Chinese new year (2)

As if making up for the lack of eating out yesterday, we did it for both lunch and dinner today. The fried tofu was the best I've ever had. (Those round things in lower left foreground.) I think the key is in the batter.

Somehow my mood took a significant dip. Need a lift so I picked up some toys. Didn't work as well as I hope but at least kept me going. I think what I truly want is a huge cleanup of my room. Which is too big a task and I kept procrastinating... Perhaps it's my brain that needs a cleanup. Hmm... doesn't look good either way...

Maybe it was the news of my oldest aunt in California passing away. I'm not close to her. I don't even know her face. But it's like, all of a sudden people are dying around me. My North Van aunt was diagnosed with lung cancer last May. And another uncle was gone last June. Well, my mom is the 9th child of her family, so I have many aunts and uncles and cousins. They're scattered around the world, so most of them I don't know.

Actually there was a 10th aunt who was born with cleft lip and was given up for adoption soon after birth. The doctor who delivered her adopted her, repaired her palate, and she herself later became a doctor. The 2 families lost contact early on. Sounds incredible but that's how the story goes.

Happy Chinese new year!

Everybody wants a chicken or some pork chop for Chinese new year. The line up was horrible. Such items were in short supply. Whatever was available didn't look that good. So we didn't buy any. Instead, made something from frozen chicken legs... which defeats the purpose of doing something "special" for new year. The ultimate "something special" is eating out. Takeout dishes is one step down. According to a friend, the line up at Chinese restaurants were just as bad. However, the restaurants were smart by providing only special dinner with minimum chance of screwing up, and can be mass prepared ahead of time.
Gotta made use of my Pinky dolls so here's a Chinese new year card. One of the heads was so tight, it broke my nail when I tried to change the hair. (T_T)

On a different subject, Iron Chef is gonna become an anime! I like the original Japanese series, but hate the US version. This anime is said to use Japanese art style but produced in America. But still, I don't think it works... (T_T)

Fran: Aromatier Rum & Vanilla

Fran is Pocky's imitator. Both the cracker stick and chocolate layer are thicker than Pocky. This one's got 2 coats of chocolate. The inner layer is normal chocolate and the outer layer is light gray with little black dots. Those seem to be real vanilla seeds as listed in the ingredients. The first stick smells very nice. The vanilla is very strong. The rum is being drown out, though. But I'm sure it's there. Then the second stick went blank. The "magic" disappeared. Hmm... maybe it's too subtle?

Become anonymous

... by wearing this black bar sunglasses. (But I can totally see the tan it's gonna leave...)

Laptop with 3 screens

More pictures at this blog.

Meets Wine Pretz (Cheddar)

"Meets Wine Pretz (Cheddar cheese) seasonal limited edition".
Comparing to the mozzarella version, this one is less cheesy, more starchy and spicy. It's got slices of pizza on the box, which might have tricked me into tasting pepperoni. (The Mozzarella one has cheese on the box.) I like the other one better. Can't help but wonder, why is this a seasonal limited edition? Is it the cheese that's seasonal? Or is it the wine?

Meets Wine Pretz (Mozzarella)

"Meets Wine Pretz (Mozzarella cheese) seasonal limited edition".
What does Mozzarella cheese supposed to taste like? Sorry I'm not that knowledgeable about cheese. Cheese is cheese and that's it. (But I do like Swiss cheese. It's something I can tell apart form, say, the cheese on a pizza.) This Pretz is a little sweet, but nevertheless, has pretty nice cheese flavor. And buttery too. Yes it tastes very good, but expensive. I guess they're trying to be higher class by saying it goes well with wine.