Yet more Local Treasures

In my latest post, I talked about finding fun things to do locally. Today's post continues on that theme, partially because I need to write happy thoughts after the Gators lost to Georgia this past weekend, and partially because we found a few more local treasures this weekend!

Fifi's always ready to have a good time!

The first local treasure we explored this weekend was the Downtown Produce grocery store. Our neighbor SaRah promoted it on her Facebook page, and thereafter I started noticing signs in town advertising the place. Perhaps the one other factor that drew me to Downtown Produce was noticing that I saw a truck for it almost every day, which, to my simple mind at least, indicated that the store got fresh incoming goods very often.

Fresh food! Yes!

Downtown Produce certainly didn't disappoint when it came to the fresh food. They have an impressive assortment of fresh vegetables that both look beautiful and are competitively priced. Typically, we would get our produce at a local Asian food store called Jason's Best Produce, which had very competitive prices and also had a fair selection of Asian vegetables that simply aren't available in most other grocery stores, Downtown Produce included. However, to be frank, sometimes the quality at Jason's was not really up to snuff. In general, Downtown Produce has a little less in the area of specifically Asian veggies, but it has a huge selection of other stuff, including meats, cooked goods, wines, cheeses, and a deli, at prices that were comparable or slightly higher than Jason's, but significantly lower at my favorite chain supermarket, Publix.

Downtown Produce has a beautiful spread of food

It also has a very home-town feel to it, and was packed on the Saturday morning we visited!

After the devastating loss to Georgia on Saturday, the fam and I were determined to have a good time on Sunday.

I feel for ya, Jordan, I really do...

I'd heard my photographer friends rave up and down about a place nicknamed the Viera Wetlands. For whatever reason, I always think of Viera as being this place that is sooo far away. In reality, it's about a 20 minute drive, which isn't far at all, and definitely gives the place eligibility as a "local treasure". So, on Sunday, we decided to go and see what the fuss was all about, especially seeing as how the weather had cooled down quite a bit (the Florida sun has a way of ruining days spent at wide open areas like wetlands...)

It was a beautiful day for a hike in the Wetlands!

We got there kind of late in the morning, which, in retrospect, made it kind of a shoddy day for good photography with my DSLR (you typically want some more overcast for photography purposes as bright, sunny days tend to end up with photos that are either washed out or features that are very dark in the shadows). But on the flipside, the colors were actually quite good, and the "Full Focus" camera on my Nokia Astound did a great job of capturing the day:

Washed-out shot, but still cute

We didn't see any gators on this particular hike...

Forward!

Ducks, taken with my Canon Rebel XSi

Wetlands are always good for bird-watching

Panorama from my Nokia Astound - one of my favorite features of the phone

Ducks, taken with the Nokia Astound. The camera phone tended to get the colors better than the DSLR

Coincidentally, we ran into my boss at the tail end of the hike, who was also visiting for the first time for a bike ride with a friend! Unfortunately, I was so caught off guard that I didn't think to snap a photo. I did, however, capture the details of our hike with the nifty Sports Tracker app, one of, if not the, favorite app on my phone. Click on "Satellite" to view the terrain of the hike in this interactive widget!

After lunch, we cleaned up the house and then set out for another adventure in the evening. At first, we'd planned to simply go to the playground to wear out Fifi a bit. However, as we were pulling up towards the park, we noticed a huge crowd out by the giant local chapel nearby, and decided to check it out. Turns out, it was the annual Fall Fest, a free community event where families line up cars decorated as Halloween booths and kids go "trick or treating" from car to car. There was also free water, chips, hot dogs, and inflatable rides! The only thing was the waits were incredibly long, but it was still an awesome, and unexpected, local treasure!

Free hot dogs!

Waiting in line to trick-or-treat. Unfortunately, we were caught unprepares and weren't in costume!

This LEGO family was a big hit

Fifi waiting in line to get into the bounce house!

All in all, it was a productive weekend... maybe a little too productive on Sunday, as we were totally beat at the end of the day! We'll have to pace ourselves more in the future!

Relaxing!

Having Fun Locally

Avid readers of Grant's Pad know that the Grant's Pad clan is quite well traveled. The short list below is a smattering of the "more than a day-trip" places we've run to over the years:

• Taipei, Taiwan
• Shanghai, China
• Cozumel, Mexico
• Denali National Park, Alaska
• Vancouver, Canada
• Smoky Mountains, Tennessee
• Washington, D.C.
• Tallahassee, Florida
• The Bahamas
• Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
• Las Vegas, Nevada

However, as readers who are also parents of young children can probably relate, traveling great distances for extended periods of time can often be quite a bit of a hassle. With Fifi out of diapers during most of the day, we at least don't have to carry a huge supply of diapers any more, but even so, we have to account for having to carry her around when she doesn't want to walk, and we have to consider the stroller-friendliness of our destinations as well.

