Snow…or Not

This winter has been a weird one. Weird in that it hasn’t actually been winter. We got snow once and other than that, it has been ridiculously warm, like 60-70 degree highs in January which is supposed to be the coldest month around here. Last Sunday I had to seriously consider whether to wear boots or sandals to church. It was kind of ridiculous. Today, we got a skiff of snow, just enough to coat the grass but not stick to the pavement. It was actually quite disappointing. 

On the other hand, our Loganites finally got to experience a full-fledged winter. And by that, I mean 10 inches of snow in 6 hours, the university shut down, tow trucks stuck in the snow, shuttles sliding off the road, etc. Daniel hunkered down at home to do homework and paid work, having gotten the necessary access and permissions to work at home, but after only an hour, the power went out which effectively ended his internet-based job availability. Tawni, who works for a plant nursery, was slogging through the snow, gathering employees into the greenhouses, and sending folks home early once the snowfall slowed enough to make driving a bit safer. Nathan took full advantage of an afternoon with no classes and no work by putting on all his snow gear and making a snow angel. Technically he said he was going to shovel the walk, but honestly, I think he was just looking for an excuse to go play in the snow. And I’m so very glad that he still has a bit of that childlike glee that comes with the snow! 

Ahh, the magic of snow. Perhaps I’ll experience that again someday, but I suspect it won’t be this season.

New Year, New Food

Last week Sunday, we had our annual Chinese New Year dinner at my parents’ house. Daniel, Tawni, and Nathan came down from Logan with Jacob, Rachael’s Utah State college kid, in tow. They don’t come down just for Sunday dinner very often, but this is the one that none of them want to miss! We had some traditional and delightful foods on hand such as char siu bao, wontons, rice, broccoli beef, chow fun noodles, etc. And of course, we had gau. My mom has been struggling more and more as the Parkinson’s progresses, and this time around, she let the rest of us carry most of the load where food prep was concerned. As such, Rachael made gau for the first time ever. Gau is pretty easy overall, but there was a bit of a learning curve. For some reason, the gau was even stickier than usual and because she forgot to oil the banana leaves in the pan before pouring the batter in, peeling the leaves away was a monumental task. There was much laughter as we worked together to slice off chunks of gau and peel away the leaves so the confection could be consumed. I had to wash my hands long and hard twice before they didn’t feel sticky anymore. LAUGHING WITH TEARS SMILY

Tawni reminded us that it was exactly a year ago when she met the extended family for the first time. This past year seems to have gone by so very quickly but at the same time, having Tawni around feels totally normal, not new at all. She loves to cook, and that desire to create delightful meals has extended to include all these Chinese dishes that I grew up eating. I’ve mentioned before that my boys are embracing their food heritage and learning how to make all these things and having Tawni jump on the band wagon adds another person who can pass these traditions and skills on to the next generation. In fact, the kids planned to create a Chinese New Year dinner of their very own on the actual day and my mom sent Tawni home with pork hash, wonton wrappers, and who even knows what else to facilitate that plan!

As for me, I’ve also been learning how to make some new foods. Last week I made several small batches of gau. One small batch was steamed because honestly, the bit I had of Rachael’s was just not enough. It is one of those once in a while kind of desserts that I just love but only eat about once a year. The remaining small batches were experimental microwave cooked batches. I was preparing a box to send to Matthew, a themed assortment focusing on his birthday and Chinese New Year and wanted to be able to send him the needed ingredients and instructions to make gau. While I have seen several sets of instructions for cooking gau in the microwave, it was not something I had tried. And as Matthew would be making only a small amount rather than a full sized gau, the cook times would obviously need to be adjusted. Hence the experimentation.

My first attempt was a total failure. You can’t judge whether or not gau is done with a simple toothpick test like you can with cake. No matter how long you cook it, it is always super sticky when warm. You can let it cool completely and then check texture but even then, it can be remarkably viscous. Last year I made the gau, let it cool, popped it out of the pan the day afterwards and then steamed it some more because it was not fully cooked. But this time I was not so good at waiting hours and hours for it to cool, so I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants. The end result was that I cooked it far too long and once it cooled a bit, it was completely hard. And by hard, I mean it would not come out of the pan and had absolutely no give at all, not even the rubberized feel of super dense gau. It was literally a rock of rice flour and sugar welded to the Pyrex dish I cooked it in. It took two days of soaking in the sink, with me scraping off layers of gau as the water softened them, before the dish was clean. It was a serious fail. But with that knowledge in my arsenal, my next attempt was much closer to what I wanted it to be, and the third one yielded the desired results. 

