Keira: 4 Months Old

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Can You Name This Plant?

One of the shopkeepers downstairs gave us this aromatic plant as a Chinese New Year gift, and I'm curious to know its name! 

新年快樂！Happy Chinese New Year!

Today is Chinese New Year's Eve, and the beginning of a week-long vacation for us.  Woohoo!
We will be staying in Taipei and are looking forward to spending time with friends.

Mother-daughter CNY footwear.  :)

新年快樂！Xīnnián kuàilè!  Happy New Year!

Hiking + Strawberry Shortcake = Birthday Fun

For Kalan's birthday we hiked Tiger Mountain and had a special seasonal dinner that finished with strawberry shortcake (I never thought strawberries would be in season for Kalan's February birthday--yet another benefit of living in Southeast Asia!)  Here are a few pictures from the day:

Keira gave Dad some of his favorite Taiwanese tea

Looking for the trail

We passed a large temple on our way to the trail head

Fortunately there were signs to help us find the way...
and fortunately we know the Chinese character for "mountain..."

Happy Birthday, Kalan!

In honor of Kalan's birthday, here are 27 interesting facts about my husband:

1. He grew up in a mountain cowboy town that didn't even have a stoplight.
2. When he was little he liked to make up his own board games.
3. He plays the saxophone and was the drum major for his high school band.
4. At one time he was the Tae Kwon Do State Champion of Colorado.
5. He really misses weight-lifting with his younger brother.

The entrance to Kalan's childhood home

6. He's a huge extrovert.  His Meyers-Briggs personality is ENTJ.
7. He can successfully order food at a restaurant in Chinese.
8. When it's his turn to choose a date night restaurant, he always picks Cash City Hot Pot.
9. He sported a ponytail for a season of his life.
10. He lived in Russia for a year and can speak Russian.

Kalan's ponytail.  He's in the brown zip-up sweatshirt.

11. This year he made his own pair of Vibram shoes using toe socks and hot glue sticks.
12. His preferred shaved ice topping is sweet red bean and taro.
13. He voluntarily spends some of his free time conjugating Greek verbs.
14. He has an associate's degree in culinary arts and likes to experiment in the kitchen (for example, last week he made marshmallows from scratch.)
15. His favorite card games include Bang!, Texas Hold'em, and Dominion.

16. He has the most diverse Kindle library of anyone I know...everything from writings of the ancient Christian church fathers to World War Z.

Making marshmallows.  They were delicious!

17.  He can consume an entire bag of Circus Peanuts within 24 hours.
18. He doesn't own a TV but watches Law and Order on our laptop from time to time.
19. He secretly enjoys planning our budget on a carefully organized Excel spreadsheet.
20.  Last year on Kalan's birthday, I greeted him with, "Happy Birthday!  I'm pregnant...you're a dad!"

21. He can use a sewing machine to alter his own clothes.
22. He enjoys reading stories to Keira using funny voices and accents and makes us all laugh.

I love you, Dad!

23. He can fold a stack of cloth diapers faster than his wife can.
24. He starts his morning with a hot cup of pu-er cha (dark fermented Asian tea).
25. He prays out loud for Keira and I before we fall asleep at night.
26. He hasn't set foot in America for the past three years.
27. His dream is to help the church expand among the unreached people of Asia.

We love you, Kalan.  Happy Birthday.

四個月收涎 Anti-Drooling Ceremony

When babies in Taiwan turn four months old, their parents traditionally host an "Anti-Drooling Ceremony."  Our friends invited us to their home to partake in this Taiwanese tradition (our daughters were born just two days apart!)

First, we prepared some cookies.  Chef Kalan took the lead for this part.  

Second, we strung 12 cookies on a red string (for good luck) to make necklaces for the babies.

Third, we took turns breaking off cookies and wiping the babies' lips while saying blessings over them.

 It's hard to tell yet if the ceremony worked.  In the meantime, I'm going to buy some bibs.

Happy four-month birthday to Jasmina, Ranim, and Keira!

Make Your Own Buckwheat Flour (Gluten-Free!)

When it comes to gluten-free baking, I'm in love with buckwheat flour.

I know it sounds scary because it has "wheat" in the name.  But according to Wikipedia:

Buckwheat is a plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds...Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a cereal/grass; instead, buckwheat is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb."

Raw buckwheat groats are cheap and easy to find in our outdoor market.  They look like this:

To make buckwheat flour, I just put them in our blender and grind until fine (about 1/2 cup at a time).

Pros of buckwheat flour: 

• You can substitute it for flour in any recipe.  
• You don't have to spend time mixing a lot of different flours together.  
• The finished products have a better texture than those made with rice flour.
• It's much more nutritious than white rice flour.

Cons of buckwheat flour:

• The finished products definitely have that healthy, made-with-whole-grain taste (which I actually like, but not everyone does.)

So far, we've used buckwheat flour successfully to make crackers, bread, muffins, gingerbread, pizza crust, quiche crust, and pancakes.

Here's a favorite breakfast recipe using buckwheat:

Buckwheat-Banana Muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 mashed bananas

1/2 C sugar

1 egg

1/3 C butter

Directions:  Mix dry ingredients together.  Mix wet ingredients together.  Mix everything together and pour into muffin tin.  Bake at 175 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) 25-30 minutes.  Makes about 8 muffins.