Homely Hot Pot

Table full of hot pot meats, veggies, and a stove

On Thanksgiving Eve, my family and I decided hold a hot pot dinner at our relative's house. It was the first annual hot pot dinner; therefore, we brought a feast full of raw shabu shabu foods to eat, as well as two hot pot stoves (there were 10 people, so we had to double the size of the dinner). For those who have not tried a hot pot dinner, here is the scope of it! Hot pot is an East Asian fondue dinner in which you simmer your raw foods in hot soup bases; they could be chicken base, beef base, or satay base. You put the foods into the hot pot and let them simmer until they float on top of the soup. For chicken and beef, you have to dip and hold them in the soup until they are fully cooked. Here are some examples of the hot pot foods:

Variety of fish balls(white fish balls have delicious meat filling)

Raw shrimps

Raw chicken

Taro

Japanese udon

Mushrooms and white radish

Crispy skin tofu

Bean sprout and cilantro

Once the foods are cooked and steamed, you are ready to pick them up delicately and enjoy your mouth-watering, juicy meats and vegetables. You can dip them soy sauce and satay sauce to add a little spice! A hot pot dinner is wonderful on a frosty, rainy, or stormy night. It is guaranteed to warm you up and fill up your belly throughout the whole night!

Miscellaneous Marvels at Marukai

It was a cold, rainy Sunday night of November 6, 2011. In that case, my family and I decided to go to Marukai for shabu shabu (hot pot dinner) shopping spree!

While we were at Marukai of West Covina, I went on a little adventure and explored all around the interesting Japanese cultured market. I found some fascinating marvels, such as the mini Japanese DVD store (which happened to be filled with Japanese romantic dramas). The prices of DVDs were equivalent to 5 U.S. dollars(or 386 Japanese yen).

In addition to unique stacks of Japanese DVDs, there were cute toys! These toys can be used as practical tools as well. One notable toy/tool is a Jack & Friends animal blanket. It is a blanket that could be a panda plush toy. Then it would transform into a cuddly baby blanket when you roll it out!

There were also many neat Japanese snacks, toys, and realistic food-like erasers on a convenient shelf, which is similar to a gum shelf at a check-out line.

Within a sea of beer bottles, there emerged two giant kegs of Japanese sake sailing on a boat!

A Feastful and Paranormal Halloween

Irvine's Giant Jack-O-Lantern hot air balloon (at a distance)

This Halloween weekend, I made a special trip to visit one of my good friend's house in the city of Santa Margarita for a Halloween Potluck! My group of 10 friends and I planned to arrive at 1:30 p.m., but everyone came late at 2 p.m. Unfortunately, 5 friends could not make it to the fun Halloween party due to uncontrollable circumstances/obligations (studying for midterms, family issues, and other parties). Despite the small number of people who showed up, we tried to make the party fun and enjoyable. The party will never be forgetful! My group and I brought a feast enough to fill the entire kingdom (5 mountainous platters of chow mein, egg rolls, chicken and potato enchiladas, spam musubi, and rice). In addition, there were freshly baked peanut butter brownies and soft chewy chocolate chip cookies stacked delicately on rows of silver platters. All of them were homemade, which made the dining experience like a delicious heaven! 

Satisfied with our ravenous hunger, we migrated to the living room to enjoy a classic comedy movie: Mr. Deeds. While my friend popped in the DVD in the machine, we joyfully sang of parodies of pop songs and spontaneously dancing. Then the lights dimmed and we immersed ourselves watching the high digital quality movie, which made the scenes popped out of the screen. We giddily laughed as we witnessed character's downfalls and faults (mainly dealing with awkward, romantic scenes). 

When the movie ended, we headed straight to our cars. We ended up driving to Irvine's Pumpkin Patch! This event features a carousel, a kid playground (with a long, squiggly-looking orange bike), and the famous jack-o-lantern hot air balloon ride. I always wanted to ride on a hot air balloon, and that time was the perfect opportunity for me! We hopped onto the metallic safety cart of the hot air balloon. Little did I know that the balloon was attached to a wired cable (hooked from the ground and onto the balloon). I was looking toward flying solo in the air and freely floating toward the moon and stars. However, I am content when I am surrounded by my friends and sharing the experience with them as we look down at the city lights.

Then we went to the movies to watch Paranormal Activity 3, which was our anticipated movie of this Halloween! We had our eye-covered, loud screaming, heart attacks during fright-filled scenes. Overall, the movie left us with good laughs with a little bit of paranoia!