Tag: teenagers

Fashion Advice First…

I have a teen-aged daughter, therefore, I receive the occasional fashion advice. Usually unsolicited.

I returned home from an event last night and The Girl greeted me with… not disgust, not vicarious embarrassment, but more of a request rather than advice. The request was that I avoid wearing my khaki pants and red Keds. It was more of a beg than a request, springing from her 15 years of parochial schooling. And I really got a great, big laugh out it, once I figured it out…

Apparently, I was dressed just like a Catholic school boy.

Housework vs. Binge Watching… there’s no choice here, really.

There is a big payoff when I catch up to my kids’ friends- the nagging ends. “Mrs. J, have you watched those movies I loaned you? Have you started Arrow yet? You are going to LOVE Daredevil!! WILL YOU PLEASE CATCH UP TO ME IN AGENTS OF SHIELD!” I think I have finally watched all of the Marvel movies and have almost finished going through my DVR’d Agents of Shield episodes. (one of the best lines from a show: “Perhaps we could have discussed this alone without all of Hufflepuff looking on”).

I have to admit, I did the same thing to some of these kids with the Harry Potter books- remember the childhood credo-” If you can dish it out, you gotta take it, too.” Years ago, the babysitters for my kids were great fun to talk with about the Potterverse.

another image straight from IMDB.com
another image straight from IMDB.com

Watched Iron Man 3 last night- loved it! Almost blinked and missed Stan Lee’s signature cameo, but I caught it. And I thought this movie had the best after-credits clip. I liked The Winter Soldier better, because it tied in so many of the sub-plots over the whole Marvel universe, but what do I know- maybe the new Avengers movie will tie into Iron Man 3? The Husband and I will try to catch it in the theater. But Iron Man 3? Loved it. Great character growth. I was too wrapped-up to note any favorite lines, whoops.

To wrap all of this up, I am a full-on fangirl now of the whole Marvel experience. Sigh. They got me, and I’m loving it. On to Agent Carter, Daredevil and the rest. Next time I look for a new show or movie to watch I’ll be choosing those that are NOT part of a huge, obsessively interwoven web of excitement. Again, I share the warning- don’t ask teens to recommend new TV shows or movies.

Taste Testing Korean Snacks with a Couple of Ringers! (Part TWO)

Part Two of our taste-testing extravaganza focused on the sweet treats and drinks while the K-pop was playing in the background…
IMG_6528Banana Kick- Can you imagine your basic cheese puffs, with NO cheese or powder, but with banana flavor instead? Comments included “Holy crap, it’s a banana cheese puff!” and “ Weird, but cool; tastes less banana-y than they smell.” We dug these things.

IMG_6525Corn Silk Tea- Joseph was so happy that we didn’t like this as much as he did. This was clearly one of his favorite home foods. Corn Silk Tea is a very mild tea that, very oddly, I thought tasted like tea plus the milk left over from a bowl of Cap’n Crunch. Yeah, I know, like I said- odd… but not in a bad way. I can totally see why this would be a favorite if you grew up drinking it- kind of like how most other world cultures can’t stand our root beer, but we Americans LOVE it.

IMG_6537Custard Cream Cakes- Joseph and The Boyfriend said that these are Korean Twinkies. Honestly, the comparison is a bit insulting. These are WAY better than Twinkies.

IMG_6538Matdongsan- One of the snacks that the boys were most excited to eat and have us try. To quote them: “Tastes like Korea.” I thought these were really good, peanut butter cookie meets cracker-y wafer-ish treat stick.

IMG_65572% by Lotte (Peach Flavored)– Oh, man! This was great! 2% is a non-carbonated soft drink that is not overwhelmingly sweet. We all liked it. “Ooo, right in the Childhood,” was The Boyfriend’s comment. We totally should have gotten more of this in different flavors. Get this- you can buy Lotte’s 2% Peach from Amazon, if you are so inclined.

IMG_6541Jolly Pong- almost exactly the same thing as the American honey puffed wheat cereal Sugar Crisps (now called Golden Crisp to not sound so sugar laden) or Honey Smacks (does that cereal even exist any more) . But more delicate. Really good!

We still have the frozen treat to try, and another aloe flavored soft drink, some various ramen and a couple more sweet snacks to try… Looks like Joseph will have to ask for an extension on his student Visa? We can hope. Have a great summer with your family, Joseph, and we wish you all the luck in the world when you start university next fall. New York doesn’t know how lucky it is to be getting you, I hope you take Manhattan by storm! We should make Willy do this with Chinese snacks next year, shouldn’t we- maybe between the Fall play’s Saturday performances? Ha, look out, Willy, you are next!

Taste Testing Korean Snacks with a Couple of Ringers! (Part One)

The Girl attends a school with kids from all corners of the globe. Actually, pretty much all schools in the greater Southern California area fit this description. For tonight’s new adventure, tasting Korean snack foods, we conscripted two great kids (I can call 18-year-olds “kids” since I have 30 years on them).IMG_6519 (1)

  • Joseph, from South Korea, classmate and friend of The Girl for several years, our native expert
  • The Boyfriend, who lived in Asia for four years, and totally on board with steering us toward his favorites

I bought five packages of snacks last week. It took the boys all of TWO seconds to take me up on my offer to drive back to our local H Mart to make sure we covered all of their favorites. Now we were up to over twenty, savory and sweet- not counting the soft drinks and ice cream the boys were excited for us to try.

The Summaries
The kids were fried after Week #1 of A.P. Exams, so we kept K-Pop going on Pandora and snacked away for three hours and came up with the following:

IMG_6527“Shrimp Crackers” from the boys: “Aaaaahhh!!! What did they do to our favorite childhood snack?!? Wait! By the 3rd bite it is starting to taste right.” We newbies thought they were pretty good.

IMG_6530“O!Karto” Italian Gratin flavor… we dug ’em. The favorite of The Boyfriend. good!

IMG_6532“Crab Chips” Meh. Unanimous. Tasted better than they smelled.

IMG_6534“Onion Rings” Like wheat based Funyons. Good, but not as good as King Funyuns.

IMG_6536“Tako Snacks” Thought I would slip octopus flavored chips past my son. The Boy resisted. Although they tasted better than they smelled, all these rated was another “meh.”

IMG_6539“Gg-Ggol-Corn” Joseph says this is his best attempt at Anglo spelling of Korean… A whole lot like Bugles, but WAY less salty. Very good!

Next post- Sweet snacks and beverages!! Holy cow, this was fun!

Gratitude and Grace

Palm Sunday services attended… check.
Help cleaning up the theatre after the spring musical… check.
Assist one mom transporting another friend’s daughter to E.R. while we get their car to them… check.
(update on her condition- nothing broken, whew!)

Got a lot done this weekend, and it wasn’t half as much as other people accomplished. Can’t say that I have ever participated in helping dear friends gather cars and child to the E.R. before, but we’d do anything for this wonderful family. So, we are going to end the day reflecting on how thankful we are that she will be fine, and how she is a beautiful example of how to be calm, forgiving and able to smile while still smarting quite a bit.