The first time we had this event, it was such a huge hit, we went ahead and did it again.

I got to meet the chef who is the mastermind behind the [in]famous Kollab-ROLL-ation:

He even showed me how to throw up a “K” sign with my hands (for KOLLABORATION):

I bought one of our limited-edition shirts for him - really, he deserved it for all his hard work; didn't expect him to thank me with this all-original creation, totally off the menu, and VERY pretty:

 

 

But I’m a vegetarian, so I saved it for my roommate who lets me drag her out to my Kollaboration functions:

This here picture is of 3 Dulles High School AND University of Texas at Austin alumni, coincidentally posed in order of height … can you put us in order of oldest to youngest? :)

‘Twas a fun night. Thanks to all those who came out to support Kollaboration Houston tonight at Fish Sushi!

My dad is usually a serious no-nonsense guy, but it’s times like these when I get a glimpse into who he REALLY is, deep down inside.

Behold the gift he brought me back from Asia: Crunching Dog!

Dunno if you noticed the text at the bottom:

Various views of “Crunching Dog”:

OK kids, get your minds out of the gutter now. :)

And of course, the video. Well, it didn’t work so well with my computer at work with the vertical USB port, but you get the gist:

pointless but cute! :)

And no, it does not double as a USB flash drive. Hahahah doh!

I would prefer it to be more practical (I am my dad’s daughter, fo shizzle), but my dad knew I would love this: it’s both cute and techie / geeky. Thanks, Dad! :)

I just sometimes make food that tastes like I can. :)

Trying the “Extra Hot” S&B Curry for the first time. It definitely isn’t “extra” hot, it’s barely even just hot; there’s just slight kick to it. :)

Notes on approximate quantities used: ~ 2.5 lbs potatoes + 1.5 onions + 3 large carrots + 6 stalks celery + 4 squares of the Extra Hot S&B Curry (1/2 the pkg).

I also like the Engrish on the top right of the package: “No Meat Contained”. Hooray. Thanks. :) [ other curry-related Engrish entries ]

My Ah-Gong’s (Grandpa’s) funeral is today in Taiwan. Just wanted to look back on some memories of him over the past decade.

July 2002: The North American part of the Chen family gathered in Taiwan for Grandpa’s 85th birthday. We went for a walk with Ah-Gong. At 85, he was in good health, and it was pretty hard for me to keep up with him.

Along the way there was one of those pebble paths that you take your shoes off and torture / massage your feet on. It was very painful for me to walk upon, but Grandpa had different ideas:

I always liked our Chen family photos. It was basically an exercise in, “How many people can we fit into this picture?”

We got to surprise him with a little acapella birthday present:

July 2005: Grandpa’s 88th birthday was also a big deal since 8 is a lucky number in Chinese. He coined the term “rice” birthday year (if you know Chinese, write out “eighty-eight” vertically, then fit the 8’s to the 10 and flip the top one vertically – it will be the “rice” character).

Here, he’s with a few of his many grandkids the day after his birthday. I think we were paying respect to our ancestors by burning incense among other stuff (and yes, contributing to the already really polluted air in Taiwan).

November 2006: We had the opportunity to go back to Taiwan again because of my maternal grandmother’s 80th birthday, so we got to spend some more time with Ah-Gong. His kids had bought him a golf cart-type vehicle to get around in to replace the moped he was accustomed to riding; here, he describes in great detail how to use it.

He seems a bit worried about if we’re gonna break his cart, hehe.

I like photographing my dad with my grandpa. Each of his sons resembled him in some way, and my dad is no exception. I think it’s interesting how similar they are, both outwardly and inwardly.

July 2007: We came back for the 3rd year in a row for Grandpa’s 90th birthday, yet another milestone. This is a photo I found of my dad and my grandpa at the table, eating together.

There was a short period of time when my grandpa and I were closer – we talked on the phone once a week until his hearing started to go and he refused to wear a hearing aid. My earliest memories of him are in Canada, when he came to visit and would ride the public transportation to get from garage sale to garage sale using the little English he had; this impressed upon me his sense of adventure, fearlessness, and fun despite geographical and language barriers. My dad says Ah-Gong had a photographic memory, was a great calligrapher, and never took advantage of anyone.

I’m glad my dad got to visit Ah-Gong shortly before he passed away. I know Grandpa has always been surrounded by his children and grandchildren (and great-grandchildren!) who tried their best to show him respect. And here, in my little space online, from across the world, I hope to pay him my respects also.

Gotta love baby Jonathan’s beautiful, twinkling eyes as he climbs all over his daddy. :)

I usually don’t like to give up creative control (read: I’m anal about my videos) but I was curious and hit the Flip equivalent of Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button today. Well, not too bad, if I do say so myself.

And it’s not to do with little Connor either, though of course he does add to Min’s charm. :)

============

Min’s Email:

The entire accounting dept got stuck in the elevator.  [We were heading out to lunch.] Someone [joked], “Isn’t this a security problem – having everyone in the accounting dept all in the elevator at the same time?”  Then we heard a weird noise and the elevator stopped.  We used the emergency phone and called for help.  But we were all stuck in there from 11:55a to 12:15p.

Once they opened the doors, it was so nice to breathe fresh air!

Min

============

Caroline’s Smart-Aleck Reply:

Hope no one ripped a ripe one while stuck in there :)

Glad you emerged alive!! :)

- C :)

============

The 982042nd time Min Has Made Me Smile:

Heh heh, with a gassy pregnant lady, you’re right – everyone was lucky!

============

I <3 <3 <3 Min. :) :) :)

I asked my grandma to gather in front of the webcam with my uncles so I could “take a picture” of them. After taking the screenshot, my uncles asked, “Can we see the photo?” Hahaha, sorry, no … :)

So the video call is not perfect. We are not using microphones to talk over the internet, but instead just calling on regular phones (calling cards are pretty cheap calling from the US to Taiwan, anyway). But I think it’s actually a good thing, in that my grandma doesn’t have to deal with too much of a technology jump, and I’m much less annoyed with potential sound lag.

I’m using Logitech Vid, and I successfully walked my dad through installing it (here’s the email text). My grandma is not the one operating the computer; my cousin / uncles / whoever is there will power up the computer, double-click on the Logitech Vid icon, receive the incoming chat request, and plug in the webcam (somehow, plugging in the webcam earlier doesn’t work, must be in this order). I just wanted the EASIEST thing possible since I can’t tell how tech savvy my cousin / uncles are. It only does video calls; no text chatting, nothing. The interface is truly super simple. Click on the person you want to call. And I think you can only call one person at a time even. PERFECT.

I’m proud to announce that my grandma sounds like she actually looks forward to seeing us when we call her once a week. Or she at least pretends to. :)

So today I helped my mom rake leaves in the yard. I was glad to get in some sun and exercise, but I was definitely reminded why I am grateful for higher education and that I don’t need to depend on something like this to make a living. Man, my arms have turned to jelly …

My mom rewarded me with a handsome dinner of hotpot (this pic was posted mainly to make my brother jealous, muahahaha). :) I don’t know where she got these ginormous shiitake mushrooms, but I put my hand there to give you an idea of the scale:

I know I’ll be sleepin’ well tonight. :)

Oh, and I guess Dean hasn't moved my website yet. Well, if you're having trouble commenting, that'll probably be why. Thanks again, Dean! :)