asian markets and sweets

Yesterday was 'visit all the asian markets and get all the asian snacks while driving to visit my dad' day.  

Some highlights include seeing stickers that are really cute but I couldn't justify spending money on them since I have stickers and well - what do you do with them besides stick them...

I forgot what I thought about the spam musubi that I bought a long time ago from H-Mart.  Well, I bought it again and now I know that it's not that great.  The rice was plain with no flavoring added.  The egg and spam were flavorful, but honestly, the spam is too salty.  Too much sodium for me.  As I get older, I realize I can't handle the same things as before.

REMEMBER: Next time no more spam musubi.  It's not as good as I recall.

I hope to remember or read these notes next time to avoid buying them yet again.

The novelty / snack store (Fukuya) next to H-mart had so many kawaii stuff like tons of keychains, unbelievable amounts of snacks - decision paralysis!  I didn't buy any keychains but I did like glancing at them.

I got things I already know I like - lychee and strawberry gummies, and a new flavor (mango) mixed in with tried and true ones.  They were way cheaper there ($2.99 a bag) than at H-mart next door ($5.49!). 

I also got some dorayaki from Fukuya and when I asked a worker there, he said they were $2.99 (no price sticker).  However they rung up at $5.49 instead - they were cheaper and on-sale next door at H-Mart.  Lesson to learn : stick to products with price labels or be prepared for price shock.

At Kam man, I bought some dim sum.  There were egg custard tarts next to Portuguese tarts.  I got an egg one.  Also got some sesame rice balls and a container of bean curd rolls.  I thought the bean curd rolls were vegetarian but upon reading the ingredients at home, I see they are not - they include pork, shrimp, and possibly more stuff like beef.  There was something that tasted like salty creamy cheese inside too... 

LESSON TO LEARN : Avoid the bean curd rolls.  I should stay away from any 'complicated' dim sum items, and maybe just stick to things that can stay room temp all day.  Especially since I have a long drive home from the place of purchase.  Even after I microwaved everything, it seemed risky in hindsight.

Next time I could just get the white plain buns, and skip the other stuff (definitely anything containing meat, heavy oils, sauce, etc.).

Kam man has the usual bakery stuff but now they also have tons of mooncakes.  No idea which is the best brand.  I'll have to ask my dad one day - he'd know.

Editing to add - I called my dad later to ask him about mooncakes.  He said that the best ones are the ones made in USA (where we live) because they would be the freshest.  For example, the ones made in Hong Kong or Taiwan were made months ago.  Here in the US, they would be made closer to Moon Day.  They're not available yet at this time of year.  Made fresh to order closer to the holiday.

So I went to Costco and bought the only mooncake they sold.  May as well grab the other asian snacks nearby since the Costcos closer to me probably won't have them.  (The one near my parents obviously have more asian clientele.)

I'm saving the mooncakes (made in Taiwan) for next month, when it's actually Moon Day.  The mung bean one, made in Malaysia, is very pretty with its flower design, but the taste is meh.  It smells weird.  I guess because of the mung bean.  The castella cake is nice, and made in Japan.

And I also went to Trader Joe's - to get kimbap, mini taiyaki, and jumeokbap among other things.  I miss having these stores closer so I really had to stock up a bit.  Until next time.  There was even another store I skipped (Ranch 99) - not enough time!

shooting star

My most favorite person in the universe and I saw a shooting star for the first time ever in our lives tonight.  We were walking up a trail and glimpsed the tail end of the meteor traveling from right to left.  It sparkled yellow and orange at the end like a perfect star.  As if it were a cartoon.  

The night had a dreamlike quality with many other extraordinary sightings - a big bat swooping low back and forth on the edge of the park path; tiny and large frogs on the walkway; an aircraft mysterious and close at first shining a solitary bright white light, then at different angles displaying its side and other colored lights; the moon and a nearby planet or star that seemed to grow larger as time passed; and the orange glowing lights amongst the distant houses...

No photos of the shooting star, so it'll just have to live in the memories and imaginations of witnesses.

🌠

zinnias and back garden

The zinnias started blooming a few days ago - 46 days after seed planting.  The first flower opened the day we got air quality alerts and wildfire smoke in the air so I stayed inside.  Just as well, since more bloomed days later and the garden looks even prettier now.

After photographing the garden, I pulled a bunch of the crazy pokeweed getting out of control on the property line.  My strategy was to remove the pokeweed berries first, and then deal with the tall stalks afterwards.  Finally, I pulled up any seedlings I noticed.  Maybe one day there won't be any, or hopefully it'll be a more manageable amount.

