The entire family! Mii-style
When I was little, I was embarassed that all my tupperware said "ANDY," so I added a "c" and pretended they were for candy. (Andy is my dad's name...)
The asian side of thanksgiving-- liang mien, seafood medley, and squash soup
Can someone PLEASE tell me how to say jiu tsai hua in ENGLISH!
Minne Mouse and the banana bread
good to be back on campus 🙂 refreshed and ready to power through this semester! hope you are all well rested.
I didn’t blog yesterday. Fail. So here is what went down in my food life on day 2 of Thanksgiving break!
My family has been eating lots and lots of whole wheat banana nut honey bread. Like I said in the previous post, I tried a homemade recipe of this yummy bread. To make things light and healthy (and more delicious, in my opinion), I used vegetable oil instead of butter and honey instead of sugar. The result was wonderful! I would modify my recipe a little more to have maybe 5 tablespoons of honey instead of three, and I hope to add more walnuts to intensify the nuttiness. Overall, a successful work in progress! When I perfect the recipe I will post it. But for you bakers out there, give the healthier options a try! You don’t even have to tell your guests, just do them the silent favor
The other major food group in my family recently is PERSIMMON! My aunt shipped over a huge case from her backyard persimmon trees in California. Sometimes I think my fruit-bat soul belongs in California…
Finally, last night, the Red Army ladies (<3!) went to eat at CAFETERIA in Chelsea. I was slightly wary at first about it being another one of those expensive trendy places with small portions (typical all over NYC). But I was pleasantly proved wrong! I had a turkey burger with cranberry aioli, avocado, tomatoes, and field greens. It was definitely humongor and delicious, though I would say the bun could have been a little less rubbery… The service was also great, our server was super friendly and amused by our crazy group (usually servers are a little weirded out by us–remember California Pizza Kitchen?) Anyway, I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite most highly recommended place to go, but if you’re around Chelsea, definitely pop your head in for a chill hangout with friends.
The absolute highlight of our food adventures last night, though, was a little place called Billy’s http://www.billysbakerynyc.com/ . Even if you stop in for a sniff, your day will be happier. Also, check out the hot spots in Chelsea Market (where the Food Network is housed!) Fat Witch Brownies http://www.fatwitch.com look amaaaazing.
And now, for day 3.
Thanksgiving is all about food. And so is the Hsieh (thanks) family! So, I decided I would keep a food blog of my days at home 🙂 The eating commenced at 2AM of Thursday November 26 when my mother brought delicious blueberries on the car to pick me up. When we got home at around 2:30 AM, I continued to eat a stew of tofu and vegetables. Yum. It was great to be home! Mommy and I then talked until about 4AM, when I felt sufficiently digested and ready to sleep…
9:30AM Breakfast: Greek Yogurt on Papaya! (I love papaya…)
I highly recommend Oikos organic Greek Yogurt. In general, I love Greek Yogurt because it is thick and creamy (with the cooling sensation I get from Berryline Yogurt) and yet fat free! Score! When I eat greek yogurt, it is usually on fruit, so I like the regular flavor. But Oikos also sells these pre-packaged blueberry, mango, peach flavors that have fruit in them already (sold at Costco). Those are pretty yummy too. And an added bonus– Greek yogurt has lots of protein for you vegetarian minded buddies out there! Also try greek yogurt with honey.
Preparation for Thanksgiving: I am currently baking Banana Honey Bread. Recipe and results to come…
Mommy has just reminded me that our family (for the entire 25 years of my brother’s life) has never missed Thanksgiving. We have come together for the American deal (none of that bootleg duck and chicken Asian version) every single year! 謝 PRIDE! Haha, well, we attempt the American deal anyway…
Things on the menu.. (there are only four of us, so it may seem small)
Butternut Squash Soup
Mashed Potatoes
Baked Sweet Potato
Turkey
Cranberry Sauce
Seafood Medley (okay, maybe this is Asian)
Banana Honey Bread
wahoo! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! So much love and yummyness 🙂 Back to cooking… updates to come!
AHH my favorite author is out with a new book! Time to make that spontaneous Amazon purchase?
Okay, I never finished Eat Pray Love and I still have 3 other books on my shelf that I was supposed to read this summer. But I am WAY too excited about Jonathan Safran Foer’s new book Eating Animals… so the rest will have to wait. Please direct yourselves to Amazon page, then get excited with me! I am pretty intrigued by the topic:
“Brilliantly synthesizing philosophy, literature, science, memoir and his own detective work, Eating Animals explores the many fictions we use to justify our eating habits-from folklore to pop culture to family traditions and national myth-and how such tales can lull us into a brutal forgetting.”
Also, if you have never heard of this author or have never heard me GUSH about his writing, please read Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. These books are fiction (and fantastic beyond belief), so I hope his new nonfiction lives up to my expectations!! Hooray for satisfying my inner bookworm.
I’ve had this on repeat forever–from Spring Awakening. Also I love when Julia and I belt this song out on our way to the M2. I wanted to share the lyrics because they make me feel the warm fuzzies!
Found a version of the cast in Bryant Park! The harmonies sound weird, but still awesome.
In the midst of this nothing. This miss of a life.
Still there’s this wanting to see you go by.
It’s almost like lovin’. Sad as that is.
May not be cool, but it’s so where I live.
It’s like I’m your lover or more like your ghost.
I spend the day wondering what you do, where you go.
I try and just kick it but what can I do.
We’ve all got our junk, and my junk is you.
See us, winter walking after a storm.
It’s chill in the wind but it’s warm in your arms.
The stop all snow line, may not be true.
We’ve all got our junk, and my junk is you.
Well, you have to excuse me, I know it’s so off.
I love when you do stuff that’s rude and so wrong.