As a result, we've developed a taste for short, sweet, few-hours-at-a-time trips. This, of course, can be challenging if you live in sort of a small town like we do, but at the same time, it's forced us to look for the diamonds in the rough. As it turns out, there are quite a few of these local treasures in Brevard County. A few that we've hit in the past include the Venue Formerly Known as the Brevard Art Museum, Erna Nixon Park, Turkey Creek Preserve, and, a little further down the road, Kennedy Space Center.

These past few weeks, we've re-visited another old haunt, the Astronaut Memorial Planetarium and Observatory, and visited a new place, the Melbourne Auditorium!

The Planetarium and Observatory is a particularly special find, since it offers free access to a small science museum and the awesome observatory telescope every weekend, starting Friday Night. This past weekend, they had a special Halloween event, where the exhibits were all dressed up with a little extra Halloween flair. Unfortunately, Fifi got a little spooked by all the scariness, but we still managed to get a few photos with smiles:

Yes, this is the same Ghost on a Space Capsule that I had a picture of in the last post.

The second event I'm highlighting in this post was held at the Melbourne Auditorium. The Melbourne Auditorium is kind of a dingy little venue that I had been to a few times previously when our company held mass meetings, but this was the first time that I went with family. The occasion was a free concert by the Melbourne Community Orchestra. Incidentally, we'd heard about this free event during yet another free event - Melbourne's monthly Friday Fest! The performances were about what I'd expect for a free show, but it was a fun outing and Fifi had a great time climbing up and down the stairs and entertaining the other patrons around us:

Sitting down and getting ready for the show to start

Applause!

So there are definitely some fun, free activities that can be had locally, if you just know where to look!

I leave you with a cute video of Fifi getting her two-year old shots! I wonder if she knew what she was getting into when she obediently took her pants off!

Fifi is Two!

Two years ago yesterday, at 7:55 PM, Cherry and I welcomed our first child into the world! Fifi has now officially entered the "Terrible Twos" phase of life, and she certainly has the personality to show for it!

Once fearless, all of her "little girl" squeamishness is reaching a head. Fifi is terrified of little critters: she'll point out lizards, bugs, pieces of lint that look like they possibly could be bugs, and she is terrified by Kiwi, my brother Ed's puppy, to the point that she won't even share the same open floor as the dog! She also inherently fears the spooky decorations people have put up in preparation for Halloween - though I can't fully blame her on this one, as some of our neighbors really go overboard with the scary factor on these decorations that scare the pants off of most of the neighborhood kids...

Eventually, Fifi realized this Mercury capsule wasn't a monster, even though there is a ghost riding on top of it...

An unfortunate casualty of Fifi's recent timidness is her former love of swimming. Like all kids, Fifi loves playing in the water, so we decided to start her on swimming lessons. At first, she seemed to have a pretty good time:

At one point last week we decided to try to get her some more practice. In the process, she took on quite a bit of water, so her latest lesson wasn't quite as pleasant... guess we'll have to take our time a little more from here on out!

The most common symptom of Terrible Twos is a toddler's aptitude to say "No!" to just about everything. Fifi has a built-in "advantage" here; as discussed earlier, she is fully capable of saying "No!" in multiple languages! Aside from the basic blanket rejection, Fifi has also picked up on a small arsenal of other phrases to deflect commands or otherwise get her own way, such as:

• Neh-Tai! (Next time)
• Shaap! (Stop! Though it could do as "shut up" in a pinch... this does mean "stop" though)
• Listen me!
• Yee ta! (This is 给他 (pinyin gei3 ta), meaning "give to her". She says this when she wants you to give something to her, cutely not realizing that she's referring to a third person...)
• Sui ta qu! (随他去 (pinyin sui2 ta1 qu4), meaning "whatever she wants". She says this when you ask her to stop doing something and she doesn't want to stop)
• Tai xiao le! (太小了 (pinyin tai4 xiao3 le), meaning "too small!" She says this when other kids are ahead of her on a ride or a toy she wants, implying that they are too young for said activity...)
• La la! (辣辣 (pinyin la4 la4), meaning "spicy", which she uses as an excuse to not eat things she doesn't want to eat, regardless of the actual flavor of the food...)

