Lemon Cupcakes

I received my first ever bakebook form Static from the CNZ Forums. <3 Thank you so much.

I decided to try a recipe on lemon cupcakes. They turned out real well!

Measurements

Since New Zealand has a unique way of measuring ingredients for baking, I'm clarifying each measurement into metric units.

Below are the measurements used in this blog:

1 cup = 250ml
1/2 cup = 125ml
1/3 cup = 83.3ml
1/4 cup = 62.5ml

1 tablespoon = 15ml
1 teaspoon = 5ml
1/2 teaspoon = 2.5ml
1/4 teaspoon = 1.25ml

It is best to weigh your ingredients if possible, especially flour. Since the humidity each day differs it affects the volume of the flour (it absorbs moisture), and thus using a cup to measure flour would result in different quantities each time. Weighing your flour not only gives you an accurate quantity, but it can also ensure your baking is accurate, reducing mistakes. :)

Chocolate Chip Muffins

These scrumptious chocolate chip muffins are made without any cocoa. Just chocolate chips. :)

Took the recipe off Joy of Baking, modified slightly.

I reduced the butter, sugar and baking powder. Additionally, I ended up using only about 120g of chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

• 110g melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 240ml milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 260g flour
• 125g sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 170g chocolate chips

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs, milk and vanilla essence together.
   
   
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
   
   
3. Stir in the chocolate chips. Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula, along with the melted butter. Stir well until just combined. Do not over mix.
   
   
4. Fill each muffin cup up evenly. Sprinkle some chocolate chips on top if you wish.
   
   
5. Preheat oven at 190°C. Place in the centre of the oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Super scription of data

Super scription of data
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei OP
Vocals: Shimamiya Eiko

Oshiemashou ka?
Sono kawari dare ni mo
Iwanai yakusoku shite ne
Yubikiri genman uso tsuitara hari senbon

Oritatamareta mama ugomeiteiru monogatari o
Hirogete misete yo kako mo mirai mo
Super scription of data

Umarekawaru tabi ni umekomareta
Iro no tsuita KURISUTARU
Sono nanairo subete dasorotta toki

Mekurumeku rine wa PURIZUMU no ken de tachikirarete
Kanashimi no KAKERA wa mou doko ni mo nai
Super scription of data

Anata ga nozomu kara
Sore wa itsu datte soko ni aru
Anata ga kaeru nara
Subete ga kawaru
Super scription of data

Mekurumeku rine wa PURIZUMU no ken de tachikirarete
Kanashimi no KAKERA wa mou doko ni mo nai
Super scription of data

You can ignore this, I'm putting it here so I don't lose it. :3

Coffee Walnut Muffins

As usual, a baked product was due to be produced on every Sunday, I decided to bake some coffee muffins in an attempt to use up the rest of the instant coffee powder. Nevertheless to say, I failed. There was at lest enough left for two batches. Oh well.

As usual, I used raw sugar instead of white sugar. The sweet toothed may want to add an extra 10gs or so.

However, at the end, my batter was a bit dry, so I added water until it felt runny enough but still syrupy.

Ingredients:
Makes about 12 muffins

• 100g butter
• 160g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 30g coffee powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 120ml milk
• 120g walnuts
• 170g flour

Method:

1. Put softened butter in a mixing bowl. Add sugar in two additions, beat until pale and fluffy. (In my case it was until it was well incorporated).
   
   
2. Add egg, salt, half of the milk and half of the flour, sifted. Mix until it is well incorporated.
   
   
3. Add the rest of the milk, and then the flour. Sift the baking powder in together with the flour.
   
   
4. Add coffee powder and walnuts, mix evenly until well distributed. Your batter should be a nice (dark) chocolate brown.
   
   
5. Bake at 170C for 20~30 minutes.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei 02 Thoughts

....
The second OVA is finally out! After watching it just now.... here are some of my thoughts...

Initially, I thought that Rika was still in the world where they defeated Takano, and is now living with free from her chains of fate.
However... Rika is thrown into a completely different world, without any tragedy.

First... the Dam War didn't happen. Hinamizawa agreed and worked with the government for a dam to be constructed, without any tragedy at all.

Second... Rena never moved out from Hinamizawa to Ibaraki... resulting in the absence of her mother cheating on her dad and getting a divorce...

Thrid... Nothing bad happened to Satoko, Satoshi is still here, her parents never supported the Dam Construction because the Dam War never happened, and so nothing tragic happened.

Fifth... Irie and Takano isn't here... which means Takano Hifumi never adopted Takano, and so the chain of events streaming from there never happened.

Sixth... Oyashiro-sama's curse didn't happen...

Seventh... Hinamizawa Syndrome doesn't seem to exist... maybe it doesn't exist...

