Thursday, March 27, 2008
I'm Minty
| You Are Mint Green |
 Balanced and calm, you have mastered the philosophy of living well. Your friends seek you out for support, and you are able to bring stability to chaotic situations. You're very open and cheerful - and you feel like you have a lot of freedom in life. Your future may hold any number of exciting things, and you're ready for all of them! |
Speaking of things that are green, I was just wondering if anyone out there reads Green Is Her New Blog. Anyone? Just wondering :) Don't worry. I won't be upset if you don't. This said, I really hope that you do! The blog is the brainchild of the one and only Curiosity Killer. She's enlisted the help of Fancy Pantsy, Farmer John (my husband) and yours truly to collaborate and share our ideas on everything green. *Ahem* Hubby, you need to post something new soon! CK and Fancy are two of the coolest gals ever (in person and in the blog world)!
Finally, and on an entirely different subject, this photo is for Sandy at Momisodes. In one of her recent posts, she blogged about teaching her daughter how to use chopsticks. She included the cutest photos of her wee one, along with the grooviest trainer chopsticks.
This prompted me to post a photo of my chopsticks. One of my students from South Korea thought it would be funny to give me this:
Yes, I realize that this is for children. I have a problem though. I'm Asian and I don't know how to use chopsticks properly. I can eat with chopsticks without any problems, but it just doesn't look...uhhh...graceful. My hands are all clumsy and things tend to plop onto the table. It's embarrassing.My poor grandmother (on my Dad's side). I LOVE going to Dim Sum with her whenever we're in New York. I just get anxiety ridden though. Just the thought of all those people in the restaurant knowing how to use chopsticks and me dropping things everywhere...*sigh* Okay, I'm not really that bad. Like I said, I can manage. It just doesn't look that pretty!
When I was teaching in Japan years ago, I ate at a student's house. We were all sitting at the kotatsu for supper and all of a sudden, my student's grandmother reached over and hit my hand! She hit my hand! She noticed that I wasn't holding my chopsticks properly and that was serious business! My punishment? I spent almost an hour picking up grains of rice (one by one) and putting them into a jar with my chopsticks.
Anyway, Sandy...this photo is for you! The chopsticks are smaller than regular ones. They're made for little hands :) They also have a "guide" where children can slip their fingers into the proper position to facilitate picking up their food. When the child has mastered this, you can remove the guide and the child can use the chopsticks without assistance.
I'm 30-something and I still have the guide on mine.
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City girl moves to the country, falls in love, and marries a farmer. She tries to incorporate her city ways with her new country lifestyle and blogs to keep in touch with friends, family & students who live far, far away :) Can this city girl go country? Watch as she learns all sorts of exciting things about life on the farm and in a small rural community. *UPDATE* We are now parents! Our baby girl was born on Nov. 11, 2008 (at 28 weeks gestation- 12 weeks premature, but she's quite the trooper)!!!
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14 comments:
Those are SO COOL!!!! Seriously, I have never seen anything like that. Well, it could be because I've never been anywhere near South Korea :) But those are really neat!
OMG about your students grandma :O That is terrible! My grandmother used to make me pick up cooked rice from my bowl, grain by grain, but sadly I still use my chopsticks incorrectly. Hey, but I manage to eat though!
You should totally whip these out at Dim Sum next time ;)
Thanks so much for posting the pic and the link!
You are my twin!
I also don't hold chopsticks correctly and am embarrassed to watch my "whiter" friends do it with such ease (my husband included). My father gave up trying to teach me at some point and I've yet to re-teach myself.
We go out to Dim Sum a few times a month and I am always looking around to see if anyone else is holding them "wrong". Sure enough there are a few in there every time and no one is slapping their hands (thankfully!). I'll have to watch out the next time though. Some grandma my smack me!
Oh and BTW - I do read Green is her New Blog. :-)
Hugs!
oh my gosh! i can't believe the student's grandmother hit your hand!!!! she'd probably smack me across the hands too! just cause we're Asian doesn't mean we have to automatically know how to use chopsticks...especially in a graceful way. I'm totally stupid when it comes to graceful chopstick usage too. i tend to drop my gyoza in the soy sauce at least a couple times.
but the little bunnies are cute. i'd use them just to get a laugh.
