What's for dinner?

Three things I love about this picture:

1. Broccoli tastes better if it is growing in sweet potatoes.
2. Little sisters sit better at the dinner table if they can share a chair with someone else.
3. There are no "victory/peace" fingers next to the big brother's face!
   

Mini Muffins on Monday Morning

Having Monday mornings off, Kate and I get to spend a bit of extra Mommy-daughter time.

Last week we made birthday brownies and this week we made muffins. While looking for the mixing bowl, I came across some mini silicone baking cups that I'd picked up at the Japanese dollar store a while back. We decided to try them out and had pretty good luck. We each took a measuring spoon to ladel the batter into the mini cups and had a great time getting sticky. --Sorry no photos as we were too sticky to grab a camera of this process -- We made 5 circles and 7 hearts. Then we used the leftover batter to make regular-sized ones. The kids both love the mini ones since they're about 2 or 3 kid-sized bites. Aren't they cute?
As I was wiping off the counter, Kate grabbed the camera to take a picture of her new Dora shoes, too. I guess she wanted you to see how cute they are, too.

Goo My Goot

This post got me thinking about how my German has been pretty much covered with Chinese. Whenever I try to think of something I used to know in German, all I can think of is the Chinese equivalent.

Well, tonight at dinner, I remembered an important phrase for eating: schmeck goot. (I'm sure I didn't spell that right, but I think maybe any foreign language is like Chinese - it doesn't matter how it's spelled). So I dunked the garlic bread into my spaghetti sauce and pronounced it "Ahhh, schmeck goot!" and got uproarious giggles from both kids. After a couple more bites of the schmeck goot sauce, I asked Keanu, who usually eats plain noodles without any sauce, if he wanted some schmeck goot, too.

"OK," as he also dipped some garlic bread into the sauce and declared it "goo my goot!" His sister giggled happily from across the table, which only produced more "goo my goot!" and more spaghetti sauce down the hatch!

Maybe I'll have to come up with other phrases in other languages to get him to broaden his food repertoire. Got any good ones?

Sundays this month

We started a new weekly tradition this month - swimming!

We've spent the past three Sunday afternoons at one of two hot spring swimming pools. We like the outdoor one best because there are some fun slides for Keanu to play on and the water's nice and warm. The best part - it's relatively quiet as there have only been a handful of other patrons until the Korean tour bus arrived. Even Kate got to partake in the water fun one afternoon!

The afternoon of swimming has then been followed by dinner at one of two steakhouses that serve 12-42 oz. steaks as well as great burgers, also along the North coast. Our favorite is the Longhorn, but maybe that's because of the atmosphere: a jail and a slide outside for the kiddos to play on after eating!

Today, however, we broke with tradition and were content to mostly stay home. We left the house only to go to Chili's for dinner. Keanu had eaten a big snack after waking up from his nap, so he wasn't too hungry at dinner time. He didn't touch the fries or eggroll I tried to give him, but he sure perked up when the "little trees" arrived. He ate the entire portion of broccoli off my plate and didn't touch the fries. What a smart little guy!

Prince and the Pea

You all know the story of the princess who could feel the pea under the thirteen mattresses, but do you know the story of the prince who would spit them out?

Once upon a time this evening, Keanu's mom decided to broaden his rather dull, white palate consisting mostly of rice, pasta, cheese, milk, and fruit. She decided to make a Pea Salad (pretty basic with pasta, peas, tuna, and mayo). Knowing the little prince doesn't like mayo, she gave him a portion before mixing in the salad dressing. He willingly ate the pasta noodles out, but if there were any peas or tiny bits of tuna sticking to it, they would come right back out.

Moral of the story: our prince has a tongue as picky as a princess.

Moms (and dads), what do you do to get your kids to eat more than just a few items?

The rain is gone...

It rained all day Saturday, all day Sunday, and most of Monday. Then yesterday, the sun shone!
Keanu and I decided to go with Kevin to his tennis class in the evening. We ate at McDonald's while he taught. Keanu always gets the same McDonald's kid's meal: piece of chicken, side dish of corn (with a few raisins!) and a carton of milk. Ususally he just eats the corn and drinks the milk. This time, however, he must have been pretty hungry since he ate all of his corn (his favorite), all but about 2 bites of his chicken thigh, and then he proceeded to have most of my pint of corn chowder (this might just be a Taiwanese McD's side dish, but it sure beats FF's!). He loves the soup and makes a royal mess eating it - let's just say I was glad to have a whole package of baby wipes along.

Kevin finished his hour long lesson and was wondering what was taking us so long. I guess that's what happens when a little boy who usually survives off rice/bread, milk, and fruit finally gets something else that he likes! (Don't worry, we try to feed him a well-balance variety, but he perfers the carbs - no Atkin's diet for him!)

Trust

Taipei is a much safer city than most American metropolitian areas. Keanu and I had dinner at McDonald's this evening while Kevin taught across the street and we made some interesting observations. Part way through our meal, a middle aged, professional-dressed Western man came in and put his bag at the table beside us to 'save' the table while he went to order his meal. OK, fine. Perhaps there wasn't anything valuable in the bag, but then less than ten minutes later, another couple arrived at another nearby table. They arrived with their infant daughter and when the husband saw the little table he asked his wife if there wasn't a bigger table elsewhere, like on the other side of the kitchen. All three went to check, but left the tray of food and wallet sitting on the table. I guess I should be happy they didn't leave the baby! In both of these situations, nothing disappeared, but I don't suppose they'd be so lucky if this were, say... Minneapolis.

I feel completely safe as a female in Taipei and I guess it would be nice if the rest of the world were as safe.

Not only is the city safe, but it's also friendly. As we sat eating our meal, Keanu waved hello and goodbye to everyone who either came or left our section of the restaurant. I don't think most people noticed this friendly gesture, but isn't it nice to know that someone cares enough to acknowledge your coming and going?