By the time Rika realises that Keiichi wasn't here, I've figured it out - this is the world where Frederica Bernkastel prevented Takano's parents from dying by telling Takano that her parents were going to the department store - the very trigger of the tragic events that will led to the 'normal' Hinamizawa.

Here is the question: what if nothing bad or tragic happened in Hinamizawa? This arc shows the very question that all fans would have asked themselves at one point or another.

But one question hasn't been answered - what happened after the truck was supposed to hit Rika? How did she get thrown into this alien Hinamizawa? An explanation is required here. Where is Hanyuu? Does she not exist in this world? But that's not very likely since she is Oyashiro-sama.

It'll be very interesting to see how this develops out. Very. Interesting.

Blacked Out

Grab your pitchforks and torches, bubs.

http://creativefreedom.org.nz/blackout.html

Taiwan Days 65-69

Thursday, 29th Jan 2009

Nothing much happened today, except that we went to Gran's house for dinner again. It's the 4th in the Lunar Calendar, so today you're meant to invite the God of Wealth into your house. You're supposed to set up an offering table with several specific things and some money, along with some specific foods.

Friday, 30th Jan 2009

Yawn~ woke up early to catch the bus today, I'm bound for Taipei!
Om nom nom, had a quick breakfast, packed up some final things, and set off for Chou Ma, where the buses are. Purchased tickets for $210 NTD each, and waited a bit. Finally, the bus was ready and we got on. Waved goodbye to dad. The bus was nice and roomy, along with some TVs. During the trip a movie was shown... I don't know the name but there was no sound. XD It was about a Police in Rhode Island, US, who got married, and not long after they had 3 black kids... his wife cheated on him but he still loves his kids a lot. The wife ditched Charlie... that's his name, and he was heartbroken. But he's a good dad and a good person. His kids are real smart... but they think that they're not smart. XD
Everyone takes advantage of him and finally one day he cracks and develops a split personality, called Hank, I think. Oh, a random adventure begins...

After arriving in Taipei, we headed for the station. Toilets first... been busting for about 2 hours...
Then, we started shopping in the Taipei Underground Mall. Wow~ the place is big... from no. 80 onwards to about no. 30 it was all games and merchandise stores. Wow! There was even a total doujin shop! I saw TOUHOU GAMES from COMIKET, and Touhou doujins, merchandise, Yukkuri heads, figures, keychains and so on.
Stopping buy Hot Dog Toyz I bought a set of Tales of the Abyss gasha straps and Druaga no Tou gasha straps for $325 NTD. What a bargain!
Also a Prinny keychain on clearance for $200 NTD intended as a b'day present for a friend.
I also saw 2 Ion figures in a lonely what seemed like a clearance box... no one wants him, poor guy. T_T
After having killed my legs some more, we went to Ximen Ding/Shimen Ting by MRT. Heh... very crowded and spazzahs.
Our destination: KT Animanga and Animate. We also tried to find Moe Moe Animanga house but somehow my bro managed to get us even more lost than what we were in the first place. >_>
At Animate I bought 2 boxes of Soul Eater Trading Arts. They were Maka and Liz. I bought issue 20 of Cosmode from Mag Freak downstairs. $536 bucks...
After Ximen, we made our way towards Wan Nen... it's like a mall full of stuff. Very crowded. :<

[RAWR RAWR RAWR @*&#%^@#%^(@ Blogger just erased a whole lot of blog material here due to me using the emoticon ":<" and it thinks it part of HTML and just erased everything until the bold date text. Grrrrr.]

I bought a Rukario plushie there for $300 at the same shop that I bought my Rena figure at. My legs were really dying by now. After my legs were very dead, we headed for Yi Ma's house via MRT then bus. I accidently gave the bus driver an extra $20 because I thought that I would get change from a $50 coin. But did you know what? Buses in Taipei don't give change! Most people use cards. So, we had dinner there and I even managed to watch Doraemon!
I slept in a futon that night. I haven't slept in one for at least 4 years. My feet were really sore...

Saturday, 31st Jan 2009

Yawn~ After saying my goodbyes and thanks to our Yi Ma... we headed over to Ximen Ding again. *sigh~* We ended up waiting a long time for Alan's friend to arrive~ meanwhile we were confronted by people trying to sell us things. Heh. My bro bought a little wallet like thing for $300, like supporting the students trying to earn some school fees.
Hah! After our friends arrived, we headed over to Animate. In a frenzy I bought all of the Trading Arts left. The 3 boxes turned out to be Patty, Soul and Death the Kid. TT^TT
I wanted Black*Star.... why... why?!?! Uwahahahaaaaa~~~~ *cries*
Browse, browse, browse.... *GASP!* We found Moe Moe! Wow~ the place is bigger than KT... Oh! Maid Cafe on the 3rd level! Uwah!!!
Timidly, I went up... and was met with an arrangement of gothic lolita clothings. Why no wigs? I need a wig... no, don't ask why. It's better that way. And, the Cafe's always booked full because it's so popular. I saw one maid saying "okaerinasaimase, goshujin-sama". But it was obvious she hasn't learned Japanese because she slurred it.


