Mass Food Pic Upload

Old photos I forgot to upload but now need to remove to make room on my camera before my trip.

New Year's Feast

Ribs, Beef, Beef Stew, Pineapple Pork, White Chicken, Broccoli

Noodles, Chicken & Veggies Soup, Cream Corn, Cheesy Potato Casserole, Fresh Baked Bread, Pumpkin Pie

Food Truck Night

Mushroom, Roasted Red Pepper, Onion, Goat Cheese, Balsamic Sauce Flatbread

Swedish Meatballs with Mashed Potatoes, Berry Jelly

"Rabbit Pie"

Beard Papa Cream Puffs!!!

Baking One Night

Scalloped Potatoes, 17th Century Baked Apples

Honey Ham, Pumpkin Bar

Onion & Mozzarella Corn Bread Pie

Chinese New Year Feast

Ox Tongue Stew, Fish, Curry Shrimp, Broccoli & Portobello Mushroom

Roast Chicken, Chicken Alfredo Pasta

Roast Chicken, Ribs

"Year of the Snake" Peach Pie

(better view of little pastry snake)

(I made this!)

Curry Shrimp, Fish, Veggies (another angle)

New Year's Tofu & Veggie Soup

New Year's Sticky Rice Dessert

Baking Another Night

Cranberry, Nut, White Choco Oatmeal Cookies

Scary Allergy Incident

I had a weird allergic reaction yesterday.

Snack-gate Update 2

Received letters and/or emails from Aldi and food product company. More apologies and offers of refund and replacement, which we did. We got the snack package, as promised, with dried fruit mix (yum), mixed berry mix (this actually should be almonds, but we prefer this anyway), and wasabi mix (which isn't just wasabi peas, but a trail mix with other stuff, and it turns out my mom doesn't like this one... whoops.) So that was nice, and we used the box and included shipping label to ship the Fusia trail mix bag with the chunk of machinery in it back to them. And that's the end of it, I believe. We're still shopping at Aldi and eating its products. And hopefully they'll pay more attention to quality control. ;P

Snack-gate Update

Finally got a response to the complaint today.

First, a rep from Aldi called. They received the inquiry, are sorry this happened, and are now looking into it. The guy, Mike, actually thanked me for including photos (heh) and said he didn't know what it was exactly. He asked me to describe the incident, the package, and the object. He said he would pass it along to the maker of the product, which would get back to me soon. He also asked how my mom was doing, and I told him she felt better but still has a bit of rash around her chin (she's sensitive to allergies, but some foreign inedible substance is the only cause we can think of). He said he would send my mom a letter so that she can go to the store and get both a replacement and a refund. He ended by saying we can call him if we had any other questions and concerns or if we didn't hear from the other company in a week.

Then a few hours later, I got a call from a rep from the manufacturer/distributor (America Food Import something). He apologized a lot and asked the same questions. He also asked for the product code so that he could find which batch it was and when it was made. I gave him the code from the bag, and I asked if there had been any other complaints like this. He said no, and that they didn't know there was anything wrong or missing from their packaging plant, which is in Minneapolis, Minnesota (I asked).

Apparently, this had never happened before and they were all as curious as we were about what the object was and how it ended up in the bag. ^^; But, he said based on the photos, he thought it looked like a piece of a bucket. I said, "what?" He explained their factory has buckets that pour the different snack mix pieces into one place. (I still don't know what it is. o_0) He asked if we still had it, and when I said yes, he requested for us to send it to them so that the plant can find out more. They're going to send a prepaid box for us to package it all in and send back to them.

In addition, he wanted to send us a replacement for the product. The problem is that they don't make the Asian trail mix often (special/seasonal item), so he named a few of the other snack products that they make and asked me to pick. I said dried fruit mix, I guess? He said he would actually like to send us 3 bags, so I also chose salted almonds and wasabi pea mix. He'll send it all tomorrow.

So that was a good, appropriate response. They were both nice and took the issue seriously, sounding genuinely concerned that they might get sued with customer satisfaction. And even though this is a big "points off" moment, we'll still shop at Aldi and love it. In fact, Mom just did so today. ;P

Surprise Snack Attack

Last Wednesday, I bought a bag of Fusia Asian Trail Mix for my mom who loves this snack mix. But when she opened it and started snacking today, there was something in the bag she did not like. She found a broken piece of machinery in the bag!!

She had eaten about 1/4 of the bag before she discovered the chunk of some factory equipment. We have no idea what it is, looks like a piece of plastic and metal tube. A couple of hours after she stopped eating, she started feeling dizzy and unwell. :( [Update: A few hours later, Mom started getting a rash around her mouth and chin. Not sure if this is related, but we can't think of what else could have triggered it.]

We love Aldi and its products, and we don't want to cause trouble, but this is a serious health hazard. I wrote to them and asked them to please look into this issue and check their factories' quality control! ><

A few more pics of the offending mysterious object:

Park Jung Min x Song Hye Myung scandal

My first reaction to the she said / he said scandal was o_0?!

I feel so bad for JM. After a year of problems with CNR, the last thing he needs is a scandal right before his Korean comeback. I thought it was going to be just another "Are they dating?" netizen rumors based on their friendship from collaborations on Royal Avenue, Destination, and Not Alone. But it was so much worse. She said many things that painted JM as a cold, manipulative man who used her.

Obviously I side with JM (not just because I'm his fan but also because I seriously think he may just be gay ^^;), but she sounded genuinely hurt, so giving her the benefit of the doubt and feeling sorry for her pain, I'd say it was all just a big misunderstanding. I imagine it'd be easy to fall for and think you're in a relationship with JM when he's so friendly, sweet, almost cuddly with his friends (male and female). And I'd understand if you suddenly felt abandoned and betrayed when he becomes unavailable because he's busy (drama in Taiwan, dispute in Korea, debut in Japan) or he's feeling kinda low and keeping to himself and his family (I do that). Ironically though, I thought it strange that he was seen hanging out with friends (including SHM) more often than with his SS501 brothers, so actually I sympathize with her frustration and loneliness, missing him as TripleS do. >_>;

But! Some people have pointed out that she has no reason to go public with this private matter after all this time, espeically right as JM is planning his comeback. It may be a bit cliche to blame the big bad agency that JM left and sued, but honestly, I am a bit wary of angry execs from powerful companies like Comic Ritz which can make or break a career if they want to. =X

In any case, no one knows the truth except them, but I like that JM responded to the scandal like a gentleman and didn't humiliate or insult her like she tried to do to him. His new agency could've called her a liar, attention-grabber, or crazy woman, but they calmly chalked it up to a misunderstanding. JM admitted they were close friends, apologized for the misunderstanding, and took the high road, focusing on his music and his fans.

I really hope they can work it out as mature adults and stay friends. And I wish for JM's comeback to be successful and not negatively affected by this sensationalized news. *sigh*

Well, shit.

Got into a minor car accident today, and of course, it was my fault. --______--;;;

(personal entry, just skip)