O.C.B.T. Part 2 - Plants

I did not inherit my dad's green thumb. Instead, I got my mom's brown thumb. Actually, I really shouldn't blame it on my mom. She might very well be good at caring for plants, but I know for certain that my lack of interest in plants and my under developed artistic skills were from her genes. I've never been interested in digging in the dirt. The only thing I've kept alive longer than a few weeks was my plant Earl in London. But I decided to give gardening a shot after hearing Tram lovingly tell me about a garden she started last year. So a three Sundays ago, when it was unusually sunny and warm, Tram and I headed to Home Depot to hang out in the Gardening section :) I bought a small tray of plant starter pellets along with some seeds including lemon cucumbers and cherry tomatoes.

Now I know absolutely nothing about planting or gardening, but these pellets are nifty and great for beginners like me! You fill the tray with a bit of water in late winter, tuck the seeds inside, and a few weeks later when the seedling sprouts in the spring, you transplant them into the soil in your garden!

Now you're suppose to plant each type of seed in a couple of pellets to increase your chances of sprouting just one really strong one to transplant, but I just did two pellets for each seed. Imagine how happy I was all (but my basil starters :/ ) started sprouting!!!

Fast forward three weeks later and look at how big they are today! I love watching them grow. It's really gratifying for some reason, even though I can't yet eat from them.

Sushi Mazi

We checked out Sushi Mazi last night for my Dad's birthday. I would totally recommend going during happy hour on Tuesdays through Sundays from 4:30 to 6:00 pm, where the menu is extensive enough to try an array of fresh fish... or go for the Grasshopper sushi! Yep, a real [deep fried] grasshopper . When Michael ordered it, I was all gung-ho about it. After all, I love trying new things! When it arrived, I excitedly whipped out my camera. The waitress even asked if she could take a picture of us with her own camera, since it's what they do when someone orders it so they can post it on their wall. After the hype settled, Michael and my dad each popped one in their mouths and chomped away. When I looked down at mine, it stared back me. And my whole outlook changed - Wait a minute... am I really going to eat an insect? Eww! I've had my fair share of strange foods - I've eaten sea snails, ostrich and kangaroo but never an insect! Bleh! All of a sudden, it looked massive. There was no way I was going to be able pop that entire thing in my mouth. Why was that mound of rice so unusually large? What if its eyeball rubbed against the roof of my mouth? I contemplated on biting it in half but didn't think I could do it without my tongue touching it. I studied the angles to see if there was a way I could pop it in my mouth, so that its body would land squarely between my molars and its body could crumble before touching my tongue. Meanwhile, my dad kept encouraging me, "Just eat it! It's really crunchy and really good!" but I knew better. Growing up, he use to trick me into eating odd meats by telling me it was chicken. Then there was Michael, staring me down. I could have easily told my dad I didn't want to eat it and he wouldn't push me. But Michael!... Michael didn't have to urge me to eat it. In fact, he probably wouldn't have batted an eyelash if I decided I couldn't do it, but I knew he wouldn't let me live it down. I could already see him mockingly shake his head in shame. After all, I'm suppose to be his partner in crime; his adventure buddy; the other half of his dynamic duo! (plus, I talk a lot of shit :)... and I couldn't even eat a grasshopper??? I HAD to do it. If not for anything besides to show my man what his woman was made of. After literally eight minutes of brooding over the grasshopper, I finally compromised. I had my dad bite of its head (so I wouldn't risk it looking at me while it went in my mouth) and quickly chewed it into bits. And you know what? It was really yummy!!! I should have known, you can't go wrong with anything deep-fried!

Carrot-Ginger Cupcakes

For my Dad's birthday tomorrow, I made my first ever attempt at baking cupcakes. Shredding carrots is a b*tch!

Ken's Artisan Pizza for 6 + 1 booster seat

I am not a huge fan of pizza (I know, I know "boo Yen, boo"), but hey, I eat it ok! And I even at times enjoy it :) It's just not my "favorite" food and I would probably be the last person to suggest we eat it unless it's "gourmet" pizza (cue Mario Batali)(hehe)... or clam pizza (yum)(again, cue Mario Batali). But like with most relationships, you make sacrifices. You do things your partner likes to do and you try harder at enjoying things your partner enjoys. Most of the time, we're on the same page with our likes and dislikes. Michael is actually quite understanding about our differences, but because I won't rock climb with him, I compromise...