Then, after that, we went to Taipei Underground Mall again to find Alan's Monthly Undine's.
My feet are like, dead. =_=
Long story short, after that, we bought an obentou for $75 at the Bus Station, and then went home. They were showing House of Flying Daggers on the small TV. So tired.... Zzzzzz...

Sunday, 1st Feb 2009

Well, nothing much happened today. We ended up going to Gran's house for lunch and dinner.
In the afternoon me and my mum went lingerie shopping while my dad and my bro waited in the car. The shop is owned by a friend of my parent's. When we finished, we tried to start up the car but nothing happened. Tried a few more times, but the battery was dead. So while we waited for 5th Uncle to come along and link the batteries together to shock each other, me and my mum went to a drinks shop right next door and had Shaow Shen Chao (shaow sian-chháu), or Mesona. Grass jelly. Yum~ it's a blackish colour and it's really delicious. :9

Monday, 2nd Feb 2009

Phew~ hard work packing stuff into boxes... it's like Tetris but takes a long time and it's heavy and fiddly trying to make the weight balance...
We ended up with 5 boxes of stuff to surface ship back....
In the afternoon my 5th Uncle called me to go and choose my new cellphone! His contract is coming to an end so he can choose a new cell alongside renewing his contract. He doesn't need a new one so that's how I got a cellphone for no money! It's like free! Except buying the extra charger and screen protection stickers... I got a Motorola VE536.
At night, we went to Nana's house, and ended up buying Chou Toufu. This mobile stall's chou toufu was delicious! Just the right crispiness, and nice and soft on the inside. Nice and stinky too! That ended up being 3/4 of my dinner... hohoho, for the rest 1/4 I ate too much noodles... *burp*

Taiwan Days 63-64

Tuesday, 27th Jan 2009

Today we are destined to go back to Mother's House, because it's Jan the 2nd in the Lunar Calendar. Actually, it's mum's mum, aka my Nana's house that we're going back to. We had lunch and dinner there, all cooked by various people. Apart from the mahjong all day long, TV was watched, and conversations were listened to. All in all, nothing big happened, but I did get another red packet from my Shao Jo Ma and Nana. The spoils? Well.... ;D it's another $2000 to add to the total. So now it's $5300.

Wednesday, 28th Jan 2009

=_= Ergh.... so tired...

Well, I got to laze around the house for a bit before we went to Nana's for lunch. :D
Mum's big sis cooked up a hearty meal for us so that was quite nice. Had some talk and I watched some TV.
We wanted to watch Gake no Ue no Ponyo - Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea, and we wanted to watch the 3:10pm one at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi. So we left Nana's house at around 2pm, and got there at around 2:50pm, I guess. Wow! It was so cute and endearing~ also so pretty... as expected of Ghibli. ^_^
I'd recommend you go watch this... it's really worth it. There was a really long line for the tickets... but we managed to get a seat anyways.
After that, our parents came to pick us up to go to Gran's house for dinner. Wheee~ I also watched Doraemon there too... nice dinner. Oh, I managed to rediscover a book that I brought back to Taiwan when I was in like, year 1-3, and never brought back. It's called "My Fern Hollow Bedtime Book". I remember bringing this book for show and tell and I had a lot of favourite pages. XD
I finished reading the book when Mum stopped by Hill Top again after we got off the car and walked up from the parking lot. Sat there and read while she looked for more stuff. Heh.

So here I am blogging~ I have to sleep early today because it's Jan the 3rd in the Lunar Calenday, and the Mouse Groom is going to marry the Mouse Bride. ;D

Taiwan Days 60-62

Saturday, Jan 24th 2009

Today is the day before New Year's Eve. We call it Shao Nen Yei, or "Little Year's Eve". Ah, we have to spend a whole day at Gran's house today. Whooo~ Nothing much happened except that I watched some anime, played some Wii, read some stuff and surfed on the net. All of the family crammed into one apartment. Oh boy, there's the New Year atmosphere.

