But Where Did Wendy Go???

Question of the Day: Are you or have you ever gotten addicted into any virtual reality games such as World of Warcraft, Runescape, or Sims?

*Readers wait patiently for the blogger who has been MIA (missing in action). Suddenly...*

I see her! No, no, that's not her...YES IT IS!!

*Wendy stumbles into blog post* OH! There she is!

Hey guys...I know it's been a while since I last posted. T_T No, I did not catch the flu or get tired of blogging. =P Once again, I'm currently out of town.

*Readers whisper about how amazingly frequent Wendy travels*

Yes, yes, I know it's amazing how frequent I travel. BUT I will be on the road today and tomorrow and will return home tomorrow night. :) And then I will return to my regular blogging and post the last part of my Summer China 2010 Scrapbook, FASHION.

So I suppose you can think of this as a mini hiatus? Thank you for your patience. :D

Until then...POOF!

*Wendy disappears, and readers gasp and a riot forms...AH! IT'S MAGIC! I THOUGHT THAT ONLY EXISTED IN HARRY POTTER!!!!!*

~TRA

*Wendy stumbles, chuckling with triumph, in the back of the blog post with her Invisibility Cloak, but nobody notices*

But Where Did Wendy Go???

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China 2010 Scrapbook: Food

Question of the Day: What's your favorite summer treat? (P.S. Mine is Breyer's Pure Fruit All-Natural Popsicles)

As promised, here is Scrapbook Post #2 from my trip to China, featuring FOOD!! Some of this will sound absolutely amazing to you (and believe it, it really was amazing), while a bit of the other foods will, well, not sound amazing. Either way, tasting the food in China every year is a new and different experience each and every time.

Lazy Susan Lunch, Shenyang: Here, we've got a variety of different "local foods." The brownish tofu-looking pieces on the left is liver. The plateful of meat closest to you is sheep meat. You can see the salty eggs quite clearly, though beside the eggs is what the hosts called blood soup. Don't ask.
Shenyang: This is a nice little dish with diced potatoes, very big green beans, and pieces of meat. Slightly spicy. On the sides of the dish lie homemade cornbread patties fresh out of the oven. Delish!

Shenyang: Up close and personal with a sheep meat soup. Lots of fancy herbs and leaves to flavor the poor goat. Potatoes and other various vegetables accompany the meat. (P.S. Different areas of China serve different "local foods" that are unique to each one area. That's why I put the location first and foremost after each photo.)

Beijing: Niu he is what this yummy dish is called. It's basically beef with flat noodles in a soy-based sauce with soybean. Sounds skeptical to some of you, probably, but it's VERY good! This dish is also very popular in other areas in China as well as in some Chinese restaurants in America. Like dumplings, niu he is pretty "putong," or common.

Shanghai: This is a classic Chinese treat. To the right are candied grapes and to the left are candied berries. I've had them only once before, and they're very tasty...but VERY sticky and sweet!!

Shanghai: Um, yes, these are live scorpions on a stick. Quite a delicacy. No, we don't eat them live (though I suppose some might). Here, they were alive and squirming (in agony, I am sure). But when requested, the chefs deep-fry them and serve. I have never had one, but I imagine it would be QUITE crunchy. xD

Beijing: We were in a very famous nationally-acclaimed restaurant where they have the best
"Beijing roast duck." The chef is slicing the duck [very professionally, I must add]. He put the skins all in one dish, and then the meat in another dish. We roll the pieces of meat and skin up in very thin pita bread-like dough. Yum!!
Shanghai: Yes, my friends, that is Chinese Haagen Dazs ice cream! It tasted just like the regular Haagen Dazs ice cream. Brownie with cherries on the side. There are cookies and cream, chocolate, and Belgium chocolate ice cream!! Two biscuit sticks, nuts and more chocolate as decorations. Can you say...mmmm?!?!

