Bryan's Baek-il (100 days birthday)

I've been so busy, it's hard to make posts nowadays! These are pictures from Bryan's 100 day birthday, Setember 16th. It is a Korean tradition. They celebrate baby's 100th day because in the old days infant death was so common. Making it to 100 days meant that the baby will probably live a healthy life.

Cupcake cake.

My mother-in-law and her sister made way too much food! Fish, bulgogi, japchae noodles, gyoza, and of course kimchi.

"gimme that camera!"

"hey babe, what's shakin?"

must eat rattle!

Grandma Linda!

"Yay! Party!"

Grandpa Mike giving bunny ears

"OMGCupcakes!"

Vegetable Eggroll Recipe

I've had a lot of requests for my veggie eggroll recipe, so here it is!

Ingredients (makes about 20 eggrolls):

1 package Eggroll wrappers (about 20 wraps)
2 cups Canned bamboo shoots, julienned (about two of the short cans)
2 cups Mung bean sprouts
1 bunch Green onion
2 TBS Garlic, minched
2 Eggs
2 1/2 tsp Soy sauce
2 TBS Vegetable oil
1 TBS Flour
A little water
Oil for deep frying

1. Prepare vegetables
Drain and julienne the bamboo shoots if they don't come julienned in the can. Rinse the bamboo shoots in a strainer.
Chop the green part of the green onion into 1/2 in. to 1 in. pieces, and chop the thicker white parts finely.

2. Saute
Heat 2 TBS of oil in a skillet or wok on low heat. Add 2 TBS of garlic and saute for 30 seconds.

Add vegetables and cook, stirring, until tender, 2-5 minutes.

Add eggs and cook, stirring until egg is cooked and grainy.
Add soy sauce and stir until evenly incorporated. Turn off heat and let cool to room temperature.
3. Set up
While the filling mixture cools, set up your eggroll wrapping station and frying station. I wrap the eggrolls on a cutting board and then move the wrapped rolls to a piece of tin foil or wax paper. Get your oil ready and lay out a dish with paper towels to absorb the oil (I use a cookie sheet). In a small bowl mix your flour with 2 TBS of water to make a paste.

4. Wrap
There are two ways to wrap it, this is the most common way.
Lay out one sheet of eggroll wrap and mound a small amount of cooled filling a little lower than the center. Apply the flour-paste to the top corner-edges.
Fold up the bottom.
Fold in the sides. Notice the top tapers a little.
Start rolling.
The flour-paste glues it shut.
All wrapped up!
The second method of rolling eggrolls is to cut the eggroll wrappers in half and use less filling (like mini eggrolls!). This makes a crunchier treat and I like it better. I didn't do this method so I don't have pictures.. You wrap a triangle piece of eggroll wrapper rather than a square: place a small amount of filling (about a tablespoon?) near the bottom edge of the triangle (the longest edge), fold in the outside corners and roll up. The wrapping is thinner so it has more crunch. If you use the full square of the wrapper, like the method described above, the result is a slightly chewier eggroll, but still crunchy and delicious.

5. Fry
Heat about 2 inches of oil to 360-370 degrees. The outside with start to blister and turn white right away. Try to turn the eggrolls as soon as you put it in the oil so that the sudden heat doesn't cause an air bubble to form inside. If an air bubble forms it gets harder to turn and fry the other side later on.
Golden crispy. It tastes better it it is dark golden, but not quiet burnt.
Cool on paper towels to absorb oil.
If making ahead of time, keep them uncovered until cooled to room temperature before wrapping up or covering. If covered when hot they will become soggy. When ready, put them in a cookie sheet and heat in the oven until hot. Check them often and flip over once.
Serve with soy sauce or sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Bryan's Futon

Today Bryan received a futon from his great-uncle in Korea. It's very cute, but unfortunately Bryan sleeps in a crib, not on the floor like like how Korean/Japanese futon are meant to be used. The blanket and pad are very thick, thicker than Western-style blankets.

When I was shopping for baby supplies with my mother-in-law I couldn't understand why she kept complaining that Babies-R-Us didn't sell baby blankets, even though I pointed out to her that we had several blankets in the shopping cart. "Those aren't baby blankets!" she said. The tags clearly say "Baby Blanket" on them... Now I understand that she meant "futon" not "blanket".

