Flat Sam came to visit us here in Shanghai.Flat Sam, being a flat self portrait of my adorable cousin back home. She has adorable high heeled shoes, and a matching purse!
On the Bund 外滩 seeing the famous Pearl Tower.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Flat sam
Flat Sam came to visit us here in Shanghai.Flat Sam, being a flat self portrait of my adorable cousin back home. She has adorable high heeled shoes, and a matching purse!
On the Bund 外滩 seeing the famous Pearl Tower.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
yougurt
A little while back I got the grand idea to make my own yogurt. I love eating it everyday with my breakfast but hate hauling all the little tubs form the store and spilling it on myself because the lids are so securely melted on.
I did some research, and was delighted to find that I only needed to incubate boiled milk with the yogurt culture in it! I dreamt of fresh tart yogurt (Chinese yogurt tends to be really sweet) But it required LIVE yogurt culture- sold in packets in the states. Tad out of my reach, but figured it wouldn't hurt to just try with some yogurt from the shop.
Then I forgot about the yogurt dream until I saw this:
Cultured yogurt? Native american? Afro yogurt? is it the flavor?.....what would Native american yogurt taste like?
I did some research, and was delighted to find that I only needed to incubate boiled milk with the yogurt culture in it! I dreamt of fresh tart yogurt (Chinese yogurt tends to be really sweet) But it required LIVE yogurt culture- sold in packets in the states. Tad out of my reach, but figured it wouldn't hurt to just try with some yogurt from the shop.
Then I forgot about the yogurt dream until I saw this:
Cultured yogurt? Native american? Afro yogurt? is it the flavor?.....what would Native american yogurt taste like?
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Flat me + super spring!
This is Flat Samantha, my cousin from Cali. She came to visit me thru the mail, and I am showing her around shanghai, and sending her home with some cool souvenirs! Flat Sam's project was inspired by Flat Stanley a book about a boy who travels places, by sending a flat version of himself through the mail. You get the idea.
So here is Flat Sam sitting in on a Chinese lesson at our house. Tomorrow we will go to the Bund and see the pearl tower!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Visiting the elephants
Today we woke up to sunshine and papaya, and a 45 minute truck ride heading south on the island to ride elephants, do some hiking, and see old town.
This was one of the elephants we rode. He was 25 yrs old and "easy to guide" according to the guide, who sat on his head. What I didn't expect was such a bumpy ride!! I was holding on to that bench(and Timon) with all my might! This little boy was feeding the elephant and really shy about touching it. Elephant skin is like cement-leather! Super rough and thick and hairy.
Riding elephants is also really bumpy and sometimes they walk under trees with low branches and you really gotta watch out! One of the guides also had a slingshot to help "encourage" the elephant. One of our pals was saying they have chains on their ankles since babyhood, so when they get real big, they won't run away, b/c they are so trained to thinking their stuck on their chain.
So the elephants dropped us off where we began 1 km hike to this cave, which had a Banyan tree growing through it- literally. It was really cool! The roots went down thru the rock looking like poles. The cave itself actually wasn't very "cavey" it wasn't very deep, but we saw some little bats. A waterfall was supposed to be part of the tour, but it was all dried up (first time in 25 years!) so we just headed back and managed to catch a glimpse of a flying lizard going tree-to-tree!
Lunched in the old town (which I don't recommend for its 40 minute ride). Its just a town, with a beautiful view..
This was one of the elephants we rode. He was 25 yrs old and "easy to guide" according to the guide, who sat on his head. What I didn't expect was such a bumpy ride!! I was holding on to that bench(and Timon) with all my might! This little boy was feeding the elephant and really shy about touching it. Elephant skin is like cement-leather! Super rough and thick and hairy.
Riding elephants is also really bumpy and sometimes they walk under trees with low branches and you really gotta watch out! One of the guides also had a slingshot to help "encourage" the elephant. One of our pals was saying they have chains on their ankles since babyhood, so when they get real big, they won't run away, b/c they are so trained to thinking their stuck on their chain.
So the elephants dropped us off where we began 1 km hike to this cave, which had a Banyan tree growing through it- literally. It was really cool! The roots went down thru the rock looking like poles. The cave itself actually wasn't very "cavey" it wasn't very deep, but we saw some little bats. A waterfall was supposed to be part of the tour, but it was all dried up (first time in 25 years!) so we just headed back and managed to catch a glimpse of a flying lizard going tree-to-tree!
Lunched in the old town (which I don't recommend for its 40 minute ride). Its just a town, with a beautiful view..
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Hello from Thailand!
We arrive on Friday in Bangkok, to humid hot weather and hot pink cabs.
I think the typography/lettering of the thai language is really cool looking, with its curls and turns.
Satuday visited the Jim Thompson house, an American who helped in building up the silk industry. We toured his house, which was a bit dark, but interesting mix of Thai, western, and chinese influences.
Last night we arrived in Koh Lanta, an island about 15 hrs by car from Bangkok- scenic green and amazing. n our road trip, we saw many car dealerships, and brightly collored multi story homes as well as trucks of durian.
I think the typography/lettering of the thai language is really cool looking, with its curls and turns.
Satuday visited the Jim Thompson house, an American who helped in building up the silk industry. We toured his house, which was a bit dark, but interesting mix of Thai, western, and chinese influences.
Last night we arrived in Koh Lanta, an island about 15 hrs by car from Bangkok- scenic green and amazing. n our road trip, we saw many car dealerships, and brightly collored multi story homes as well as trucks of durian.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Heading to Thailand!
This weekend we are heading to Thailand! Beaches, friends, catching up on blogs, and WARM weather!
A little clever bit I wanted to share a while back when we were setting up home were these awesome spice jar rack set we got as a wedding gift. (Props to my husband who picked them out for the registry!!)
Zevro Magnetic Spice rack! But when we arrived in Shanghai, our kitchen was all tile, and we didn't want/know how to drill into the tile, lest we wreck everything. My mom had pre-filled a majority of them with "American" spices: lemon pepper, garlic salt, other things hard to find locally in China- so I was pretty bummed. And then, voila!
The hood of our stove is metal, and a perfect accessible location for our spices! yay!
A little clever bit I wanted to share a while back when we were setting up home were these awesome spice jar rack set we got as a wedding gift. (Props to my husband who picked them out for the registry!!)
Zevro Magnetic Spice rack! But when we arrived in Shanghai, our kitchen was all tile, and we didn't want/know how to drill into the tile, lest we wreck everything. My mom had pre-filled a majority of them with "American" spices: lemon pepper, garlic salt, other things hard to find locally in China- so I was pretty bummed. And then, voila!
The hood of our stove is metal, and a perfect accessible location for our spices! yay!
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