Remembering Uncle Thomas

One aspect of Chinese New Year is honoring the deeds and memories of the deceased. None of our ancestors are buried in the NY metro area so we never did the whole visit graves, burn incense and money thing. This year, my father and sister came to visit me for Chinese New Year and we made a pilgrimage to visit my Uncle Thomas.

Uncle Thomas was my father's older brother and was the first of the siblings to come to America. He and his family settled in VA where he worked designing and building nuclear submarines. I have extremely fond memories of driving past the Mormon Temple to Virginia, eating at amazing Chinese restaurants, chasing after blue crabs before they were put in the pot, and visiting the Air and Space Museum. Uncle Thomas loved football and was a rabid Redskins fan. He was always laughing and would say something really fast that I couldn't understand and laugh again. His sentences were punctuated by deep hearty laughter.

We spent the whole weekend in honor of him. We ate lots and lots of good food - Maryland Crabs steamed with Old Bay and Peking Duck (at a restaurant we think he took us to). We went to visit him, put our hands together and bowed. We spent lots of quality time together laughing. And, we watched the Super Bowl.

Cambodian Yumminess

M's mom cooked dinner for us... I love bok choy and shitake mushrooms and her ginger chicken stew.

The Creature Nightmares Are Made Of

Despite the everlasting precipitation (is it time to build the ark yet?), Dr. Do, A, C and I went forth to the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). I have not been jam packed in a place with so many people and children in a very long time. Apparently, DC is chock full of children between June and September. Now you tell me.

Regardless of the hordes, Dr. Do and A's enthusiasm was infectious and we saw the ENTIRE museum plus the 3D IMAX movie Deep Sea. That was really incredible. Imagine being surrounded by moon jellies and having them float right into you! A loves squids so we saw the male and female giant squids on exhibit. We were incensed that the Deep Sea movie called the Humbolt Squid "the creature nightmares are made of." The new bones/ forensics exhibit was so cool. Hello CSI! I liked the fossil of the fish with the fish skeleton in the stomach. The cafeteria was yummy. Any opportunity for chicken tenders and fries is welcome.

Full House

What ever happened to predictability? The milk man, the paper boy, evening T.V...

We got Dr. Do, A, M's mom and bro. Good thing our IKEA dishes are a setting for 6!

Lil Bro's Graduation

[in progress]

Mother's Day Bash

M and I made it to Leonia with the help of all of her devices and in spite of the the overpowering fragrance of half a bushel of steamed and spiced blue crabs. Mom ran out the door and the first thing she asked was not, "how are you" or "how was the ride". No, it was "Where's Petunia??!?!"

And of course, Mother's Day would not be complete without a trip to Mom's and my favorite place in the whole world: Woodbury Commons. Surprisingly, the two people who dislike it spent the most money (Dr. Do and M)! I only bought 2 pairs of thermals. The little kitchen things I picked out were not worth waiting in line for.

Even the geese had a nice Mother's Day together.

And then, in addition to Petunia, blue crabs and Woodbury, our final mission of Mother's Day was to get mom tanked. She totally rocked out! We had a great evening of Rock Band and Kareoke Revolution with old family friends.

Visiting with Fam

My father's brother and his family lived in Virginia so I have lots of fond memories of going to DC for the holidays, going to the space and air museum, eating hotpot, staying away from scary cat, trying to play ball with cousin M and getting great clothes from the other cousin M.

Cousin M had moved to Texas and what do you know, they were visiting Aunt V! I'm so glad to have had the chance to see them today and meet baby E for the first time!

The Day Time Stood Still

[in progress]

Call Me!

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I heard Blondie's Call Me playing downstairs. And then my mom's voice singing. It appears that she really likes the song and has printed out the words to learn it. I was no help with the Italian or the French but I am looking forward to her Rock Band debut.

*Oriental East w/ M, I, J and M

[in progress]

M and I met up with Cousin M, I and her new fiance J for yummy dim sum.

Chinese New Year with the Siblings

Travel Safely, Mom

My father has lived in Taiwan since 2004 and at first, mom was supposed to stay with him but for numerous reasons - a whole other posting worth - she visits him once a year for a few weeks.

Dad is having surgery on Friday so she left tonight. A number of observations at the airport. Why do people bring their entire life's belongings with them? It was crazy - there were boxes, plastic tubs, suitcases the size of freight containers. How do these planes take off if everyone brings 10x their weight in cargo? Mom brought twice her weight in goods (apparently candy and Centrum). I have to write Centrum a letter because everyone brings it back to Asia. People had to repack their luggage and each one was full of Centrum. There was a lesbian! And the woman she was with was wearing UGGs and a short dress with no stockings! Who goes on a 16 hour flight without anything on? There was an Asian dude with a HUGE nose and another guy with a super long pinkie nail. What is up with that? Is it for cleaning their ears? Apparently, it may be some gang symbol. I did see this really old Asian couple who were so cute and still held hands.

So, safe travels mom, give our love to dad and hope he gets well soon.

Christmas (cont.)

Christmas wouldn't be complete without H, Z and now, little R. He has gotten so big in 2 weeks and H and Z are such incredible parents. Doris cuddled with H's childhood teddy bear - the largest bear we know. We chowed on incredible Filipino food and relaxed. Back at home, there were more awesome spare ribs and Connery entertained us with his famous sit trick. Lastly, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without Christmas Karaoke - every Christmas song, 1 verse, no repeats, as fast as possible. Doris plays the piano, I'll sing or play the flute, Phil plays the trumpet or guitar, mom sings and dad plays the recorder or takes pictures of us from behind. It'll just be Doris, mom and me this year but it is still a treasured tradition. Update: see the laptop on the piano? That's dad on Skype so we did get to sing to him this year. When we were done with the carols, Doris indulged me in a few show tunes and my love for a very nasally Eponine. We're also starting another tradition where M Skypes us as Rudolph. It has a spastic right eye and is very funny.

Christmas Morning

Mom has been doing a great job of feeding us from the bounty we purchased at the Korean grocery store. She cut radish cakes for breakfast which I tried to cook and ended up burning myself. I cut myself last Saturday so I haven't been too lucky in the kitchen. Mom made 2 kinds of chicken last night and this morning, her amazing braised spareribs (pork spare ribs, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, rock sugar). I've been on a veggie and fruit kick so enjoyed an entire ruby red grapefruit.

As Doris would say, we "chillaxed" after breakfast. I made some vegan almond cupcakes which I think came out really well. So fluffy! And we rocked out. I got 100% on Eye of the Tiger. Aw yeah!














Vegan Almond Cake
adapted from Dairy-free Almond-orange Cake, Vegetarian Planet, Didi Emmons

1 cup whole almonds, lightly toasted
2 cups unbleached white flour
1.5 tsps baking powder
0.5 tsps baking soda
0.5 tsps salt
2/3 cup canola oil
1 cup soy milk
2/3 cup honey
1 tbsp vanilla extract
0.5 tsps almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 or 10 inch cake pan by rubbing or spraying it with a bit of oil.
2. Grind the almonds in a food processor or blender. Transfer the almonds to a large bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
3. In a smaller bowl, combine the canola oil, soy milk, honey, vanilla and almond extract. Pour about half of this mixture into the flour mixture, and stir briefly. Add the remaining liquid and stir until the batter is smooth. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean. Let the cake cool in its pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then loosen the cake with a sharp knife. Place a plate on top of the pan, and invert the cake onto the plate. Let the cake cool completely before frosting.