Chinese New Year 2026 Year of the Horse

 Happy Year of the Horse!!  I spent New Year Eve cooking with my mom~
Originally she planned eight dishes as there's only two of us, then yesterday it expanded to ten dishes, and by the time we were done cooking, there were twelve 😹

Chinese New Year 2025 - Year of the Snake

 Happy New Year!!!! 新年快樂!

KC, JSK: BABY THE STARS SHINE BRIGHT
Cardigan: Unideer (taobao)
Shoes: Sheep Puff (taobao)

An Upsy Downsy Moon Festival

 Happy Moon Festival 2024 everybody!!!

Oh boy was today a test of my emotional regulation!  For some reason, I've been quite low in mood and energy today and yesterday, but I had plans with my mom today and really didn't want to be a downer.  It feels like a lot of small, inconsequential things have simply added up to make me feel mentally and emotionally in the dumps, so I couldn't enjoy Moon Festival (also called Mid-Autumn Festival) as wholly as I would have liked, but I made the most of the day!

First, an outfit shot!

The print is actually a Moon Festival print with the Jade Rabbit in the moon!

New Year Street and Recent Look

Long time no blog again :3  I recently have been restricted to staying home due to budget 😿 and didn't know if it would be interesting to share about the bar I went to (didn't even get an outfit shot)

Anyway, today I have an outfit snap from a couple days ago and also went to a New Year Street (idk what to call it...) with my mom!

Blouse, Skirt: Miia Mussa

I don't know what this style is called really 😸 The skirt seems like Liz Lisa style (from ages ago) but it's not really gyaru since I don't do hair/makeup like that.  I just really like it for casual days 💖

Sky Lantern

 On Friday I took a half day off work to go to 平溪 (PingXi) with my mom and little sister to experience sky lanterns!  

Our lantern behind us!

The shop offered both modern markers and traditional calligraphy brushes for writing/drawing on the lanterns.

Since I can't do calligraphy, I drew pictures instead. The pictures on the right are by my little sister.

Sky lanterns are meant to take your wishes up to the skies so you're meant to write your name and the blessings you wish to receive.  The colors of the lanterns also have different meanings (the staff will explain to you) or you can get multicolored lanterns to get all the meanings at once!

Year of the Rat GO!

Belated New Year post again! This time I have no excuse as I was not ill... but it did take me a few days to get photos from my friend because my phone ran out of power T^T  It's been having difficulty charging, but I also am reluctant to change to a new phone...

Photo thanks to ImaginaryDuke!

Unfortunately I left my red JSK in Taiwan as I couldn't fit everything in my suitcases when I moved, so this red blouse will have to do!

We had hotpot at Duke's house, and I made fagao that actually split this year!! Not perfectly, but still better than every other time I've made them.

發糕！

The splitting of the cakes when they rise (fa) is akin to your prosperity growing, so hopefully there will at least be... a little bit of prosperity in my future? Maybe the job situation will work out here? Either that or I can negotiate office hours at my job in Taiwan if I move back?

Duke kindly let me decorate his house with Chinese New Year decorations from decades ago :P Some of them are from when I was still very little!! He still had his Christmas tree up, so here is a combination of eastern and western holidays!

Secret snap of some of my friends!

Are you born in the Year of the Rat? Did you celebrate Lunar New Year at all? Or what other New Year do you celebrate? Pointy said he doesn't celebrate Cambodian New Year ever, but he did come to my Chinese New Year party!

Happy Belated Moon Festival!

Been ill over the weekend so I failed to post in time, but here's a belated Happy Moon Festival/Mid-Autumn Festival to everybody! Thanks for sticking with me ^u^v I appreciate all the comments always~

Of course, Moon Festival is not a national holiday here, and bakeries don't exactly stock moon cakes on the regular, but my good friend Calvin got the idea to go to Costco, so we went with a couple other friends and ended up getting a lot of stuff, as well as alcohol, for a Moon Festival party!

Taiwan Teddy modeling the moon cakes

He even found a Taiwanese brand one :3  The flavor is salted egg yolk with lotus seed, my favorite!!

Salted yolk with lotus seed paste

We also did a sort of indoor barbecue (a "modern tradition" for Moon Festival started in the 80s) with tofu for me and pork belly for everybody else.  No pomelos, but that's OK!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend/Friday the 13th! Did you do anything for Friday the 13th, the full moon, or Moon Festival? In some faiths the full moon would be a Sabbat as well I think, and some people are superstitious about Friday the 13th. 

Dragon Boat Festival 2019

Happy belated Dragon Boat Festival!  I wasn't going to post about it because nothing happens for Dragon Boat Festival here, but I'm going to share the zongzi I made anyway ^u^v

Normally zongzi are filled with a lot of stuff like fatty pork, peanuts, water chestnut, shitake mushrooms, and even more stuff depending on each seller's recipes!  Because I made mine very last minute, I didn't have any ingredients, not even glutinous rice!  The middle-eastern grocer didn't have any either, so I used the leftover white rice we had at home ^^;

The sauce is normally very flavorful, but I only used soy sauce and spices!  I did manage to get bamboo leaves and cotton twine at least!  And the zongzi didn't fall apart when I wrapped them!

