Lunar New Year

After living in Asia for six years, I have come to appreciate celebrating the Lunar New Year.  Mostly because the food is just so delicious.  We tend to blend Asian influences in our home, not staying true to any one culture's traditions.  Our menu went something like this:

Hoisin Pork Roast (Chinese)

Asparagus Stir-fry (loosely Chinese)
Basmati rice (Indian)
Scallion Pancakes (Korean/Chinese)
Sprout Salad (Korean)
Kimchi (Korean)

It was an all-day affair and I loved every moment of it.  The praise of my family was an added bonus!

Quill inspiration

We went to the North Carolina Museum of History yesterday.  There is a great exhibit about George Washington.  At the end there is a little gift shop where my seven year old daughter just had to buy a quill, bottle, and ink.  She was so excited to spend her own money and buy something that we have learned a lot about while studying the Revolutionary War.  She practiced writing for a while to get the hang of it.  Then today we watched the video "Friends in Liberty" which portrays a young girl in North Carolina during the revolution.  In the video the girl's brother and friend write her letters using a quill.  So, I guess my daughter was quite inspired because this is what she wrote using her quill:

Dear (brother's name),
The war has been hard.  We lost 2,000 people in the war this week.  It was a long and cold jerny to the battle field.  Everyones feet are worn out.  I hope your fine and entertaned.  It's been hard to dodge all the bullets.  Were running low on food.  There is only enuf to last a month.  Next year you could fight if the battle continuse.  We have to keep fighting 'till we win.  The british think they can beet us in 2 days.  But it's already.  I miss seeing you.  We have the hard life up here.  I wunder what you have been doing without me?
Yours truly,
(her name)

This is what I love about teaching my kids.  They really get into what we are studying.  This wasn't an assignment but rather a natural expression of learning.  Go figure - kids actually love to learn if you let them.  Oh, and we'll work on the spelling.  But for now I'm just fostering her love of learning.

Rice anyone?

My ten-year-old son is making himself breakfast.  Not cereal, mind you; he's cooking eggs.  I love that my kids enjoy cooking.  I learned how to cook by necessity and often the hard way.  Did you know you can't put a metal pan in the microwave?  My younger brother and I spent a lot of time alone in the kitchen.  Today we both love to cook, so I guess that worked.  But now that I'm a parent, I love teaching my kids how to cook - properly.  Yesterday, said son wanted to cook Korean rice.  I taught him how to wash it, soak it, and use the rice cooker.  It was more involved than he realized but he was very happy with himself and the resulting sticky rice.  Which was gobbled down with seaweed.  Gotta love it.
So, my little boy is becoming quite independent.  And hungry.  I can see the teenage years approaching with a ravenous appetite.  I'm just glad that he'll be able to cook for himself.  Now if he can just start earning money to pay for all that food he's going to eat.

Moving is like lemon pie

I recently moved to Raleigh, NC.  This was my 8th move (9th if you count temporary housing) in 14 years.  I'm averaging less than 2 years per residence.  Does this make me unstable or adventurous?  I like to think of myself as adventurous.  When I was younger I was scared of so many things.  Now I crave the unknown.  This translates in many areas of my life.  I almost never make the same meal twice unless it was really amazing.  This really annoys my husband who thinks you should never try out a new recipe on company.  I beg to differ.  Of course there's the danger that it will be an utter failure - but there's also the chance that it will be amazing.  Like my recent lemon pie.

That's how it is with moving, too.  Sometimes it turns out to be a failure.  Yet, more often than not, I find amazing new friends and learn a lot about myself along the way.  Each place I've lived has become a part of who I am now - an ingredient in the recipe of my life, adding a depth of flavors.  Oh there's lots to tell about all of those places... later.  Here's the newest story to tell: an adventurous woman just bought a house and settled down.  It's hard to imagine living in one place for so long.  Will this make life stable or boring?  I'm not sure; it's definately the unkown.  But I can't imagine my house will ever be boring!