Travelog for: TibiPanda

Today we go to a Japanese food party, for a group who are Japanese or learning Japanese.  I don't speak any but I want to go because I like Japanese food.

The organizer said that as it's Labor Day we have to labor for our food.  So we have to wrap our own gyoza (dumplings).

First we mixed the ingredients: minced pork, cabbage shreds, scallion, garlic, ginger and seasonings.



Then everybody gathers together to wrap them.  YOu put the filling in the center of the wrappers and then seal it using some water.

See how many we've made!!



Now we fry it in the pan.  When it gets browned we add some water and put the lid on so it will cook through.



Now I can say "Oishi!" It means yummy!



Looks like the dumplings are going fast!



Here are some edamane (soybean pods) and tsumami (snacks).



Now I am helping w an Okinawan dish called champuru.  I am chopping up the tofu.



First we stir fry the bitter melon.  Then we add tofu, spam and egg. It is not as gross as it sounds.



There is also Japanese curry.  A Vietnamese friend brings some Vietnamese chicken salad.  It has a lot of cilantro.



Someone made mochi for dessert, which is small sticky riceballs w red bean inside.



Unfortunately our host tarepanda starts drinking sake and beer... so we don't get to take as many photos as we wish... But it is a nice party which goes on until late.  Ippai tabette, ippai nonde, Tanoshii katta! (it means Ate a lot, drank a lot, that was fun!)

Today we go dragon boating.

A dragon boat is a boat 45 feet long.  It is a sport that is from China and dated back to over 2,000 years. 

First we move the boat from the boathouse.





Slowly we lower it into the water.



Now everybody do some warm up exercise!! We too!



Finally we get into the boat!



THis is the paddle we use.  It has the team logo Puff on it.



This is how the boat looks like on the water.  It seats 20 paddlers.



On the water we can see the skyline of Miami.



Over there is a marina where the boats are stacked up in layers.



The water is very nice and it is a lovely day out.

Today we go to Krispy Kreme, a doughnut place where our host says has the best doughnut.  We can watch the doughnuts being made.  They travel around on the belt, go into the fryer, then into the sugar for a coat, and fresh and warm into the boxes. 

We try some and it's yummy indeed! Pillowy soft and melts in the mouth!  We have to hurry to take the pictures or else the doughnuts are all gone!

Today we visit a friend's house.  He has something called Wii, it's for playing games. 

You play the games with a console.



We are playing a game of tennis.



Argh, I don't think I am very good with this.

Today we went to the Dragon Boat Festival at Haulover Park.

We sit down on the shore to watch the races.



When we look closely, the rocks have shells in it.  Very interesting!



We wonder if we can spot any fish in the water. 



The boats are lining up at the start line, though you can barely see them.



Look here are the boats racing towards the finish line!  We cheer for our host's team.



Hmm, this is a serious camera used to take close up of the races.



We walk around the park a bit. 



There is a booth selling kites.





There is a good breeze so the kites are flying high.



This booth sells a lot of dancing puppets.  I try to do the dance too but my legs can't seem to move right.



Oh this look delicious!



Argh we got ensnarled by a big spider web!  Actually this is part of a boy scout camp gateway.  We have a lot of thing climbing it, though I am not very good at this sort of things. 



They have an eggroll eating contest.    It is fun to watch as the contestants try to shove the eggrolls as fast as possible into their mouths.



Then we watch a bit of the taiko drumming performance.

Wow!  Today we go to Haulover Beach.  It is a clothing-optional beach... which, *blush*, is nude beach!!  Floppers want to take off my clothes too but Fllama is too shy a lady and won't hear of it.  I honestly don't like the idea either so I am glad he just takes his top off in the end.

Here's the little walkway to the beach.



Wow this is a wide beach w lots of sand.  I feel very small indeed.



We all sit and sun bathe together. 

Today we are to visit a shopping mall called The Village of Merrick Park.  It is an upscale place with famous names like Jimmy Cho, Tiffany, Neiman Marcus and the like.  I don't know who they are but our tour guide (I mean, our host) said they are famous so I suppose they are.  I think they make shoes and diamonds and things like that?

Anyway, this is a pretty place.  At the entrance we pass through a little bamboo gate and I get very excited.  Our host know that it has been a while since I munched on some bamboo, so she tells me I can have a big lunch!  Sure I do.  yummy!





A very pretty mall indeed.



Let's do some shopping!  ahem, window shopping.



They have a garden in the center with lots of sculptures.  Like this weird bird.



And this lady.









We are tired!  Let's take a rest.



Good, a boat!  We can get a ride home!

Today we visit Fort Myers, a town on the west coast of Florida, where they are hosting the American Sandsculpting Festival.



When we arrive, some of the contestants are still working on their sculptures.





This is a scary snake!



This is the second place winner.  It's a really nice sculpture of wolves and eagles around a mountain.



This is the third place winner:



Though I like this moon better, a sleeping moon enjoying a sweet dream.



I like this one, Old MacDonald and his farm:



This is a beautiful one of a mermaid with a lot of sea creatures.  I am happy it has won the Committee Choice Award.



Wow this is the grandest sand castle I've ever seen!



Here's Santa w a funny face!



Phew, all the sun is making me tired.  We decide to get a very refreshing coffee blended drink.

Today we visit Downtown Disney, in Orlando, Florida.  I am excited as I can meet Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and all their friends!

First we check into Disney's All Stars Resort. 



Look what we find on the bed! 



This is the nice folder we receive when we check in.



There is a picture of Mickey Mouse on the wall.



The hotel is decorated with a sports motif.





In the courtyard, we see Donald Duck playing tennis and join him for the game,  He doesn't look too happy though.



