Happy Space

When we made the decision to move here we struggled with what to do with our home and our belongings.  Of course we would bring some things with us but we were moving into a furnished apartment so we couldn't bring it all. We wanted to make sure that the Tiny American's transition was smooth so packing up his toys and what was most familiar to him was a big deal to me. I knew I wanted to bring lots of my kitchen, but had to make some modifications based on what would realistically work with the oven I was getting. Pictures and things to hang on the wall presented their own set of problems as most places will only let you use 3M tape to hang things, and yes you can hang a lot with 3M tape but some things just don't work.

We struggled with what to do with our house in Texas.  I LOVE our house in Texas and was really enjoying decorating and furnishing it so I was not happy with the option of selling it.  In the end we put most of our things in storage and rented the house to a cousin. I won't lie, I miss my house and I miss my things. Yes I know they are just things, but they are my things and I have spent a lot of time and energy gathering them all up and I miss them. Im not talking about TV's and things like that.  I'm talking about the old windows and doors that I have gathered up at junk sales.  I'm talking about the hutch that I had just refinished that my grandpa built me when I got married.  I'm thinking about the type tray that hung on the wall in my living room filled with the little rocks and shells we have collected from the places we have gone. These are the "things" that I miss.

The apartment we moved into when we first came to Taiwan a year ago was super nice.  It was  in a really nice building with lots of staff.  It was furnished and it was comfortable, but we never felt at home there.  It was dark and honestly a little depressing.  We had NO outside light.  No view of what was happening outside.  For people like us, that was a struggle.

We knew from the start that if we were going to live here for awhile we needed a different apartment. Finding one is a bit of a challenge.  Luckily we happened to mention it to the right person at the right time and we found the perfect place.  Well I say perfect, there were a couple of bumps in the road.  First it was not a furnished apartment,  second there were no closets, strange, but not a deal breaker.  I figured out what we would need for storage and a trip to IKEA solved both of these problems.

The best thing about the apartment was the windows.  Every room has floor to ceiling windows!  SO much light.  This has been great for our moods, we need sunlight!  The view is awesome and with us picking out the furnishing it feels so much more like home. We have found a couple of places to shop for "junk" to make it feel even more like ours.  I had a friend take some pictures of us around our neighborhood and this week I had those printed and hung them up.  I also printed some really cool pictures of Zane at different places we have visited in Taiwan and have those on the wall now as well.  It's amazing how much some pictures on the wall make it feel like home.

This is my favorite space in the apartment.  When I am in the kitchen J and Z and sit in these chairs and talk to me.

It's not perfect, it's an apartment, but with some time and a little patience it is quickly feeling more like a place we want to hang out in instead of the place we HAVE to be.

This week in pictures....

Just a look at our week....

No Easter Bunny In Taiwan

When we made the decision to pack up our life and move it to Taiwan it was October.  The stores were full of fall decorations and Halloween.  It was easy for me to think about what I would want for the Tiny American for the following Halloween that might not be readily available in Taiwan. What I did not think about was what other holidays would come and go that are celebrated in the States that are not such a big deal here.  The first one we encountered was Easter.  They don't do colored eggs and chocolate bunnies.  I did find some overpriced, although very yummy, eggs and bunnies at Godiva.  A friend that was coming for a business trip brought some egg dye and plastic eggs for us and I was very grateful.  Obviously Z is young enough that letting the commercial aspect of Easter pass by would have been no big deal, it was more for me I guess.  I love dyeing eggs, always have.  Dyeing the eggs with my brother and sister and cousins and then hiding and hunting the eggs the next day are some of my favorite childhood memories.  Easter isn't Easter without the smell of vinegar and boiled eggs!  My mom and my aunt made holidays really special for us and I have always tried to do the same for my kids, so letting it pass by without celebrating with Z was not a real option for me. The Tiny American very quickly figured out the hunting egg part....he loves putting things in his bucket anyway so this was a normal progression for him.   The dyeing of the eggs was mostly for me.  He is still too little to really do it, but it gave us extra eggs to hide and hunt.  Next year we will be better prepared and I think he will be ready to dye eggs himself!

I love the smell!

With his bucket full!

After a very hot easter egg hunt the day before Easter with a friend.

While we were hunting eggs and eating chocolate bunnies for breakfast the locals were celebrating their own spring holiday, Ching Ming Festival, more commonly known as Tomb Sweeping Day.  This is a Chinese Holiday that is celebrated on the 15th day after the Spring Equinox.  In Taiwan it is always celebrated  on April 5 to honor the death of Chiang Kai-Shek.  This holiday celebrates the beginning of Spring.  Translated it is the Clear and Bright Festival.  It is a time to enjoy things being green and fresh.  Spring plowing and planting begins.  People get outside and enjoy family time and they honor their ancestors by cleaning up the cemeteries and grave sites.  They go to the tombs and pray, offer tea, wine and food to the ancestors, burn incense and leave paper money.  Willow branches are often placed on the graves as well as doors of their homes during this time to ward off evil spirits that may wander through during Ching Ming.