I'm sure I'm forgetting more than a few! As aggravating as it is, it's quite entertaining and interesting to see her learning to communicate!

Melinda came back in town this past weekend for her first fall break at UNC, which was a good coincidence with Fifi's birthday, so we all headed to my parents' house in South Florida to get the growing family together. I haven't uploaded the photos from my real camera yet, so for now, camera phone pics and YouTube videos will have to do!

Fifi singing 一闪一闪亮晶晶 (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Chinese) with Grandma:

Fifi's birthday cake and song! At the end, she pronounces her age!

Eating cake!

Panorama of Grandma and Grandpa's house

Looking forward to another great year with Fifi!

Fifi gets ready to hit the road for her next year!

Summer Trip to Wuxi and Taiwan, Part IV: Hiking at Da Tie

One of the more exciting encounters for Fifi on our trip to Taiwan was meeting Mochi, my aunts small dog. It was basically Fifi's first close-up experience with a furry animal!

Running Away

Cautiously approaching

A video:

On to the travelogues though!

Taiwan is considered by many travelers of East Asia to be somewhat of a paradise for hikers. Though it is a small island, Taiwan has a very mountainous terrain, with peaks reaching into the clouds. We never hiked that high on this trip, but we still squeezed in a number of hikes. The first of these was to Da Tie, which literally means "blacksmith". The hike was relatively uneventful, but it was Fifi's first experience on a real mountain trail, and, as such, of course worth documenting!

Cherry had come down with a cold that would plague her for much of the rest of the trip, so she ended up sitting out of the hikes...

Lovely weather for a hike!

This structure apparently used to be something of a convenience store for hikers in the old days, though I'm not sure how long ago that exactly was...

As you can see, Fifi was pretty enthusiastic about her first hike!

Gators Google+ YouTube Spot!

Nice.

Cherry's Culinary Exploits, Update 1

A few more new dishes from this past weekend!

Pork Bones and Lotus Root soup. Lotus root is an interesting ingredient - it adds a sweet flavor to the soup base and has something of a mix between a crunchy and starchy texture. The pork bones are cooked for several hours to the point where they are chewable (and a great source of calcium!)

Moving away from the pan-Asian motif - a Panko encrusted Tilapia! The fish is super tender and the breading is light and crunchy. Great with some sweet chili sauce, but as we didn't have any, ketchup worked in a heartbeat!

A Halloween special: Korean-Style Pumpkin Porridge! We cut open the pumpkin, de-seeded it, and put it in the oven for an hour or so before pureeing it and adding salt and sugar to taste. The round balls in there are home-made sticky rice balls which add some variety to the texture!

A late addition - Noodle Soup with Pork, Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage, Tomatoes, and Onion. Adapted from a recipe from my parents that originally used ox-tail or beef short ribs. One of my favorites!

Cherry's Culinary Exploits

Ya's been on a bit of a culinary mission these last few weeks. She's always been a pretty good cook, but we've been keeping things pretty simple since Fifi was born. Seemingly tired of the repetitive, simple dishes, she's gone and tried her hand some fairly work-intensive dishes to add to her repertoire. I've only captured photos of some of these, and unfortunately I only had the patience to snap them with my phone before devouring them!

Here we have an egg wrap, stuffed with pork fried rice and pan-fried potato hash, topped with a squirt of ketchup. Pork ribs and greens round out the meal!

A take on Bananas Foster. Cherry didn't use a flambe for this - just a regular frying pan. The caramelized sugar was awesome. Ice cream and mandarin orange slices on the side!

And now, a Chinese classic - dong po rou. Chunks of three-layered pork (lean meat, fat, and skin) braised in a brown sauce! Some Shanghai Bok Choy and bean sprouts added some green to this meal.

Here we have a Chinese-style Pulled pork sandwich. Pork shoulder slow cooked all day in a brown sauce, topped with some black beans and served over French bread and a slice of cheddar cheese! I added some Tabasco for an extra kick!

Another Chinese classic - "Lion Head" Meatballs! These are meatballs wrapped in a gluten skin. This one I snapped while the dish was still cooking. The finished dish is less round and looks a little more like, well, a meatball wrapped in some sort of skin.

Some other recent dishes that I didn't get photos of are wontons and red bean paste filled rice flour balls! Those balls were really a pain to make... I don't think I'll get a chance to get a photo of those...