James' Tower

Flavor of the Month -- E.

I've been trying to convince myself that I like this . . .

. . . but after two weeks of yam ice cream in my freezer (most ice cream does not last that long in there), I have to admit it just doesn't taste good to me.  It's like a cold, creamy, purple yam.  And I don't like those very much.

In other food news, a friend brought us a durian -- it was our first local durian experience.  Durian is an amazing fruit (and also available as an ice cream flavor).  Unfortunately this one was overripe and not fit to eat.

You know, outside the realm of food, which is an ongoing adventure which I love every minute of, life is hard to describe in satisfying terms.  The house?  It's good.  The family?  We're all okay, but sometimes we get sick.  Language learning?  It's happening, and it makes us quite tired.  The weather?  Warm and rainy, of course.  And it makes us tired.  Here's our backyard under a nice rain shower last week.  I don't know if you can tell or not, but what is usually an alley has turned into a waterway in this photo.

And where are Dorie and James and Queena in all this?  That's a very good question.  Patience.  I wasn't going to draw attention to the fact, but I haven't blogged in a long time, and I'm just getting back into the swing of it.  Next time we'll have less ice cream and more humans, is that okay?

Kuching Food Festival -- E and Q

They say Malaysians are obsessed with food.  A blunt stereotype, perhaps, but it's an easy one to believe when you're at the annual Kuching Food Festival.  It ran for about a month this summer and just recently ended -- our family went for the final evening.

Queena said it reminded her of southern Delaware's Apple Scrapple Festival (I wouldn't know, because sadly I haven't been).  Only the culinary categories are more broad here in Kuching.  If it's food, it's welcome here.  Even if it's deep fried burgers, which may not really be a food, it's welcome here.

(We met some colleagues of ours and their two children.  I just want it clear to everybody that the boy next to Dorie in all these pictures is not a random stranger.)

It's the place to be.

Ribena syrup + Sprite = sweeter than regular soda

If you get lost, just follow the signs.

I think this is Dorie's first cotton candy ever.

And there were carnival rides!

Dorie flies around the world.

Feeding James -- E.

Something I like to do for fun is to see what new kinds of food my young children will eat.  There are many new foods to try in Kuching, so we'll probably be playing this game for a while.

James is more of an adventurous eater than his sister, it turns out.  He especially likes fish and seafood.  Here's what James has been putting away lately:

• Sardines in Tomato SauceNot a local specialty, I know.  But the stove wasn't hooked up and it was just James and me at home.  So we had a low-tech man meal together.
  
  
  
• CrackersI bought these on Saturday because the kids and I had just been reading about a beach in Thailand where you eat fresh barbecued squid with chili sauce.  Dorie, to her credit, tried a bite.  James had most of a cracker before deciding he didn't care for the squid bits all that much.
  
  
• Baby OctopusThese guys were delicious!  James thought so too.  He just had to work a little to bite off a chunk.
  
  
  
  Dorie did not care to try this one.
  
   

Dorie's Birthday--QM

We have been without internet for a week now, and what a full week its been! We plan to do several short and picture-heavy posts this week to catch up.  This one is all about Dorie's 4th Birthday!

Dorie wanted a Tea Party with her two dear friends, Carmen and Thea, but she was going to be out of town on 08-08-12, so we celebrated a little bit early.

Here they are! Carmen, Dorie, and Thea

Instead of "pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey" we played "pin-the-handle-on-the teacup".

Don't you love the party favor? I wanted one!

Here is James on Dorie's 'real' birthday, opening a slinky from his Grandma Polly. We took the gifts with us to our orientation at Kota Kinabalu.

And here is Dorie doing her two favorite activities on her birthday--hanging out with other children and watching a movie!