At the cemetery.  The yellow papers on the graves are joss paper, fake money.

It cracks us up to see what people carry on their scooters. This couple had 2 very large flower arrangements.  I assume they were going to the cemetery or the temple.

It actually worked out nice that our Easter and their Ching Ming all happened at the same time this year because it meant a 4 day weekend for John.  We hung out and enjoyed our new found freedom that came with his international drivers license!

We went walking....

We went walking, what did we see?

Of course the Tiny American....my constant companion!

The dumpling makers at one of our favorite places in our neighborhood.

We walk past these 2 signs almost everyday...they are at the pineapple cake store.  One is the entrance and one is the exit sign for the drive thru.  Z loves them!  Even when we are on the bus and pass by he yells at them.

This Dragon is on the temple in one of our favorite parks.

A little hidden garden in our courtyard is one of the Tiny Americans favorite places to go.  He especially loves it at night when the lights are on.

Almost every playground has a least one of these ride on animals. They are on a giant spring and I doubt they would pass any sort of playground safety standards in the U.S.  Z of course loves them.  They are mouth smashers...he uses his whole body to make it move and smacks his face on the head every time and keeps going back for more!

Thanks for walking with us this week!

Spicy Stir Fry Noodles

Living with a fickle eater is a challenge.  We are constantly trying to get the Tiny American to eat something besides goldfish and M&M's. I know some would subscribe to the theory that if we just stopped offering him goldfish as an option he would eat other things....thanks, but he would rather starve!  He would just rather not eat.  I worry about it and about that time we will have a day where he eats  everything we put in front of him and then there are days when he eats nothing we put in front of him; on those days I think goldfish are better than nothing. I have tried sneaky ways of getting his fruits and veggies into his tummy, but if he doesn't want to eat I can't actually force it in his mouth.  He seems to be thriving and so we will assume he is getting at least enough of the good stuff and hope that at some point he becomes a more consistent eater.

One thing that he does like is stir fried noodles.  We have a favorite restaurant here that makes them and when I'm not in the mood to cook, they are one of our go to places. Their version has ground pork and big pieces of scallion in a brown sauce, they are yummy!  They are simple to make and I have tweaked a recipe to be more to our taste, we like things a little spicy, even the Tiny American likes spicy.  Last night when I made this recipe I used broccoli and red pepper for my veggies.  You could use what ever you have on hand that you would normally add to a stir fry.  Usually I would just coarse chop my veggies, but I decided to chop these really small with my Pampered Chef food chopper.  I hoped that they would stick to the noodles a little better and would make their way into his tummy without him even knowing! It worked pretty well.  I also used ground pork for this recipe, but ground chicken would work as well, for us ,the smaller the meat the easier it is for him to eat and the ground variety sticks to the noodles.

One thing that I have learned about doing a stir fry is to make sure you have everything measured and ready to go before you start.  I measure everything out and line it up on the counter in the order it goes into the pan.  My second piece of advice is to make sure your wok or whatever you are cooking in is HOT.  You don't want your oil to smoke, but you want it almost to that point. With a tiny bit of prep this is a super speedy meal to get on the table.  If you try these let me know what you think OR when you visit us in Taiwan I will make them for you!

Spicy Stir Fry Noodles

Ingredients
1/2 pound ground pork
rice noodles ( boiled and ready to use) I buy a medium width flat noodle
chopped veggies of your choice
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 eggs beaten
pinch ground white pepper
3 Tbsp veg oil

For the Sauce:
2 Tbsp Dark Soy sauce
3 Tbsp Light Soy sauce
1 Tbsp Oyster sauce
1 Tbsp Hot Chilli Sauce ( you can leave this out or add more depending on how hot you want it)

Heat your oil up in your wok/skillet.  Cook egg just until set and remove from the pan.  Cook garlic and  pork until pork is no longer pink.  Add veggies to the pan cook until they are to desired tenderness, we like ours crispy so it doesn't long.  Pour the sauce into your pork and veggie mixture and then stir in the noodles letting everything blend and warm through.  Add the egg back in, stirring to break it up.

You could always add a little red pepper flake if you really want to bring the heat up.  I wouldn't recommend that if you are sharing it with you toddler, the pepper seeds tend to make their eyes water!

