Christmas Cookies!

We went to Keanu's house today and made cookies. It was my first time and it was pretty fun.
Here I am hanging out with Jayden

I am doing some quality control of the chocolate covered peanut butter.

Cutting out cookies with Jaylene

Goat Cheese

My mom made a pasta dinner and offered me some goat cheese as an appetizer. This was my first time eating goat cheese and I actually liked it.

Yakitori

We went out to have Japanese BBQ the other night with Jaylene and Jayden and their parents. It was yummy! My parents decided to try the BBQ intestines. Though slightly disgusting, it was surprisingly good, they said.
This is our equivalent of backyard BBQs now.

Hmmmm, grilled intestines...

Dr. Anja!

Here is a cute picture of Dr. Anja

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is our second Thanksgiving in Taiwan. It's hard to believe we've been here for a year already and yet there is still so much more to explore! This year we went to the Far Eastern Hotel for our turkey dinner. It was really yummy. Along with turkey and sweet potatoes, we also had sushi, Indian curry, roast beef, Thai papaya salad, Chinese hand-made noodles with various sauces, pumpkin pie, ice cream, and tiramisu. I think we'll be going back again next year. We went with my aunt and uncle and cousin, Baby Ryan. He fell asleep most of the evening so I couldn't play with him. I liked the turkey but I especially liked the California rolls. When my mom asked me after the dinner what I had for Thanksgiving, I said, "Sushi!"

Welcome to Thanksgiving in Taipei: turkey with gravy, brussel sprouts with bacon, roasted pumpkin, mashed sweet potato with marshmallows, and sashimi tuna.

I have been into repeating things I hear lately. This morning my mom was complaining to my dad about something that broke right away. I went up to examine the thing my mom was looking at and repeated her words, "Man, this thing is shite!" My dad then told my mom she would have to watch what she says from now on.

More outdoor adventures!

It was yet another sunny Autumn day so we decided to go out again. This time we went to the Shilin Official Residence, which was having a big flower display. This used to be where Chiang Kai Shek lived. Some say he was a dictator when he came to rule Taiwan. It really depends on the history book you read. We took some nice pictures by the flower displays.

I am posing next to a topiary cow

It was impossible to have all the kids look at the camera at the same time


Trying unsuccessfully for a family photo

These strangers wanted to take pictures with me and even made me pose in strange ways. You can tell I was just thrilled. My mom tried to charge them but they just laughed!

Chinese zodiac displays

My famous crinkly nose smile

Again, trying to get all the kids to look at the camera at the same time

Bamboo Lake

It was a beautiful Fall morning. The sun was high and the air was crisp. We all woke up early and thought we needed to get out and enjoy the sun. So we packed up and went up to Yangmingshan, the largest national park in Taipei. We randomly chose to go to Bamboo Lake, since that was the last stop on the bus that went up the mountain to the park My parents thought there would be a nice view from up there. The bus was jammed full of people who all had the same idea to go out into the great outdoors. We crashed into each other as the bus made quick turns through the windy road, dodging oncoming traffic, up the Yangming mountain. On the way, we passed through sulfurous rocks with steam coming out of them, countless hot spring resorts, terraced farm land, and best of all, nice views of Taipei 101, the tallest building in the world, whenever the trees cleared.

We got to the top and my mom asked someone where Bamboo Lake was. We were surprised to find out that Bamboo Lake was not a lake but the name of the area that used to be a lake hundreds or thousands of years ago. So, to deal with our disappointment, we decided to have lunch. We found a nice place with terraced dining overlooking a flower garden. The food was also good. The restaurants in the area feature free range chickens and wild mountain vegetables. After lunch we walked around the area which was full of calla lilly fields. This was a very nice way to spend a sunny Autumn Saturday.

The view from our table

The food was yummy!

The scenery



I got carried like a princess during the short hike



We took the bus down the mountain but didn't feel like going home so we went to our favorite coffee shop near Guandu station. We had a coffee, a lychee beer, and orange juice. Oh, and a pound cake with rose petals. Yummy!


When the cake came, I decided to sing Happy Birthday to myself

It has been a busy week! Last week my dad went to Japan on business so my Ahma came and stayed with us for a few days. She cooked everyday so my mom could have a break. On Tuesday night, my uncle Kenny and aunt Alice came over with baby Jay. He is now 3 months old and looks like a little Buddha like my cousin baby Ryan. Jay pretty much slept through the entire dinner. My mom said she remembers those days when I was little like Baby Jay. I hope he grows up soon so we can play together. He didn't respond to me much when I talked to him.

