bonster2's Xanga

Monday, August 17, 2009

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:13:59 GMT

Jacob likes to answer ALL the calls that come in.
It doesn't matter if it's an 888 or 800 number. He'll take'em all.
My parents...they IGNORE those calls.
I let him take those calls just so he can have fun with them.
Usually, they hang up after a while and that's that.
Here's one call that my dad was listening in on that cracked us up:

*He ends each sentence on a high note.*

x: Hi may I speak to Mr. Kang?
J: Yes I am!

x: Do you speak english?
J: Yes I DO!

x: ... (pause)
   may I speak to your mom?
J: Yes you may!

J: *running madly* MOM! MOM! MOMMY!! MOMMY!!!
    A phone call just for you! =)

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Wed, 06 May 2009 21:14:26 GMT

I LOVE where we live. Where else can you see roads called:
-Ammunition Rd,
-Missle Rd
-Red Eye
-Stinger
...and today, I found another one:
-Marine Raft

*They come up with pretty nifty names for streets/roads. When they run out, they just name them after numbers: 13th street, 14th street, 15th street, etc.*

or see signs like:
WARNING! EXPLOSIVE VEHICLES ENTERING ROADWAY
or...
...eish, I can't write down my personal favorite, just in case.

AND, when they feel like it, they can have someone pop out of a box, stop your vehicle, and perform random drug tests with a drug sniffing dog and everything (while other cars drive by and look). ...ok, actually, that was embarrassing.

Anyways, besides that one thing, I like it here. It's like a whole new different world out here. So many things are done differently here, and I probably shouldn't write too much about any of that in here...but I guess all I'm saying is that it's been a real eye-opening experience here. Most nights, it's quiet and like any other place but some nights, I hear things even at 1 AM, reminding me just where I'm at. And dude, I'd rather die in my house then step out! Chris and Jacob, on the other hand can just sleep through all of it.

Which reminds me, it's been a long time since I've written anything about Jacob but he's doing well over here.
He sleeps on his own, but every once in a while, I still sleep with him.
He also started going to school about a month ago.
He cried a lot and didn't eat the first week, but mid-second week, he ate a bit of peach and spaghetti for lunch, one day, and after that, he's been pretty good about eating lunch at school. I have a funny story. So on his second day of school, he didn't eat lunch. I didn't want to give him food till dinner so that he would learn to eat food at school. Well, I took him to Costco to go grocery shopping and that took about an hour. When we finished, I went to the food court. I felt bad, thought he must be hungry, and decided to just share some hot dog with him. Well, the little dude must have been starving because he stinkin gobbled it all up, saving ME just a bite at the end! DUDE! I know he eats a lot but WOW, I've never seen him eat so much before, or since that time! ...well, after that day, I decided it would be OK to give him a little bit of something to eat between lunch and dinner. He eats normally now.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:40:05 GMT

Just got the best compliment ever!
I was walking back home w/Jacob when one of our upstairs neighbor stopped me and told me that he HHAD to tell me that I am a good cook because he always smells something good when he's going up the stairs.

HA!

Thank you neighbor!

I think you mean that I'm good at heating up food. =)

Thursday, January 01, 2009

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:07:07 GMT

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Monday, December 29, 2008

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 01:24:40 GMT

Closing out Jacob's 2nd Year
Sunday was Jacob's last day of being 2. We spent the day relaxing at home in the morning watching Thomas & Fireman Sam, ate leftovers for lunch, then went to church in the afternoon. After eating rice w/kimchi at church, we went to get pizza dough from the market to make Buffalo pizza for dinner.
We closed out the night with family worship, then went to his room to review everything we taught him (to catch it on a camcorder)...
Here's a list of what Jacob learned in his 2nd year:

Visual Recognition of Presidents:
-George Washington
-John Adams
-Thomas Jefferson
-James Madison
-James Monroe
-Andrew Jackson
-John Quincy Adams
-Martin Van Buren
-William Harrison
-James Polk
-James Buchanan (Recognizes his face but doesn't remember his name all the time)
-Abraham Lincoln
-Andrew Johnson (Still learning him)
-Harry Truman
-JFK
-Richard Nixon
-Ronald Reagan
-George "Appa" Bush
-Bill Clinton
-[George] W. Bush

