Chinese Thanksgiving

 

Okay, this isn't really Chinese Thanksgiving, but we used to always celebrate my uncles birthday (November 11) by making gow-doos, a traditional chinese dumpling so the two holidays became linked in my mind. I think gow-doos might be traditional, but I've never seen anything much like it at any asian restaurant, store or cookbook. (It took me years to discover that my mom's "traditional" coconut bao were filled with a variation of German Chocolate cake filling that my Aunt Phyllis showed her once, so the gow-doo might possibly be an entirely made-up Lee family delectable.)

This process of squishing dough into rounds and making each gow-doo by hand is a mainstay of many Lee family gatherings. Traditionally, the youngest child is in charge of the dough squishing. In this case, it's young Nora who's very ably taken this on. 

Sister-in-law Carol and her daughter (my niece and Nora's mom) help fill, along with my mom, the family matriarch and keeper of the gow-doo secrets (despite pleadings, she seems unable to actually make the savory filling in front of anyone, preferring to do her chopping and cooking of mystery ingredients in unlikely early morning hours (4am)).

Later on, dozens of these little dumplings will be consumed, seasoned with soy sauce and washed down with hot tea.

Good times!

Lee Family Thanksgiving

Typically, the family spends Thanksgiving with the extended Lee clan. This year, the family was almost complete, was you can see in this video clip.

This extended tracking shot required many takes, as you can imagine, to simulate Lee clan life so realistically.

Careful! Your face will freeze that way!

Taffy pull

To celebrate the first apartment in college in which I lived on my very own, I threw a housewarming party. I designed the invitations (printed on my state-of-the-art dot matrix printer) and planned the refreshments and party activities.

Always the party planner, I wanted to go beyond the typical tipsy gathering that characterized college social life.

In retrospect, combining frozen daiquiris with a taffy pull might not have been one of my more brilliant ideas...

Last week, I pulled out that same recipe (from ever-reliable Betty Crocker) and shared the fun with the boys. 

Clearly this illustrates that the same activity in different settings can have wildly different results (Making taffy with little boys = fun for all, very rewarding. Making taffy with drunken college kids = kind of a mess).

Good times.

Kitty drinking fountain

Earlier this year, after years of Tad caring for it, I became, via a shift in our chore roster, the primary care giver of our acquarium.

Since my takeover of our little underwater biosphere, I've added multiple water plants, a snazzy little "moss ball" (like a green tribble), a cute little tiger-striped eel thingie, some shrimp and a frog to our population of mostly guppies and a flock of impossible-to-kill zebra tetras.

I've really enjoyed being the god in this tiny aquatic world.

I found it odd how often I had to replace the water in our aquarium, but chalked it up to evaporation, until I caught Joey, lapping up water from the little waterfall in the back, fountained up by the filter.

It actually makes a very convenient kitty drinking fountain for him.

It's about love

There are many who may disagree with the assertion that "it's about love," but I don't. Personally, when I see two people in a loving, committed relationship, I do not feel my own marriage threatened in any way. 

Keith Olbermann's statement that there's little enough love in this world already, so why would we take the time and effort to quash out love that doesn't meet our own narrow guidelines really has resonated with me.

I am very aware that it was not so long ago that my marriage to my husband would have been illegal in some states.

Behold.... Lockman!

Beware evildoers of Portland, Oregon... a new superhero takes to the stage to root out crime and protect the innocent.

Yes. It's Lockman!

As mild-mannered Colin Craig explains, Lockman has locks. You may see a few a few tucked into the waistband of what may appear to be simply a pair of Fruit-of-the-Loom underwear.

When pressed for details about Lockman's particular superpowers, Colin becomes a bit evasive. "He has locks," he explains.

Ethan immediately signed up to be the trusty sidekick, Lockboy, but only minutes later, Lockboy decided upon taking on the persona of Chinese Yo-Yo Guy.