Happy Birthday, MonkeyPig!!

MonkeyPig, here is a cake for you.

Art imitates life.  For those of you who have not met MonkeyPig in person or who hasn't seen her in a while, MP is definitely high on life.  Every dinner at her house is a party with MonkeyPig, Wooh Dau, and Baysee.  [Woo:  Hey!  Me, too!  Happy birthday, mom!]

MonkeyPig, here's to another 43 years of bananas!

Halloween Adventure, Day 2

Chinese idiom of the day: 讀屎片
Transliteration: study diapers
Phonetic: duk6 si2 pin3
Meaning: refers to a person who studies but remains ignorant or stupid

Today, MonkeyPig went to the first day of her medical conference.  However, every time I texted her asking what she was doing, she'd respond with one of two answers:

1.  "Eating."
2.  "Pooping."

Never "studying" or "listening to lecture."  Never.  All I ever heard about was the egg custards, the BBQ pork buns, ...and their aftermath.

Since MP is obviously a talented doctor, there is no way that the idiom, "讀屎片," could apply to her.   So, for the first time in Idiom of the Day history, I'm going to modify the idiom to my needs.  The new idiom is going to be:

Chinese idiom of the day: 讀蛋撻
Transliteration: study egg tarts
Phonetic: duk6 daan3 taat3
Meaning: refers to a person who is supposed to be studying a serious subject but is instead enjoying life.

But something really nice happened as a result of this--I was the beneficiary of the first of several days of breakfast pastries!

Halloween Adventure, Day 1

Today, MonkeyPig left early to go to a medical conference in San Francisco, but that didn't stop her from complaining. I had meticulously crafted a schedule of things we'd do and eat during her visit and the first grumblings have been submitted to me via text message. Wah Toh will appreciate this because of a similar incident which happened during the whale watching trip a month ago (not blogged--sorry). This is also an opportunity to reinstate a modified version of the highly popular Chinese Idiom of the Day feature but only for the limited time of one week--the duration of MonkeyPig's stay. The modification will be: I will disclose the meaning of the idiom and you need not guess it.

Chinese idiom of the day: 貨不對辦
Transliteration: product not match sample
Phonetic: fo3 bat1 deoi3 baan6
Meaning: bait and switch

Back in September, MonkeyPig, Ca Loc, and I travelled to Wah Toh's neck of the woods for a whale watching vacation. Prior to arriving, MonkeyPig had requested that Wah Toh make "gwei deou" for her first night there. Unfortunately, due to the fact that Wah Toh and MonkeyPig had gone to different schools in Saigon, each of them had a different idea of what "gwei deou" should be. Apparently, each of these schools had a street vendor standing outside, and who had made completely different styles of "gwei deou." On arrival, MonkeyPig sensed that something was not quite right when the dish of gwei deou was presented to her because it was in the style of Wah Toh's school's street vendor, and not MonkeyPig's school's street vendor. Compounding the problem was that MonkeyPig had requested an additional dish of salt-baked chicken, which arrived as a different type of chicken. To be fair, Wah Toh also had to accommodate other guests who were not into salt-baked chicken.

But the damage was done. At this point, MonkeyPig proclaimed, "貨不對辦!" Throughout the trip, MonkeyPig used this idiom like a war cry.

Aggravating the situation was a family friend who very nicely offered to make MonkeyPig's style of "gwei deou" for her and even invited MonkeyPig to stay at her house on the next visit. This prompted Wah Toh to say to MonkeyPig, "When you leave at the end of this trip, remember to delete my number from your phone. The next time you visit, you can stay with your new friend and eat her food. Maybe I'll send some eggs from my chickens to you at that time--but maybe not."

Thus, "貨不對辦" has enjoyed renewed popularity in conversations among the sisters.

Today, I am on the receiving end of MonkeyPig's accusation. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I had meticulously crafted a schedule for our Halloween Adventure. I am not posting it here because it's so detailed that anybody who would want to harm us could easily find us using the schedule, but I trust the The Nu Warren Friends, so if you are a Friend (you are if you receive the email pings for whenever I post something here), and if you wish to see the schedule, please email me for it.

But back to the 貨不對辦. On this schedule are suggested restaurants, two of which serve curry (a Japanese curry house and a Pakistani restaurant that happens to have "curry" in its name, but I really want to go there for the roasted chicken). This morning, I received the following text from MonkeyPig:

I have a complaint on the agenda. Why so much curry.

Not having received a response from me, MonkeyPig reiterates her complaint three hours later but this time with urgency:

Why are we eating so much curry? I want a refund. The meal portion of this vacation sucks. If i want "phor butt dui ban," I might as well as go to Wah Toh's house. Oh, I get the overwhelming amount of Indian food. You want to pay tribute to the large Indian population in Silicon Valley.

So. Will we eat curry on our Halloween Adventure? You'll have to keep reading to find out.



UPDATE
Text from nn:

First of all, there are only two curry places I suggested and one is Japanese the other is Pakistani. I thought you might be interested in Japanese curry. It's kinda interesting. The Pakistani one, I really want you to eat the oven roasted chicken there. Not the curry. The oven that they cook the chicken in is authentic. It was broken one time and they had to buy a new one. They needed three days to let it cool down before they could remove it and swap in the new one. That's how hot it gets. Took another three days to get the new one hot enough to use. That's why I thought you would like to try it. Besides, the chicken is delicious.

Text from MonkeyPig:

Ok. It they were in Afghanistan, they could've heated up the oven with IED (improvised explosive device) quickly. Parki curry place ok.  Japanese curry--I've not been impressed when I was in Hawaii.

