Peanut's Red Egg & Ginger Party

One of the things I find amazing and exciting about B's family are the cultural traditions. This is a perfect example.

In February B's parents threw Peanut a Red Egg and Ginger party.

Traditionally this party is thrown when the baby turns 1 month old. It was at this party that parents would introduce their new baby to family and friends as well as announce the name of the new baby. In some families it was normal to all decide on a name together at the party.



In ancient China (as in many other places) infant mortality rates were high and many babies didn't live long. It was common to withhold naming the baby until they were sure s/he would survive. It was thought that if the baby survived to 1 month they were likely to make it.

This was also the time that the mother, who would have been resting and taking care of baby indoors for the first month, was able to step out. After a month it seemed that both mother and baby were recovered from the birthing process.

This was cause for a big celebration!



Why Red Egg & Ginger? It was customary for the hosts of the party to give the guests eggs dyed red. The egg is a symbol of fertility and new life, where as the color red is a symbol of happiness. The shape of the egg shows unity and harmony.

I didn't get a picture of it but B's cousin led me thru the process of rubbing the egg on Peanuts brow and face to bring him fertility. I seriously love things like that, when he has his own baby I'm going to tell him it's because I rubbed that red egg on his face!

Ginger has to do with bringing balance to the yin (cold) and yang (hot). Ginger brings a touch of heat to the dishes served in order to help the mother. After giving birth the mother is often tired and weak (too yin) and needs the added heat.

The soup shown above is called Gai Jow and is made with chicken, wood ear mushrooms and Chinese whiskey. It's said to increase milk production.

It was really, really tasty. I suppose for the next baby, I ought to eat this for the first several months :)



What you see in this bowl is tim suen gee guerck which is basically sweet and sour pigs feet. It's made with a special, very dark, sweet black rice chinese vinegar.

This is to help flush the blood and also rebuild strength. The calcium from the bones is also supposed to be very good for you.

I'll be honest, I had some of the pigs feet but not too much.... but I loved the sweet and sour broth-y part. I drank quite a bit of it.

Both dishes were made by B's aunt and mom. Traditionally both would be eaten daily for the month following birth.



At the restaurant there was an incredible amount of food. (Of course there was.) It was all so incredibly good that just thinking about it makes me salivate.



There was Filet Mignon medallions, Honey Walnut Shrimp, Garlic Green Beans, Chicken with Black Mushroom, Vegetable Spring Rolls, Fried Rice and the star of the show...



Roasted Suckling Pig. This was really incredible. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of it once we started eating it. The skin was so crispy and the meat was sooo juicy. I have no idea how they got so much flavor in every bite.

My favorite part of the picture is the crispy little tail!



Most of B's family along with family friends were able to make it. There were just about 100 people there to welcome our little Peanut into the family.

It was an incredible experience to be in a room with so many people who are so genuinely happy for you and want the best in the world for your baby. We're lucky to belong to such a family.



Little Peanut did wonderfully! We were there for about 4 hours and he was passed around the entire time. Constantly in other peoples arms, surrounded by unfamiliar faces and he didn't fuss at all. The kid loves being social.

In the picture above you see him with his Great Aunt Mabelle. I recently found out that she is 94 years old. I was completely floored, you should see the way she hopped into the Highlander. I still don't really believe it.



Another tradition is the giving of Lysee or "lucky money" and Peanut was very spoiled. I mean, when is Peanut not spoiled?

We've officially started his college fund.



B's aunt made thee little booties as favors and sent them from Boston. Our niece made all these little thank you cards with the red eggs on them.

So much time and effort went into the planning of this party.



Thank goodness that B's mom and dad are so good about taking pictures. I forgot my camera about 15 minutes into the party and they managed to take pictures of every single table!

I love this picture of B and his cousins.



Here are the next generation of cousins!

Peanus is one lucky boy. It was an amazing time full of fantastic tradition and I am forever grateful to be a part of this family.



A huge thank you to B's parents!

The Pig's Head

Several of you have been wondering what in the world B did with the pig's head that we brought home from Sacramento.

I'm gonna show you... but I'll warn you now that parental discretion is advised (if you happen to be looking at this post with a child). The last few pictures would have given me nightmares. :)

I have a very active imagination.



The pig's head was originally part of this awesome roasted suckling pig dish from Peanut's Red Egg & Ginger Party. I'll tell you all about the party tomorrow. It was one of the coolest events ever.



For a little while it was just sitting in our refrigerator. That's when I noticed that B had eaten the ears.

Yep, he just ate those crispy little things like chips.

