At Home in Graz, Austria - 25th October 2011
By: dani_claudia
Can't wait to meet you in your hometown!
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Posted Oct 25, 2011, 6:47 pm Last edited Oct 28, 2011, 2:37 pm by dani_claudia
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Miami, Florida, United States - 24th November 2011
By: tarepanda
Hi Mommy! Just want to let you know that I have safely arrived in Florida!
I will send you some pictures soon!
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Posted Nov 24, 2011, 9:02 pm
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Miami, Florida, United States - 28th November 2011
By: tarepanda
Today is my first outing!!
My host likes to read and is a member of BookCrossing. In fact, all my other TV friends here come from her BookCrossing friends. Right now, they are playing a BookCrossing monopoly game, which means that they have to release a book based on the square they land.
Today, we are visiting some food trucks. Next to me is Genoveva from Germany. As she bores handsome teeth like me, we have become fast friends.
This truck is called 90 Miles. The name comes from a monument in Key West, the southern most city in continental U.S., that says 90 Miles to Cuba. This truck sells Cuban food.
While I am curious to try Cuban food, Bally the Bookcrossing mascot drags us to another truck called Yellow Submarine.
Bally shows us the menu... the yellow sub looks good.
We place our order.
The hotdog has chopped pineapple on top, so it looks yellowish. it's delicious indeed!
Afterwards, we help Bally release a yellow book by the truck. Mission accomplished!!
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Posted Feb 10, 2012, 4:06 am Last edited Feb 10, 2012, 4:07 am by tarepanda
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Miami, Florida, United States - 6th December 2011
By: tarepanda
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Posted Feb 27, 2012, 2:49 am Last edited Feb 27, 2012, 2:53 am by tarepanda
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Miami, Florida, United States - 30th January 2012
By: tarepanda
As Chinese New Year is coming up, we help our host prepare her favorite New Year dish, turnip cake (Lo Bak Go). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnip_cake) My host makes it every year for the new year. She brags that she cooks a really good version of it, when she gave it to her boss to share with his Chinese parents, they said it's the best they ever had. : ) You can find the cake in Chinese restaurant dim sum too, but they are not as good. ; )
First we have to prepare the ingredient. We used dried shrimp, dried scallop and mushroom, and we have to soak it in water first.
Next we chop up some sausage.
Now we stir fried it with some cooking wine, soy sauce and sugar.
Next is the preparation of the turnip, or daikon. We use 5 lbs for one round of cake. We clean and peel them.
While my host's grandma had to shred them by hand, now it is a breeze with a food processor.
We cook the radish, then add the mixings in.
We prepare the flour mix. It's half rice flour and half corn starch in a small bowl of water.
We put the radish mixture into a deep pan and stir in the flour mix.
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We have to steam the mixture for 45 minutes. While we are waiting, we prepare some cilantro.
Let's see if it's ready! We stick a chopstick into the cake. If it comes out clean it's good.
A little garnish with cilantro and sesame on top, and it's done!!
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Posted Mar 10, 2012, 4:43 am
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Tamarac, Florida, United States - 6th February 2012
By: tarepanda
Today we go with our host to the Chinese Buddhist Temple to celebrate Chinese New Year.
They have some cute monk statues around the building.
Look, they hang up a lot of red lanterns so it looks very festive.
Near the entrance is a big incense burner.
I say a little prayer, make a wish and insert the incense into the burner.
It looks very festive inside too!
The lanterns are made to look like lotus flowers. Aren't they beautiful?
This is the main hall where the Buddha statue is.
We see more of the cute statues.
This is a beautiful bronze bell.
What are all these little lanterns hanging on the tree?
We donate some money, so we get a little lantern. We write our wish for the new year on the attached plate and hang it on the tree. I hope our wish comes true!!
It's lunch time!! We line up in the dining hall to get our food. At the temple, all food is vegetarian and cooked by volunteers.
Yummm... very healthy, and very delicious!
There is a gift shop area.
They have a big section of books and CDs.
Lucky charms, bracelets and more.
They have some paper lantern.
This is a weird looking puppet.
There are many type of food and snacks. Some of them are home made by volunteers, some are vegetables and fruits donated by farmers and wholesalers, and some of them are imported from Taiwan. Our host always get something when she visited the temple.