There is a neck-roll pillow (much too big for him) and a very flat pillow filled with tiny yellow rice.

It's all wrinkly. Blurry pic, but gives you an idea of the size. Maybe when he's ready for his crib to be converted into a toddler bed he can use this.

Kicking off the covers! Matrix is checking it out too. Maybe Matrix is thinking he wants it for his new cat bed! He also got two outfits from Korea. They are very cutesy, and he won't fit into them until he is one years old.

Saturday we all went to a friend's place for a party. I made eggrolls and we had some good food. Bryan was well behaved and ended up falling asleep. He slept almost 11 hours that night! I even got to go swimming in their swimming pool. I haven't been swimming in forever.

A funny picture I took of Bryan eyeballing my ice cream! It's a Cookie-Dipper Drumstick, I'm obsessed with them! He was watching it like this the whole time I ate it.
Bryan's coordination is getting better. We got him a play mat and he's learning to bat at the danglies. I think he is right handed. He likes the monkey in the middle, which is actually something we bought seperately to hang on the car seat, but it swings too low and bops him in the face so we attached it here. Bryan can recognize smiling faces on stuffed animals now, so when I tilt it face-to-face with him he smiles back at the monkey.

Bryan is growing so fast!

Bryan is two months old now, and full of smiles! He's learning new sounds and likes to coo all the time. He giggles, but it is mostly breathy noises. Lately he's occasionally added vocal sounds to his giggles, and even a squeal or two!

Matrix has been really good with Bryan.

Smiles!

Earlier this week Bryan met his great grandmother. She was afraid to hold him at first, but she loved meeting him.

My boys, sleeping on the couch!

In an earlier post I put up a video of him snoring, but this video he is snoring louder!


Yesterday Bryan and I went to my sister's house.
Bryan and his cousins, Atlantis and Dakota. They love hanging out together.

Around dinner time Bryan was being fussy. Laying in this position in Auntie's arms put him to sleep!
My sister, Bryan and my nephew Noah.
We later went for a 2 mile walk with the stroller. Bryan was still asleep from being held, but it was nice to enjoy the cool night air.

My hubby isn't too keen on taking pictures, so I get so few pictures of me with Bryan! I made him take this picture today :-)

Pierce County Fair 2010

This weekend in my home town is the Pierce County Fair. It is a fair basically celebrating farm life and simple things. There are carnival rides for the kids, merchandise and advertising booths, live music and animal shows.

Not much as far as merchandise. There were temporary tattoos, cheap toys, jewelry, and these fairy statuettes.

In the 4-H club building there were handicrafts that people had entered in crafting competitions. There were a good number of quilts.
The kids' crafts section had baked goods, drawings, and photography. There was also clothing made by kids, which was actually quite impressive. I always have mixed feelings on the drawings, because many of the entries are not original works of art, many anime/manga pictures. In this picture, the drawing of the owl with a banana peal on its head was kinda funny.

There were animal shows but we really didn't look at them. The livestock always smell so bad. We did walk through the dog show area, but it was 95 degrees and the dogs were all suffering, some had fans and cold towels draped over them.

After walking around for awhile we sat down and ate a deep fried onion and shaved ice. A very small fair, but something to do on this hot day.

My Little Boy is a Ladies Man

Today I had a doctor's appointment. Like always, the nurse on duty was cooing over how cute he is. In the exam room Bryan kept staring at the nurse's butt! When she walked out of the room he started to cry. I said, "Oh Bryan! Do you miss the hot nurse?" He immediately went from crying to BIG smiles and started flapping his arms up and down, giggling. That's my boy!

Barbie-sized Temari

Very small temari I had made years ago. I just found them under a dresser. I think my cat thought they were toys. The designs on these were done with regular sewing thread. It makes the design look intricate and just like a full size temari, but 1:6 scale.


Here is a pic of the temari next to my Happy New Year Barbies, for size comparison.

And, it's a dark picture, but one of the temari being held in the hand of a maiko Barbie I made, and the other temari at her feet. They are perfect size for Barbie sized dolls.

