Happy New Year

We just came back from our short trip to Taiwan over the Christmas holiday.  It was a good vacation because I spent some time with my sister, mother, and the rest of the family members.  I also spent some limited time with my father without getting into any unnecessary arguments.  This year,  without having any new year resolutions, I am going to treasure every moment of my life and really mean it.  

Give Thanks

It's that time of the year that all the stores are busy decorating their windows for the holiday, and we are thinking about what to buy for the child for the holiday (only the good children get presents from Santa does not work anymore from Ev, he thinks he can get presents from his parents no matter what, hummm... ), and it is also the time that chestnuts are abundant.  Hence,  I went to the same website, Chestnut Charlie, to get my 5 lb. jumbo chestnuts.  Although half of the chestnuts do not look too jumbo to me this time.

I spent the last Saturday morning roasting them (yes, the whole 5 lb.), peeling them until my hands were hurting and my skins were peeling.  And another hour cleaning the oven because one of them exploded in it.  As you can see, my incision on the chestnuts were not big enough.  Somehow my notes from last year did not mentioned that I have to make a big X mark on the chestnut.  It was until after the explosion,  then I did further research.  I wish I did the other way around.

In any event,  the whole process of roasting and peeling chestnuts alone (Ev went to the park to kick some balls with his daddy) was so calming for me.  Me time is precious.

Yes,  this is the holiday to give thanks to the people in our life (or outside of our life, for one, Thomas Edison who invented light bulb, so I don't have to sit in the dark in the night time, or I can use candle, I digress).  I was making the thanksgiving cards with Ev last week and I tried to explain to him the meaning of this holiday.  Then Ev asked me whom I would give the card to.  I told him my mother.  Because of my mother,  I can experience this world.  Of course, my father has to be included in it and then it would be whole list of people.  Anyway, that was the idea for Ev to make the cards.

Last week, I went to a very nice dinner club in Brooklyn, Once Upon a Tiffin.  There was a wonderful group of people at the dinner and they were writers, editors, shoe maker, people in film, and a woman who lived in Taipei for 6 months learning the culture.  Totally random people and totally delicious Indian inspired food.  I am hoping that I can go back there sometime soon.

And about Thanksgiving party,  we are invited to the Friendsgivings and we will be having Peking ducks and Korean fried chicken.  I am grateful of the people I met and the life I have.  Have a great Thanksgivings!

Traveling and Afterward

I love to travel!  I appreciate my life more after traveling and I am inspired to make more art afterward.  We came back from Italy last week and I have a hard time updating my blog because my life is back to routine which is to say "crazy and hectic".  It is important to just look at my own life and exam it without comparing with others (believe me,  it is a working progress).

What I love most about this trip is that the food is just amazing.  People in Italy really care about what they eat and they take a pride of that.  Some of the food (very very good olive oil, very very good cheese, and very very good wine, and many more) I ate in Italy are not available in Manhattan (you would think the biggest city in the world) and it is because Italian do not want to export their best food,  they want to keep inside of Italy.  For some people, money is indeed not everything and they are exercising it.

In any event,   I am back to my pottery studio and working on my holiday sale.   I am also eating one of these sweets.  Oh sweet Chestnuts.

This reminds me that I purchased 5 lbs of chestnuts right after I came back from Italy and I am going to roast it this weekend (my annual tradition).  

Yes, we saw David in Florence.  We rented an audio guide for Ev so that he can listen to the story and he can tell us what was told (David and Goliath).  Another trick to keep a child occupied at the museum.  It works for us!  

Just A Picture

Off season at the Asbury Park.  Yesterday was the first time there, it is quite nice to see the emptiness of the beach.

Catching Up

(on the Governor's Island Ferry back to Manhattan,  see there is a rainbow in the sky)

I don't know what happen to the time,  it just disappears and now the fall is coming.  So here is the catching up.  Summer camp was great for Ev and me because Ev got to meet new friends and there were camp consulars who are college students with tons of energy.  For me,  I was able to go back to the studio!  It was a very easy time.  Then the summer camp ended and life became hectic.  

here is the short list:

- Central Park Zoo camp for one week; 

- spending time with friends at the Cape Cod for one week and saw 9 humpback whales (super great);

- one week just Ev and I in New York City (dinosaur museum and parks many times); 

- Construction Camp at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (great camp for the kid, not so great for me because my car was towed, don't even ask me how much I spent on the traffic ticket and tow fee; not good for sitting in the traffic commuting, good that I finally know Brooklyn well after driving for 5 days, probably will not do it again, too much for my sanity;

- Then Ev started the Kindergarten (big big deal) and there was the half day, no after school programs for one week, many holidays so no schools (we did managed to pick some Asian pears in Jersey, great outing!);

So I am tired, then I wanted to see Peter Goldwater's works at the Governor's Island and flied some kite with Ev (it was great);

Basically,  I need to rest and do nothing.  But I don't think that was part of the deal when I signed up for being a mother.   Now,  Ev comes home and tells me how his day goes and it was great until he tells me he eats junk food at the after school program.  