Sunday, Jan 25th 2009

Uwaaah~~~ another full day at Gran's again. This time the whole family + 3rd Uncle's black dog Ler Ler (Happy Happy) came back. Stayed until like, 11:30pm. Today is New Year's Eve, or "Chyu Shi". The Year of the Rat is ending, and the Year of the Ox is coming.
Heh, did pretty much what I did yesterday. But, instead, there's some added blogging material. Whoo!
All the kids and some Uncle and Aunties expect me went to Jin Der Elementary to play basketball. When the came back they told us that they ended up playing baseball because the court was too crowded.
At night all of us went out to let fireworks off. Now, the fireworks they bought is largely different to the ones you usually see in NZ. If you want to buy the ones you see in NZ, they cost a few hundred bucks. Anyways, they bought Chon Ten Pao, or sky rockets. They're little sticks with the firework head stuck on the end of the stick. You prop it up like a rocket, and set it on fire, err, I meant set it off. It shoots towards the sky, sometimes making a sound, then blowing up with a bang and a ball of small sparkles. Other times it goes up spinning, and then blowing up.
We also got to play with sparklers, and these fountains things that just sparkle and glitter and stuff.
After a while after we came back, people started giving out red packets! Yay! Do you want to know what's inside them? Money! It's like what you would get for Xmas I guess. ;D
3rd Uncle gave everyone a memorial coin of the Taiwan Aboriginal Culture series, every year a different tribe.
The spoils are.... ;D $3300 NTD!
Overall, it was a fun day, and we came back quite late. I finally got to sleep at around 1am after showering and stuffs. ;o

Monday, Jan 26th 2009

It's the second day of New Year's! Today we go to Nana's house - I'm actually looking forward to seeing my Nana.
*tries to remember what happened that day but fails*
We had lunch cooked by my Yi Ma and mum. Ummm.... I got to watch my daily programs. We stayed to the evening.
Lots of people I can't remember or haven't met before were there. They're supposed to be my relatives but honestly, I don't have much recollection of them.
This is what happens when you procrastinate blogging for too long...
Ah! I got another $2000 for spoils from my red packet. I have $5300 now~
One was from my Shao Yi Ma who went back to her mother's home, and another $1000 was form my Nana.

Taiwan Day 59

Friday, Jan 23rd 2009

Wow~ I woke up at almost 10 am today. I had a really nice/weird/awesome dream that I can't remember before I woke up. Awwww.
I yukkuri'd and ate a big as rice ball for breakfast, more like brunch though. I couldn't finish it.... eheheh....

Then, when I heard that Dad was going to get lunch for the rest of the family via SCOOTER, my eyes lit up like Nyanko-sensei when he hears that there's sashimi.
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! I got to ride on a scooter again! Whoooooooooo!
Bought obentous for Alan and Dad and 2nd Uncle. Then we rode a bit to Jhong Shin Vegetarian to mum's lunch.
Anyways~ I pretty much yukkuri'd all day. I went downstairs to 7-Eleven to pick up my +Anima volume 10 that they didn't have stock from my last order. Brrrr.... cold front's arrived. During the past 2 days it's been like, 26°C. And it's supposed to be winter.
The wind's real chilly, since it's from Mainland China and supposedly it's been snowing there.

At night all of us except mum went to eat Ramen in Feng Chia Nightmarket for dinner. Heh~ Dad told the store owner lady that he was 4th Uncle's bro since they often come here. We scored a free small plate of veges. XD
Ramen was nice~ but the real highlight of the evening was cotton candy/candy floss. I'll tell you!

I saw a bike tied up with big bags of candyfloss. Wow. I wanted one. So I got dad to agree to buy some. Ah, blog's here by the way. You can see what the store's like.
http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/z123439z
The stall owner was like: "You wanna try making your own floss?"
And I was like: "Eh? ..... OK!"

Weeeeeeee! He taught me how to make it, keep it spinning and move it up and down. Wow~ it ain't easy. But it was real fun~ it was a real big bunch as well. The flavour was 'black sugar', I think it's unprocessed sugar in English. ^o^
He then took a photo of me with my floss, saying that he would stick it on the stall's blog. XDDD Heheheh!
You can go check it out once he puts it on! Wheeeeeeeeee!

It was such a big bunch of floss, and it was only for $30 NTD! That's value!
Yum..... delicious....

Taiwan Days 57-58

Wednesday, Jan 21st 2009

Cutting to the chase~ for lunch we went to an all vegetarian restaurant that has been open for quite a few years. It's also quite famous. Heh, there was a wedding going on when we got there. Anyways, it was kinda like mostly buffet mixed with yum cha styles. It was quite lovely and I got to taste some new foods that I haven't seen before. Mum also met a former workmate of hers, back before she married Dad. Wow~ long history there.

This evening I have a meeting with a childhood friend that I haven't seen in at least 6 years. Had dinner at Granny's again. I forgot why we got there later than usual. :/
Anyways, after finishing dinner we walked all the way to Yi Jhong Jye's Animanga house called Je Bi. We were supposed to meet her at 7pm, but she ended up coming late, but that's okay. She had kendou lessons beforehands. Wow! She got taller (bit she says he hasn't), and her face hasn't changed dramatically. We spent the evening chatting, took those photos from those machines (i forgot the Eng name for them), went to Kuroi San Rensei since she didn't know about them, and basically spent the whole evening browsing through Animanga houses. :)
It was nice meeting her again after such a long time. ^_^

Thursday, Jan 22nd 2009

Haircut in line today! Dad dropped mum off at the barber's and then came back for me. Whoo! I got to ride a scooter again! Wheeeeeeeeee! Then he dropped me off and went away to do some other stuff. :D
Yay~ I got massage treatment and a nice hairstyle. Woot!
Walked home and was starving for lunch. Turned out that my bro and dad went out for lunch... they came back and dad ended up going buying lunch for mum and me.