Once steamed, the inside is far more lacking!  The filling is really only tofu and white mushrooms!

I will need to plan ahead next time...

What traditional food do you like to make?  I guess it doesn't even need to be a traditional food :P  Just what festival or holiday food do you enjoy making?

Chocolate Models Meetup

Rilakkuma Cha Ya!!!

nom nom nom

 On April 8 we had our chocolate model meetup as well as a ceremony for Laina's baby girl (three-month anniversary).  She had special-ordered cookies that were insanely adorable!!

Absolutely adorable! 

Tiered Cake Skirts Meetup

Yesterday I woke up a bit late at 1PM. Ano was putting up new lights in my work studio! ^u^
We got ready for the meetup and had to take a taxi because we were late :P But we were still second to arrive

The theme was "tiered skirts," called "cake skirts"(蛋糕裙) in Chinese.

We met at a small cafe place called 七見櫻堂 that specialized in desserts. They were out of rice and beef when we went so many of their mains were unavailable -_-; I got a small platter with a quiche, a cake, and a brownie. Unfortunately, it turns out their "garden quiche" contained meat so I ended up eating only the sweets -_-;

The meetup itself was fun, and we had lots of chatting!

Lilith gave me and Ano the wedding cookies (喜餅) for their wedding and the wedding invitation (喜貼), which was very fancy-cut paper and pretty!  "喜" (xi) means "happiness" and is seen all over wedding-related terminology.  Often you will see this character doubled up to mean "double happiness" representing the bride and groom coming together.

Funny side story: Lilith said that for their wedding shoot her "casual wear" was a Lolita wedding dress, which is casual compared to the other two wedding dresses, but the photographer was like ._. and told her fiance that he didn't need to change out of his tux otherwise it'd look seriously mismatched if he was in jeans and a T-shirt :P

Me

It was super windy out yesterday! We took photos outside because the cafe was too small, and met a small, one-eyed dog that belonged next door. The dog was a grump and had no fear of cars, but was mean to people. A big truck was coming down the alley and the dog didn't move out of the way so Lilith had to try and move him out of the way and he snapped at her (didn't really bite her though). Same when motorbikes came through. I wonder how that dog manages not to get run over every day

Haotien asked us to kiss as he was taking the photo, so this is what happened

"I'm the boss"

Mix it Up! Hakka + Kawaii

As some of you may know, Kawaii.i is running a Kawaii Leader contest with the theme "MIX-it-up Kawaii."  I entered, but that is not my reason for posting this time!  You can still vote for my entry here if you'd like (you must be a fan), but I would prefer you read this post first to understand why my entry is a "mix it up" rather than just Lolita fashion.

Most of the winners for the larger prizes will be chosen by the Kawaii.i committee rather than user vote anyway ;)

This is the photo I submitted:

Hm, just looks like some Lolita fashion, right?  But my focus here is on the headdress, which is done in a traditional 客家/Hakka style called 纏花/ChanHua, which means "wrapping flower."  We learned about this in my Chinese Clothing History class and I wanted to give it a go when I made this outfit!  So, what makes ChanHua different from traditional hair chopsticks or embroidery?

Well, it began because the Hakka people were not quite so wealthy as to be able to do traditional embroidery or metalwork.  So they cut out cardboard shapes and wrapped silk thread around and around to create shining crescents on a wire base that could then be folded into all sorts of shapes!

A basic flower

Some could get incredibly complex!

Cicadas!

Different shapes and patterns emerged and the art is still practiced today, though not as frequently.  I found a recent piece (I believe it' from the Hakka channel on TV) introducing a Hakka woman who began to learn the art in her 20's.  You can see the skill it takes to make such intricate art!

OK, in comparison my work is abysmal, but it was fun to try!!!  I actually also cheated and used double-side tape to help my thread stay in place... I'm not even adept enough to cut the card shape properly, so the threads would slip!!!

I personally really admire handicrafts such as this!  The time and tradition behind cultures have such a great history.  Tribal peoples are vanishing all over the world, but I hope their art forms live on eternally!

By the way, I can subtitle the video on Amara.com if anybody is interested in what is being said.  I wanted to share the making process, and they just talk a bit about why the woman chose to learn the art really.

I'm not Hakka myself, but it was great to give this a try!

Belated Tomb Sweeping

Sunday I went with my mom to see my grandmother and great aunt. I've actually never met my grandmother in life, and only seen my great aunt a few times. We went up a mountain to the tower where many ancestors are staying now. 

 since my mom had spinal surgery during Tomb Sweeping Festival we didn't go then, and made up for it this past weekend.