So we decide to play baseball with his nephews instead.



I guess people can get really thirsty after a game.



And really hungry too?  We find this dinosaur, or what remains of it, outside a restaurant in Downtown Disney.  Boy, people here have good appetite.



We see a dragon in the water.  Oh, it's only made from Lego bricks!



And even this group of tourists with dogs are made from lego too!  I must say it's impressive.



We try our hands at Legotown, but I don't quite know how to build a dragon. 



Next we try Mr Potato Head, but I can't say we do much better.



I am glad someone knows how to fix him right, and I am glad he doesn't know how we mess up his face.



Otherwise his friend Buzz Lightyear will not be so nice to us. 



We get lost, but Donald and Donna are nice enough to point us the right way.



We visit the Disney Art Gallery.



Look, the magic brooms are around to keep the place clean!



We rest a bit at the Pooh Corner, and share some honey before heading home.

Today we participate in a walk to raise money for organ transplants.



The walk takes place in a zoo, so we are all very excited.  I wonder if there is a panda living there?  My host doesn't think so but well, maybe there is one hiding?

Look at all the flamingoes!  They are very beautiful pink birds.



We see an elephant!  What a big animal!



And some lions. 



We get a ride on a kodomo dragon.  But it's not real, because we are told that the real dragons are very fierce animals who will finish me in one gulp!



And there is a camel, happily chewing hay.



We are so excited to have a camel ride!  Even if it's not the real thing.

 

This is a Gaur, the largest wild cattle and comes from India.  The bull has very beautiful horns and can weight over 1500 lbs.



We see some gorillas.  They have a big placeground with ropes and tires.



Giraffes are very tall animals.  We ask if they have seen any moose, panda or llama but they just shake their heads (which is really funny to look at).



I don't spot any panda, but there is some bamboo, which makes me very hungry.  I eat a lot, but leave some just in case there is a panda hiding inside the bamboo grove.  I won't want him to go hungry!



Well, bye bye alligator!



We finish the walk in 1 hr, 18 min and 9 sec!



Now we will get a pressed penny for souvenir.

Well, it's the end of the year, today we go to the Mango Strut Festival in Coconut Grove.  It's a parade that put the "nut" in Coconut Grove, as participants plays parody to news events of this year.  It is a really fun, and hilarious event.



First we see some jugglers:



Here is Sarah Palin w her First Dude and a moose.  She carries a big shopping bag and a sign for 2012.



This is the Mangobama band.  The theme music is in the video and at the end of the parade everybody dances to the tune.



Here are the Somalian pirates who go around hijacking other floats.  They kidnaps Sarah Palin, and one of the guy kidnaps our host and us too!  But it happens so sudden we can't take a picture of it.  I am really scared!!



Here comes the float with the Little Miss Mango contestants.



Unfortunately we don't have pictures, but there is a guy wearing a mask of George Bush, and people offering shoes for the audience to throw at him.  The lady next to us must really hate him, as she throws the shoes three times.  They all miss though.  There are also executives with a mug and sign "Brother, can you spare a billion dollars?" and an Uncle Sam giving out bailout money.  There are killer tomatoes running around, a "Mother Earth" with IV, a "economy" crippled in a wheel chair. The Illinois Govenor is here trying to sell a chair; Joe the plumber, along with Josephine, Joanne and all the plumbers marching with a toilet plug.


As our camera runs out of battery so we don't get as many shots as we like, but here is a Youtube video that captures the event really well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10EZkaBLcyo

Chinese New Year is coming soon so my host is preparing for it.  She makes special puddings.  There are many varieties of puddings/cakes and traditionally the women make a lot of puddings and give to their friends and relatives.  A good pudding is a source of pride as well as an omen for a good year to come. 

First she takes out the recipe for her favorite, the turnip cake.



She prepares the ingredients: sausage, and dried mushrom and dried shrimp soaking in water to rehydrate.



We chop the sausage into little pieces.  The knife is too big so Phex and I work together.



Next on the chopping board are the shrimps and mushrooms.



We put the cubed ingredients into a bowl and marinate with soy sauce, wine and sugar.



Being a turnip cake, of course it needs lots of turnips.



We peel and cut them in chunks.  Now we set up the food processor to shred it.  My host says that it's great now we have the food processor.  In the olden days we would have to shred it by hands and it's a lot of hard work.



But now we shred all of the turnips in 10 minutes!



Now we stir fry the ingredients.  We add more soy sauce, wine and sugar for seasoning.



Next we cook the turnip shreds.



Everything is mixed together and cook a bit more.



Now the mixture is ready to go into a casserole!



We put the casserole into a steamer.



It will be steamed for 45 minutes.



With the pudding being steamed, we prepare the toasted sesame and cilantro.



Yay, countdown is almost here!



We sprinkle the cilantro and sesame on top.  Now it looks really nice!



We can't wait to try it!  You can add some oyster sauce or hot sauce to it.



This is another flavor, made with coconut milk and sugar.  It is given to us by our host's sister-in-law.



This is another flavor our host made, with water chestnut.  Pieces of water chestnut are added to the pudding to give it a sweet, crunchy flavor.



We slice it and dip it lightly into an egg batter before pan frying it.



Mmmm, everything is so delicious.

Our host gave us some gold coins for the Chinese New Year.  The weird shaped nugget is how the gold nuggets used to look like in ancient China.  But this one is actually candy inside!



Our host also gave us a red packet.  In China, adults give children these red packets during new year.  There is cash inside.  So all children love New Year as they get a lot of candies and money to buy whatever toys they want.  That is, when they are too grown up to buy the adult's tale of "give mommy your money and I will save it in the bank for you".