After some relaxation and burping (excuse me), it was time to head over to my Nana's. Yay! I got to knead dough again! That feeling under my fingers.... ahhhh.... they were making this sort of... uhhh.... pancake thing? Anyways, it's a sort of 餅. Roll flat, sprinkle salt, sesame oil/lard, some pepper, flavouring/herbs to taste, rolled up, twist and squish. Then roll again. Etc etc.
Fry on a pan thing without a handle.
Yum~ it's really filling.
Talk talk talk, ohhh, Spongebob, talk, watch TV.... passed the time.
Then, it was time for us to leave. Bye bye~

When we got back home (walking), me and my bro headed off to Feng Chia Nightmarket for TEH TURKISH ICE CREAM. HAH. I would sooooooooooo recommend you to eat it at least once. :D
Because.... it's absolutely delicious! Plus...
Ok, he seems like he scoops your ice cream onto a cone. He hands it over to you BUT....
As soon as you think he's going to put it into your hand, he takes it away from you! The whole time the flat metal scoop is sticking to the ice cream, and then ice cream is on the cone...
and then he does it again! Ah! No... my ice cream.... and does it again!
At last, he seems to have put it in your hand, only to fool you again! OH NO! You think the ice cream is going to fall since it's topping over..... only to find that it's yet another trick! :D
OR, he hand you your ice cream on the cone with the scoop.... it's in your hands, but the scoop is still attached.... he takes the scoop away... only to find that he took the ice cream away as well! Arghhh! My ice cream!!! I paid for it you know!!! Aren't you gonna give me my ice cream....?
But don't worry! He grabs another cone and puts the ice cream on.... and hand it to you. Packing the last trick, he makes the ice cream with the cone topple over.... and you think it's gonna fall again! Only to find that he quickly revert it and it's another trick.
Awesome performance. Hehehe....
If there's a line his show is even better, scoop, attach, hit the bells hanging from his trolley stand thing, fall, sleight of hand, etc etc!

Yay! I finally get to eat my ice cream!
Umai! Brainfreeze! Yummy! Different texture and taste.... it's absolutely delicious. And it;s only $30 NTD too.

Taiwan Days 56-57

Monday, 19th Jan 2009

OK, lesse... for lunch all of us except mum went to a nearby buffet. The stuff was pretty good, free rice and soup, but I just didn't like the garlic flavouring in some of their dishes.
Blah blah, time skip.
For dinner, we went back to Gran's again. Lalala, ok and then on the way home we stopped by at the Kuroi San Rensei's again. Alan wanted to buy that limited edition 300 copies Aria Alicia doll with Aria Shachou. He asked for the price. It was in the low $10,000's. Shock. :O
There's a guy that's saving up money to buy it, or so the shop lady told us.
We went off to the middle shop, the one with heaps of figures. I bought my last volume of a manga series, and looked at a Tales of the Abyss kechain set. Cute. :3
Went home after completing mostly Alan's rounds.

At home, I had to go upstairs to get my icash for 7-Eleven. Huh. Turns out they sold out of Coro Coro. Went and checked Hi-life. Yes, 3 copies. Went upstairs to get money. Bought it. Good thing I took $100 in coins, because it suddenly inflated to $99 instead of the $85 for last month's issue. DX
Uwaaah~!!!
Dad came back and bought Lemon Cake. ♥
Haven't had it in suuuuuuuuuuch a long time. Yummy!

Tuesday, 20th Jan 2009

This morning I had more Lemon Cake. ♥
Then, dad took us by car to the National Museum of Natural Science, and dropped us off. The Mammoth exhibit was there! Wow~ a complete real mammoth called Yukagir. It was evacuated in a near perfect state, frozen in permafrost. I actually saw the real thing, restored. Wow~
Stamps and pamphlets as a souvenir. We even got free notebooks from purchasing the tickets!
Then... we had a look at Microscopic World. Ewww... cockroaches. Ohhh, Dory, Martin/Nemo and that French shrimp guy. :D
Skull in the tank next to it~
Anyways, after my complains about hunger, we searched for Maccies and had lunch there. D:
There was school trip groups and it was so noisy. >o<
After lunch, we went and looked at the Austronesians of Taiwan, Spiritual Life of the Ancient Chinese, Egyptian mummies, Chinese mummies, Oceania Polynesians, and the God of Earth in Taiwan (AKA Tu Di Gong). I really liked the Native Taiwanese's display. :D

Also along with a Bird's eye view show, and a theatrical seasons. That was so awesome. The music composed fitted so well with the program, and the floor rotated slowly, sitting down, you were surrounded by screens that would come out and go back up, showing us different scenes of life throughout the four seasons. A door thing would open from the wall and show us stuff. Wow~ it was truly a magnificent experience.
The Bird's Eye View theatrical worked by having you stand on a platform 3 stories high, looking down into a curved basin where they projected images. The images were awesome, waterfalls, rivers, forests, mountains, etc. It really felt like I was flying through the air...