Addition:
1+1 is 2
2+2 is 4
3+3 is 6
4+4 is 8
5+5 is 10

Catechisms:
1) Who made you? God
2) What else did God make? God made all things

Songs:
ABC's
123456789, 10...10, nan ddan, ddan, ddan, ddan, 1, 2, THREE! (Sesame Street style)
1,2,3,4,5,6,7, can you count to 11?
Twinkle Twinkle Little star!
The itsy bitsy spider
The wheels on the bus go round and round...
B-I-N-G-O!
Na-Ri Na-Ri Geh-Na-Ri
Na-bi-Ya! Na-bi-Ya!
Sahn-To-ki To-ki-ya (2 verses)
Bebop the bear
Hot Potatoes (The Wiggles)
If you're happy and you know it clap your hands!
Jesus loves me this I know
Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell, Jingle all the way

Favorite Cartoon/TV shows:
Pocoyo
Fireman Sam
Thomas & Friends
Bob the Builder
--Used to like Spongebob movie A LOT in the beginning
--Used to like Big Bird movie
--Used to like Charlotte's Web 2
-bbo-bbo-bbo

He can feed himself
He's fully potty trained...if he's running to the bathroom and closes the door, run after him because he's out to poo
Likes to imitate Daddy doing push ups & pull ups
Imitates LA Grandma's exercise movements

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:03:47 GMT

Leftovers:
We have a lot of leftovers in our fridge from Christmas dinner. Here's how I'm going to use it up:

Roast Beef: need 2 ideas
#1: Leftover Steak Sandwich w/Onions and Mushrooms (Sat Lunch)
#2: Roast Beef Pasta (Sun Lunch)
***if extras: #3: Angus Roast Beef Wrap

Mashed Potatoes: Need 2 ideas
#1: Potato cakes (Sat Breakfast): Mix 1-2 c mashed potatoes w/a beaten egg. Add onions, salt & pepper, shredded cheese, Tabasco, & minced roast beef. Add flour to thicken then form into patties & cook until it's hot!
#2: Potato Rolls (Serve Sat. Dinner w/casserole)

Green Bean Casserole: Need 3 ideas
#1: Pizza (Sun Dinner): Add diced chicken + leftover green bean casserole
#2: Baked leftover Green Bean Casserole w/ham & cheese (Mon lunch): In a bowl, mix in green bean casserole, diced ham, and cheese. Top w/additional cheese and bake at 350 until warmed through.
#3: Any kind casserole (Sat Dinner): chicken, green bean casserole, celery, carrots, rice, cream of chicken soup, sour cream, olives, water chestnut, cheese, & top w/breadcrumb

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:49:49 GMT

Christmas 2008

Wow...Next time we plan on having another child, Chris & I will make sure that there are no big holidays near the due date!
Jacob's birthday is Dec. 29, and we had his birthday party a little early (on the 20th). Then less than a week later, we had Christmas dinner at our place (because we're going to be moving soon). Well, BECAUSE we're going to be moving soon, most of our things are packaged and ready to go. That includes our dining table and chairs. oi~ We didn't have much in terms of furniture, and of course, we didn't have a christmas tree or christmas decorations (again, because we're trying to keep the house at bare minimum for the move), so I wanted the dinner meal to at make up for what we didn't have.

Well, the good news is that it was only for 8 but the bad news is that we only have one of those IKEA tables for four. So the thinking game begins. How are we going to make the table big enough for 8...possibly for 11 (Chris invited his friend's family)...and how are we going to get the chair situation figured out? Well, for the table situation, we were going to buy one of those pull out tables but we didn't want to have yet another thing to move with us...so we borrowed one from Chris' parents. We set it up next to our table, put green & red vinyl table covers on top of them, placed plates, napkins, & utensils on them and the table was ready to go. As for the chair situation, we had four Ikea chairs, brought out our 2 desk chairs, even brought out my rocking chair and set it at the Christmas table. yeah, it looked funny! Still we were short one chair. Lucky for us, Jacob was SOOO engrossed with his new emergency vehicle toy car set that he didn't want to sit down and eat. He preferred playing with it and occasionally coming over for a bite.