Sick

I've been sick a lot lately. Everything with pregnancy and delivery went great, but nursing has been a little problematic. I keep getting breast infections. It's terrible. I get a fever, chills, aches, etc. The chills are weird in summer. I'm freezing and shaking uncontrollably, but it's hot out. And I get weak and sore everywhere. Monday and Tuesday I could barely walk. I toke a bath and couldn't get out of the tub. I had to carry Bryan to go change his diaper and I almost fell down because I couldn't support my own weight. It's the scariest sickness I've ever had.

Bobby stayed home yesterday to take care of me and Bryan. I was able to get a lot of sleep, so I feel better today. The problem is that I've had 3 of these infections in 6 weeks. Not good. I'm thinking if I get sick again I might have to feed Bryan formula.

Nosy Neighbor Syndrome

I have not been blessed with good neighbors. One neighbor revs their dirt bikes at all hours of the day. Across the street used to be redneck neighbors with too many children; a husband that liked to stand in the middle of the street wearing nothing but shorts, beer belly, and a trucker hat while he played with a whip; and the mom who had to chase her dog every time she opened the garage door (you'd think she'd learn after the first few times) and she'd call the dog with a voice like she was stuck in a wood chipper.

About 6 months ago that family suddenly disappeared leaving the house abandoned with all their stuff still there. Last week it was purchased and now every night there is an army of vehicles in the front yard as they renovate (apparently the house was left in deplorable condition). I haven't met them yet, and don't know what kind of neighbors they will be, but they seem to have strong family bonds. My husband talked to them and told me that they are fixing it up for a family member and her daughter. I see them sitting on the porch as the family works on the house.

Now, the neighbor that worries me the most is the closest to my home. Our bedroom is on the side of the house closest to this neighbor's living room, and he likes to play LOUD music late at night and even into the morning. Apparently the police do not act on noise complaints unless 3 people complain, and he doesn't have 3 occupied houses near him to make complaints. He also likes to weed his driveway with a flamethrower, and it is also what he used to light fireworks on July 4th, and nearly blew up when he put the flaming end of the torch next to the gas tank.

Recently, the neighbor has been having his fun by skidding his car all over the road in front of mine and his houses, and around the corners down the street. Last week I yelled at him because I was standing in my driveway holding my baby Bryan and he skid sideways into his driveway full speed, getting up on 2 wheels and almost taking out the mailboxes before nearly flipping over into my driveway crushing me and Bryan. Thankfully my giant rose bushes seem to have been fed gamma radiation, so I would have had at least something to take most of the impact if he rolled his truck. His excuse was "I'm young and stupid, it's kind of expected of me." Way to go, lemming. I told him there are children that play on this street. "I don't see any children." Yeah, you wouldn't see them until it was too late. Now the front of my house the road is full of skid marks, and so is his driveway.

Last Friday, I was coming home and there was a huge accident at the end of the street. Must have been 6 cars, the whole street was closed off. Only one cop there, but lots of emergency vehicles, but there were regular people (probably those involved in the accident) directing traffic to take side streets to avoid the closed road. The side streets were residential streets and everyone was on their front porches watching the detoured cars like a street parade. When I finally made it past the intersection with the accident I saw that one vehicle was upside down and crushed flat. This is a small neighborhood street near a high school, 30mph speed limit, how could someone be that reckless to get in such a bad wreck?

Few days later I realized, I haven't seen my stupid neighbor since Thursday. Now I'm wondering if he is the one that caused that accident. If so, karma. I told him to slow down. I still hope he is ok, and if he was involved I hope that he learns his lesson.

Giggles!

Bryan is learning how to giggle! When I play with him he gives me big smiles and waves his arms around and makes quiet giggle-like noises. He's also learning to control his arms better, so he's been grabbing onto my clothes and hair. It's fun watching him grow and change.

Last week was his first time with a babysitter. We took him to my sister's place while Bobby and I went to see a movie. They had a good time with him, playing and going for a walk.

My sister taking Bryan for a walk. He falls asleep in the car seat and stroller.

Uncle Scotty cuddling with Bryan.

Bryan has been making all kinds of funny faces. This one looks just like a monkey!

Yesterday, Bryan fell asleep and I had to take a video of him snoring!