MonkeyPig has Landed!!

As some of you may know, MonkeyPig is visiting the Nu Warren this week. There will be many adventures to read about, so stay tuned!

Update:  MonkeyPig at the Nu Warrren.

Woo the Wonder Dogby MonkeyPig, guest blogger

Woo is a wonder dog.

I don't think many dogs can say I've been to almost the four corner of the United States. She's left her marks, and I do mean marks, at the beaches of Kaneohe Bay, Jekyll Island, Redondo beach, and St Petes in Florida. She's never been to the New England states. But. she's been to Seattle. She criss-crossed the US no less about 4 times.

She was a wonderful companion. She was considerate. Even up to the very end, she struggled outside to poop because she doesn't want to mess up the house for Mommy and Baysee.

She is a dog with will of steel. In February 2011, despite her arthritis and hip dysplasia, she slowly inched up a 45 degree incline hill of about 300 yards during one of our afternoon runs. We can't use the usual empty street because it was a work day. We went to a large empty field where Baysee and I ran. She did her usual thing to explore and light exercise. Baysee and I was running up-and-down that hill. As we came back the second time around, Woo was slowly hobbling up that hill as if to show us that she can do it, too. This is Woo - strong willed to the very end. I wish people are as strong as her.

She was really happy to see all the Aunties in May this year. It was supposed to be just Ca Loc, Wah Toh and Leung Gor. But, Nonny Nu, 3Fish, and So Ba Sing showed up to surpise Monkeypig. Woo was the star of the reunion. It was like when we were in the old house.

Even at the very end, on Wednesday, she mustered up all her energy to spent time with me. I fed her and stroked her back and gave her tummy rubs. The vet let us go outside. It was a sunny day. We spent about 20 minutes outside. She propped her head up to look around. She was so weak that I had to support her whole body for her to poop and pee.

When the decision was made, though she was very weak, for a few minutes, when she heard my voice, she looked into my eyes giving me permission and telling me to not worry about her as Sushi had reserved a bunk space for her.

She laid in my arms and went into a peaceful slumber around 1 AM.

The folks, like her Aunties, Cousins, and the Nu Warren family who had shared in our adventures, I thank you for your supports and love.

I encourage all of us with pets to view them like family and give them love. The funny thing about dogs and cats is that even if you don't love them, they unconditionally love you to death.

I put together this video as a chronical to Woo's life over these past 3-4 years. For those of you who are i-woo-literate, Woo is the black pit bull with the white streak up the nose and white chest. The younger brother Baysee it the funny looking brown down with a wrinkly forehead.

Woo, don't steal Sushi's food as you did mine.

My New Roommate by Sushi, guest blogger

Hello, everybody!

Sushi here with an update on Pet Paradise.

I was assigned a new roommate early this morning.  Her name is "Woo."  It turns out that we have mutual friends and are, in fact, related.  I had never met Woo before so I was so surprised to know that she is my cousin on my mom's side.

Yesterday, Management installed a bunk bed in my room and told me I was going to get a roommate.  When Woo arrived in the wee hours of the morning, she came bounding into the apartment and gave me a great big hug.  Woo is a fun gal!  And, very thoughtful (she said she'd take the top bunk since I like to be cozy and "enclosed" on the bottom bunk).  [Interesting trivia:  When mom and Auntie MonkeyPig were growing up, they also shared a bunk bed with Auntie MonkeyPig on the top bunk and mom on the bottom bunk.]

As we got to talking, I was very surprised to learn that Woo used to have arthritis because she had jumped up to the top bunk with no problem.  She told me how her very loving momma would take her all over the country in a stroller and take her on nature walks.  I think Woo is the most well-travelled doggie among my acquaintances here in Pet Paradise.  We talked until the sun came up and she told me about seeing Yosemite and many different national parks.  She also described extensively the lovely roads her mom drove on with Woo and her brother, Baysee, sitting comfortably in the back seat, humming tunes and taking in the scenery.  Woo said she had a lot of fun.

While she was reminiscing about her travels, Woo hit on what she wanted to do with her life here in Pet Paradise:  Woo has decided to become Pet Paradise's first tour guide.  We have many hills, forests, lakes, and even deserts here in Pet Paradise--we have anything we want here!  Being a well-travelled doggie with many road trips under her belt, Woo will be fantastic at this.  I include a pic of Woo (right) when she went out this morning to figure out a good route for her first tour.  (She said that her ticket prices will be reasonable and she will offer that all military families will enjoy the tours free of charge.)

Woo is also going to learn to swim.  That was one thing that she hasn't done yet.  We have a class for that (it's free--don't worry Aunt MonkeyPig).

But there is one thing that Woo and I have very much in common--we love food!  Both of our moms knew this about us and would feed us table scraps.  Yum...  Here in Pet Paradise, the cafeteria is filled with dinner tables and chairs, but we don't sit at the tables.  No, we sit under the tables and among the chair legs.  That's just how we roll in Pet Paradise!

Before I end this transmission, I'd like to give a shout out to my mom and dad!  **flicks tail**

Yours truly,
Sushi

P.S.  Woo brought this picture with her and it's now on the table in the foyer of our apartment.  It shows Woo's mom and younger brother with Woo on a camping trip.

Woo is Back!

Our favorite old gal, Woo, went through a harrowing and sudden illness yesterday.  Her life was in the balance.  MonkeyPig even shed tears.  But, just wanted to let everyone know that Woo is pulling through and is looking much better today.