Everyday life Archives - Page 4 of 5

My Hot Milk Tea

10.23.13

I know people worry about the food in China.

Is it safe? Will I be served things I will want to eat? Fish with eyes? Duck with heads and feet? Donkey burgers? Rolls with red bean paste inside for breakfast?

When I put it like that, it does sound a bit…intimidating? But, the food there is amazing. So good. Rather than not wanting to see chopsticks or another grain of rice after coming home from China, I find myself really wanting it. While I wait until we can get some good Chinese food again, I’ve been keeping myself patient at home with my own version of 西红柿炒蛋 (eggs with tomatoes) and 热奶茶 (hot milk tea).

Since I know some of you share my love for Chinese hot milk tea, here’s what I’ve been doing to concoct it.

Put 3 of your favorite black tea bags in 3 cups of boiling water. Let brew until it’s really strong. The stronger the tea, the better. When I made a batch for Mark and I, I used 5 tea bags for 4 cups of water even.
Add 4 Tablespoons or 1/4 cup of sweetened condensed milk to the 3 cups of tea.
You can add 2 teaspoons of honey to change it up a bit or just use the sweetened condensed milk—it’s plenty sweet with just that.
Stir it well until the milk is well liquified and evenly distributed (if you don’t, you’re going to get a mouthful of thick sweetness at the end of your cup).
Pour into your favorite China mug and top it off for a small second cup.

That’s it. Simple and not healthy at all really. Love it. We do buy a tea bag at our local Asian market by the brand 3:15 tea that is really good. But, they don’t make it in decaf, so my concoction works for my afternoon comfort drink.

Anyone interested in eggs and tomatoes?

Monsters U shenanigans

6.21.13

We saw it. All 6 of us. And, it was really good. Monsters Inc. is my favorite Disney movie of all time, and Monsters University is the perfect pre-dittion to my favorite. Everyday this week, it’s sorta been the buzz around here.

From our Mike Wazowski (or Mike Wa-owski, as Lydia calls him) cookies (made out of Oreos dipped in green candy melt topped with a white chocolate melting chocolate disc for the eye with a candy dot that you peel off a paper–gotta love that stuff–and a cut licorice lace mouth–that’s the best I could do) to our very own scare games.

Round 1: every. single. ball. we. could. find. spread out on our living room floor for a friendly little race. Step on a ball, and they had to jump on one foot the rest of the way.

Round 2: a fun game of who-can-mommy-hear-coming-to-capture-their-flag-while-she-works (once you see the movie, you’ll totally get that. And, no, I did not yell and turn into a 50 ft. monster…at least this time). We learned it’s incredibly hard to be unheard on old hardwood floors.

Round 3: a little Hide and Shriek, of course (Drew won that one crunched behind toy boxes under his bed…thankfully not stuck there)

and, finally, Round 4: the grand finale, a little game we made up to scare the gajeebers out of each other.

I wrapped some alphabet blocks in paper (can you tell I did this with great care?). One named who would be scared (6 sided block worked for us). One named where that person would be scared—if the scarer rolled “2 in bunk bed” or “2 in attic,” he or she got to roll a second victim. The last dice named what the person was scared of—we just made these up based on ones from the movie (clowns was a goodie). Then, everybody got some chances to scare…which we recorded (why do I still want to use the word videotape?) for judging purposes, of course (and maybe so I could email it out to Daddy to show him how we spend our day while he’s working hard.)

Anyone know when Monsters University will be out on DVD? Yeah, we’re already asking.

My favorite summer 2013 day yet {Adventure Aquarium}

6.20.13

Adventure Aquarium.

There’s something about seeing what lies below the surface of the deep that is truly amazing in a way that makes even a 36-year-old woman’s eyes wide.

Everyday, we go about our day; meanwhile, there’s a whole other world in the oceans that surround us. There’s an inherent adventure in getting little glimpses into that world unknown.

Yet, I couldn’t help but feel humbled, so very humbled, as we faced how great that unknown really is.

Thanks to our day at the aquarium in Camden today, we know just a little more about that unknown—how stingrays feel squishy not smooth like a snake, that penguins live only in the Southern hemisphere, that there are animals that look like plants that “hide” when you touch them, and that a 50-year-old, 14 ft. alligator looks sorta like an underwater dinosaur.

But more important than all the facts we learned about the creatures was our conversation about their Creator. The One who made all this is one creative artist who gave and continues to give attention to every. single. little. detail of our world—the known and all that is unknown.

My favorite day of summer thus far.

This picture is deceiving

6.17.13

Oh, this picture so makes our summer look marvelous, doesn’t it?

Bareback pony rides. It’s the epitome of freedom and carefree, is it not? The breeze blowing through your hair from underneath the lovely helmet, just like the old Suave commercials.

They may be riding ponies, but I’m mucking the stalls.

We’re starting Week 2 today of our summer. Lydia’s given up naps which really translates into I’m-only-cute-before-lunch-if-you’re-lucky-and-then-I’m-simply-a-monster-for-the-rest-of-the-day. Evan couldn’t wait until school to end but started with the “I’m bored” routine nearly on Day 1, a phrase that sounds more like nails on a chalkboard than intelligible speech to me. Having all of them home all day somehow translates into a consistently full sink, a lot more laundry (not sure how that happens), an unflushed toilet every time I manage to run away to use it (or hide), no privacy, no quiet, no peace. Yup, I’m mucking away here.

I’m trying to remind myself that these days are precious and fleeting and I should be soaking every minute in. Instead, even they are intentionally distracting me. Drew came into my bedroom the other morning while I was still working on keep my eyelids open and asked me, “What are you going to do with Evan’s room when he goes to college?”

Give me 8 more weeks like the last one and I may have new blueprints for the whole house.

My Hot Milk Tea

Monsters U shenanigans

My favorite summer 2013 day yet {Adventure Aquarium}

This picture is deceiving

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