As for the menu, I've been planning it and working on it since the day that I found out we'd be hosting it...on the 20th, after Jacob's party was over, AND I was exhausted, AND I didn't want to see the inside of a kitchen for a long time to come. I knew I had to have my menu finalized and shop for all the ingredients by Wednesday, the 24th beause most stores weren't open on the 25th. On the 20th I wasn't all that thrilled about having it at our house but by Monday, I came around and was looking forward to it. Cooking didn't seem all to bad. For me, as long as I have a GOOD dependable game plan put together IN WRITING for me to refer to, I'm good to go. That game plan was a work in progress UNTIL the 24th, with some changes on the 25th. We "finished" all our shopping on the 23rd...but found we needed to go out once again on the 24th...and yet one more time on the 25th. Having to go out again on the 24th was my fault because I forgot to put some items that I needed on my list, but having to go out again on the 25th was Chris' fault. So on the 24th, we went to get the last few items that I needed: prepared horseradish, dijon mustard, and balsamic vinegar. We went to Target and I asked Chris to grab those three items for me. He did, Jacob was going crazy so I just took Jacob to the car with me. Chris and I started on the prep work for the meal when we realized we really couldn't get anything done w/Jacob constantly coming to us (wanting to play), so we went to plan b and asked Chris' parents to take him for the night. We then continued with the prep work and made the things that we could in advance, when I got to the part of the horseradish...and found that he got some spread with horseradish IN IT. I then went on to the balsamic vinegar, and found it was some balsamic vinegarette DRESSING. By this time, all the stores were closed (christmas eve past 9 PM) so we decided to go to Safeway in the morning. We got what we needed, and at 5:00 when I moved on to the final dish that called for dijon mustard, I noticed that Chris got HONEY dijon. Next time, I will inspect everything that Chris puts in the cart. As for this meal, I used hot mustard instead of dijon mustard. it was ok.

Still, we finished everything we needed to get done, and when everyone came, everything but the soup and roast beef was on the table. Everyone sat down and Chris started with a Christmas service and ended with a really long song (5 stanzas). At the end of the 3rd, there was a pause and Chris' mom asked if we were going to sing it all. pause. Chris says yes and starts to sing again. I started laughing because I was looking at everyone's faces and they all looked confused and then 3-5 words into it, everyone stopped, eventually Chris stopped too...but a few words past everyone else. We moved on to the meal prayer, then served soup. ...the song part is still funny to me!

Chris says making fun of him is not good at all.

Anyways, for my own memory, (So I know not to serve the same thing again to the same group of people) here's a list of the dinner menu:
Appetizer:
7-layer dip w/chips
spinach balls (ended up on the main table)

Soup:
Zuppa Toscana Soup (Olive Garden clone)

Main:
Garlic Horseradish Sirlioin Roast

Side:
Balsamic Asparagus + Steamed asparagus w/cho-jang(?)
Green Bean-Mushroom Casserole (Paula Deen's recipe)
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Corn Tomalito
Cole Slaw

For dessert, I was going to make cream puffs...but ran out of time.
It was ok though because Chris' sister brought some homemade cookies and his mom brough yak-shik.
We had that for dessert.

Chris' message comes from:
Luke 3:4-5, Romans 5:10-11, and Romans 5:17

Song:
Hark the Herald Angels Sing

What I remember from his message:
When people think about Christmas from a religious point of view, they tend to think of it as a peace, hope, love, and joy, and faith in that everything-will-be-ok sort of holiday but it's not simply about those things but also about redemption and reconciliation.