Then, after killing some short time and toilet breaks (I was so thirsty during the whole time), we went to the souvenir store. Yay! I found the Tu Di Gong keychain as shown on a sign outside the exhibit. I bought it, it was only $50 bucks~
Then, after killing some more time trying the games at the shop, we went downstairs to a science place. Whoo~ haven't been here in a long time~
Had a look around, and then exited the museum. Dad was alreay waiting to pick us up.

Yay! Water in the car! Drank it all, wasn't much. Still thirsty. Then we went to Yein Ayi's house. T_T It was time for my Pokemon DP but the atmosphere wasn't right, so I didn't get to see it, since she was telling mum and dad how Yein Bo Bo passed away.
Anyways, lalala, got charged for parking ($20), we went back to Gran's for dinner.
Left at about 7:35pm. Got home, watched anime, showered, and now I'm blogging.

Taiwan Day 55

Sunday, 18th Jan 2009

Whooo~ Today's the day for the Shao Fei Jwen~ free money~
Anyways, right to business, we had Kaiten Sushi - Sushi Express. It was $30 for each plate, and on average there are 2 pieces of sushi on a plate. Yum~ we had 19 plates in total, including mine, my bro's and mum's. 5 plates for my 2nd Uncle. Total cost was $750 but 2nd Uncle insisted on paying for us. :O

Dad went to play golf with his old golf mates in the morning. Returned in the afternoon, rested and went to get $3600. Honestly, people were lining up at 6 or 7am in the morning, and then waiting in line for an hour to get theirs. The offices opened at 8am, and closes at 5 pm.
The First Lady rushed in at 4:49:20 to get hers... hohoho. XD

For dinner, we went back to Gran's house, but before that, we headed along to our old house at Shui Lan to visit some neighbours and friends. It was so nostalgic~ but it was weird looking at out house that wasn't our house anymore. It was just.... weird.
But everything was as 'tasty' as I remembered. Ahhh... then, after visiting our neighbour up the street, and the neighbour in front of our house, we went up to Mike Convini Store.
I haven't seen the Mike Lady in a long time... she didn't recognise me, but the store was exactly as I remembered, but they had a new sign. The old one was two stripes on the top and bottom, one big, one small, and "Mai (A) Ker" in the middle. But the new one had a big red smiley face, and "MIKE" down the side near the street, and green colours.
Whoo!
After talking and me buying 'Popping Candy with Lolli Pop' for $10, and rejecting Mike Lady's offer for on the house, we headed back to Gran's house. The old pharmacy on the main street outside is now a 85°C Café. :(
I got a free pink highlighter disguised as medicine cream there from the Pharmacy Ojiisan.

After dinner we stopped by a Service Centre and I bought... more feminine hygenie stuff, to stock up, and with a friend's request. Mum and Dad bought other stuff.

That ended the day, pretty much.

Taiwan Day 54

Saturday, Jan 17th 2009

Tomorrow we get like, $3600 as spending vouchers from the government. Basically, these vouchers are meant to poke, or make Taiwan's economy in a positive direction. Well, whatever, I just call it the govt's pocket money, or red packet. Heh. ^_^
Waking up at 7:30am this morning, and getting ready, we went by car up to where my Granpa and Papa's grave were. The place is big, and there was a lot of graves piles up on that mountain area. :O
First we went into the Tower, and waited for the rest of the family to arrive. Then, for two hours we sent prayers to our deceased ancestors, with a 10 minute break in the middle. After we finished the whole thing, all of us gathered our offerings and headed down to the BURNING TOWERS - also known as Gold/Silver Warehouses. They were basically 2 towers that acted as a furnace for paper money to be burnt. There's silver and gold. I got to burn some gold money, and those 3 cousins kept wanting to burn some so we had to split a whole lot of them up. ^_^;;
After that, we drove by car up the mountain, to where my Grandpa and Papa were resting.

Since the last time we visited was very small, so I only had a faint image of what the grave looks like. Ah, this is the first time I've seen my Papa's photo. My Grandpa I know, since he died 10 years ago. The point of this visit was also because it was his 10th anniversary.
We lit incense and bowed 3 times for respect, and stuck the incense in a pot in front of their grave stones. Also, incense was offered to Tu Di Gong on both sides of the grave area.
Our business was done here and everybody headed back to 4th Uncle's shop to get some lunch. We all ended up going to this hotpot place... hehehe...

