Achoo!!

I am trying to pick up a few Korean phrases to use, and find this page quite useful:

http://www.linguanaut.com/english_korean.htm

When I scroll down the list, I chuckle when I read this line:

Bless you (when sneezing)

(No reaction, as if nothing happened)

This has happened many times when my husband sneezes. Not only does he sneeze a lot, he is a chain sneezer.  When he sneezes in public places, my Asian friends and I will totally ignore him and carry on our conversations or whatever we are doing, but people around us (like people sitting at the next tables in a restaurant) will come forth with a generous outpour of “Bless You”, as if to compensate for our lack of sympathy.  Sometimes it makes me feel cold hearted, as if I won’t care less if he sneezes his brain out.  Nonetheless it has yet to become a reflex for me to say Bless You whenever I hear a sneeze, so my belated and weak response feels more like coming out of guilt than a genuine concern.   

Kiva Loans

Gosh has it been that long since I last posted?

Anyway, to celebrate a nice little milestone at work, on my payday I decide to make a “specialty food” donation to Kiva.

First loan is to a cheese maker in Georgia. Georgia as in the European country, not a southern U.S. state.
This family has one dairy cow from which they make cheese and yogurt to sell, and they are hoping to buy another cow.

Next is wine. There is no winemaker at this moment, but find this 60-year-old lady making vodka. “Zoya is from the village of Akhasheni, Gurjaani District. This district is well-known throughout the country for wine-making.” Bet the wine specialists won’t know about that!! Or hmmm… did I finance a grandma’s moonshine operation? LOL

Next is for a coffee seller in Peru. This guy is not exactly a grower, but his machine is just look too curious to me, I can’t help picking him among other coffee growers. I wonder what it is for?

And last but not least, some chocolate from Ecuador! A loan to a cocoa bean farmer. Glad to be able to get a new country for my portfolio.

It’s definitely a splurge for me, but hey it’s in good cause!! And never has donation/lending been so much fun and give me such a high. I thought of trimming out one, but when I look at the pictures I just can’t. Moreover, reading about these borrowers really make me realize how much I have, or how different our living standards are. A family with one dairy cow borrowing to buy one more. An old lady making vodka at her house. It’s so different from what we are used to, huge industrial operations. It feels good to go back to the root, to see that human connection.

If you are curious, please check out Kiva!

My Dino Life

Well, I have been playing this game called Dinoparc since last May, and I have meant to post progress once in a while but never did. I admit I am spending way too much time there. It’s a game where you get these cute little animals that reminds you of pokemon, and train them with different skills and let them fight against other dinos.

Anyway, here’s one mega update.

First off, congratulations to Bambu. He’s my first dino, named after my hermit crab. He’s just turned 21 (level) so he can drink beer now after a fight!

In the past month I have gotten a bronze medal at Mt Dino tournament. We have a ladder within our clan so it wasn’t too difficult. I did it with 7 wins, 1 loss, used up 6 spells. Also used two pies to boost life which turned out unnecessary as I only suffered 7% life loss, and four sparkys. Total cost 6,600 coins.

Then those of us who got the bronze went on to the Zen Temple tournament. As there were not many dinos there the ladder went as planned, I managed through it with 5 wins, no loss, no sparky. However I brought in Ender to help complete the ladder, and afterwards recycle Bambu to be at the bottom of the ladder, to help the last dino of our group moved up to his bronze. That part cost considerably more than the first, totally painless part of getting my own medal. I used 19 spells on Ender and 13 on Bambu for the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Bokutama wasn’t quite as lucky at Dinobeach tournament. In one round my little dino, a mere level 16, went against a level 206 monster. Poor Bokutama was pulverized, 0:2428…

Anyway, Bokutama couldn’t get any headway at Dinobeach, never getting above one point. I tried sending in Ender, my second strongest at level 20, but that doesn’t help. Then yesterday I noticed that Leo, a level 9 dino with a very bad haircut, has a history of 3 wins and no loss while hiding in the tourny from the war. So I decided to try fighting him inside the tournament, and wow, he won. So, my little level 9 is a trailblazer, getting to 2 pts. 23% life left after 3 days, without spell protection… What a miracle. It may be too much to ask for Leo to go to 5 points, but at least now I less hopeless.

Moxibustion

I went to see an acupuncturist last week, on recommendation by a friend, and got my first moxibustion treatment.

The name moxibustion comes from mosuga (艾) in Japanese, mugwort or wormwood. It’s a bitter tasting plant that is used in one of my favorite snack, kusa mochi, the green sweet rice cake stuffed with red beans. The color of the rice cake comes from blanching the leaves of the yomogi plant. The leaves are considered to warm the body and improves circulation and are rolled up into a stick or cigar to smoke near meridian points.

My acupuncturist used a safer and more convenient packaging of moxa. When she lined them up under my belly button, it looked so cool I had to snap some pictures.

Adopt A Turkey

I have been too busy to do it sooner, but finally I completed my yearly Thanksgiving ritual of… adopting a turkey at Farm Sanctuary!!

My Halloween Cheese Platter

I made a cheese platter for Halloween, and am proud enough of it to think that it should be shared and recorded fo posterity. Not the cheese itself, of course, but at least a picture of it. ; )

Upper left is a herb goat cheese log. I simply opened a pack of 4 oz log, squeezed and shaped it into a skull. Then I cut off the tips of an olive for eyes.