Summer

I have been busy after Ev finished his daycare program in the end of June and started his summer camp.  Mainly because I felt I have gained three extra hours per day as the summer camp is near our apartment (and the daycare is very far away) and I finally have the time to relax a bit. 

Not for a second,  now I have to pack Ev's lunch box.  I would not trust the public school lunch because you just don't know where they get their ingredients from.  I heard from the public radio that Telepan, a famous upscale eatery in Manhattan, is advocating good and healthy school lunch.  Humm... this requires a whole generation of mind changing because my husband loves fast food, especially the junky ones.  In any event,  I have to make Ev good lunch and it takes time.  

And I have been busy at the pottery studio, experimenting red clay.  I am quite happy with this plate because this is hand build plate without using any mold or wheel.  Totally satisfying.

And because of this new material, I have to find a new glaze.  Hence, making test tiles.

To the left are the test tiles I made last week.  I was laughing so hard when I was making this because the shape of this text tile really reflected my personality, carefree somewhat! 

This past weekend, we made it to Brimfield, MA for its annual antique fiesta.  It is one of the biggest antique shows in the United States and I have meant to go for the longest time.  This place was written up by many travel magazines so there were many foreigners there.  The hotel we stayed was behind this abandoned property and a gasoline station.  When we checked in to the hotel at 11:00 p.m. on Friday night, the front desk told us that the breakfast started at 4:00 a.m.  (boy, people are really nuts about treasure hunt on this event).  We got up early on Saturday morning and had our not so healthy breakfast, i.e. waffle, danish, sugar loaded yogurt and more sugar loaded breakfast cereal, we headed out to the show.  You can find anything that you don't really need at this antique tents.  By the way,  after two days of digging,  the antique show is more like gigantic garage sale.  Of course,  I bought things.  Oh, ev was holding bingo balls from this tent and he insisted that he needed to have these letters, F, O, and X. What do you think I said?  

No, we don't need bingo balls in our apartment.  Instead,  I traded with him with ice cream. Have a pleasant week!

Travel

We are finally recovered from the jet lag after our one month away from New York City.  The last time I saw my parents was one year ago and it was long over due.

I have no idea what happen to the weather nowadays beside the global warming and green house effect.  While I was in Taiwan, it was raining season one week straight and the temperature was in the 90s.  I did use the umbrella and it felt so much cooler under the blazing sun.  During this trip, we went to Tokyo with my parents and it was so great because we were doing things together, sightseeing and having meals together.  Ev was totally spoiled rotten by his grandparents (who else have that kind of prerogative?)

While we were in Tokyo, we watched trains.  It is heaven for little boy.  There are so many above the ground trains in the city and there was no dull moment for Ev.  

There was also Green festival in the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden with kids activities such as building wooden toys, street festival for little kids (a lot of sweets!), 

National Museum of Nature and Science in the Ueno Park (I highly recommended this museum for children), different from the American Museum of Nature History in NYC, this museum groups all the animals in an area and children learn about the animals' habitats with interactive computers.  

We did not have any itinerary when we went to Tokyo because with a small child and two elderly grandparents, we never know what the day was going to be like.  We took the train and found the street festival and we walked more and decided to go to the museum.  It was my kind of traveling.  I love to just wandering around the places and I always find something interesting.

Back to Taipei, my parents have their daily routine and it is hard to get together to do thing together.  Maybe that is just how my family is like.  Everyone is too independent (not easily compromised!).

Because of the lousy weather in Taipei, we look for food to eat.  There are plenty of good food and restaurants which is another reason no one cooks at home in Taipei (maybe some families but we did not grow up eating home meals).  Here is Ev's favorite food, mongo shaved ice with mongo ice cream (way too sweet for my taste) but for an American child, it is perfect.

This is my go to place for breakfast, sesame bread and fried cruller, and I wish this place is one minute away from my parents house.

Sesame bread on the grill.

Now, we are back to the New York City and I have to figure out what to cook for my family.  Blah...