Butterflies and More Butterflies

For our final adventure before Peter left for college, we went to the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. It's a gorgeous garden where one can walk on the spiral staircase with butterflies fluttering everywhere. The plant species are as colorful and unique as the butterflies. 

Many kids were also there, and Peter would say I blended right in. We weren't allowed to touch the butterflies, so for awhile, I walked around with my arms held up in front of me like a zombie so that maybe a butterfly would get tired and land on me. Unfortunately, I wasn't green enough and all I got out of my efforts were some smiles from the people around me, which wasn't bad at all. :)

Roof of the Butterfly Center

One landed on my hand right before we left!

Happy Birthday, Alice!

While Alice’s birthday was this past Saturday, August 10, we celebrated it the day before, on Friday. With the responsibility of making it an enjoyable evening for her, I began to feel pressure in the morning, when I baked her an enormous cookie cake. I had never baked a cake from scratch before, but I am very pleased to say that no one was disappointed with how it turned out. When it came time to cut the cake, we encountered trouble lighting the candles. Yes, we had to search on YouTube for videos of “how to use a disposable lighter.” And no, I had no success with the candles after all.

When we tried to order dinner at Cafe Rabelais, we realized that the thick “menu” was actually a wine list, which we thought was pretty funny. Besides a few misunderstandings, dinner was probably one of our best experiences. We learned how to use an oyster fork! I had a lot of fun that day, and my actual birthday was very nice too since Peter took me to one of my favorite restaurants, Tofu Village. Although we like to try new places, we tend to stick with our favorite choice once that’s established (hence the chicken dilemma).

Thank you, Peter!

My amazing 16-inch cookie-cake!

                                

Downtown Tunnels and the Chicken Issue

The tunnels in downtown Houston connect many different buildings and provide places to eat during lunch. Last week, we shuffled along with the usual crowd of business people and grabbed some lunch at Which Wich. It was a fun experience because Peter had never been to the tunnels before, and I am always happy to act as a tour guide.

I thought it was fun, too! Unfortunately, my usual ordering plan of “pick the item whose name I don’t know” backfired at Which Wich, where I chose the beef Whiz sandwich. To this point, I still have little idea what Whiz is; all I do know is that it with beef is not a very palatable combination. Earning my greatest gratitude, Alice generously offered to take half of this sandwich, though she wasn’t without ordering woes herself.

Recently, I’ve realized that I eat a lot of chicken. Whenever I order something off of a menu, I somehow always pick the option that has the word “chicken” in it. I don’t think this is a health problem or anything, but I should change my habits a bit and try other options. So far, I’ve been chicken-free for about a week. Hopefully, I can keep this up till the end of the month (it’s been difficult, especially with chicken noodle soup).