You can purchase a vase and flowers to hang on the door. We found them overpriced but are going to see if we can bring our own. 

this is a different type of case which is clear and you can put souvenirs from life inside. We saw many miniature bottles of alcohol and old cell phones. Also some model cars and even an electronic cigarette!

There were Christian options too, with a cross instead of Buddha. 

Afterwards we went for fresh seafood.

 I tried my first sea urchin!  Didn't taste like much to be honest.

What traditions or burial/grave rituals do you observe and practice?  With the convenience of cremation and these towers, we don't need to maintain gravesites any more, just visiting. However I feel I'd rather have a greener future and be buried without a box with dirt and seeds to return to nature. Save on cremation energy and costs as well!

Tainan Trip

Recently I took a trip to Tainan with ANO for his work. Of course we still had time for a bit if fun!  Tainan literally means "Taiwan South" just like Taipei means "Taiwan North". Very creative names?  It took only a couple hours to travel by high speed rail.

We got to start at a nice hotel, ranked 8.6/10 by booking.com apparently (that's what the sign said!). We rented bikes each day to ride to the worksite at a department store, Shinkong Mitsukoshi.

 During a break we decided to investigate some old streets. Started out with handmade almond tofu cut like mango and served on ice:

 Then we saw a sugar puff thing I'd never seen before!  Ano said he'd tried it before, but basically the master melted brown sugar in this pan, added a powder, remove from heat, and stir. Suddenly the liquid comes ttogether and then puffs up and splits!!

 A fake puff to photo:

 The best fun was at the handmade wooden clog shoes shop. There were many bases and ropes or tops to choose from and the family custom make your shoes. We each bought a pair of geta style sandals. ANO chose a 10cm because he is short!

 Modern shoes options

 model shoes the mama boss said was too dangerous for me to try on without proper training. She let me try on a shoe that made me walk properly like a Chinese princess (格格)

 All the strap options

 five minutes for the daughter owner to make mine.

 At a street of shopping we passed this poop cake condors. Maybe competition for the penis cake vendors in Taipei?

 Very small poo poo cakes

 the next day ANO and his assistant Zach went to work so I explored and manage to find the only maid cafe in the city!

 They were closed, but I browsed the side shop. And took a sneaky selfie with a cat paw! Apparently the shop owner is an alumni from my university!

 That night we went to a night market and had octopus mouths:

 Saw unique flavor tarts:

 Got Thai banana dessert

look so yummy ba?

Of course got fat but now is diet time to get back under control!

What is you favorite guilty pleasure food? I like all types of cak type desserts, it's awful!

I hope this post is not considered boring because it is not related to Japan. Taiwan is quite lovely aas well*!

Welcome the new year!

I wrote a post two days ago and the app has been uploading it for just as long so I'm just writing a new one now!!

It is 2015!
I havent gone to see the Taipei 101 fireworks for the past three years, but this year we went to a nearby building where a friend of ANOs works so we avoided the crowds and got a spectacular view!

I hope everybody had lovely start and may this year be better than previous years. Personally I have decided to drop out of university and focus on myself (healthwise) and what I really want to do... Which I am actually not sure about 😖

Modern Traditional Moon Festival

I had my first "modern traditional" Moon Festival celebration this year! Traditionally, we eat pomelos (and make hats with the skin) and mooncakes and look at the moon. About 20 years ago, for some reason, Taiwan started adding barbecue to the list of things to do for the Moon Festival.

"Moon Cakes Are Delicious"

What has BBQ got to do with mid-autumn? Not much, to be honest, but it gets the younger generation involved so why not?

"Moon is Very Round"

In Minnesota, we had a grill and could barbecue on our deck. Space is a luxury here, so you can see the streets lined with people grilling on small grills while squatting or seated on low stools and the smell of different meats, seafood, and vegetables along with everybody's own unique blend of sauces will fill your nose for the whole weekend!

Teddy is pretending to run. Really, she never exercises, just like me.

So on Sunday evening I went to my first proper roadside BBQ with my boyfriend (P.S. I am officially in my first relationship of my life) at a bike shop his friend owns. There was a ridiculous amount of food!!! Since I am vegetarian, I didn't eat any of the insane abundance of MEAT MEAT MEAT but it was still fun!


Roadside BBQ
A bike shop two shops down also had a BBQ and we went to that one on accident first and they said if we couldn't find the right shop we should just join theirs. Gotta love the hospitality!


One of my (many) plates! Stinky tofu, bamboo shoots, green pepper!


Roasted corn!


Absolutely enormous Japanese shrimp and a squid. I don't know who brought those shrimp, but they are normally quite expensive!!!
The milk carton contained the sauce we put on everything :D


Working the grill


This is BB. He is begging for food from me.

Overall it was very fun! Though I actually didn't even eat any moon cakes at all this year ^^; I'm sure the gifting of moon cakes will continue for a week or so though! Our office did give moon cakes before the Moon Festival, but they contained pork floss so I gave them to my boyfriend Ano instead.

Did you observe the moon this weekend? It was very bright and large!