hot dog

There was the funniest balloon at the supermarket today.

Memorial Day is the Unofficial Start of the Summer.

Hot Dog!

pink spring

My current favorite color is pink.  Here are some pink features from the garden.

Bleeding hearts...

A tree with pink flowers that just bloomed!

And last, but not least - the very first pink rose bush I've ever planted - a Morden Blush Rose.  I planted it yesterday and I hope it survives!

p.s. I found this post as a draft from April 15th and I don't know why it didn't post then.  So these were photos from back in time.  The rose actually has less leaves now - I really hope it survives this year!

happy mother's day

 

shrubs

Planted some new shrubs from Costco today.  The lady working there helped me pick out the best looking boxwood ('Wintergreen') and holly (Bennett's Compacta Holly).  I picked out the azalea myself - the bright pink one with the prettiest flowers (Hardy Azalea - Rhododendron x hybrid Double Crimson).

I made a bouquet arrangement out of the pieces that fell off during the planting into the ground phase.  I also planted some wildflower seeds today.  Here's to Spring!

sunset trail

There's a trail that leads right up to the sunset, but you have to go quick.  Otherwise you'll miss it!  I think I made it just in time today.

sushi toy

 General advice provided by a sushi roll toy

spring flowers

I planted potted tulips from Sam's Club.  Wonder how long the flowers will last, since I had to break apart the roots to separate them.  At least the bulbs are in the ground for next year!

chocopie

This is more a reminder to myself.  Chocopies (the Korean cake / snack) are dry and don't taste good.  Nobody else around me likes them either.  I thought the same the first time I bought them a long time ago.  However, I must've forgotten and gave them another shot.  Unfortunately they still aren't worth it, and I'm now stuck with too many since they were sold in a box of too many.

The box picture and description are misleading.  You might imagine them being soft, squishy, fluffy, and all the things they're not.  There is marshmallow in the middle, but other than that - the cake part is so dry.  Even when it's far from the expiration date.

Maybe some people like them if they're comparing to even worse things.  But for me, nope.  I did read that some people microwave them to improve the taste, but I'd rather not and won't.

Remember - don't buy Chocopie anymore.  I'm not even including an image because I dislike them that much.

nian gao

Here's my review of nian gao.  It's a glutinous rice cake normally eaten during Chinese New Year.  My mom gave me a package of them.  She said she can't eat them because they're problematic for her stomach.  My guess is that someone gave them to her and she passed them off to me.

I like chewy squishy stuff like gummy candy, gummy vitamins, and mochi, etc.  So I thought these would be good too.  However, they are not.  I do not like them.

In any case, so that we remember for next time, or for curious readers - here's my detailed review.

This is the kind that I received - Joy Luck Palace Lunar New Year Cakes - Glutinous Rice Cakes.  Joy!  Luck!  Palace!  It's customary to string together an assortment of positive sounding words for names of companies and businesses.  This is often seen in Chinese restaurant names.  Meanwhile, red and gold are auspicious colors.

There are 3 individually wrapped cakes inside the box.  Two are plain and one has red beans in it.  I decided to go with the plain one since that's the more common one.  I don't remember ever having the red bean version.  My parents used to fry the plain ones with egg.  I remember having versions with sweet potato or yam too.  Those cakes were much sweeter than this one.  Maybe my parents added lots more sugar when making them from scratch.

This one was really stuck in the plastic packaging.  I used a sharp knife and my powerful strength to dislodge it from the wrapper.  

This is how it looks after cutting up some of the pieces (less than half of the circle).  I microwaved them for a minute but they were still hard, so I added another minute.  Nobody else around me wanted to try any.  That's probably a good thing because then there'd be more people with questionable stomachs surrounding me.

They get softer and squishy after heating.  As fun as it is to poke them and all, it's not a good idea to have too much of these.  I tried googling to find out how much is too much.  Some sources say 2 small pieces.  I say just don't have any.  Do they solidify in the stomach and intestines and then get stuck?  I don't know - let's hope they did not this time.

I asked someone why they didn't want any.  They said it looks bad - like a stopper.  I asked why they thought it'd be bad for digestion.  Their response was, "I mean, f*king look at it."  LOLLLLL

Oh, and it didn't taste so great either.  It tasted like squishy plastic, very faintly sweet.  Perhaps it was residue from being encased in packaging so tightly and for so long.  I thought that it'd be sweeter since it was so brown, like brown sugar.  Alas, I was wrong.  Do not recommend.

Chinese new year

 Happy Chinese New Year!

This year I didn't buy any new year treats, because my mother gave me some.  There are pineapple cakes and the Isabelle assortment from Costco.  

It's the year of the horse.  The tin box has a nice cover sheet showing the contents inside - taro cakes, horse-shaped lychee mini cakes, and Ice Q cakes in peach and tangerine flavors.  I really like lychee fruit but haven't tried this particular cake yet.  I'm saving them for the end of this week when the whole family will be together again.  So far, I like the Ice Q cakes - they're squishy like mochi and slightly sweet.  We taste tested them last week.