVEN! I can listen to this soundtrack over and over again and never get tired of it.

10. Am excited to be here:

Ok, so you can probably tell that this picture was taken the last time I was in DC, but that doesn't mean that I don't like being here now. Especially since it's so bitter cold. :) I'm glad I made the decision to move out east, and I think I'll be here for a while.

Connecting the Dots

So as you probably have noticed, I'm not in Taiwan anymore. Many are surprised that I made it out to DC so quickly. So where in the States have I been in the last month? Let's connect the dots...

This was our first stop. Can you guess where we were?

I said "Hi" to my good friend Jessica in her hometown...













Drank some Lithia water (so refreshing!)...

















Encountered some sunnier, warmer weather while visiting my grandpa. I was even able to break out my Chacos--my feet were happy to be in sandals again!













We saw some amazing cloud formations....


















Saw a gorgeous church...













Visited Bill Clinton's hometown (by accident. That's the house he lived in!)...













Fortunately it was in Bill Clinton's hometown (or was it birth place?) that I had my first encounter with a Waffle House. And it was swell!













We sped by Talledega Speedway...













Saw CNN....


















And some other interesting things in the South...















Fireworks were everywhere!



Finally, Mom and I made it to our nation's capital! The National Mall still bore the marks of the inauguration that occurred a week before. So did you connect the dots? How many states did I drive through? Ok, I'll go ahead and tell you: Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. Fourteen states in a week and half. And let me tell you, we could definitely feel it by the time we finished. I don't think I want to do a road trip that long for quite a while. But I'm grateful for my mom who so willingly made the trek out with me. I don't think I could have done it without her, despite what she says. :)

Here's to the greatest mom in the world: mine!

Loveliness!

So I'm taking a break from doing the dreaded job searching, to report that I've found the most amazing brain food ever:

Yes, that's right. It's CHOCOLOVE! I think I might be in love with it...and I don't even care for chocolate that much. But this delectable bar has lovely cherries & almonds wrapped in it's dark chocolaty goodness. And--it comes complete with a love poem. Who could ask for anything more fabulous?