I hope you try it and like it as much as we do!

Happy Birthday

I love birthdays!  I loved planning the boys parties when they were little and preparing their favorite meal for dinner the night of their special day.  It's one of my favorite things about being a mom.  Birthday cakes are a big part of the day.  Some years the boys wanted a special cake from the store, but more often than not they wanted me to make it.  I  remember one year Tucker wanted the Bat signal on his cake....well there were several years that he had a Batman theme, but his year he just wanted the Bat signal in the middle of the cake, BIG! So the night before the party I baked the cake, frosted the cake and with icing drew the perfect Bat signal in the middle and carefully filled it in with bright yellow frosting.  It looked awesome!  I was excited to show him the next morning.  When he woke up he said mom I think I changed my mind about how I want my cake....ok....I want the Robin logo instead. He didn't know I had already done the cake, he wasn't trying to be difficult.  He was 5 or 6 years old....and I wanted it to be the best birthday ever, until next year.  SO I scrapped the icing off the cake and refrosted and decorated his cake an hour before the party. I didn't have to, I wanted to because I love him and I wanted him to know that he was special and this day was about him.

From a completely selfish standpoint I was nervous about celebrating my birthday in Taiwan. I don't just love other people's birthdays, I love celebrating mine as well. In the States it's pretty easy for John to pull of a celebration for me.  I like a few restaurants really well.  I don't like to have a big crowd, just family that might be close by or maybe a few friends.  I am for the most part pretty easy to please.  It was a really busy week for John.  The weekend before my birthday he gave me my gift.  I had been wanting a set of bowls and Chinese soup spoons that match our dishes.  I love them!  it was the perfect gift for me.

In preparation for the big day I had been clear with John that I just wanted a plain white cake for my birthday, no fruit filling.  Fruit filling is a big deal here!  Now I want to preface this next paragraph by saying I really am easy to please and I think most people would consider me a pleaser rather than a complainer.  SO, the morning of my birthday John had to go to some meetings but we decided to get up and have birthday cake for breakfast.  The night before he had gotten home late and had brought in a pretty white box all tied up with a pink ribbon....I couldn't wait to see the cake inside.  When opened the box there was a plain white cake inside.  I mean a PLAIN white cake.  I tried to not be disappointed.  But it was all over my face and I hate that.  The cake was delicious and it was exactly what I asked for.  In hindsight I wish I could go back to that moment and change my reaction.  What my reaction should have been then, and what I feel about it now, is that this man will do anything I ask.  His one objective is to make me happy.  He scoffed at the girls in the office when they joked at him about ordering a plain white cake.  "It's what she wants."  And like I was with Tucker that birthday so many years ago, he was about making this day special for me.  I will always remember my white cake in Taiwan and how much love it represents.

We had tickets for an amazing show called Shen Yun.  It is a dance troupe that performs small stories representing the history of China.  Evidently it is very political and portrays the religious struggle of those in mainland China throughout history.  The guy in charge of the company is apparently on China's most wanted list. We just enjoyed the show, no political agenda for us.  The costumes were beautiful and bright and the music was lovely.  I would recommend anyone seeing it if it comes to a city near you.  They tour all over the world. We did get all dressed up for the occasion which was fun!

 After the show we went home and changed our clothes and met up with a few of John's colleagues.  His Boss and another board member as well as a couple of guys still in town from the U.S.  We had dinner at a great restaurant right in our neighborhood.  We had Hot Pot, which is sort of like Chinese fondue.  They have hot broth, one side spicy and one side not, that you drop meat and veggies into to cook. It was SO good!! We had beef and pork as well as scallops and shrimp.  I am pretty reserved about what will even try so when they put something in the broth that looked a little like solid pudding,  I was curious.  I asked what it was and was told duck's blood.  I had had just enough to drink that i thought this sounded good....much to everyone's  surprise, including mine, I liked it!  It wasn't chewy which is generally my hangup with this type of thing.  It wasn't tough, it didn't squirt anything out when i bit into it.  It was actually really good and had soaked up the flavors of the broth. It was so good I had a second piece! If you come visit us you can be certain we will take you here, and if you want you can try some duck blood, you might be surprised and decide you like it too!

After dinner with our bellies full we visited a local KTV.  I've mentioned before how very popular Karaoke is here.  It's huge, KTV's all over the city.  If you know me well you know I do not perform in front of other's and I don't normally get into this kind of thing, but we had a great time!  I enjoyed other people singing and we all laughed a lot AND John's boss surprised me with another birthday cake!  It was an awesome day! Cake to start the day and end the day and LOTS of love to fill the middle.  I am a lucky girl to have a husband who loves me and wants to make my EVERY day special.