We see a lot of paper strips hanging from the ceiling. Our host tells us that at Lantern Festival (the last day of New Year, on the 15th day) a popular activity is to play riddles. Each piece has a riddle on it . If you know the answer you can take the riddle down and claim a prize.
Can you guess the answer to this riddle?
What are these? My host says it's lion head but I am not sure if they look like the lions I know. Maybe Chinese lion looks different?
Anyway, let's take a picture in the lion's mouth!
There is some kung fu performance.
The drummer's beats quicken. I wonder what is coming up?
Wow look at the dragon!! It's very lively!
Uh oh~! Looks like it tangles itself up while chasing the ball!
Here comes the lions!!
The lions stand up real tall, by having one performer standing on the shoulder of other.
Now on to some quieter performances. A lady plays the flute.
And another does a sword dance.
What a fun experience this is!
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Posted Mar 25, 2012, 5:14 pm Last edited Mar 25, 2012, 5:23 pm by tarepanda
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Miami, Florida, United States - 11th March 2012
By: tarepanda
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Posted Apr 30, 2012, 2:34 am Last edited Apr 30, 2012, 3:12 am by tarepanda
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Tarpon Springs, Florida, United States - 13th March 2012
By: tarepanda
Today we go around downtown Tarpon Springs.
We go to the Greek Heritage Museum, which unfortunately is closed.
We take a stroll around the park next to the museum. It is nice weather. The trees have Spanish moss hanging from them, giving them a romantic aura, or a ghastly look, depends on your take.
Look there is a little squirrel friend!
We have a good time at the park. Wish we packed some picnic!
This is a monument for His Holiness Bartholomew, arch bishop of Constantinople, who visited in 2006.
The park is right by the bayou.
Some days you can see manatee swimming here. We see two, but it's hard to catch them on the camera though, as you don't know when or where they will peek out from the water.
The bayou leads out to the Gulf of Mexico. There are several spots for people to unload their motor or man-powered boats, like these outrigger canoes, to go out to the gulf. Or they can just paddle around inside the bayou and along the waterways leading out to the sea. Looks like water here is too tame for surfing!!
This house here looks very pretty!
We walk up to the main street. This is the St. Nicholas Cathedral. It is modeled after Hagia Sophia.
The statue is a memorial for those residents who fought in the wars.
You can see the Greek flag flying.
We spot a Greek bakery across the street. We are not hungry so we will visit another time.
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Posted May 4, 2012, 5:08 pm
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Tarpon Springs, Florida, United States - 17th March 2012
By: tarepanda
Today we go visit the Sponge Docks, which is the popular tourist destination in Tarpon Springs.
We walk along Dodecanese Avenue (named after the Dodecanese Islands of Greece). There are a lot of Greek restaurants and shops selling sponges and Greek souvenirs.
This is how a sponge boat looks like. While a 1894 newspaper article reported that Tarpon Springs did over a million dollars of business a year in the sponge industry, today there is hardly any sponge harvesting done here, due to costs and other factors.
This statue is a memorial to the divers.
Look at all the sponges! Most of them are imported from where costs are lower.
We find this friendly sea turtle.
Oh Mommy! Help! I don't want to be shark dinner!
What a scare!! Now we need some food!
Gyros is a Greek specialty. You can see the stacks of pita bread and the roasting meat.
Yum! It's so delicious. The bread is soft and warm, and the tzaziki sauce creamy.
We also have a Spanakopita, spinach pie, which is very flaky.
Dessert time! We go a few doors down to a bakery.
Look at all the baklava, flans, cookies and more! My mouth is watering!
Our host gets some of her favorite, the diples. It's a thin waffle rolled up like a tube, with honey drizzled over it.
What a fun trip but sadly it's time to go home.
We pass the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. The Travel TV Channel rated the Sunshine Skyway #3 in its special on the "Top 10 Bridges" in the World.
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Posted May 6, 2012, 4:24 am Last edited May 6, 2012, 4:34 am by tarepanda
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Redlands, Florida, United States - 31st March 2012
By: tarepanda
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Posted May 6, 2012, 5:50 am Last edited May 6, 2012, 5:54 am by tarepanda
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