Life and the Foods That Feed It

The Family decided to take on New York on our latest escapades. First, we stopped in the Poconos for a little rest and relaxation. Well what my dear wife deemed as rest and relaxation. We started off the first day taming the tame waters that was the Delaware River. The day started off with a quaint breakfast and sandwich shop that we ate at three times since it was close, fast and affordable. Then the 3 hour or so trip rowing a raft down the river commenced.

This is commonly referred to as the before picture.

Fam vs. Wild.

The wind was howling from the south that day my friends. Cooling but a beast to row in. With the lack of water movement, each stroke of the oars was almost in vain. The crew for our inflated vessel consisted of a tiny for his age 5 year old, a 9 year old, my sweet wife, and myself. We fought the wind and we gallantly fought the water. Paddling at full force against the beating sun, we got weary indeed and decided to take a break along the shore. The kids got out cooling their aching arms and I lowered my head with the feeling that the river might do me in.


Look at the sheer agony on our faces.

Being a great dad by trying to cool them off.

Yes folks, we even ran into some baby frogs and tad poles while out and about. Jealous? I know you are.

After a quiet break, dip in the water, and some excitement, we got our second wind and went for it. The 9 year old broke first. She fought a heroic fight but was succumbed with worn arms and the desire to cool herself in the fierce sea. My wife broke next and just laid herself out on the aft of the ship and waited to be saved. My 5 year old sure persevered paddling until he was border-lined insane. His frantic strokes were in vain though since his paddle barely even broke the water’s surface. I willed myself to carry my family on. My broad strokes and intensity increased with each passing minute. There was a burn on my arms the likes I hopefully will never feel again. My hands were aching under the strain of such a heavy burden. Then the 5 year old went over the side of the boat to join his sister. Both had given themselves to the vast sea. And I stopped, overwhelmed and let the slow drift take us…

Scared to death and hoping she can just to hang on.

100 % exhausted.

The best first mate since Gilligan made his way aboard the S.S. Minnow.

In the end, I didn’t think I was going to make it. I was about to start dumping the last of the dead weight off the boat when I saw the area we were supposed to dock. Little did my wife know, she was close to going overboard. I got the kids back in the raft and we used every ounce of our being and we made it to the raft’s final designation. I don’t know how many families had been lost out on that river but I know we almost joined them.

After the epic rafting trip we ate at the same breakfast place and went home to enjoy a couple of hours of rest. We stopped by the resort and toured the activities center and then got cleaned up and went out to dinner at The River Room at the Shawnee Inn & Golf Resort. The food was excellent there. There was a musician playing an instrument called the Stick. A mix between a guitar, keyboard and bass. It was whimsical hearing him play classical, to the Beatles and even at the request of my kids, Old MacDonald.

The kids with the stick. The aura is from the strumming of angels.

The Hershey

When we decided on going to Pennsylvania for our vacation, I instantly thought of going to Hershey. I heard the town smelled of chocolate and the factory was a chocolate lover’s paradise. Well the town did not smell of chocolate. From what I heard it only sometimes smells of chocolates when the factory opens the windows to let some of the air out. Unfortunately, the day I was there, that did not happen. The town smelled of regular air… The Hershey Chocolate Works was a great experience though. If anyone is thinking about running an attraction of this sort, they need to come here and see how to do it the proper way. Buying the tickets to get into the place was the longest wait we had. The place was busy but we never really felt like we were waiting on anything. You choose the times of the activities or experiences you wanted to do and you just did them. There were no lines, no fuss, great customer service and everyone was very hospitable. I would go back in a heartbeat.

We learned about trying the chocolates first and how to tell the difference between them.

Tasting it up good.

Then we went and watched the 3D Show and learned some of the history of the company. The show was excellent and very entertaining.

We then took a trolley ride around the town learning all about the town that Hershey built. We sang songs, laughed and got more chocolate from the actors doing the show.


Trolly and the folks that conduct the show.

After the trolley we ate at the restaurant there. A big plus is they had a lot of healthy fare to enjoy. Not much in the deep fried concoctions that riddle most attractions of the sort but salads, soups and baked items. I settled on the open faced roasted turkey sandwich. Most of their food even included chocolate in their ingredients.

After eating lunch, we went on to do the regular tour of the factory (which is free) but really fun to do. Once we got done with that, we went and made our own chocolate bars. We chose our fillings and chocolate types.

Sanitized.

Eagerly awaiting the production of the greatest candy bar ever.

They are waiting for the second class bars.

Yes, those are sprinkles. You are now enlightened to greatness.

She does get some points for snazzy packaging.

Hershey is a really fun place to take your kids to. I wish we had more time and energy to do the amusement park there but we didn’t want our freshly made chocolate bars melting in the car while we played.

Dinner that night was at my first Peruvian restaurant, Intu. I can't recall all what we ate, it all went in a blur of kids hands, Michelle's fork and some manly tears of joy. I will just say it's good stuff.

The food, as you can see, was just OK.

Bushkill Falls

No need to write up anything about this outing. Just look at the photos and enjoy.

About to return him to the wild.

I just now noticed the waterfall in the picture.