Then he cut off the cheeks (one of which you see above), stuck it in the oven and ate that. I get that. Lots of soft meat, juicy fat and crisp skin. B loves fat.

When I asked him what he did with the rest of it he mentioned he froze the head. Apparently it was already cut in half, so it fit quite nicely.



This is where the pictures get scary.

I wish we had a witches cauldron.

I desperately need some freezer space and our freezer is jam packed with stuff. B never throws ANYTHING away. It's very nice not to waste but I swear, we will have 2 wonton skins left and he'll freeze the suckers. We have a freezer full of random.



I told him we had to clear out the freezer so he decided to use the head, along with a chicken carcass to make a stock of sorts.

Do you see what I mean about the freezer? I have no idea how he fits all of these things in it but who has a pig's head and a chicken carcass in their freezer?

Anyway, I couldn't help but poke and prod the thing with the tongs. It kinda weirded me out. I forgot to take pictures of the inside. Very...interesting.



In some households this would be completely normal.

I suppose in our household it will be. Peanut will grow up with scary pig's head soup, where as I did not.

Seeing this as a child would have totally freaked me out.

Anyway, there you have it.

What did B do with the pig's head? He ate the ears like chips, broiled and ate the cheeks and cooked down the heads for stock.

The joy of breastfeeding

A while back I did an honest post about how hard breastfeeding is.

What I didn't talk about is lovely it is.

There are some very tangible reasons why breastfeeding is wonderful. One being the bundles of money you can save by not having to formula feed. Of course, this wasn't the case with me but it would've been nice. Man, the money we spend on formula.

Another much more exciting reason that I loved breastfeeding was the increased metabolism. Like super, mega-metabolism! Really. I gained 21 lbs during my pregnancy, lost 18 lbs in the first 10 days and because of the increased metabolism I was able to keep it off. I even kept it off even when I ate whatever I could get my hands on, mostly all those things my pregnancy and diabetic diet wouldn't allow.

I mean, this reason alone made me rethink the amount of time I had originally hoped to breastfeed. Suddenly extending that period or even pumping for 1, 2 or perhaps 20 years might be nice.

I know it was the metabolism that kept the weight off because when my milk production started to dissipate I gained 5 lbs. Now I'm back to having to control my intake which isn't nearly as fun.

I loved breastfeeding because I felt like every single ounce that Peanut drank was like some kind of protective serum. Doing that for him, giving him that, fulfills such a basic need to provide for and protect your child.



Instant comfort, especially in those first few months, was something that I was constantly grateful for. Nothing else soothed Peanut so quickly and so completely. No matter what happened or how upset he got I knew that some quiet time breastfeeding would calm him and most likely leave him sleeping peacefully.

I loved watching that little bird mouth searching and then hearing the subsequent yum, yum sounds as he slurped away. I may have occasionally laughed when he moved, lost his latch and ended up getting squirt in the face.

Mostly I loved those special quiet moments. The power of providing something that noone else could. The closeness of the both of us as we sat together. I loved looking down at his sweet face and feeling that bond between us.

Excuse the past tense/present tense confusion in the post. I'm currently in the last of my efforts to increase my milk flow. I'm almost exclusively pumping now.

Regardless of whether or not I'll continue to provide breast milk I am so glad to have been able to give him even a bottle of breastmilk a day. I'm glad to have shared all these little moments... and it totally made the rocky beginning worth all the pain and trauma.

I suppose that's what motherhood is all about... getting to look back at the pain and trauma and confirming that it was all worth it in the end. :)

Shortbread Brownies

I made these brownies for the brunch I went to the other day. You know, something light and brunch-y, like dark chocolate brownies with shortbread.

A brownie is just not enough, now it needs to have a shortbread crust.

It's a Better Homes and Gardens Recipe (printable version here) and it would be really easy and fast... unless your a scatterbrained mess like me.



Preheat your oven to 350. Line 9x9x2 inch baking pan with foil with the foil coming out over the sides. You're going to use that as handles to lift the bars out later.

In a bowl mix 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup brown sugar.

Using a pastry blender, cut in 1/2 cup butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.



Of course, I couldn't find my pastry blender (and didn't think about my mixer or food processor) and used both a potato masher (really?!) and my fingers.

Stir in 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips.

Actually, I just chopped up some regular chip. I didn't read the directions carefully and added 3 times the correct amount of chips.



Press it all into the pan and bake for about 8 minutes.



In a large bowl combine 1 1/3 granulated sugar, 3/4 cup flour, 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt.

I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa... so glad to finally have it in the stores around here.

Add 3 eggs, 1/3 cup melted butter and 1 tbs vanilla. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate pieces and spread over crust.

