ice skating, anyone?

we drove past a park last sunday & could not resist the skating rink. even though it was probably just a little more than 0 degrees & we were not even properly attired. we only had thin, non water-proof mittens & no tights. J & i were only wearing 1 layer with a wool coat... we just had to get out.

we held the boys & pretended to ice skate on the slippery ice, made snowmen *for the 1st time in MN since snow came. the snow had to be of the right mix of fresh snow & some heat to be able to make snowmen or snowballs*, threw snowballs at each other. *previously we were only able to fling snow at each other*. jerald dug in the snow & laughed wildly. jerome rolled on the ground & made snow angels.

it was freezing cold but we had such fun. the only tiny setback was that there was no hot chocolate with mini marshmellows at the end of our adventure. we made up for that with an extra serving of marshmellows with our HC back home. :)

chinese american fusion

our friend baked us some pineapple tarts. imagine that! she bought a mould back from SIN! it's too tedious so i won't try. she takes 3 days just to do that. bits at a time... sigh... as much as i love pineapple tarts... no way! but i did think of doing pineapple tart balls so no need mould & can use tinned crushed pineapple. how's that for a lazy cook? hahhah

we think being here has introduced them to so much ang-mo culture. since when did we eat corn flakes or cheerios for breakfast? or guzzle fresh milk by the litres? eat tortilla chips & pretzels by the bagfuls? bake cookies, muffins & brownies? bake chicken, ribs & steak? jerome just started eating baked potatoes with cranberry sauce. jerald would pick out the berries only. naughty naughty...

however, the boys do love their crispy JAP seaweed & muruku that their aunt sends by the boxfuls. hahah

no way would we also go sledding or enjoy the 4 seasons? jerome had a great time making snow angels in the snow & throwing snow balls at jason. before returning home for hot chocolate & mashmellows... while jerald dozes at home in his tee & sweater. all done at a freezing 0 degrees outdoors. in MN, once it's above 0 degrees, minnesotans get out & play!

we went to the zoo the other day dressed in full winter gear! looked kind of funny but was certainly different experience watching some these animals living in the snow *snow monkey, eagle, owl, otter, wolverine, puma, grey wolf,...* & not batting an eyelid to the thick snow around them. we only observed those in the indoor enclosures & semi-outdoor minnesota trail *they used plastic sheets to keep out some of the cold. but it's still freezing*. not "garang" enough to venture out to see the tigers or moose in the mad cold outdoors...

we did "tong" the cold enough to watch an indoors lion dance performance at a store in the freezing temperature with dangerous wind chills, just to hear some good old "tong tong chang". to think we wouldn't even bother in SIN. the most we did was watching lion dance at TAKA with some friends.

considering the fact it was indoors, it wasn't too bad... 3 dancing lions who pranced around, ate oranges & "chai qing". some folks did a display of martial arts. hahahah. the team was a mix of mainly vietnamese with some mexicans & 2 whites. we did have tom yam seafood steamboat & fruit platter for reunion dinner though. & J played lion & dragon dance videos on youtube in the background. how's that for atmosphere? hahah

gong xi gong xi