Upper right are supposed to be bloody eyeballs. I’ve read of them in a magazine a while back, but this is a classic case where your real end result doesn’t look half as good as the magazine photos. They are peppadew peppers stuffed with olives. I tried a variety of olives, and added some goat cheese, but they simply don’t look like eyeballs. My friends did enjoy them a lot though. Peppadews are spicy, sweet, sour and a juicy burst of flavors, balanced with briny olives.

In the center is a wedge of Mimolette, a French cheese. I picked it for its pumpkin-like orange color, and used a pen to draw the eyes and mouth.

Lower left is simply some cheese cubes. I used Salsa Jack for its specks of “blood”.

Lower right is a slice of goat log, with macorna almonds and dried cranberries around it. They sell it by the pound at Whole Foods. I shaped two cranberries into evil eyes and use some preserve to draw a smile. One friend said it’s the best cheese she’s tried. That’s an overstatement, but I have to say it’s delicious.

Cute Dinoz Contest

Having a lot of fun at dinoparc. Go Dinoz Stronghold!!

Crabs!!!

As Bambu is on his own now, I decided that I need to get him some new companions. When the shipment arrived, I first brought it over to another HCA member’s house, and we happily opened the box and took the crabs out one by one.

First of, this is my friend’s new jumbo Indo, checking out his new home, and eyeing the pretty shell there:

When I take my crabs out from the bags, one of the Strawberries decided to hold on to me REAL HARD. I’ve never got pinched before, and even when my crabs pinched me when I lifted them up, once I let them onto solid ground, they would release the grip. But not this little guy. He is a Rottweiler. We tried inserting pins, scrap papers, and he would just hold on. My friend was like, wow you are so amazing, you didn’t cry out or anything. Until I noticed that he was munching on me!! He held on to me with his big pincher, and was picking up my flesh with his little one! Suddenly it became very painful. Karma payback time for all the crab legs I ate at buffets…Didn’t even need to wait for reincarnation!

But I guess those poor guys must be really traumatized. Imagine enjoyng an ordinary day, then got snatched up and put into a potato sack… then a lot of bumping around and not knowing what’s going on. You would expect some mafia when the sack opens up, right?

This is the fesity little man eating monster. His pincher looks a little white.

He is not shy at all!!

I had originally thought of another name for him but when I looked at him in the tank, he looked very much like an empanada… so I decided to call him that.

For those who are not familiar with empanadas, they are South American fried dumplings that are usually filled with meat, cheese, or spinach.

This is my other Strawberry, who’s a bit shyer. As yet nameless as the original name, which comes as a pair to Empanada’s original name, no longer works.

Here he is with the new E, Sesame, who’s probably looking for Bambu. Bambu, bambu where are thou? I hope he is well, it’s been over a week. I hope he won’t be traumatized when he digs himself out and see all the changes.

And here’s my Blueberry Namu!!

He won’t let go of the comfortable blanket… It was part of the bag he came in, and I cut a corner out as I got tired of waiting fo him to release his grip.

But once I put him into the tank, he was happy enough to let go of it immediately. He found a cashew nut in the food dish, and held it up in his pincher instead. It was kind of a neat picture, holding up a cashew half, although I didn’t get to snatch a picture as he was kind of hidden, and I know any movement from me would make him drop it.

Join the Read-a-thon!

I’ve signed up for the Read-A-Thon which will be held on October 9th!

I am so excited. This will be the first time I’m doing it. There have been talks about it on BookObsessed, but back in April the timing was bad so I couldn’t join. I am stacking up the books I plan to read on that day already. Short, easy titles… fantasy, YA… and maybe I will include a thick tome so as not to feel like I am cheating. I don’t know how much time I will dedicate to the challenge but I do plan on eating, sleeping, showering, and not totally ignoring my hubby and my pets. Or try not to. I have given him ample warning already so he would be prepared to feed himself and me as well!

Kabobji

Found a great Middle Eastern restaurant in North Miami Beach!

After practice at Oleta Park, two starving people drove over to the strip mall across the street in search for food. Hiro’s and Outback are institutions there, plus a few other options: little restaurants which keep opening and closing ever so often. We chanced upon Kabobji, which is right next to the bubble tea place, and glad we did! Food was excellent, so much better than Pasha or Daily Bread, or any of the Middle Eastern place I’ve tried here. I am not an expert on Middle Eastern food so I can’t claim it as the most authentic, but for me it’s definitely the tastiest.

The atmosphere is casual, though decoration is not spartan, adorned with pictures of Beirut and other curios. Great fo us coming over from Oleta Park, sweaty and dirty.

I got the veggio trio, an amazing value at $5.99. It’s a wrap wth hummus, falafel and tabouleh salad. At most other places I’d have to choose one or the other, but now I have all I want in one wrap! The falafel’s crunchiness and the tabouleh’s fresness elevate this wrap to a heavenly level! Enjoyed every single bite of it and still dreaming of it once in a while. The meat wraps are $6.99 or less and a good price also.

We also got a cezve of turkish coffee for $5, enough for two with refills. The coffee has a hint of cardamom but not sweetened. Nice finish to the satisfying meal. I was tempted to flip the cup of ground onto the saucer to see what my future beholds, but worried that I’d spill the coffee all over the table and become an embarrassment… Well, that much is clear… no fortune teller needed to divine that I will be back!

Kabobji Middle Eastern Restaurant
3055 NE 163 St
North Miami Beach, FL 33160
(305) 354-8484
www.eatkabobji.com