Simpsons in Seattle

 Halfway through February already and it's been a busy few weeks! Last weekend we celebrated Chinese New Year. We experimented with making loh bak go and savory tong yuen and I have to say this is one time that our cooking efforts did not result in lip-smacking goodness. We likened the tong yuen to eating phlegm - it wasn't the chewy mochi consistency that it should be. And the loh bak go, while tasty, didn't set to the right firmness either. It was unfortunate because I have such fond memories of both dishes as a kid. My grandmother used to make vats and vats of loh bak go and it was so good freshly steamed and drizzled with soy sauce. And the tong yuen that she (and now my Uncle Albert) makes is a filling, yummy, warming bowl of soup each winter. Oh well, we'll try again next time!  Yesterday was Valentine's day and the girls have been hard at work on making their valentine's for their friends! Like last year , we decided to do home made valentine's again.

The cats love snuggling with Nora. Penny, especially, loves Nora. In fact, if she doesn't sleep with Nora, she's usually waiting at the door in the morning so that I can let her in and she can jump up and give some morning cuddles. It's very cute!  Both the cats are on Nora! Penny does a lot of kneading on Nora.   Here's one of many videos that I have of Penny going in to wake up Nora in the mornings:

We bought a set of Wooble animal crochet kits many moons ago and I finally set aside some time to do them. The package says it's for beginners and can be finished in a few hours. Uhhhhh..... my first one took way more than a few hours. Granted, I was trying to watch tv at the same time so may have been distracted but it took me a while to get a hang of it. Here's the finished project!  Meet Kiki! Her beak looks more like a rose and she's a bit lopsided but we love her quirkiness. The second went MUCH faster. I did this over a few days but in all probably took about 2 or 3 hours.  This is JoJo the rabbit. She looks a bit like an easter egg with ears, no? My little buddy knitting next to me was Nora. She finally finished her hat that she made from a loom kit she got for Christmas. Cute, eh?  

Evie got some new fancy mouth jewelry this week! This lucky girl got braces. She will need to have them for about 18 months. It's been about 3 days now and so far, so good. She has said they don't hurt but take some getting used to. She's been very cautious about what to eat though and the poor thing has basically been eating only soft foods like soup and smoothies for the past few days. If anyone has tips or recipe recommendations, send them over our way!