Great Balloon - Orange County Great Park - Irvine

Argh! It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!




I hate Halloween. I do. I'm not a complete grinch. I like seeing little kids dressed up and I hand out candy. I just hate ghouls and goblins and creepy crawlies and scary movies. So it was with dismay when I saw that the Great Balloon had been transformed into a giant pumpkin head.

"Que pasa, calabaza? (What's up, pumpkin head?)"

"Nada, nada, limonada. (Nothing's up, lemon head.)"

Ha! The things I remember from high school Spanish class.

Thwarted by a previous attempt a few weeks before, the middle '87 asked if I would take her to the Great Balloon. She had gotten there in time, but her turn wasn't up until 8 p.m. By then, visibility was poor and no flights were allowed.

Hey! I was the one who saw the LA Freebeee post and tipped her off about it. And she didn't even invite me when she went the first time?

Hmph!

We decided to go early so we could picnic on the grounds and make sure we were first in line. We stopped off to pick up some Vietnamese sandwiches and the younger '88.

Ack! That big old pumpkin head kept leering at us every which way.

Ask Wandering Chopsticks 2

Pablo says, "Happy Halloween!" He'll be seven weeks old on Monday.


Photo courtesy of cousin Q's older brother's wife. 

Yaki Udon (Japanese Stir-Fried Udon Noodles)

Does it look like Christmas?

Well, it certainly felt like Christmas to me. Through my advertiser, Foodbuzz, I received a $30 credit to Asian Food Grocer. That gave me the chance to try out some Japanese grocery items that I normally wouldn't buy such as two types of mirin (Japanese cooking sake.), kombu (Japanese seaweed for making stock), and red miso paste (I have white miso paste in the fridge.). To round it out, I also got curry mix, udon noodles, yam noodles, Chinese black pepper sauce, and a tea cup with infuser and lid. Nice, yeah? Hey, it wasn't all free, I did pay $6.18 for the shipping. ;)

Actually, if you have trouble finding Asian grocery items where you live, I would recommend Asian Food Grocer. Most items were reasonably-priced, carefully packaged, and delivered within days at a reasonable cost.