Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Eating Herring Correctly

There you go, this is how. We got instructions and a demonstration. Yes, those are raw onions. It's an acquired taste, and we're part way there.
When you think about Dutch food, you might think about delicious Gouda, like above.
Incidentally, Barry weighs less than one round of the stuff, yet I can lift it easily.
But the Dutch have other culinary delights, such as hotdogs - a whole shelf of canned ones in the grocery store. They have even figured out how to bake the sausages into the bun, optimizing the process!
Speculoos spread is like peanut butter made with cookies instead of peanuts. So, while it's about as healthy as frying your cookies (and so is peanut butter), it's delicious! Since it's actually Belgian, I guess we can't give kudos to the Dutch here.
Ok, this one is Dutchish, despite its name. Steak Tartare is available as a spread everywhere! It's tasty, and when you eat it on bread, you get to call it Toast Kannibal to deal with your aggression, I suppose.
Ken told me to stop posting pictures of food, so I nodded politely. Here is a bad example of how to photograph food. Neither the food nor the eater can be seen well. Good job. Oh, and Dutch Indonesian Rijsttafel is delicious.
While eating Surinamese roti, I learnt that you need to fix your hair before taking food pictures, not during.
Surinamese food confused me, since it comes with Indonesian dishes like tempeh and gado gado along with roti, cassava and salt cod sandwiches. It turns out that the Dutch mixed up their colonies and a large Javanese Surinamese population exists across all three countries.
I'm still working to understand Surinamese food. Naturally, I bought this 4-in-1 super Surinamese food-making sauce! When I translated it at home, regrettably I found that the dishes are 1) flaked salt cod, 2) Surinamese long bean, 3) weird root vegetable, and 4) beef. I'll work on 2 and 4 I suppose.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Respect the Lone Monkey with Jackfruit

We brought my parents to Nepal, because it was time to get templing.
At Boudhanath, you walk around clockwise and turn the prayer wheels.
It's best if you wear traditional Tibetan clothes.
Tall Tibetans face greater risks when walking around the bell. (It's for walking, not ringing, I think).
You thought you knew about bells, but this one is for painting, so don't be all judgy.
Come to think of it, the temples can be a bit confusing. The meaning of "Monkey with Jackfruit" below is lost on me, though I've been to a few Buddhist temples before. I just googled, and it seems the is the only such statue in the world. I should have shown more awe.
There are special tombs placed unexpectedly in the street. This one has a giant foot trying to emerge from the depths.
Though Barry is trying to grow up and stop imitating statues, sometimes it's irresistible.
If we spent more time reading the travel book perhaps we'd know what the shackled dragon seeks.
In any case, the ancient sites were beautiful.
Perhaps in need of a bit of masonry work.
There were great food options.
Nepalese food. Why can't we have more of it outside of Nepal? (Ideally with online delivery. All things should deliver online).
We found the Internet was a bit spotty.
But my parents had a good time nonetheless. 

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Hooks, Spikes and Feathers

Well, it was that time of year again.
Time for my favourite festival with feathers, beads and music!
And a touch of tongue piercing!
Thaipusam, of course.
In addition to the hanging piercers and the poking piercers,
This year we got you a before and after picture! Before: "Are my oranges straight?"
After: "Does it hurt yet?" The man in purple is so very helpful!
I noticed this year that you can match your milk pots to your other silver or gold accessories.
Or you can go pink with faux fur. Thaipusam is flexible and welcoming like that.
Below is the not often seen old man wearing nail flip flops. Flip flops doesn't seem to be the right word. Slippers? Thongs? Painshoes?
On the beginning of his walk, his man posed for us directly in front of the temple's peak; very lucky.


Saturday, March 7, 2015

Listen more. Less mistake.

I hope you've been enjoying winter sports lately.
Barry has been enjoying Engrish. Perhaps a bit too much.
Underwater shark is also one of his favourites.
He kindly bought me the Police brand of bodysize style PL, but I'm not sure where to wear it.
Mark has continued to support our skin regime. Be Nice is now extra firming.
And Placenta classic helps with subtleness. I often avoid being subtle.
I'm cool with the staying young part only, and I'm not convinced that placenta extract is herbal.
The beards are more herbal I think, but a bit pricey.
But it's ok, we found new seaweed and tomato flavoured banana snacks instead!
Back to Engrish shopping. This purse conveys the most disturbing part of Red Riding Bunny.
The above Borrow me shirt teaches the wrong lesson, while the bunnies below are more confusing.
This shirt has a better lesson, but was not in my size, as I've had too many cupcakes.
More British shirts.
This message is a great one, especially from a chicken.
When you're listening to music, just remember that Whitney, or inexplicably in this case Sarah McLachlin, was just being nice while dumping Kevin Costner.
And as a closing note, may all of our love riding dandelion fly to Wenbo.