Fundraising Event

This year, one of our good friends, Fay, decided to coordinate a fundraising event to raise money for the Rio Vista Center. We usually have a get together when our friend, Eppie, visits from Hong Kong and she will cook us a great meal. Fay took advantage of this and coordinated a wonderful event featuring Eppie's cooking. Our moms and a few of us also helped and the food was delicious. The menu featured Chinese dishes from different regions of China. There was also a silent auction and a kids activity area, so everyone got to enjoy the evening. We ended up with about 60 people (kids included) and raised about $1100 for the Rio Vista Center. We were able to use the Fellowship Hall of the Foothils Baptist Church and it was a beautiful facility. There was a full size kitchen there and it was fun cooking there. Overall, the event was a great success and we all had a great time.

Snow!

We took the kids sledding at Wing Mountain near Flagstaff along with 2 other families. We all had a great time. The area where most people were sledding had not much snow, but we found a more secluded area and enjoyed some great snow. Ethan enjoyed himself very much this time and went on the sled by himself. He even went up to the highest point with daddy, but he was rather scared and was not too happy after that. I was surprised he went for it! Hayley didn't like sledding as much, she would much rather be pulled around in the sled. Maybe we will head up one more time this year if there is more snow.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! May you all have a wonderful Holdiay Season and a Happy New Year!

Winter Solstice 2011

It was a cold night and it is perfect for hotpot. We had a great meal and enjoyed some 汤圆 (glutinour rice ball dessert). It is also winter solstice which we always celebrated when we were back home. It is supposedly a bigger celebration than Chinese New Year. We should definitely keep this tradition, so our children will know of this day.

Yamaha Clavinova Festival 2011

This year Ethan gets to participate in the Yamaha Clavinova Festival with his music school - East Valley Yamaha Music School. His class performed at Joe's Farm Grill and everyone did great! Ethan did not want to practice that day, so I was a little worried that he may forget what to play, but he surprised me by performing beautifully. I was one proud mommy :-)

New Cookie Recipes

For Ethan's school's annual Christmas Celebration, we are to bring home made cookies and share the recipes. This year, I decided to try some new recipes. One is called Susan's Oaties which I found from The Little Book of Cookies. This recipe does not require any eggs and uses whole wheat flour and oatmeal. It is a crispy cookie recipe and if you like Famous Ames cookies, this one tastes like them. The other recipe is Crackle Top Molasses Cookies which I got from allrecipes.com and it is delicious. It makes the house smell so good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year turned out delicious and less stressed. We enjoyed some great company as well. I was actually sick with a bad cold the previous week and was so glad that I recovered just in time to make my annual Thanksgiving meal. I actually took a day off from work to prepare and it worked out wonderfully and I was all ready before the guests arrived. The turkey turned out beautiful and deliciously moist. All the side dishes came out very tasty. We also added Prime Rib which we got from Costco already marinated. We just had to slow roast it. It was very yummie! I decided to make the meal more presentable with a few serveware for the appertizers and desserts. Next time, I shall work on getting nicer platters. Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!

Lego Numbers

Ethan is back to his lego phase and now that he has built all the cars, trucks, planes from the book, he decided to build numbers. I thought it was pretty neat. He was quietly building them while I was preparing his lunch and it was one of the most quiet moments I've had in a long time. Now let's see what he will get for Christmas :)

Happy Halloween!

School Picture 2011-2012

This year's school picture is here and Ethan is smiling more naturally when compared to last year. He looks so grown up! No more baby face.

No Cavities!

Six months have passed by quickly and it is time for Ethan's teeth cleaning and checkup. He did great during the Xray and the cleaning though he was more wiggly than the last time. Best of all - No Cavities!

Turkey Meatloaf and Zucchini Patties

I tried a couple of new recipes today hoping to get the kids to eat more vegetables - Turkey Veggie Meatloaf Cups and Zucchini Patties. I even had Ethan help me with measuring out a few ingredients when making the zucchini patties. They both turned out delicious except the meatloaf cups needed a little bit of salt. I served them along with some butternut squash soup and peaches/strawberries fruit salsa. Ethan liked the zucchini patties the best and only ate the meatloaf when I gave him some barbecue sauce and ketchup. Hayley didn't care for either the meatloaf nor the patties. She did however like the soup and ate her usual peas and carrots. Oh well, I tried. I would probably try these recipes again.

New Recipe

I've been getting a lot of good recipe ideas from the Sprouts Farmers Market magazine. Today I decided to try the Grilled Ginger Pork with Nectarine Relish. Turned out very tasty even though I overcooked the pork tenderloin a little. The marinade is very easy with just tamari (which I used soy sauce), vegetable oil, grated fresh ginger, minced garlic, pineapple juice and rice vinegar. The nectarine relish is delicious, another easy recipe which I modified to take out the jalapenos and cilantro and just put the green onions and lime juice. Yummo!

Cancun

We took a one week vacation with the whole family in beautiful Cancun. It was a fun-filled and somewhat relaxing week. We stayed at the Westin Lagunamar Ocean Resort in a 2-bedroom lockoff villa which we purchased from a friend. It worked out great with lots of space for all of us. We visited the ancient Chichen Itza ruins (recently named the New Seven Wonders of the World) and learned about the Mayan history. We enjoyed the beach and resort pool. We cooked and also tasted some delicious Yucatecan food at Labna and local seafood at El Fish Fritanga. We also visited Xcaret - Cancun & Riviera Maya's top eco archaeological park for family fun. We took Ethan snorkeling for the first time and he did great even though he didn't like the salty water. We also enjoyed the amazing performances - Xcaret Mexico Espectacular, even the kids liked it very much and clapped and danced with the music. We also became the locals for a few days by taking the bus to downtown to shop and eat. We will definitely return to Cancun someday.

View from our room

Chichen Itza

Hayley at the beach

Ethan lounging at the beach

Daddy and the kids enjoying the pool

Mommy with the kids

Daddy and Ethan enjoying the view of the beach from the pool

Barbecued chicken wings, shrimp, veggies

Lunch at El Fish Fritanga - Seafood Soup and Spicy Chili Fish

Lunch at El Fish Fritanga - Tumbada Rice

Yucatecan Lunch at Labna

Family Picture at Xcaret

Ethan getting ready for snorkeling

Lots of sea turtles

Amazing show - Xcaret Mexico Espectacular

More performances

More performances

Hayley and Gung Gung taking the bus downtown

Public bus ride