Origami Hearts

 I really enjoy having the students decorate our classroom for holidays. For Valentine's day, we made a ton of origami hearts and made garlands for the door and window. (inspiration from this blog!)

Before I gave them colored paper, we practiced making the hearts using old scrap paper. I ended up liking them even better! It was fun to look at them and be reminded of lessons already taught and learned.

 My favorites were these hearts made from worksheets used in a unit about sound!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Harry Potter and the...whaaa?

 And WHO are those other people??

In which I (am) sell fish

The following conversation took place after I drank a bottle of “All You Need” without sharing with Hong.

Hong: Jao pen kon kai ba!

Me: I’m a what?

Hong: Jao pen kon kai ba!

Me: I’m a crazy egg?

(of course, I got my tones wrong)

Hong: Not kai-egg, kai-sell. Jao pen kon KAI BAA!

Me: I’m a person who sells fish?

Hong: YES

Me: Why? People who sell fish don’t share?

Uproarious laughter.

End scene.

Lettuce Wraps- Lao Style

Pan Ba literally means Fish Wrap. It's fun to make and delicious to eat!

 

1. Leafy greens- lettuce, cabbage, and an assortment of herbs. There’s also a small bag of rice noodles in there somewhere.

2. Fish- It comes strapped tightly in a piece of bamboo (they use it to hold on to when the fish is being grilled). If you need instructions about how to disassemble the fish, head over to this post about how to eat grilled fish.

3. Sauce- This sauce is called Jeow Pan Ba - Fish Wrap Sauce (also mentioned in the grilled fish post).

4. Toppings- bean sprouts, lemongrass, chili peppers, unripe star fruit, long beans, peanuts, horseradish, fried pig skin, eggplant, and cucumber.

Now, assemble and eat!

 

1. Get a wrapping- either lettuce or cabbage (I usually choose cabbage because I like the crunch).

2. Add a piece of fish.

3. Choose any toppings! My first wrap contained a long bean, some mint, and bean sprouts.

4. Hong’s wraps are usually more robust than mine. His had mint, a pepper, noodles, and another leafy herb (not sure what it’s called, anyone know?)

5. Dip in the sauce and eat.

6. Make another! I decided to get a little adventurous with my second one: eggplant, horseradish, noodles, peanuts. A little strange. It’s fun to try different combinations!

The Autumn-and-Spring Tree

I went back to take more pictures of the beautiful autumn tree mentioned in this post, only to find that it had already started sprouting new leaves!

These pictures were only taken six days apart with a heavy rain in between.

My two favorite seasons wrapped up nicely in one tree!

Small Reminders of Home - KFC

A student surprised me with a box of KFC!

And it was gooooooooood.

New Experiences- Buffalo Skin

While cooler weather and bonfires make me think of roasting marshmallows, Hong is reminded of days in his youth sitting around the fire roasting buffalo skin. So we bought some.

 

As I didn't feel comfortable starting a bonfire in my front yard, Hong fried the little pieces of skin in a pan.

 

Right after I took this picture, the smell of frying skin wafted to my nose. I slowly backed away and took one last picture before shutting the kitchen door.

I am sorry to say that I didn't actually taste the buffalo skin. Maybe next time. The smell was an experience in itself.