Back to the gorgeous flowers - at least 5 or so different shades - magenta, yellow, orange, red, and another shade of pink perhaps.  BIG SMILES! 

😃 😁 😊

The magenta / dark pink one appeared first, about four days ago.  I see 5 layers of petals so far.

The yellow, cheerful one showed up soon after.

Today I noticed the orange, red, and more up close in person.  (It's nice to be able to see the garden from the window too.)

In the wildflower patch behind the zinnias, there is a Black-eyed Susan (?).

I think this may be a calendula.

Happy summer flowers!

pink rose

 

Behold, the second bloom of the pink Morden blush rose bush.  The first rose bloomed on June 22nd, but I missed getting a good photo before it expired.  I see something has been munching away at the leaves and petals here as well.  There were no obvious creepy crawlies out there when I was watering it today.  Maybe they desiccated in the heat wave.  In the background is the bunch of begonia leaves which will hopefully flower as well one day.

takeout

 Korean fried chicken and (Japanese) miso ramen with chicken, shared with family.  Yummy!  Oishiiiii!

The soup was on the bottom part of the container, and the toppings and ramen noodle was on the top part like a plastic sieve/colander to keep them from getting soggy.  How clever!

and funny chicken art that looks AI - hahaha

 

wildflowers

Some colors are appearing in the wildflower garden.  The sweet alyssum were already blooming, but today I noticed some new ones while watering them in the hot hot heat wave.

Google told me the yellow one is a yellowcress and it is actually a weed.  Ohhh am I supposed to pull that one out?

I can see the hue of this Siberian wallflower all the way from the house.  It's surrounded by sweet alyssum.

And the prettiest one of all so far - a Johnny jump-up that I noticed at the last moment - it jumped out at me - hahahahaha...

The wildflower mix that I scattered back in the end of April included the following:

baby's breath, blue flax, lupine, calendula, Siberian wallflower, yarrow, sweet alyssum, English daisy, Shasta daisy, lancelet coreopsis, dianthus, coneflower, California poppy, Indian blanket, Iceland poppy, Mexican hat, Black-eyed Susan, and Johnny jump-up.  Hope to see more of them soon!

mugwort weed

 

This is a photo of a weed called mugwort.  I used google image search to identify it.  At first I thought maybe it was a chrysanthemum since there was an old photo of the garden with some mums growing in the same general area.

A few weeks ago, I dug up and divided a larger plant that was growing under the bleeding heart plant.  Thinking it was a mum, I planted the two halves in different parts of the garden - dug holes for them (no small feat with the hard, clay ground), watered them almost daily, even trimmed the leaves twice so that they would puff out with flowers later in the year.  Hahahaha.  

One way to tell that it's a mugwort (versus a chrysanthemum) is to look at the underside of the leaves - they are silver/white - in contrast to the the darker green of the chrysanthemums.  The shape of the leaves are also somewhat different than those of mums.  Mugwort leaves are spikier.  Anyhow, I dug up all the mugworts (three clumps today).  Begone.  Time to focus on the nicer plants, like some of the begonias, etc.

summer day

According to my dad, on this day, I (we) should not wear the following colors: red, white, and black.  He added that it's okay to wear one item in that color, but to avoid wearing an entire red outfit.  For today only, because it's the first day of summer (?) or something.  Sometimes it's difficult for me to translate what he's actually saying.  It's a Chinese belief and today has some meaning to it.  Well it's a good thing I called him today; I changed out of my pink shirt into a green-blue one.  I was actually wearing a pink shirt and blank pants - all the bad colors at once haha oh dear.

He also said to eat something that sounded like 'joong' in Cantonese.  An orange?  No, he said - I can't buy it where I am anyway.  Google is awesome - I searched what food joong is in Cantonese and discovered that it's a traditional Chinese sticky rice, covered with bamboo leaves.

With the first day of summer approaching, here's a recent photo of the weed/wildflower garden out back.  The sweet alyssum are the first to bloom.  Not counting the oxalis that's everywhere, some of which I've been trying to pull out but at this point may just give up doing so.  See that yellow peeking out - that's oxalis aka yellow wood sorrel - Google told me that.

Happy Summer Weekend!

summer flowers

Here are some flowers I bought from Home Depot - marigolds and a lantana plant.  They are supposed to be drought-tolerant, which is good because it's getting really hot around here and watering plants every day is a bit much.

There are tons of weeds growing in the backyard garden, particularly where the wildflowers were sown.  I've been pulling out the weeds, and more keep popping right up.  Maybe if I get a better handle on them, there will be a photo of the back garden to share one day.

hot dog

There was the funniest balloon at the supermarket today.

Memorial Day is the Unofficial Start of the Summer.

Hot Dog!