Yum Yum Dim Sum

/ Shane / 2 Comments

The other day we took a trip up to Chinatown to get some dim sum at Triple Crown Restaurant.

Usually when we go to Chinatown we go to regular Chinese restaurants, but we’ve talked about getting dim sum for a long time. First off, the idea of getting many small dishes and trying all of them is awesome for anybody, but it’s especially awesome when you have kids. If they don’t like something, you just move on to the next thing. Second off, we have a copy of Dim Sum for Everyone signed by Grace Lin, one of our favorite author/illustrators. We’ve read it many times, so the kids are sort of familiar with the concept of dim sum, and were excited to try it. (Note that the title of the post refers to a different dim sum book by that name that we’ve read with the kids, so they’re pretty well versed in the concept.)

Well, all for naught, because Evie didn’t want to try anything. She was her usual picky self, and tried a couple of tiny bites that she was pre-disposed to dislike, and therefore wasn’t going to like no matter what. She wouldn’t even eat any of the plain white rice.

Not to worry though, because Ollie *LOVED* it. His love more than made up for Evie’s apathy. The two of them have always been night and day about food. Considering we’ve raised them more or less identically in terms of what kind of food we offer them, etc., I believe Sara’s comment was, “I guess it goes to show you, it doesn’t matter what you do, some kids want to eat and some don’t.”

Anyway, there’s probably nothing Ollie likes more than eating a bunch of different things. Well, there is one thing he likes more, which is eating with chopsticks. Holy smokes did he love that. Don’t even think of trying to take them away from him. He even manged to pick a few things up with them.

The only think Ollie didn’t like is when he burned his face off. Oh, the poor boy, I’ve never felt so sorry for him. He had a sesame ball on his plate, and we assumed, like an adult, he’d take a small bite of it. Instead he quickly crammed the whole thing in his mouth. It was HOT and he lost his poor mind. He obviously thought he could get rid of the burning by trying to swallow it down as fast as he could, rather than spitting it out right away. His face went nuclear and he started shaking like a convulsion. We got him to spit it out and swallow some water, but, I’m not going to lie, it was very frightening. He cried a little bit, and then immediately went back for the sesame balls. Oh, to be a kid again.

Overall, everyone thought it was pretty great, except perhaps Evie. She did, however, enjoy the giant fish/crab/lobster tanks covering one wall, so at least she had something to do.

There was one definite high point of the evening for me. I’m sure what Evie meant to say was, “Yon television program is displaying raccoons.” But what she actually did was point across the room and shout, “I see rats!” There might be worse things to shout in a restaurant, but I don’t know what.

I’m so over Superbowl Commercials

/ Shane / Leave a comment

We’re all done with Superbowl commercials, right?

It seems like every year they just get lamer and lamer. At this point, they’re just primarily regular commercials, the same as we’d see on any regular day. Even the “highlight” commercials really aren’t that fantastic, and they certainly aren’t worth watching, much less rehashing in the morning.

I watch football after the kids have gone to bed, which means I’m usually sacrificing sleep to watch it. I normally fast-forward as much as possible. For the Superbowl, however, I don’t want to fast-forward through any of the commercials, so I’m stuck with the whole 4 hours.

Was it worth it? For what? Aside from seeing a lot of ads, what did I gain? Were any of the commercials worth losing sleep over?

The smart thing to do would be just to watch the rehash of the “best” commercials in the morning. I saw a list of the “best” ones from this year…even the rehash is stupid. There simply wasn’t anything worth watching.

Maybe the commercials got worse, and maybe regular commercials got better, so the “special” ones don’t stand out anymore. Maybe in a post-wardrobe-malfunction world, it’s just too risky for the companies to do anything too crazy, and risk reprisal. Maybe in this economy people can’t afford to be frivolous with their ridiculously expensive air time. Maybe the companies figured out that a regular commercial gets about the same amount of publicity/revenue as a clever one, so it’s not worth the effort. Maybe the tolerance for commercials is lower, now that we generally fast-forward through them.

At least in the past, people would be buzzing about them the next morning. As far as I can tell, nobody is really talking about them anymore.

In retrospect, the whole thing was stupid anyway – were we really that amazed that commercials were entertaining? How did this get started in the first place? The first time I really remember it being a thing was during the dotcom boom. But I wonder if I went back and watched those commercials now, if they would still seem interesting.