Shanghai: Yes, more HD ice cream hehe. Very intricately designed, as you can see. Raspberry, strawberry, and green tea ice cream layered in between two sugar cookies.
Shanghai: Umm I'm not quite sure how to describe these in English exactly. xD They're basically crouton balls with crabmeat stuffed inside. Very juicy, tender, and oh-so-delicious!
Shanghai: This is a ketchup-based fried fish and is SOOOO good. It's very famous and can be ordered at almost any fancy restaurant in China. Nuts, carrots, and peas are tossed in the "Red Sea."
Lazy Susan Lunch, Shanghai: By the way, if you don't know what a Lazy Susan is, it's this. ^^ Basically there's a large round glass where food is placed; the glass circle can be moved clockwise or counterclockwise so that the food comes to you just by the turn of a hand. The plate with only 2 pieces of food left is a lotus appetizer; to the left is some yummy pork in an oily-soy-like-sauce. To the pork's left is cool chicken in sesame sauce, also an appetizer. The drinks at the middle are: watermelon juice, corn juice, and tea. The green plant-leaf cones have sticky rice and meat inside of them (in Chinese, they're called "zhong zhi"). There are also cucumbers, dates, and other vegetables on the table.
KFC, Shanghai: Yep, we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken in China! Quite honestly, it wasn't very much like America's KFC at all. The chicken was WAY spicier than it should be, and it came with rice, veggies-that-don't-exist-in-America, and mushrooms in an Alfredo-like sauce. It didn't exactly taste bad, but it wasn't too far from a UFO either (Unidentifiable Food Object). Even so, it was an interesting experience. xD

Stay tuned for my last China 2010 Scrapbook post on Fashion!

~TRA

China 2010 Scrapbook: Food

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China 2010 Scrapbook: Scenery

Question of the Day: Do you prefer a cell phone that has a touchscreen (like an iPhone) or one that has a keypad (like a Blackberry)? Why?

So basically I took over 400 photos while I was in China and had a pretty tough challenge before me in deciding which ones to host on my blog. I've decided to do 3 different posts, each one called China 2010 Scrapbook, but with a unique subtitle. The 3 scrapbook pages will be: Scenery, Food, and Fashion. There were loads of different foods that I ate and I'm sure you've probably never seen before, plus lots of clothing and accessories that I bought. Can't wait to share them all with you!

13-hour plane flight FROM Chicago (after the 2-hour connecting flight TO Chicago) TO Shanghai, China. I absolutely adore plane flights, mostly in part by the beautiful view from the sky. Honestly, you can literally see a map forming before your eyes as everything gets smaller and smaller and eventually turns into a whirlwind of green and brown. Love it.

Here, I was at Pudong, one of Shanghai's major skylines. It serves as the more contemporary side of the Huangpu river; on the other side (the side that I was standing on) is called Puxi and is made up of more historical and traditional buildings. I think it's so cool how that skyscraper to the right curves inward and looks like some sort of fish or knife.

Another photo of Pudong, but with the famous Oriental Pearl Tower, which is actually a tower that operates television. Isn't it beautiful? Also, you can see exactly how foggy and humid it gets in Shanghai...most days, the weather there is characterized by lots of cloudiness and fog.

This is Chen Hua Miao, aka Yu Garden, otherwise known as one of the busiest and most famous bazaars in Shanghai. I bought tons of little trinkets and oriental gifts there for myself and my friends. Rain or shine, there are always loads of people there. Plus, the cultural architecture is wonderful to view and admire. Nanjing Lu is one of the biggest shopping centers in Shanghai as well, and is particularly breathtaking at nighttime. As you can see, there are LOADS of people. Tons of malls and restaurants are located here showcasing the biggest name brands (Chinese as well as international), but the downside is that most everything is extremely expensive.

And here we are...pictures of The World Expo 2010!!! Over 200 countries from all over the world participated in the Expo, and each country had its own pavilion that they'd spent the past couple of years building in the Expo ground. The motto of the Expo was: Better City, better life.

This is China's Pavilion, one of the biggest and most noticeable ones there. Unfortunately, only VIPs were able to get in, but from what I saw on CCTV, the pavilion mainly has very oriental and professional performances with traditional dancing and singing. Everyday there were crowds of people waiting in line, sometimes for as long as 9 hours straight, to go into pavilion after pavilion. Underneath China's pavilion, you can see some other neat pavilions.
Welcome to the pavilion of the United Arab Emirates! I thought this was really beautiful...reminded me of a pot of gold, to be honest. There were loads of people in this pavilion, and it's not hard to see why. I realized that the first impression and architecture of the buildings have to be really impressive for them to be that popular.

I think Sri Lanka's pavilion was one of the coolest! It looked very oriental and centered very much around their culture. Unfortunately I didn't go in, but it was homongous and had lots of people in it, too!

Here is Argentina's national pavilion. If you look closer, you can actually see all the people standing in line, waiting to go in. Outside the pavilion, there was a really big television screen on the outer wall showcasing Argentina.