I find it funny they let the little guy lead too but you have to remember the rafting trip.

This is a good looking photo.

I see no family resemblance.

Now I do.

It's actually steeper in real life.

Self promoting again.

After the hiking, Michelle and Cora decided to go ride some horses while Vinh and I goofed off at the resort touring the brewery and doing a golf cart tour of the facility, and a farmer’s market where I picked up some organic soap for my extra granola-y friends and a nice loaf of banana bread that was to be our breakfast for the next day.

The Beast

Right before their life flashed before their eyes.

They made it through unscathed.

Doing it the way the good lord intended.

Dinner that night was at The Gem and Keystone Brewpub. The highlight was by far the homemade pretzel served with beer cheese. Even enjoyed a glass of beer made fresh from the brewery next door that we visited. Solid A for sure.

Solid Awesomeness

The Marvel That is Crayola

Fun for all ages. Busy, loud and hectic. We started off watching a show on how they make crayons and markers and even getting some samples of both. After that the fun began.

We took a break halfway through and decided to hit up some lunch. The place came recommended by the security guy there so off we went. It was promising when we stepped into the door. I recently started drinking Scotch and they had some bottles not typical of what is served in my neck of the woods. They had some peaty offerings in Laphroaig, Laglavuin and the sweet Oban sitting behind the bar. I wanted one but seeing as how I needed my wits about me for the rest of the Crayola fun, I felt it best to skip this round. We sat down and ordered. While waiting for the food, Michelle read up on the restaurant and the décor and feel of the place was really something special. Some 40 minutes and still without our order, I asked the waitress what on earth was taking so long and she said they were waiting on my wings. I said if the rest of it is ready, bring it out and she said she would. Amazingly, they brought me my wings when the rest of the food came out. Expecting the wings to be scorching hot, I soon found they weren’t. Shoot, they weren’t even warm…What were they waiting on my wings to do? Ah well, I was hungry so I started eating. Hmmm, this was a tender wing but slightly less crunch than I would get on a normal fried wing, maybe it was baked. Sauce was average and as with the rest of the meal, nothing special. Dissapointing for sure. My third wing was a little pink on the inside. Sometimes frozen wings are like that so I didn’t think anything of it but the consistency of the wings kept bothering me. My 4^th wing was just flat out raw. Gross, I was done. The waitress responded with a “I’m sorry, I won’t charge you for it.”?!?!! Really? Really? You won’t charge me for it, is the salmonella free too? We paid and left.

Man, I just kept thinking about that raw chicken and then about the other wings I already had and made myself sick thinking about it. Literally. Upon returning to the Crayola Factory I visited the bathroom and left Michelle with the kids to go have fun while I tried to recoup. Found her having just as much fun as the kids did.

At least the factory was a big hit and we got some good gifts to take home for some friends too.

Oh and we did watch these fireworks about as close as humanly possible. And Cora lost a battle with her first merry go round that day.

We went to a carnival to play, eat and have fun.

And to watch the fireworks.

Part two of the trip coming soon.

Candied Beets

If you are not a beet eater such as myself, you try to avoid the stuff like the plague. I can’t stand the stuff from the cans. It’s just not right. I have had them roasted fresh before too and it’s just not my cup of tea. My wife likes them quite a bit and seeing as how no beet has entered our home in 10 years, I decided to treat her with some home roasted beets. They went over really well and I even ate some. Still not my cup of tea.

The recipe for this is simple.

Take 6 medium sized beets fresh from the farm and wash them really well. Then place on a sheet of aluminum foil and douse with olive oil and rub it all around. Season them with salt and wrap them up in the aluminum foil. Place the foil package on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Trust me, if it springs a leak you don’t want it all over your pan. Toss in a foil package containing 4 large peeled carrots while you are at it. You know to cut down on the beetness. Place that in the oven at 425 degrees for about an hour.

In the meantime, in a saucepan, add in 1 ½ cups of balsamic vinegar, ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup orange juice and place it on medium low heat and cook down until it is a caramelly syrup.

Take the beets out and you can just peel the skin off on them now, I choose to do it with a spoon. Dice them along with the carrots into small pieces and toss it in the syrup you made. Your end result is something healthy, vitamin rich, and what beet lovers like to call a delicious dish.

Should look as good as this.

Road tripped to Colorado recently and it went well. Three families traveling together in two cars with 6 kids in tow. What could go wrong? Well actually nothing. Sure there were moments of screaming, crying, rowdiness and tomfoolery but that’s just part of the norm. We made it to our designation just fine and on our way even had a chance to eat at ----- the first of our many burger stops on this trip.

Gene's (A shack of a place but big on flavor)

They are just happy to be out of the car

Burger was solid, crispy char with lots of flavor

The onion rings though were the grand marshall of the meal.

We ended up spending the night in Tucumcari , NM to split up the ride and to give ourselves a little bit of time off. We stopped in Espanola, NM for lunch the next day and enjoyed some homemade tortillas and neat scenery such as a tree inside the restaurant and other old relics and nick nacks. If you do come here to eat, please note that they charge you for extra salsa and chips. The food was pricey too but all in all it was delicious.