This is when I realized that we only had 1 egg. It was 10 pm the night before the brunch and I was tired. So I went to bed and decided to finish the brownies in the morning.



I neglected to take anymore pictures but B got up and went to the store. I mixed the remaining ingredients and poured it over the crust.

Only I forgot to add the chocolate chips, so I just threw some on top of the batter.

Bake in the oven for 40 minutes.

At this point I went to pull the brownies out and realized.... the oven wasn't on.



Eventually the brownies were completed and despite my spastic recipe making they turned out really good. I might change up the recipe next time and do regular cocoa with dark chocolate chips. Tons of possibilities.



Careful though, eat too many of these and you'll end up with fat sausage fingers, dimples instead of knuckles and rubberband wrists!

The dark side of Peanut

I call this picture "I missed my nap".

I'll be honest, he doesn't really cry much.

When he does it's either time to eat or time to nap and a bit when he was sick.

Oh but he gets frustrated. Life as a baby can be quite frustrating, you know.

Lots of issues to sort thru.

Those first several months can be intense. This was taken last month...


You know, on the day the kid turned 3 months old he actually glared at me.

I was trying to get him to take his binky before we got in the car. I stuck it in his mouth and he pushed it out. I stuck it back in. He pushed it back out.

I stuck it back in and the Peanut pushed it out of his mouth as he gave a frustrated grunt and glared directly at me.

Both my parents witnessed it. They can testify that it was a deliberate I don't want that!

Clearly, I should pay more attention.

God help us.

Domain Disaster

This picture is exactly what I feel like doing. A series of stupid mistakes and I've ended up without the spontaneousclapping.com domain name.

I purchased the domain name last year and it was set up for recurring yearly payment. I had forgotten that my account changed when I got married so the payment was declined.

Go daddy apparently tried to give me a heads up by sending me offers for discounts on buying domain names. When I clicked on the links they reminded me that I had a renewal coming up. Logging into my account I checked to make sure it would automatically be paid.

I was getting so many go daddy offers this past year that I flagged the offers emails to spam.

Today I got a different email from service@godaddy. This wasn't an offer so it didn't go to spam. It was a cancellation notice.

I called them immediately and they very nicely said that the renewal would not have shown up on my online account as having been declined.

Unfortunately, spontaneousclapping.com was on backorder and was released immediately to someone else.

So here I am.

I could cry.

Now when you search google for a past post you get... nothing! I can't believe someone was waiting for spontaneousclapping.com. Does that seem odd to you?

I can't believe I forgot it was linked to my old account.

I see that I can pay $70 plus commission to have them go to the current holder of the domain name and have them negotiate a price to sell it back to me. So whatever the current holder deems the proper amount, plus a commission amount, plus the $70.

What a load.

I'm totally babbling. Anyway, I'm still here!

You can find me at spontaneousclapping.blogspot.com

I'm trying to spread the word so I don't lose touch with all my friends, family, followers and lurkers!

Sorry for all the confusion, I don't even really know what the next step is.

I have a headache.

Photo Album Envy

The very first time B brought me home to his parents he showed me these photo albums. Ever since then I have wanted a collection just like it.



B's mom started the first album on her honeymoon in Mexico in 1965.



Under the pictures are brief explanations of where the pictures were taken, who is in them and the date.



Love this shot from their 1st anniversary.

Both of them are fantastic at getting pictures of people. I tend to bring my camera to functions, get some starting shots and then forget about it. I need to spend more time getting pictures of people and not just the food!



Here is little B at 4 months old- the same age as Peanut.

I love looking back thru these at family and friends, different places, the change in photos and the change in fashion.

Every time I pull one out I hear stories and memories and their are sighs and laughter to go along with them.



All the albums are numbered and in order. On the other side of the partition are special albums. I just recently found out these exist and haven't been through them yet.

For instance, each of the grand kids have one.

An entire family history.



So I vowed to start printing my pictures monthly because I have a tendency to just leave them on memory cards. I've also noticed that when I order pictures they come out of order which is a hassle to reorganize if I get too far behind.

You know, it wasn't that easy to find a large picture album. Everything is about scrapbooking these days.



I have albums started from the time I found out I was pregnant and I'm hoping I can get photo books done of the wedding and the honeymoon.

Have the blog really helped me get organzized for this. I love having an online journal.



I just need to go back and add in some dates and descriptions and we are on our way to our own family history!

Oh and I need to stop taking 500 pictures a day of the same subject. :)

Do you print out your pictures? Do you put them in albums? Do you scrapbook?