Janet's Purple Umbrella: Happy New Year

Hello again! How's everyone doing? I just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! We didn't do anything really special this year, maybe because new year's fell on a weekday or maybe I tend to associate the new year with Lunar New Year!? I guess it's all thanks to the many years of Lunar New Year celebrations with my family. My mom really made it a special event with lots of yummy treats and let's not forget lucky red pockets! Regardless, it is a new year, and I hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2013!

Anyways we went exploring and went to Seward Park in Seattle. I found this park very relaxing and beautiful! Mr. C and I hope to be able to jog it one day! haha, maybe once we become more fit Mr C. Seward park is a part of a peninsula that comes out onto Lake Washington. It's a little bit of peace and quiet in a busy city. It was a pretty chilly day, but we still enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful water. I felt absolutely energized from the warmth of the sun, sort of like the energizer bunny. We skipped rocks along the shore, more like me throwing the rocks into the water, but still fun nonetheless!

Another fun adventure was going to a Chinese bakery (Kiki bakery) around our neighborhood. Ever since moving here, we've been craving Asian food! To think about it, Toronto has a very good variety of ethic food. I feel kind of sad that we didn't get the chance to explore more of it while in Toronto. Anyways, I was craving Chinese style buns. Do you know what Chinese style buns are? It's this really soft bun that is sweet and has a rich buttery/sugary smell. It's like a dinner roll but much more soft. Typically, they maybe filled with things like red bean, coconut, "cha siew" (Chinese BBQ pork) or curry beef. The softness of these buns kind of frighten me. What do they use to make them so very soft? Anyways, I just love walking into these bakeries because the sweet smell makes me feel like I'm back home. We've been eying this bakery for a month and we were finally able to go during the day! Last time we went, we arrived around closing, so sadly there wasn't much selection left. We did try a pineapple bun, which was interesting because it actually had a pineapple flavor to it. If you've never had pineapple bun it's basically just a bun with this weird cookie shell on the top. It kind of looks like a pineapple I guess... hahaha just google it :P. Anyways, this time we got the chance to try the beef curry bun and ham/cheese bun. Both were delicious and soft! I think we'll definitely go back :D

Anyways, thanks for reading! I'm off to bake some cookies... if I'm successful I'll blog about it ok? keke :D