El Paragua in Espanola, NM Some of the gang

This was a tortilla making fool right here. Good one too!

chicken enchiladas with green

Stuffed sopapilla Christmas dressed.

Sopapillas for the taking.

We finally made it to our destination. The kids enjoyed the snow a bit and the parents had some nice drinks and relaxation time. Stayed in and cooked our first meal of the trip. Simple and easy spaghetti.

We woke up the next morning to go skiing, everyone was wicked excited including yours truly. I was going to get my first snowboarding lesson and my buddy was joining me. We kicked off the day with cooking breakfast at the resort and drove up to Wolf Creek . After the spouses got the kids off to their class, I checked into mine. Got buckled up on the board and was ready. Heel turn. Simple enough, ten feet in and I met the not so soft snow for the first time. We get back in line and try it again, and again, the snow was waiting to greet me. Then we went toe turn, and again, Tom meet snow. After a bit of this and already being slightly fatigued we got on the lift for the first time.

Right… I get off the lift and fall straight down. Gathered myself and scooted to the area where the instructor wanted us. He wanted to show us how to slowly go down sideboard on the slopes. Right. First run down had me rolling and tumbling on my front, back or side most of the time. Took about 6 tries to get down the bunny slope and when I finally got there, that jackwagon wanted us to go back up. Sure thing boss.

Repeat last paragraph but add in some moments I actually stayed upright for more than 10 feet and as a result a lot more painful spills.

Third trip on the slopes. I finally got up on my board and was going a good click but I caught myself starting to veer the wrong direction and as every newbie does, I over corrected myself and the front of the board dug into the snow and stuck. Unfortunately my body decided to go on without it and I was bent over like a pretzel. I felt my back shift, my left knee give in just slightly and I felt a good pop in my ankle. As I laid there on the ground, I started wondering why on earth an Asian who was born in a tropical climate would make his way up to the top of a mountain just to kill himself. Michelle's idea of a vacation was this man's idea of torture.

So as I sat there in the snow and ice wondering if I could just roll myself down the hill, the instructor comes over and asks me if I need a hand up. My brain was saying, “dear man yes, just drag me down to the base and let me lay there.” But unfortunately the words that came out of my mouth were, “just give me a minute and I’ll get up.” My ankle was messed up something fierce though. I couldn’t get the weight evenly on it to balance on the board and I knew this but I still got up and tried to get down. 40 feet later, I was back down and it wasn’t a soft landing. I noticed the instructor coming again but before he could, I dragged myself back up and went down the hill some more this time just wanting to make it down all the way. I went heel to toe and was picking up some good speed. Since we hadn’t really gotten to that point and not really knowing how to stop proper, I stopped the only way I knew how and just cut the turn sharp and braced myself for another Tom special and I went down again. I was fortunately close enough to the base to drag myself over to a safe spot and unstrapped, probably for the last time in my life because momma didn’t raise a fool.

With my ankle just throbbing, I went and hung out in the kid's ski school to check on my kids who were moved to the more advance wolf pup class. Seems their American half caught on to skiing a lot faster than their full blooded Asian dad. Michelle took a break from shredding the mountain to eat a burger with me at the resort there and then I took a couple of the kids to play in the snow.

Cooked Chili for dinner that night.

What to do with left over chili? Toast, ham, egg, cheese and top it with chili. Pow. You are welcome.

The next day, I stayed home while the rest of the adults went skiing. Crazy thing is, none of the kids wanted to go back up there to ski... so guess what? Being home with a bum ankle and hanging out with 6 kids was one thing. The fact two of them were sick and we didn't get to do much was an entirely different animal altogether.

Left the sickest of the kids at home (also the oldest so it wasn't like a latch key situation) and took the other 5 to play some mini golf, then we went to get some ice-cream. That's when the second kid bit the dust and we went back to the room to just watch movies, eat popcorn, scream, holler, and make a terrible mess. Thankfully we weren't in the room I was staying at but one of the other couples.

The adults get back and had a great time. All were a little sore and worn out. I had cooked pot roast and another roast for dinner since I had so much free time.

The other roast. Pot roast was too boring looking, this passed the test though.

We head reports of bad weather coming so we decided to pack up a little early. One of the couples started getting really sick too and they were looking terrible. They decided to head home the next morning. That left us with the Smiths and that was fine. Did some shopping in town that morning and headed out after lunching at this fine um... hamburger establishment...

Lunch with the Smiths at the Malt Shoppe. Great shakes.

This is how sickness spreads. But they are cute aren't they? (Note: Michelle's nice sunburned face from skiing)

Pretty good burger here but was only 2nd best to Gene's on this trip.

On the way home, there was snow, hail, and big rain. Wind was battering the suburban right and left too but we make it all the way to Childress where we stayed the night.


Hard to enjoy a road trip when the road was fighting back.

The Days Inn was nice and this was a welcoming site the next morning.

We drove back all the way home the next day leaving us plenty of time to unpack, relax, and unwind for work the next day.

Thanks to the Smith's and the Wilson's for taking this trip with us. Hopefully we can do it again next year. Without the sickies and the bad weather. Here are just random pics for your viewing pleasure.