Anyway, it’s done now. I’m declaring it over. Next year, feel free to skip them. Once we stop paying attention, the media will stop too.

Quote Monday makes me proud

/ Shane / 1 Comment

Evie, coming out of her room about an hour after she went to bed: “I have a question. How do you count sheep?”

Aw, I felt so bad for the poor, not-tired girl!

Evie: “Zero is the biggest number.”
Me: “Well, I think zero would be the smallest number.”
Evie: “You’re forgetting about backwards world.”

::Dropping Evie off at school::
Girl 1: “Evelyn, can I play with you today?”
Girl 2: “Aw, I wanted to play with you today!”
Evie: “How about we all play together?”

What an amazing moment to witness, and what a proud moment as a father!

Re-engaging the gears

/ Shane / Leave a comment

When I am working on a story, there are always a few little problems I need to solve. Maybe I need to invent some way for the hero to escape, or I know two necessarily scenes, but not how to connect them, or I need a scene to make a character more sympathetic, or maybe even just trying to think of a good title or place name. So while I’m thinking of more immediate things, my subconscious is always worrying away at these little bones. My mind likes to feel busy, and so I like to have a go to problem to think about when I have extra clock cycles (especially in the 30 seconds between when I go to bed and when I fall asleep).

Normally this is no problem, because I always have some story going. Even if I don’t work on it for a couple of weeks, my subconscious is still solving problems or coming up with useful additions without me really noticing that it’s doing it. In fact, sometimes I can’t work on a story until my mind turns it over long enough to get a couple of major issues resolved. Even when I am close to finishing up a story, I usually start mulling over the next story, in preparation for writing it.

However, after I finished my last story a couple of days ago, I haven’t really hit on an idea that I’d like to write next. I think this really might be the first time since I’ve started writing (just under 3 years, would you believe it!) that I didn’t have a story that I was actively thinking about. It turns out, not having something churning around back there gives me a vague feeling of unease. Just one of those things you don’t realize is missing until it’s gone.

Several times a day, when I’m not really thinking of anything else, my mind will just go totally blank for a second. You probably assume that having a totally blank mind is my default state, and thus I would be very comfortable, but it’s as if my mind just gives me a nudge every now and again, like, “Hey, we’ve got nothing to do in here!” It’s like being in neutral: the engine’s running, but it’s got nothing to do. The drive-shaft is not engaged.

Probably by the end of the day, I will have settled on a new story idea. I’m looking forward to it! I didn’t realize how fulfilled my mind has been since I started writing, and how thoroughly the itch has become accustomed to being scratched!

Rich Almond Cake

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The Reason:

The reason is that this cake is easy to make and tastes like heaven. However, the original source mentions this as something that even an un-skilled chef could make for Valentines Day, so this is also timely. On one hand, the girl of your dreams will be very impressed with your mad cooking skillz. On the other hand, she will probably marry you on the spot, and then you’ll have to explain that you don’t actually have mad cooking skillz, unless of course she wants to eat Rich Almond Cake every day for the rest of her life, which she probably will.

The Journey:

Eating this cake reminds me of eating my mom’s almond sugar cookie dough raw (this is a good thing). If you like almonds, you will love this cake. Even if you don’t, you will love this cake. And it’s so easy to make, it really only takes a few minutes.

Sara happens to love this cake so much, that she literally finds it irresistible. I offer the following photo as proof:

“So good it makes me want to lick a listeria filled beater.”

The Verdict:

What more can I say about it? Serve it with real, home-made whipped cream. If you use cool whip Sara will hunt you down and kill you. Her words, not mine.

The Recipe:

Recipe by way of Get Rich Slowly.

  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup real butter, melted
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 Tablespoons sliced almonds (for garnish)
  • 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (for garnish)
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Use butter wrappers to generously grease a 9″ round cake pan.
  3. With a mixer, blend together the sugar and melted butter.
  4. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat in.
  5. Stir in extracts.
  6. Add salt and flour and mix until everything is incorporated.
  7. Spread batter in the pan and sprinkle the top with sliced almonds and sugar.
  8. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown.
  9. Cool completely on a wire rack before removing from pan.
  10. Serve with homemade whipped cream (or prepare to die)