Today is the actual lunar new year and my creations, while less varied than last week’s dinner, were delightful. I have made char siu bao many times and so that was an easy one. I also made homemade potstickers, which are not all that tricky. But my proud moment dish was jin dui, Chinese sesame balls, or as my mom describes them, Chinese doughnuts. This was the very first time I have attempted to make them, so I spent some time online searching for tips for success, you know those little things that people intuitively do when they have long years of experience but never write down as part of the recipe. And my attempt was not half bad. They puffed up like they were supposed to and came out nicely rounded and crispy. I was pretty proud of myself! Having said that, there was definitely a learning curve. I used my great Aunty Simmy’s recipe as a guide, and her filling was a combination of coconut, peanuts (although I used almonds instead so there would be no fatalities in my house this evening), and a bit of sugar. It was a loose filling rather than the more common paste fillings and it was exceedingly difficult to get it inside the balls of dough. I was only able to put just a tiny bit in and still get the dough to stay nicely sealed without cracking. And the dough itself was far too wet. It was more of a batter than a dough and I ended up needing to add a lot of additional rice flour to make it workable. But even with those challenges, I feel like the end result was pretty good. I will decrease the amount of water quite a bit next time and I will be looking for another filling recipe. The coconut filled ones you can get in Hawaii are my favorite ones, so I want to find a recipe for a coconut paste of some sort that I can roll into a ball. That and a drier dough should make shaping them much easier. I know I will be trying again at some point, and hopefully the results will be even better.

So, this evening’s repast was largely a success. While Kevin and Malia were not all that enthused about the jin dui, the bao and potstickers were enjoyed all around. And I have tucked a few jin dui into a bag to send to my mom. She really likes them and I don’t need to eat an entire recipe by myself! 

As for my college kiddos and their Chinese food offerings, Daniel called me to ask how hot the oil should be to fry wontons. I was totally channeling my mom or something because the first thing that popped out of my mouth was, “Hot enough.” FACE PALM EMOJI You know how your sixteen-year-old self vehemently declares that you will definitely not grow up to be like your parents? Yeah, it would seem that I have severely disappointed my inner teenager in some ways. LAUGHING WITH TEARS EMOJI But, I did thereafter give a more helpful response and the wontons cooked up beautifully. Daniel shared a comment made by Tawni’s sister Charlotte: “I can still squeeze behind Tawni’s chair, therefore I can eat another wonton.” I guess that means they tasted just as good as they looked!

The End of an Era

For the past few years, we have traveled to Logan on Valentine’s Day weekend to attend Daniel’s jazz band performance at Elite Hall. This is the one that is first and foremost a community dance. It has been fun to hear the music and watch all the couples, who range in age from teenagers to elderly, dance with their sweethearts in traditional ballroom styles of dancing rather than the free-for-all-move-however-you-want kind of dancing that has been the style for decades now. There are elderly couples that we see every year, and honestly, I think it is so sweet that they still take the time to keep up their dancing skills in a society that doesn’t seem to value such pastimes much anymore. But for them, it is obviously an important and treasured part of their life stories. 

Anyway, as today is Valentine’s Day, last night found us in Logan once again. We took all the kids to dinner before scattering to our various locations. Daniel headed straight to the dance, Nathan headed to the university as he was interpreting for a theater department production of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” and the rest of us headed to Daniel and Tawni’s apartment so she could take a quick shower before driving out to hear Daniel play. She came to dinner straight from work, and as her job necessarily involves a lot of dirt and hard work, she really wanted to freshen up a bit. Once she felt a bit more put together, we headed over to the dance. 

Daniel graduates this spring, so this was his last Elite Hall performance. And while he is so incredibly ready to be done with school, I think that he is really going to miss the jazz band portion of his educational journey. The music is a huge part of his life and one of his happy places, so as he sees the end coming, things are bittersweet. I hope that wherever he and Tawni end up, he can find somewhere to play. Playing alone at home is all good and fine, but it can’t really compare to the joy that comes from being a part of a group that works together to create something amazing. And the opportunity to perform for an audience comes with an adrenaline rush beyond compare. So, while I know Daniel will be stepping farther into the world that is adulthood, I hope that somewhere along the way he can find a way to continue to create the music he loves so much. 

Music=Joy

James Thorup, a local musician and one of Matthew’s favorite artists, had a concert this evening. Malia, who is becoming more aware of the local musical scene, found out about the concert about a month ago and when she mentioned it to Matthew in an email, he told her she absolutely had to go! She already wanted to go, and having the support of her big brother reinforced that desire. Tickets were only $15, so this evening Kevin drove Malia and her friend Ellie to the concert. (As a random side note, the concert was held at the high school I attended and was a benefit concert to raise funds to refurbish the auditorium.)

Malia and Ellie ended up sitting right behind James Thorup (he was not the only one performing this evening) and when she worked up enough courage, she talked to him. She mentioned that her brother is a big fan and when asked, she shared Matthew’s name. And James Thorup totally knew who she was talking about! Apparently, his fanbase is small enough that he knows who follows him on social media and such. So that was a pretty cool thing!

The girls were also pleased to discover that Ben Taylor, another local artist, was on the program. Malia has met him on two previous occasions, at the big concert held during her FSY session last June and again at the youth music festival held in our city last August. So of course, she had to go talk to him again. She was tickled to discover that he recognized her! He couldn’t remember her name, but he remembered her face. And in her words, “3rd times the charm!”

