Winona Tong: November 2006 Archives

The Family Giving Tree

My company is doing a toy drive for underprivileged kids and I got a girl who wants a jewellery making kit. That's exactly what I wanted when I was 10 years old!

December 4th, 2006 Addendum: I think I spent too much time thinking about what to get for my child. I looked around at Target for an hour this morning, but I couldn't find anything that really stood out. All the jewellery making kits they had looked like they were made for 6 year olds. I felt obligated to put extra thought into this purchase because jewellery making used to be one of my favourite hobbies when I was in elementary school. Even though I don't know the child, I felt like I had to get her the perfect present to start her off on the right foot. I spent another hour at Michael's after work, where I finally found this:

I even included a hidden surprise because it needed a little extra something to put the gift into the target price range. I would have liked this heart-shaped crystal necklace kit a lot when I was 10 years old. I hope little Laura likes it too.

I feel so happy about completing this little mission... now on to scheming up a way to win the food drive competition at work. *evil grin*

About face

I just found a great article on explaining the Chinese concept of face.

My first American Thanksgiving

The saddest Thanksgiving I can possibly imagine:

Quietly eating a turkey flavoured microwave dinner... alone, in a dark room with the soft glow of your laptop's screen reflecting off of your face.

That could have been me.

Thankfully, I was invited to MJ's "Just cuz you can't go home for turkey doesn't make you leftovers" Thanksgiving dinner. My adopted family for the evening consisted of Bay Area transplants and others who weren't spending Thanksgiving with their families for one reason or another.

MJ made the most delicious pumpkin soup I've ever tasted and jjapchae -- my favourite Korean dish! Eran's chocolate covered bacon strips and Jason's baked marshmallow yams were 2 of the most creative dishes I've ever tried any they were so yummy!

After dinner, we watched the 100th episode of Geek Entertainment TV, played PS3, watched God of Cookery and It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. I don't think I've had a happier Thanksgiving.