Made some brown sugar scrub for a friend’s birthday – I blended some lavender blossoms, oatmeal into a fairly fine ground then added some brown sugar to mix. Took some walnut oil (you can use almond oil or sesame oil), I added 10-15 drops each of lavender and grapefruit essential oil. Mix it up and put in a jar.

Here’s a good link to find other recipes.

I had forgotten about these cute little bottles until she reminded me.

My mom used to get happy on these (oops she’s gonna call me up immediately now!) and my brother & I had these for our “grownup” drink at our reunion dinners when we were younger. I don’t think they let that much less alcohol, the six bottle pack is cute though.

Here’s a little story about their updated look/image.

We took an impromptu trip to Atlanta last night for some Vietnamese beef noodles (Pho) and fresh spring rolls.

After dinner, we stopped by the Asian grocers to look for some wasabi peas and tidbits. It is not everyday that we get to go to the asian grocers and not needing to buy a whole car load of groceries, so it was rather enjoyable.

I found Red tea candy (straight and milk) [left], stocked up on my Meiji fruit drops [right, top], and some sour plum candy (a preserved sour plum buried in a hardened malt candy) [right, bottom].

We also went by Whole F*oods for some chai concentrate, ginger beer and loose sencha (steamed green tea leaves) & peppermint for tea.

If you thought Ghost in the Shell was cool, here’s a very good reason to travel to Japan this April.

We bought some spare ribs to make this dish. It can be stir-fried like in this recipe or steamed like you would find at dim sum in Chinese restaurants.

You can purchase black bean garlic sauce in a jar or you can buy Chinese fermented black beans. I found these in plastic bags at the Asian grocers. You should rinse the beans off before cooking so that it doesn’t make your dish too salty.
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The Statewide Tornado Drill was postponed from Wednesday Feb 25 to today – the drill had been organized for states in the SE as we move into our spring tornado season. Also, lately the water mains in our apartment complex keep getting cut off for maintenance. All that started me thinking about how prepared we were if we had power and water cutoff, so I found a list on a site by the government’s homeland security department.

Are you ready?

Anyone out there seen herb rubber stamps? Like shape of lavender? and without the word “Lavender” on it?

Thanks to Mariko, we’re going to Kookisushi for some cookies that look like sushi soon.

We will be in the Bay Area in the first week of April – anyone else out there with ideas of where we should go? I have a few things on my list but I want to hear it from everyone else. Thanks!!

Mike has been picking up some Singlish (also known as Singaporean English) from eavesdropping on my conversations with my friends back home. I think he catches the little words I use as well. So far, he’s been doing really well with it. Sometimes, he says “lah” without even knowing it.

Lately, I’ve been teaching him Chinese/Mandarin, one word a day. He learns a new word a day — any word he wants translated and of course if I can translate it. So far, he’s been learning how to count to 10, the parts of his body (nose, eyes, ears), the seasons (spring, summer, fall, winter), “I love you” (that one gets him out of trouble a lot), a bat (mammal) and “I’ll let you off”. I think he needs to start picking up more food names so he can order and surprise the “aunties” at the hawker center. I believe it would be good motivation for him to learn more.

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Slightly off-topic, this talented man brings tears to my eyes because through his work, I can see my home.

Mike, Ollie and me in Dec 2002 at my brother’s apartment. We’re going to see Ollie and her brother Ben (of course my brother, sister and parents) in April!