It has been fun to watch as Malia’s musical interests grow and expand. Like all our kids, she was exposed to a somewhat dizzying variety of music throughout her formative years, and now she is adding and refining and discovering just what kind of music brings her the most joy. And as her preferences overlap with Matthew’s in some places, it provides her with a way to connect with her older brother. And that is a good thing.

There is Something Immensely Satisfying About Having a Hibiscus Blooming in My Window When It Is Snowy Outside

And yes. We finally got some snow. It was 60 degrees on Christmas and when it started snowing last week, Nathan told me that it kind of made him want to do a Christmas do over. 😂

To Each Their Own

Today Nathan picked up the ceramics from the kids’ recent Color Me Mine trip. It is always fun to see the finished pieces the way the artist imagined them. And I’ve never had one come back and been disappointed. I don’t think my kids have either. There is just something about having the dull colors come out vivid and the matte turned to shine that leads to excitement about the result. Plus, the anticipation that comes with waiting for a week or two ramps up that pleasure when the finished results are finally seen.

I think the most interesting thing about this particular set of projects is that Daniel painted a stack of frogs, the same one that Malia selected on a trip a few years ago. Malia’s frogs are painted in a variety of greens. But Daniel went the poisonous tree frog route and made them a kaleidoscope of color. Each of them interpreted the art in their own way and both reflect their owners very well. Malia’s favorite color is green, and everything is better in green. She might do something more diverse now, but then again, maybe not. Because green. And Daniel is a hard-core painter of 3D printed fantasy miniatures and model airplanes in a variety of sizes and has a great eye for detail. He has spent years honing his painting skills. So ombre vs. multicolored. Both options are fun.

And as a random comment, the fancy speckled paints do in fact look super great!

Duck Update

Malia still has seven ducks that need finding. I found one this afternoon when I went downstairs to get a can of corn, so we sent her down after school to get a can of corn. But she missed the duck because she grabbed a can from the front of the case rather than the back, so we sent her down again. And then we sent her back again because we really didn’t need that extra can of corn. 😂

I suspect the remaining ducks will be found at other unexpected moments. And it might take a long time since Tawni doesn’t remember where she hid them all and we have only found one in the past week which means they are pretty well hidden. So, I guess this is one of those gifts that keeps on giving? 😜

I Still Love Frog and Toad

You may recall that over the past year, Nathan has had the opportunity to interpret for several stage productions. First, Elephant and Piggie, a children’s show based on a popular children’s book series. Then a high school level production of Les Miserable, also based on a book. Nathan has absolutely loved these opportunities as they are a blend of several things he loves-ASL and theater. Although we have seen videos and pictures of Nathan in this type of work, we had not seen him in action in person. So, when he told us that he would be interpreting for “A Year with Frog and Toad,” another children’s production based on another book series, we took the opportunity to drive up to Logan to see him. 

While the Elephant and Piggie books are fairly new in the sense that they were published when my kids were young, the Frog and Toad books were published when I was young. In fact, they are a book series that we owned, and I read them over and over. They were some of my childhood favorites. Some years ago, someone wrote a musical based on the characters from the Frog and Toad book series. The boys and I saw a production of the show many years back when my sister Patti was in a community theater production, and it was loads of fun. We bought the soundtrack and it is one they listened to a lot for a while and that I revisit from time to time. In fact, the “Cookies” song pops up in my head on a fairly regular basis. I mean, I do love cookies and it is a super catchy number. So, in addition to getting to see Nathan interpret, we had the chance to see a fun show!

Kevin, Malia and I drove up and picked up Nathan, and then Daniel and Tawni joined us for lunch and the show. There weren’t any Deaf youngsters at this performance, which is a shame, but Nathan worked and got paid regardless. And he is likely going to be interpreting for more shows over the coming months. The Utah Festival Opera is highly interested in continuing to provide opportunities to make theater accessible for the Deaf. And they have been so pleased with Nathan’s work. He is, of course, tickled pink that they want him to keep coming back.

Nathan was just full of enthusiasm and joy as he worked, and it was so fun to see that! He let his liaison at the theater know we were family, and they even gave us permission to take pictures of him, something that is generally a big no-no in the world of live theater. So, family time, theater time, ASL time…it was a great way to spend a day. Add to that revisiting a childhood favorite, and it’s a win all around. And now I’m not the only one who has the “Cookies” song stuck in my head. 😉

I’ll end with one funny anecdote from the show. At one point, one of the shrink-wrapped cookies they were using as props fell out of a pocket, rolled across the stage, and bopped Nathan right in the back of the head. The entire audience could see that cookie rolling, but Nathan had no idea why suddenly, all eyes were on him. Of course, it was only a matter of time before he felt that cookie tap his noggin, and even then, he didn’t know what it was until he had a chance to glance down at the floor and spotted the offending dessert. All the kids in the audience thought it was hilarious!