Koeksisters in China Town, Houston

Wow, I managed to get 3 nations in my title today. Nice!

It was time for the Koeksisters (you can read about them here) monthly get together, and this time it included a trip to Houston China Town, and a visit to a nice Chinese Restaurant in the area. I was really looking forward to this one!

It was a small group of us this time around, and in complete reversal, I was the "tourist" walking around taking photos of all things chinese. It was fun!

The store in the mall we went to, was mainly a huge fresh fish/seafood/meat/veggie/grocery store. And while a few of the ladies spent their time running through their shopping lists (they tell me the fish is great & well priced too), myself and another fellow Koeksister browsed around,  just checking out the vast array of items on the shelves. It was an education let me tell you.

Here are just a few of the items that piqued our curiosity.....

Preserved duck eggs........ slimy things which did not look appetizing!

The crabs were HUGE I tell ya. And just sat there staring at us....

The name of this says it all..........smell fish???

 

This, if you didn't already know , is a Banana Flower. Doesn't look like a flower, or a banana. Although it does look the same colour as the few measly bananas lying in my fruit bowl at the moment..... I've gotta throw them out! I think they are even past the banana bread stage!

These pork uteri were just NOT GOOD!! Hence, no visuals.... 

Lastly, we have the Jackfruit. I had to google this one, as I'd never heard of it before, it turns out that it's the national fruit of Bangladesh. It's about the same size as watermelon.

The restaurant we went to was very nice, and we were treated to Dim Sum. And as we had a friend of one of the Koeksisters visiting from Singapore, she was able to order for us, and gave us a great selection of food to try.

So all in all, we had a great morning. And if you are in Houston and decide you just have to get yourself some Smell fish with a helping of Banana Flower, you'll know where to go!

Introducing Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvanian groundhog!!

Back in South Africa, I'd heard about Groundhog Day, but never quite understood it's meaning, and what the heck is a Groundhog anyway???

Well, today is Groundhog Day, and in true 'American Tale' fashion, I have delved into the history of this special day so as to enrich your lives and impart knowledge! (that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

Let's see....it started off in Germany, where farmers waited till late in the winter months to see the hedgehog come out from his underground home. If the hedgehog saw his own shadow on a sunny day, then that meant another long six weeks of winter were still ahead. And back in his hole he went!

Years later, German settlers in Pennsylvania, brought the old belief with them, and the hedgehog was replaced with the American groundhog.

Today there is a very famous groundhog residing in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. His name is Punxsutawney Phil. Every year, residents and paparazzi await anxiously to see what Punxsutawney Phil's prediction will be.

Will he see his shadow, and sentence us to another 6 weeks of winter, or will there be an early Spring this year.

This is serious stuff here people!!

Anyway, here is this years prediction, as per Punxsutawney Phil from Pennsylvania............

Greetings from Punxsutawney!


Phil Says Six More Weeks!
Phil's official forecast as read February 2nd, 2010 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:


Hear Ye Hear Ye Hear Ye
On Gobbler's Knob on this glorious Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2010, Punxsutawney Phil, Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators awoke to the call of President Bill Deeley and greeted his handlers, John Griffiths and Ben Hughes.


After casting a joyful eye towards thousands of his faithful followers, Phil proclaimed, "If you want to know next, you must read my text. As the sky shines bright above me, my shadow I see beside me. So six more weeks of winter it will be."

(That's not my words by the way, that's actually on the official website!)

So there you have it. If you didn't know, now you know!

Here's a little more about Punxsutawney Phil, in case you are interested........

Plesh-hul-hay-jans

No, the above title was not a typo! And no, I have not OD'd on my Dunkin' Donuts caffeine.
Let me elaborate.....

My 8 year old started to tell me how he made his school TV debut during his pleshulhayjans.

Pardon me Kellan??

While I was doing my pleshulhayjans mommy...

You're WHAT Kellan???

(Heavy sigh of frustration from 8 year old) My PLESHULHAYJANS!!!!

Kellan.....I'm sorry my boy, but I have NO idea what you are talking about! Give me a clue please......

(Severe rolling of the eyes from 8 year old) Mommy!! You know what I mean....that thing we do every morning at school........

 Okaaaayyyyyy?????? (still clueless at this point!!)

It's that thing where we talk about America & the flag.........

Suddenly light dawns! I start to smile, and it erupts into a full blown bellylaugh!!

Kellan, do you mean the Pledge of Allegiance?

(a satisfied grin breaks out on his face..) YEEESSSSS Mommy!!

You gotta love it!!



                         {photo source}

Going back to my roots.

It's another one of those days where I'm longing for touches of home....well, African home that is. And I found myself listening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and drinking tea. Yes, tea!!    I. Love.Tea.
And I love Ladysmith Black Mambazo. There is something about their songs, that just conjour up images of African sunsets, the bushveld, and everything South African. It always puts a smile on face watching the lead singer Joseph Shabalala sing. He makes the funniest faces sometimes, and puts such emotion into it.  My mom & sister got to see them perform live in the UK, and I was NOT jealous, NOT. Okay....maybe a little....alright then, I was. OKAY!!

So I took some time to find some fun and totally different LBM songs for y'all to hear. You might to firm fans, or totally new to their music. Either way, I hope you enjoy it. (And I bet you'll be singing the African Alphabet song all day.......)



That one was a double bonus for me as I also love The Muppets.....if loving The Muppets is wrong, I don't wanna be right!
This next one is a little more updated, and does not involve Jim Henson puppet characters....



.....but it did include Dolly Parton. I'm not a big fan, but hey....just seeing Joseph Shabalala's face in that clip, makes it all worth it!

And lastly some vintage LBM. I remember singing this song, and driving everyone mad......"somebody say, i ihi, ihi....somebody sing why, why why....". Memories!

Catching up

Yeah,yeah,yeah....once again I start my post off with apologies for my total lack of blogging ability over the last few days. Totally unacceptable, I know.......and yeah, I know y'all had sleepless nights waiting for my next exciting story... *nudge,nudge,wink,wink*

Anyways, it's been an interesting week, had some great fun with some of the Koeksister ladies, isn't it just amazing how revived and encouraged you feel after a cuppa tea and a chat with friends? It's like an instant pick-me-up. Who needs expensive and painful Vitamin B shots, when you have great friends and inexpensive beverages!

I had some discouraging news from my doc, but after a good ole dose of Meryl Streep in "It's Complicated" and some friends to enjoy it with, I felt heaps better.

Jingles, our little Daschund puppy, is fine, slightly traumatised after her last bird incident, but going strong. To update y'all, The Bird (as it's now known in our household) has been back almost every day, I didn't see it on the weekend , but it was back yesterday, sitting on it's usual high tree, scanning the surroundings vigilantly. For about 40 minutes.
Jingles is now wary of any creature of the feathered variety, and this morning went running in the house yelping once more. NOT AGAIN.....I thought, and upon looking up, saw that she had gotten scared off by a very scary looking squirrel (well, it was very scary looking to her, OBVIOUSLY!!), that was running across our back fence.

Now not ALL wildlife here in Houston are scary though, just take a look at this. A family in Texas found a malnourished baby deer, and took it in and raised it until it was old enough to go back to the wild and fend for itself. But apparently it comes back almost daily to play with the family dog!