Monday, December 22, 2008

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 09:32:39 GMT

SO, Chris & I are HUGE fans of samosas now. Our friend AJ introduced us to this and we're hooked! Since he moved to southern CA, we don't have anyone to buy us samosas (that sad face does no justice to how we're feeling, we're both crying...that sad face needs tears streaming down and forming a puddle to show how we feel). Anyways, so in the past few weeks, I've tried to make samosas TWICE and the first time I made it, I didn't bother tasting the filling before putting it together. I just ASSUMED that it would taste like the ones that we've been eating...even though the color was really different! I wrapped it using Mandoo-Pi, and the end result was a really gross, unappetizing gunk that I COULD NOT get myself to give Chris. The filling was terrible~ and tasted WAY too sweet and the mandoo-pi, was just wrong for it. LESSON LEARNED

SO, since then, I've been looking for samosa wrappers. I could tell from the samosas that we had that they weren't hand made. I went to an Indian market, looked for premade CHICKEN samosas...but couldn't find it, and I didn't know WHAT the wrappers would look like. square? semi-circle? ANyways, last night, I tried making samosas again using pastry puff...thinking that I bought phyllo dough and that it just got stuck together when I was thawing it. I proceeded to fry it and it puffed up. YUCK GROSS. BUT, the filling THIS TIME, tasted similar to what we had. I had to get over the hump of trying to stick to the chicken samosa filling recipes that I saw online, and just go by the ingredients that I remembered tasting.

hari dhania (green coriander) chutney

3 bunches of coriander -- washed and dried, leaves only
1/2 inch ginger cube
1/2 to 1 hari mirch (green chilli)
1 small onion, chopped
1.5 tbsp fresh lime juice
salt, pinch of sugar + tsp jheera (cumin powder)
Spritz in the blender until you get a paste. In the event you don't have fresh lime, you can substitute 2 tbsps of yogurt.

Eat immediately, can keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.

This chicken filling recipe is just one that I'm winging. I don't remember exactly how much of each ingredient is needed. I just eyeball everything and went by what tasted right to me.
CHICKEN FILLING:
4 pieces of chicken breast, grind fine
2/3-1 onion, chop finely
1- 1 1/2 TB garlic
1 inch stick of ginger, grind finely
1 tomato, diced
1 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped to small pieces
juice of 1/2-1 lemon
4 jalapenoes, chop finely
1 tsp indian hot chili powder
1/4- 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1/4- 1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 1/2 - 2 tsp. coriander powder

1) saute onion, garlic, & ginger in 2 TB oil for 2-3 min on med. heat
2) Add tomatoes,, continue to stir for 2 more min.
3) add 2 more tsp of oil, then add in the indian hot chili powder, turmeric powder, curry powder, and coriander powder, and mix well.
4) add chicken to the mixture and stir till chicken is fully cooked.
5) Squeeze in juice of 1 lemon or 1 lime
6) add chopped cilantro & jalapenoes and turn off the stove but continue to mix until well blended.
7) Cool to room temp. and fill samosa wrappers w/ this mixture.

WRAPPING SAMOSAS:
wrapping samosas in 30 seconds

how to make a triangular samosa + How to Fry Samosas

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:02:15 GMT

I was about to sneeze...but it wouldn't come out. When I did sneeze, Jacob patted my shoulder and said, "Don't worry Mommy, don't worry."

Chris and I both laughed
but it was cute

Friday, November 14, 2008

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:24:18 GMT

About 30 minutes ago, I sent Jacob and Chris over to my In-Laws place. I'm going to church later tonight and while Chris was away, when I went to the Thursday night bible study, my MIL and FIL used to watch Jacob for me. It's Thursday...I figured they would probably want to see Jacob AND Chris (since they haven't seen HIM in a while) so I just told Chris to take Jacob to Fremont.

It's 6:15 and I have a few more minutes to myself before I leave. You know...I looooved the time to myself. What did I do? I watched Jon & Kate plus 8, put the dishes away, and now, I'm xanga-ing a bit. I'll stop now so that I can eat, heat up water for coffee, and then head on out! OH and you know what else?? After bible study, I'm going to Walmart or Borders while CHRIS stays home with Jacob...or takes him to the gym (like he said he might do). OK! Bye!