Today we went to swimming class again. I got to go under the water twice today so my mom told me she was very proud of me. After swimming, we went to my aunt's house and played with Baby Ryan. There were lots of aunties and uncles there and Ryan and I got to entertain everyone.

We came home this evening and found out they were playing a children's movie in our movie theater in the activities center so we went. It was a movie from China called The Magic Gourd. It was my first time in a movie theater and my first time staying (sort of) in one place through an entire movie! I had so much fun, I didn't want to leave even after the movie was over.

After the fundraiser, we went to my friend Jaylene's birthday party. She is now 7 years old! We sang happy birthday and decorated cupcakes.



After that my parents went on a date and left me home with our upstairs neighbor, Eva. She was a lot of fun to play with. So much fun that I ended up staying up until close to 11 pm, when my parents came back from their movie! What was even better was that I still got up at 6 am the next morning. I sure am excited by life, which is why I hate to sleep and miss it all.

After the Beef Noodle Festival, we walked through the Sun Yat Sun Memorial Hall and there was another event happening there. It was a fundraiser for orphans. We bought some ice cream and ate it right away--because it was for a good cause! The fun thing about Taipei is there is always something happening.

Aboriginal singer at the fundraiser


Clowns are still scary no matter what nationality they are


In front of the Sun Yat Sun Memorial Hall with me fast asleep in the stroller

Beef Noodles

On Saturday, we went to the International Beef Noodle Festival. This is a Taipei specialty. There were sample bowls of beef noodle soup for us to try. We got to taste different styles of beef noodles and we watched mayors and county executives face off in a beef noodle cooking competition. People take beef noodles seriously here.

Taipei mayor making his beef noodles


My dad with a bowl of award-winning tomato beef noodles


Two different styles of beef noodles. The one on the right had Chinese medicine in the broth, their secret ingredient.


Even Superman wants to get in on the competition


This guy is delicately scorching thinly sliced beef with a kitchen torch for their take on beef noodles


Beef noodles--stir fried


Award-winning presentation: Beef noodles presented in a martini glass


How about some purple mochi rice in a Faberge egg?


This beef noodle place won the creative award last year. It had chewy udon noodles with very thinly sliced beef topped with kimchi and seaweed. All this soaked in a very light and cold soy beef broth. This was our favorite and best of all, the restaurant is really close to our house.



There was a long line for this place. They had hand-shaven noodles.


This was a typical bowl of beef noodle soup. Our least favorite.


It was a lot of fun to try out all these different styles of beef noodles. We will definitely go again next year!

I came home on Friday night with another bite mark on my arm. I got bit at school by the same friend who bit me last week. At least this time it was not because I pushed her. We both wanted the same seat and when she couldn't push me off, she bit me.

New photo album

Here are photos from the month of October.

On Sunday, we went swimming again. I went underwater for the first (and only) time and I am now kicking really fast!

We then met up with Anita, a Canadian we met at the Peace Fest. We had lunch at a restaurant called Lohas Kitchen. They had great omelets, breakfast burritos, and burgers. We even had milk shakes!

On Friday night, we went to see a drumming performance at the Hu Wei Cannon Fort. It was really good. I especially enjoyed dancing to the beat. Too bad we didn't have a camera because there would have been some cute pictures of me dancing with my friend Jayden.

On Saturday, I made a big mess in the living room.

Happy Halloween!

I spent Halloween (Friday) at my Ahma's house with my mom and my dad. We went out to a vegetarian restaurant and had hot pot. What was special about the hotpot at this restaurant was they used milk as the soup base for the broth. It was really good.

On Saturday, my parents went home and got to go on a date while I spent the day with my Ahma. She took me to an animal hospital to visit some of the rescued kittens and puppies. My Ahma is constantly taking animals from the parks to this veterinarian. Then we went shopping and tried on shoes and pretty hair clips.

On Sunday, my dad came to pick me up and took me to swim class. I can now swim using a float by myself!

Today is Monday. After my fun weekend, it was hard to go back to school. I kept telling my mom that I miss my Ahma. Thankfully, Ahma will be coming for a visit this week.