A Day with Jen

Jen and I met for dim sum yesterday...it was pretty interesting! I had no idea what I was in for, but was not disappointed. We met at Jasmine, which is probably the most authentic Hong Kong/Cantonese style restaurant you're going to find in SD (am I wrong Jen?). I think I saw some other white people there (don't let my skin color fool you, I'm really a white girl in disguise). Basically what they do is come around with little carts and offer you food choices. If you choose something, they write it down on your ticket. Kinda like...buffet on wheels but you pay per dish. I was happy with everything I ate, but need more practice with chopsticks. I think knitting has ruined any chopstick skills I had. And I use the term "skills" with a snort. Really, who am I fooling? Jen probably laughs at me and tells her husband stories every time she eats with me.

I definitely want to go back though. Afterwards, we window shopped at several Chinese stores in the area. OK they might have been Korean. I don't know. I mean, unfortunately when I see those characters, they all look the same. Especially when they're using fancy signage! Sorry Jen! I bought several cool fans for us ladies to use at church (they're so pretty and only $1.49 ea!!) since it's like an oven in there. Jen picked out the pretty Asian designed fans with authentic looking paper design, but I stuck with my white girl choice and got the cloth flower fans. hehe Oh yeah, and I also got some chilli pepper paste. I am SOOO looking forward to having it with some rice!

And then, we went to a Chinese pharmacy. I think that's what it was. Maybe it was an herb store. All I know is I didn't see any English in there. Jen bought some stuff to make tea for herself and her husband from the gentleman at the counter who mixed up some sort of concoction for her. He would pull out a handful of what looked like sticks and bark to me, and weigh them on a plate. He had some sort of stick with strings on it that he used as weights to determine the weight of each item. I really don't know how he did it, but I'm sure he knew what he was doing. Luckily, I came to my senses, got out my camera and took pictures OTS (On The Sly).

You can see that he has some sort of system that only makes sense to him. That stick he's holding is his scale.










As he added different herbs, he would divide them up on three plates, breaking them in pieces as he distributed them.








Here's the plates when they were nearly completed. See how it looks like sticks, bark 'n stuff? Well, that's what they look to me, anyway. And Jen's going to make this into tea! Amazing!





When he was finished, he put the mixture in smaller bags. I really didn't need to take this shot, but by now I was obsessed with taking pictures OTS. Unfortunately, it was about now that his wife, or whomever that lady was, told me "Don't take pictures." Of course, we denied any such thing happening!!! Seriously though, other than the "creepy" factor, why would they mind?

When I took the other pictures OTS, the camera was at waist level. I used the "point and shoot" method when I don't want someone to know I'm taking pictures. But when I took this one of Jen laughing at me for acting like such a crazy white girl, I made no effort to hide my activity. Maybe this is when I got caught. Hmmm...





And THEN...I saw these. Sea horses. Um, WHAT is going to do be done with these dried seahorses? There's your basic gray and further back the cream/orange color. Poor sea horse. :(

Next, we went to Two Sisters and Ewe and Michaels. I wanted to introduce Jen to a nice yarn store and then took her to a practical store. She ended up getting some Brittany's needles from Two Sisters and yarn from Michaels for her first scarf.



She couldn't help but laugh at these handy items found in a crochet book. Who would want to make a cell phone case out of eyelash yarn?? I mean, how hideous is this?

And what about this funky headband? I mean, duuude!

We decided to have her first knitting lesson while enjoying snacks and tea at Extraordinary Desserts.

Jen swore she didn't know how to knit. So, I started to show her how to cast on. And she said, "Oh, you mean like this?" ...and proceeded to cast on ten inches of stitches. Then I started to show her the difference between knitting continental and english. And she said, "Oh yeah, it's all coming back to me, you mean like this?" ....and proceeded to knit several rows in garter stitch. Apparently, she knit when she was 10 and like riding a bicycle, never forgot. :)

Check her out, casting on and chatting away like a pro! I know she's fully addicted though. If you check out her blog, you'll see the yarns she chose to make her scarves. The color combinations are absolutely beautiful. Today she went to Black Sheep and picked up some more yarn for a different scarf. Yep, I have drawn yet another person into the dark side of knitting obsession! MU WA HAHAHAHAHAA!