In the afternoon mum and me decided to go out and search for that dress shop. After some fruitless searching we finally found a shop - "Party Girls". The oneesan there was so cool - she had the patience to go and pick dresses that suits my type of body, and was teaching me how to dress in the current fashion! I'll need to go buy a "new bra", as that's what she said for the ball.
After me choosing a most suitable dress~ I had to walk all the way back to get dad since he HAS TEH MONEHHH. DX Then walk back again with very sore feet. There was lots of walking and standing in the morning visit. DDDDDDX
After dad arrived I ended up choosing more winter wear with mum and then we bought a whole lot more stuff which ended up costing $4500 NTD in total.

Awww man, my feet are dead. DX
At night we headed out to Shoa Jo Ma's place for dinner, and I saw my San Jo for the first time in who knows how long years. My Da Jo also came, along with a few other people I recognise but don't know their names. DX
Parents ended up talking to quite late. That pretty much ended the day~

Maid Guitar

Watch through it. All of it.

Taiwan Day 53

Friday, Jan 16th 2009

After I woke up today, and Alan vacuumed the floor, I mopped it up with this spray thing. The mop was dry, the dried spray is meant to suck the dirty stuff up. It was fun though, pushing the mop around. But washing it afterwards wasn't so fun but it was OK.
For lunch we went downstairs and ate an obentou that 4th Auntie bought. Mum and Dad went to get mum's teeth done and still haven't returned. That's why we had boxed lunch. Oh well, it was nice. Bit too much garlic for my taste though, in the veges.

Tomorrow we go visit Grandpa's grave, and send him our prayers. I'm supposed to wake up before 7:30am, so I'd better finish up fast.

Tonight, instead of going back to Gran's, we went to Feng Chia Nightmarket with the whole family. Chou Toufu (Smelly Tofu) again, and then fried kumara/yam balls. It was really nice, crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. Definitely recommended. And then we went shopping/browsing for clothes on the way. I bought some clothes - it's hard to find clothes that I like or suit my tastes. I like to dress simply. I also bought a new Jaga digital watch, my old one has served my well. Then some shoes, and some socks.
Mum just doesn't understand that I'm different, and so it's hard for me to find clothes that I like. Man, she always gets angry over what I pick, since 4/10 we come out of the shop with nothing bought for me. DX
Uwaaaaaaaaaaaah~~~!!!
Then, going back and passing the Turkish Ice Cream guy, we saw that there was a line and he was doing his show. We decided to buy it some other time since it was getting late. So instead, we got 3 cups of Saow Sen Chao (燒仙草) after some searching. Yum~ I haven't tasted this in ages~ mmmmm~

I also ordered my books on Books.com.tw today too, some +Anima and Juuhime. I'm giving Juuhime a go, since the art's real pretty.
Ok, gotta go, I'll finish up tomorrow or something, early start tomorrow morning.

Taiwan Days 51-52

Wednesday, 14th Jan 2008

Sick......... (≧ロ≦)

Thursday, 15th Jan 2008

Had brunch at Shao Jo Ma's. Curry rice. It was a different type of curry rice. Parents talked for about an hour afterwards. I got to ride a scooter again. Bliss~
Checked my exam results. I did not fail! I can't believe that I got an M in Unfamiliar text and Algebra though. >o<
Dentist appointment at 4pm. I must go and brush my teeth before going, to make it easier for the dentist, and less picking with that sharp tool.
Mannnnnnnn! The drill... was scary. It sure hurt too, when it touched my tooth root. Finally, a white filling instead of silver! :D
I made it in time for Pokemon as well... how nice!
For dinner we went back to Gran's again, and it was vege hotpot this time. Watched Doraemon there, and we stopped by an Organics store on the way home. Enzymes was the target, but we ended up buying a whole load of other stuff apart from enzymes. There's the shopping trap for you.

Taiwan Days 44-50

Thursday, Jan 8th 2009

(ΘεΘ;) Complete laterz

Friday, Jan 9th 2009

Parents come back tomorrows. Started packing up stuff into boxes - managed to amass quite a lot!

Saturday, Jan 10th 2009

Today my parents come back to Taiwan from NZ. I finished packing up stuff into boxes (3 of them, that's a lot - mostly thanks to the clothes that Gran keeps buying us even when we keep saying "No, don't".) and taped them down, plus one or two more plastic bags full of.... clothes.
On the way there and in 4th Uncle's car, he gave us a little talk about time, and not wasting it, etc, life's lessons, etc.

Sunday, Jan 11th 2009

Today's the first full day in Taiwan for my parents, and the first full day at our new temporary house. After going downstairs and having breakfast at a Hong Ya - the rice milk was exceptionally delicious, the main point for today was for mum to go visit my Nana. We spent the rest of the morning at her apartment, and then headed down for lunch at a vegetarian place not too far away. When we got off the elevator mum met a mother of a friend of hers, and asked where she lived. Level 3, Unit 1. I think. I can't remember the unit.
We walked back home after lunch, and then I can't remember what we did after that. (ΘεΘ;)

Monday, Jan 12th 2009

After having dinner at Gran's we stopped on the way home at a supermarket shop place. But it has no veges and meat and stuff, just general merchandise. I don't know what that type of shop is called in English, it'll be Fu Li Jhong Shin - Service Centre, but mum bought some things and I bought feminine hygiene things.