... by eating pizza :)

Two of Portland's most talked about pizza joints, Apizza Scholls and Ken's Artisan Pizza had been on our list of restaurants to try. But that's the problem with hyped up eateries - the wait can be excruciatingly long, particularly when reservations are not accepted. That coupled with my lack of love for pizza hindered our motivation to actually try it, even though I was already sold on Ken's Artisan's dough (see my post on its sister establishment, Ken's Artisan's Bakery), so when Allison invited Tram and I, along with our boy toys Tommy, Souk and Michael out for dinner the other night, it was the catalyst we needed to get into the two-hour wait.

But this entry is not really about Ken's Artisan Pizza or about long waits. It's about our new munchkin friend, Jenny! Besides my friend Thuy, none of my other girl friends in Portland have kids. But on this fateful night, Allison and Tommy brought along their three year-old cousin Jenny to dinner. Now keep in my mind, my friends and I are not accustomed to being around kids. We are all very much "single" when it comes to that sort of mindset :) But imagine my surprise when Jenny occupied all six of our attention! A tomboy at heart and not one to be messed with, she is extremely articulate, smart and well behaved. She prefers black All-Star Converse to pink ones and her favorite color is blue. She loves watching "The Grinch" and is not a fan of American food or pizza for that matter. She favors guys and doesn't care for girls, unless you got something good for her to eat. Lucky for me, I had a box of Girl Scout cookies in my bag! We all fought and climbed over each other to steal her for a moment. She is so clever, I am baffled every time she opens her mouth to speak. She even taught Michael a thing or two in Vietnamese!

Dinner was a complete blur to me. I vaguely remember a ceasar salad and calamari appetizer... oh and four pizzas, one of which had anchovies on it (another one of my preferred pizza toppings :) but the highlight of my night was hanging out with Jenny. Maybe because it was a new experience for me to be around my old friends plus a kid. We had always been kids ourselves! Or maybe because I got to imagine what great parents my friends would be one day. Then again, it might have just been because it was funny when I saw Michael dizzily walking out of of the Papa Haydn, a cake bar we had dessert at, looking as if he had gotten hit by bus. Being around Jenny was exhausting - even with six of us to take turns watching her. But it was so much fun and very endearing.

"Anh Hai [that's what she calls Souk], why are you bald?!"
:: rub rub rub ::

Michael napping while he's suppose to be watching Jenny. lol JK!

"Look, I've worn Michael out! Now I can eat his ice cream!"

O.C.B.T. Part 1 - Pets

A.K.A. Only Child Brown Thumb Syndrome

When I was a kid, my uncle bought me some guppy fish. While attempting to clean the bowl one day, I dropped a few on the floor, panicked and proceeded to step on them. They didn't make it under the weight of a six year old's body.

In high school, I had a fish tank in my bedroom with a a few goldfishes. A few days later, I woke up and found one of them belly up. I was so skeeved out by it, I didn't even bother scooping it out. I just left it there! Apparently, that screwed up the pH balance and killed off the rest of the fish in the tank. Traumatized at this point, I was too scared to tell my parents, but would have problems falling asleep with the dead fishies floating just a few feet away from my bed (until my mom finally discovered the incident a few days later).

Needless to say, I have never had a real pet my entire life. I don't think Michael has either. I can't even keep a plant alive! It must be dominant trait in only children. But we both would like a dog some day... me more so than him, but specifically a French bull dog. So when my friends Allison and Tommy went away to Mexico for 10 days last week, I volunteered to doggie-sit for their two dogs Elroy and Ellie.

I was nervous I'd lose them or kill them... but other than a few puddles of pee here and there and some mushy poop to pick up, it was really fun! It's amazing how smart dogs are - they can hear and understand the word "treat" about 20 blocks away!