I go up to my room, turn the stereo on
Shoot up some you, and the you is some song.
I lie back just driftin’ and play out these scenes
I ride on the rush of all the hopes and the dreams
I May be neglecting the things I should do.
But we’ve all got our junk, and my junk is you.
See we still keep talkin’ after you’re gone.
You still with me then feels so good in my arms.
They say you go blind, maybe it’s true.
We’ve all got our junk, and my junk is you.
It’s like we stop time. What can I do?
We’ve all got our junk, and my junk is you.
My junk is you.
My junk is you.
You. You. You.
So I was looking through my old posts and realized how much more eloquent I was during the summer, and even on my old old old xanga blog. So I decided to attempt another movie review, to rekindle my ability to write. I`ve actually seen two or three movies ever since school started, but this is probably the most interesting one. So here goes, a review of Where the Wild Things Are
Please do not read my thoughts unless you go see the movie first! I believe this is one of those films that hit or miss, and your opinion can probably be heavily swayed by expectation. So watch it for yourself first!
To put it out there, I did enjoy seeing the movie and I`m glad I saw it. I might be overcritical below, but it’s only because I think the movie has potential to be AWESOME… but it just fell short.
So we all know Where the Wild Things Are, the book in which little Max is sent to his room without dinner for misbehaving, and he is whisked away by his imagination to a wonderous world of wild beasts, craziness, and adventure–a little boy’s fantasy world. In this movie version, Max is also a misunderstood little boy, but his imagination doesn’t take flight in his room, but on his runaway away from home. Herein lies the first hiccup in the movie… why in the world did his mother stop chasing him? And why didn’t anyone come after him?! Why weren’t there any consequences at the end for his running away, biting his mother and tantrums? The first major issue I had with this movie was how unrealistic it was. And I don’t mean in the majority of the movie that focused on his imagination, but in the bookending beginning and end that were supposed to bring the lessons of the movie back to real life. Without a believable backdrop plot to ground the film in reality, I had a hard time understanding the deeper messages the director tried to convey. I mean at least in the book the little boy is trying to deal with his punishment. In the movie, I have no point of reference for his fantastical projections of anger.
The more prominent issue lies in the depiction of this fantasy world. Max sails to Where the Wild Things Are and meets monsters/beasts that reflect various depressing facets of his own personality. There is the misunderstood one, the one that is never heard, the really angry guy that can’t control his emotions, the one that talks really rudely, etc etc… One reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes said that it was like the Seven Dwarves on Prozac and I couldn’t agree more. Sounds awful? Yea… it was pretty depressing. But that doesn’t necessarily mean it had to be ridiculous. Unfortunately, it was just not executed well! Had the dialogue been better, or the conflicts better explained and developed, I probably would have appreciated the intentions of the director. For example, when Max first enters this world, Carol (the really angry one) is destroying houses for some unknown reason. Okay, I didn’t really get it so maybe I will get it later in the movie right?…. NOPE they never explained. The next conflict starts only a few scenes later, and I am equally confused and left in the dark. Then the next conflict, and the next. Each one without explanation or rationality. Maybe this was the point? … I have no idea. Also some of the verbal exchanges are kind of laughable. If you remember “THAT WAS MY FAVORITE ARM!” then you`ll know exactly what I`m talking about.
Overall, an alright effort, but a very dark representation of the beloved picture book. I certainly was never bored nor looking at my watch, and I really appreciated that this book was made for the silver screen (really, I had been waiting for it to be done!) However, I don’t think it’s something I would take a child to. For the rest of you, I would say it’s worth a watch at least to think about. Especially the dark message (seven dwarves on prozac)… there is probably a valuable lesson in there. I`ll think of it when I have time to think harder.
Thanks to the buddy I saw it with who shares many of these sentiments.
Yep, apparently there will be a Shrek 4 in 2010. The first one was fantastic… the second one was AWESOME (bought the soundtrack and obsessed over it for weeks)… and the third one was okay, I remember thinking it was slightly lame afterwards. With the fourth one I`m sensing some downhill-ness, but who knows?
At least it’s not in musical form *shudder* (who thought THAT would be a good idea? yuck)
clicked on this video from Mark’s gchat status, and am now slightly in love with the song.
I’d like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It’s hard to say that I’d rather stay
Awake when I’m asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams
– Fireflies by Owl City
I`m really excited about this and hope I can pull this off… but I will do ALL the reading for the Folktales unit of my Folk and Myth class. I promised myself I would do more reading this semester since I have no pset classes, but in reality that hasn’t happened. But this week, with assignments like “multiforms of little red riding hood” or “Breaking the Disney spell”… how can I slack? We also have to read “Sex and Violence: the Hard Core of Fairytales.” Yea, whoa.
Meanwhile, I wanted to give a shout out to Lon Po Po–my favorite story growing up. Anyone else read it? I sure hope I`m not the only one.
Woohoo! So, I`m blogging about this so that I can hold myself to it. Maybe I`ll post up commentary or complaints later too… stay tuned.
Thanks to steph for forwarding this. I had a ton of fun, but wish I could have seen this from the audience haha! Who knew that J.H. and J.H. would finally team up this way? Meanwhile, in case you couldn’t tell, I am so proud of my CityStep kids.
From the Harvard Arts blog (http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/wordpress/)....
“Along with Expressions pieces were performances by adorable elementary school students in Citystep and a contemporary-meets-breaking segment by the Harvard Breakers.
However, my absolute favorite portion of the show was the (supposedly) spontaneous dance off. After rousing and technically difficult performances by each contestant, two of the contestants suddenly broke out in a perfectly synchronized hip hop routine.
Pinch me. Is this a movie?”
Jaxie 