Tuesday, Jan 13th 2009

Hmmmm, interesting.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=665847
Follow up.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=665808

Anyways, today, I uh..... doh. This is what you get for not blogging for such a long time.
Ok, we headed over to Shao Jo Ma's for lunch. I had Sour Spicy noodles. It was nice, a different kind of SS noodles. After them talking or an hour, we decided to leave for Vege Market over at Shui Lan. It's quite big for a Vege Market. And no, despite it being called a Vege Market they sell all sorts of stuff. Even hot dog stands. Hang on, we left for the dentist's, check ups and stuff. We then stopped by the Market afterwards. The dentist washed my teeth, some of it was painful, like teeth root pain. But my teeth is whiter now! Not by much, I got dad's yellow teeth genes. DX
We bought candy!!! Candies that only Taiwan produces!!! I think. I like to think of it as Taiwan candy. Ok, and we ended up buying steamed peanuts. They're like, "Once you pop you can't stop." No seriously, I ate one and had the urge to eat more. I ate 3-4 in total. I think a bit more than that before I stopped myself. Ho~
At night we went back to Granny's for dinner. D: For some weird reason I couldn't really consume her cooking. I dunno, is it because I've gone back to eating lighter these days, and her cooking's real heavily flavoured compared to ours?
After finishing dinner, somehow my bro got us to stop by Kuan Fu Road's Kuroi San Rensei, so he could buy stuff that he wanted and his friends wanted. I bought a Jade Curtiss (Tales of the Abyss) figure for my friend.
It ended up being A LOT, a big box and a big Katekyou paper bag made its way into the car and into his room. Lolz. ^_^

It spins right

Out of randomness, the toilet here flushes in an clockwise direction.
I wonder which way it flushes back in New Zealand? Hmmmm....

I got a Dragon Egg!

8D

I saw one of my friends and decided to click on it.
Lookie! I got one of my own!



Please click on it as much as you can!!!

Taiwan Days 41-43

Monday, Jan 5th 2009

Ahhhhhhh.... yukkuri yukkuri.... stayed at home and nothing happened...

Tuesday, Jan 6th 2009

Tuessssssssday! Stayed at home~ watched some shinabns I needed to catch up on~ read a lot of manga and so on~

Wednesday, Jan 7th 2009

Yay! I got to go to the Kuroi San-rensei Animanga houses again today! I bought 2 more Puchi! Eva figures for my friends, and got a Moyashimon gashapon for myself.

This time, the shop that was closed last time at no. 83's 2F was open.
We walked in.
We were met with merchandise.
We browsed.
I lifted my head.
I saw.
I tugged on my bro's sleeve. He saw.
4 plushies. 2 characters. No body.
YUKKURI HEADS!!!!
Big Reimu head, small Reimu head.
Big Marisa head, small Marisa head.
Around $2000 NTD.
OK now, so... WHO WANTS IT I WILL GLADLY BUY IT FOR YOU BUT YOU HAVE TO PAY ME. RAWR.

Taiwan Days 37-40

Thursday, Jan 1st 2009

Nothing much happened today. Hotpot/shabu shabu for lunch and dinner. It was pretty nice, but something seemed to be missing from the ingredients from what me and my family would usually eat. I can't put my finger on it. It's actually like winter now since a cold front came over. 17°C. It actually closer to a NZ winter now. We went out to see if we could find a larger pot for the hotpot, but we failed. We also tried to find a fatter cord, but we also failed. But I had fun going through Carrefour again and seeing stuffs.

Friday, Jan 2nd 2009

My cousins still get to stay home until Monday. Me and my cousins suddenly decided that we should play LAN AOE 2 Conquerors games and so we had our first game today. They started playing Runescape again, and it was a mendokusai explaining everything 3 times since they can't understand English. Weather's still pretty cold. It's actually cold. Hotpot again for lunch and dinner today.

Saturday, Jan 3rd 2009

More AOE 2 LAN games. It's actually quite fun! This could be addictive... hehehe. Cousins are still as noisy as ever. (>_<) Due to my awesome memory, I can't really remember what happened today. Aww man. What happened to my resolution to blog more often!??! DX

Sunday, Jan 4th 2009

Today we had MOAR AOE Lan games. This time I only made villagers and mass collected resources. By the time I was in Imperial Age I had so much resources that I kept giving them out. Lol. I had like 90 villagers in the end. Villager army!!! XDDDDD
Apart from that, nothing much happened today.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!