How could I have gone to the World Expo without seeing good ol' America's pavilion? Ours reminded me a lot of an airplane, hehe. The USA showed two large-screened movie clips and had a few performances led by American dancers and singers. They also had a small restaurant that served American food. We ate some burgers and fries, but it wasn't like the real thing. xD

Brazil's pavilion was pretty neat. Like Argentina, they had a giant screen showing (I think) Brazil in this year's World Cup (congratulations to Spain, by the way!)...but I may be wrong.
~TRA

China 2010 Scrapbook: Scenery

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#50: My Return From China

Question of the Day: What is the farthest you've ever travelled before?

MONTH-LONG HIATUS IS OVER!!!

You can imagine how alarmed I felt when I connected to the Internet in our cozy little place in Shanghai, China and found out that Blogspot, along with several other sites like Facebook and Youtube, was blocked off!! What's more, my beloved Pandora refused to work, saying it could no longer provide service to me since I was outside of the USA. :(

Thus, my daily blogging ritual (and other Internet rituals except for email) was put to a halt for an entire month.

But, as you can see, I back now! HURRAY! *fireworks* Did you miss me? =D Well, I must say that I missed you all, and am so happy to see that none of you gave up on my blog, despite my sudden disappearance.

To put it very simply, my vacation in China was...BUSY! I kept a journal of events for -almost- every day we were away and now the pages are all filled up. We stayed for 1 week less than we usually do, and therefore had to cram all of our to-do's, to-go's, and to-eat's all in just a matter of approximately 3.857 weeks, according to my handy-dandy Blackberry calculator.

I cannot possibly copy my entire leaflet of records into my blog, so here's a rough breakdown of what I did, week by week:

Week 1: Met up with family, attended the World Expo of 2010, clothes shopping!, and explored Shanghai's greatest attractions.

Week 2: Travelled to Beijing AND Shenyang, did tons of sightseeing, visited China universities, gobbled up exotic foods (duck heart dumplings, anyone?)

Week 3: Book shopping, travelled to Nanjing, learned mahjong

Week .857: Visited more universities, met with more family, came home

Whew! As you can see, my 1st and 2nd weeks away were definitely the busiest. It's been pretty tiring, especially since we had a few casualities (such as an almost stolen camera, a horrifying stye, sore wisdom teeth, and uncomfortable bowel problems, yuck!), but overall the trip was very educational and never boring---a perfect vacation right before I go to college!

Now that I am back and the climax of my summer 2010 is over, there are many things to be done in such little time! I have less than a month to get everything packed up for college. My boyfriend and I will be hosting a yard sale, which I am extremely excited about!

Pictures from China's vacation will be posted soon!

In addition, I created my first Gmail Account and have a new email address specifically for my fellow bloggers and followers like you to contact me! Questions, comments, suggestions for blog improvement, and other can be emailed to me at:

xtheredangelx@gmail.com

So, you tell me: Have you accomplished what you wanted so far during the summertime? Are you looking forward to going back to school/work, or have you thoroughly enjoyed the lazy days of doing nothing productive? (hehe)

This is my 50th blog post of the year! =D

~TRA

#50: My Return From China

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Scrabble + Eggs = Scrabbled Eggs!

Question of the Day: What's your favorite Youtube Video to watch?

Firstly, I'd like to say HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! Thanks to all the wonderful daddies in this world for being so awesome. :) My sister and I cooked scrambled eggs and a variety of omelettes this morning for the family. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of breakfast but I'd be more than happy to describe the entire meal. A-HEM:

My Breakfast: A single brown egg, scrambled to perfection with creamy Velveeta cheese tossed in. A blend of Garlic Salt, Garlic Powder, and Coarse Ground Pepper seasoned over the egg. 1 slice of honey ham, fresh from the deli. A side of whole wheat bread, toasted lightly, and served with real butter.

I think I just made myself hungry again. xD

Yesterday, me, my sister, and my boyfriend played Scrabble! Here were the results: Sister: 156, Boyfriend: 156, Me: 128. I guess you don't have to be good at EVERYTHING you love, eh? It was tons of fun and our completed board looked pretty damn epic if you ask me!

Can you find the word that was used twice in this one game?

I thought the angle of this photo was really neat. Ahh, I love photography. :)

These poor loners were the only letters that we couldn't find places for. I couldn't let them sit out on a photo shoot, so I'm featuring them as well. :3

Ohh, and Cheryl Clarke is hosting an amazing sunglasses giveaway right now. Click HERE if you're interested in entering!! Best of luck to all entrants.

Hope you all had a great day!! Once again, Happy Father's Day!

~TRA

Scrabble + Eggs = Scrabbled Eggs!

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