Dragons

 In the US we like to go for drives and just see what we see....since we moved here that has not really been an option, we walk a lot and see things that way, but we have not been able to just get in the car and go for a drive.  I have been mostly ok with that, but John LOVES to drive around and has really missed it.  Finally all the right things fell into place and he is now legal to drive here. It has given us some new freedom and has increased our area of exploration.  For our first outing on our own we decided to drive to a place that I had read about and had been wanting to visit. It was an easy drive and we easily found our way.  It is an old fountain that has 2 big dragons in it.  The fountain no longer has water, but the dragons still hang around.  There is also a very pretty park and paths with theses dragons but they were spraying the weeds or the trees with something the day we were there.  With the Tiny American running around and an unknown chemical being sprayed we decided to just visit the dragons.

You can see that they were HUGE!

Just keeping an eye on this one to make sure he isn't sneaking up on us!

No cooperation from the Tiny American.

Zane is roaring like a dragon.

This will defiantly be added to our list of places to take visitors!

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!

English Menu

Eating out is a challenge.  Not because we don't like Chinese food, but because we can't always order at a restaurant if we go alone.  Slowly we are adding new places to our list that either have English menus or picture menus.  We do a lot of hand gestures and pointing to finally get a meal in front of us.  This week we found 2 new places, very close to home that have exactly what we like to eat and both had English on their menu, SCORE!!  

John's boss was in town and he actually has an apartment in the same building as us.  He is Taiwanese and doesn't totally understand my reluctance with some of the food.  For me it is mostly a texture issue, plus I don't eat feet, internal organs, things with the head and especially eyes still intact, or anything still moving.  What's not to understand? Anyway...he called Saturday afternoon and said he had found the perfect place for us, close to the building, and our kind of food AND English. He invited us to dinner for that night.  

I know it looks like a lot of food...and it was.  But it was a small table and there were 4 adults. WE didn't eat it all, but it was SO good! 

It was fantastic!  John is easy, but he liked it.  I liked it and amazingly enough Zane loved it!  It was dumplings and potstickers and noodles....perfect for us.  They had a variety of flavor combinations.  I think our favorites were the Thai spiced dumplings.  Zane loved the pork and veggie potstickers and the noodles.  We will definitely become regular customers there!

I wish i could have gotten a shot of him eating the noodles...it was very funny!

Lantern Festival take 2

I was actually worried we wouldn't get to make a visit to the largest location of the 2015 Taiwan Lantern Festival.  Between the Chicken Pox and work visitors from the States, it seemed like it might not happen.  We DID make it and I am so happy that we did...it was AMAZING!  The weather cooperated, we took one of the visitors with us and we saw the most beautiful lanterns.  For those of you who might not have seen a lantern like this, they are basically structures built out of fabric and then illuminated with LED lights.  They are huge, full of detail and awesome.  

The Tiny American was in a trance the whole time we were there!

Something I find very interesting and obviously different from the States, this was free to attend.  There is NO charge at all. They want everyone that can attend to do so, and they DO!  We got there just a few minutes after they opened and anticipated it being very crowded.  We had plenty of room to walk around for the first hour we were there and then it really started to get crowded, elbow to elbow people with no personal space boundaries.  Fortunately I was really into the lanterns and it didn't bother me too much. By not too much, I mean, my throat only sort of closed up and I was only slightly sweaty....but it was totally worth it!

Zane loves Bee's right now.  He laughs every time anyone says the word.

The year of the Goat

There isn't a lot to say.  I just wanted you all to be able to see them.  The Lantern festival happens right after the Lunar New Year, make your plans now to join us next year!  We will even treat you to some stinky tofu, or chicken feet or any of the other  delicacies available from the food vendors.