My very best friend in school was Italian. One day she brought home the perfect Italian boy to meet her family for dinner...spaghetti.
Well, he committed the Italian sin of cutting the spaghetti instead of rolling it on the fork.
The grandmother refused to continue the meal with him, but she didn't hit him.
I wonder if they can be found anywhere in the GTA... my kids (and me, actually) SO need these! I think Ian even holds them better than I do.
I remember the first time I met a great-uncle, he was the head of my mom's side and in his 8os but scary...it was years ago, I was about 18 at the time, he lived in NYC, and we were eating dinner at his daughter's place... and then at one point he sticks his hand out and says "STOP", points right at me and says ..."She is holding her chopsticks incorrectly. She's holding it like a pen"... and then looks accusingly at my mother ..."How could you let her go through life like this?"
TOTAL. MORTIFICATION.
But then Mom shrugs her shoulders, says she was trying since I was 3 to get me to hold them properly, and that this was just me. I wasn't starving.
This reminds me of what a wonderful mom she can be sometimes ;)
Sandy:
Tee hee :) Thought you'd like the chopsticks. When I read your post, I just had to post something about my chopsticks!
Cherry:
You know what? My husband even uses chopsticks better than I do! LOL!
BTW, you are still my twin...movie preferences aside! ;)
I will watch Enchanted again though. I think being on a plane and tired didn't help in my appreciation of the movie.
Deb:
OMG! I do the EXACT same thing!!! I always drop my gyoza in the soy sauce! It usually splatters all over the table and all over my shirt. Not pretty.
Jan:
Oh no! I'm guilty of cutting my spaghetti noodles in half with a knife too! Seriously! Otherwise, I get big, ugly spaghetti stains all over my shirt. It never fails! I simply cannot eat spaghetti without staining my shirt. So sad.
Karen:
I'm not sure, but I think I've seen them in Chinatown! If not, I can pick up a pair for Liam, Little G and you next time I'm in Sudbury. There's a Korean restaurant and Asian grocery store there, and my student bought the chopsticks there. He got me a pair and he got my mom one too. She's the person who always asks for a fork and Pepsi (or Coke) when she goes to a Chinese restaurant. We keep telling her that she can't do that! No one uses a fork OR drinks anything other than tea or water at a Chinese restaurant! LOL! ;)
Seriously, next time I'm in Sudbury I can pick up some chopsticks for you guys. The bunnies come in two colours to choose from (pink and blue).
Hi C.
I learned how to use chopsticks as soon as I arrived in Phnom Penh. I remember picking up peanuts for practice. After nearly 8 years, I can now say I am comfortable using chopsticks :)
Have a fun weekend!
I sure have enjoyed catching up on your posts C. Looks like I need to trade my spoon in and go on the "chopstick" diet!!!LOL
I'd probably be better off using it as a skewer!
I love the training chopsticks, I need me a pair. :)
ZJ:
I can't believe I've been using chopsticks ever since I was a little girl, but I still don't know how to hold them properly! I hold them like I hold a pen!
Uncivil:
Hey! :) How are you feeling? Better, I hope! Well, now I've come down with some horrible bug :( I've been feeling ill all week :( I don't know if it's possible, but it feels as though whatever it is that I've got has gotten worse!
Lisa Marie:
Next time I'm in Sudbury, I'll try to pick up a pair for you :)
OMG those chopsticks are too cute!! I sure could have used a pair when i first went to Korea...the family i lived with kept asking me if i wanted "pork" and I kept saying i don;t eat pork...but later realized they were asking me if i wanted fork...
those metal chopsticks i learned to use really helped me in gaining the correct method for usage-if used wrong they really left indentation in your fingers and it was painful...i learned in a few weeks!! Now the fact that i use them with my left hand is probably an issue but ya know...there is only so much one can do !!!
I'm beginning to think Sandy is everywhere.
Hi, Sandy! :)