Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Tet Trung Thu & Lesson 47

Keree was so excited when she woke up this morning and then she got even more excited when she realized that today was Tet Trung Thu or better known as the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. She picked out her pho bowl and chopstick applique shirt I made her for school today. She wanted to wear her Asian dirndle skirt my Mom had made her but since it rained last night but wasn't rainy today, so I knew they would be going outside to play. I cringed at the thought of it getting destroyed. So she opted for a pair of jean capri's. Her only other statement she kept making was "I'm getting to eat Moon cakes today." I felt awful because I didn't order any this year because it cost so much. So I was hoping that just by helping me cook our special dinner would be enough. After I dropped her off at school, I ran by Wallymart in hopes of them having a few of the Asian ingredients I was missing in hopes of saving myself a trip to the Asian grocery store. Luckily, they did have everything I needed (which was amazing). When I picked Keree up from school, the summary said that they taste tested Red, Green & Yellow apples and then picked which one they liked the best, learned a new song about apples and read another book on apples. As we were walking out of school, Keree was excitedly talking about the Moon Festival and then in the middle of the parking lot she stops and goes "and then we will drive to Cincinnati and eat Mooncakes." My heart just broke into a million pieces for her, she thought since my Brother has always been home during Tet Trung Thu, that we would see him today and eat Mooncakes together. I explained to her that Uncle had to work and that we could not drive to Cincinnati but I did promise her we would have a Mooncake. So we went to the local Asian Market, I knew they wouldn't have Mooncakes, it's a Korean market and she just doesn't carry those types of things. Heck, I'm pretty sure I'm close to the only Non-Asian who goes in there, so she and her Family remember me by name. As soon as we went in, Keree made a bee-line to the Steamed Bun's in the freezer. So I let her pick out her favorite BBQ Pork Buns. Then we headed down the snack aisle, Keree picked some Rice candy, my Mom found some Coconut flavored Rice crackers (oh my they are so good!!) and I found a little pack of Chocolate crayons with stickers as a treat for Keree. Of course still no mooncakes or anything even close. So while Keree and my Mom discussed snacks, I went back looking through fridge/freezer section. And there I found a Dessert, it looked like two pancakes but it was filled with Sweet Bean pasted. I was so excited, it wasn't exactly as elegant as a Mooncake is (even though it had a flower stamped on top) but it was close enough. When I showed Keree, she exclaimed "it's a Mooncake." When we got home, we started right into cooking. We fixed a loose version of Fried spring rolls and some crab ragoon (for my Mom). I had a few other more traditional dishes on my Menu but I realized after fixing the spring rolls and crab ragoon, it was going to be more than enough. Keree had so much fun cutting up the crab, assembling the spring rolls, wetting the edges and then rolling the rolls. After they were all done, I then set about to pan fry them all. We enjoyed the first batch at lunch time. After Keree was finished eating, we went to lay down and cover our Lesson. This lesson also didn't introduce a new sound but did introduce another tricky word. For some reason she seemed to struggle on some even easy words, I'm really going to chalk it up to her being extremely exhausted. When she got up, we cooked the rest of our spring rolls and crab ragoon. About half way through cooking, I got a call from Keree's cheerleading coach saying that they had moved practice to the next town over. Ugh! Since I knew we had over a 1/2 hr drive, I quickly finished cooking, changed my shirt, grabbed everything and we headed to practice. We were probably about 5 min. away when the Coach called, said the practice was canceled because her car wouldn't start. I wasn't happy about it but at least she had called unlike other times. So I turned the car around and we started heading home. About 10 minutes from home, another Cheer Mom called me and she was making sure I knew practice was moved. Of course, I was like did you get the call or message that practice was canceled? She was furious but what happened next was interesting because she was there at the park and the rest of the girls were showing up. WTH! Seems that the Coach had only called 3 of the 8 girls to tell them practice was canceled. So I turned the car around and headed back out there. We got there of course 20 minutes after 6p but at least we were there. Keree got to practice and even learned a few new cheers, the squad was being led by one of the Girls (she's only 10 but amazing). Keree had wanted to share a snack with the squad to celebrate the Moon Festival. So I let her take some of the Coconut Rice crackers to share with them. What can I say, we live in the midwest and they are kids. I had one Father, who told his little girl she couldn't have any (he's already done a few racist things in front of us), three girls who refused, one who tried and didn't like it (at least she tried!), two who liked them and of course my daughter who loves them. But what mattered was Keree was happy, she felt so good sharing her snack with them even if the majority of them didn't try it. By the time we left Cheer practice, the moon was out and shining. What was also cool is we got to see the planet Jupiter rising also. Wish I would have gotten a picture of it. When we got home, we took a few pictures, hurriedly ate, started to talk about the stories of the Moon festival but we were side tracked when Keree remembered her Mooncake. So after a few pictures, Keree dove in, she ate about half of her mooncake before she decided she was full. We had planned on going outside with our lighted lanterns, saying a few prayers and thinking about our family but by this time it was after 930p. I gave Keree the choice on if she wanted to stay up or go to bed. She was so exhausted that she actually choose bed. Since tomorrow night isn't packed, I'm hoping we can go outside then with out lanterns and tell more traditional stories about the moon.

1 comment:

  1. This blog is really sweet and heartwarming. I've only read a few posts here and there but you seem like a great mother.

    I just wanted to say this cheerleading thing sounds like a lot of headache. I don't know enough about your life to say you should find somewhere else, but just reading about it makes me upset. That coach has no respect for other people's time. Also, that father is unbelievably ignorant. If he truly is a racist, I hope that when his child grows up, she will realize everyone makes mistakes.

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