Cincy

Last Wednesday I realized that we had no weekend plans, I wasn't working, and we needed to get out of town!  The phrase "Let's get the heck out of Dodge" ran through my mind several times.  The weather was to be nice and I was thinking about camping, until I realized that our little tent went gross and slightly broken and we threw it away a year ago.  Then I started thinking about how I'm old now and my back hurts after sleeping on the couch for half the night.  Hmmm... maybe camping isn't such a good idea.

A couple of friends suggested a trip to Cincinnati to check out their zoo and also Jungle Jungle Jim's.  A quick look at Jungle Jim's International Market's website and I knew that this was the place for foodies like us!



Our Jungle Jim's shopping experience was amazing, except for the whines of a four year old that was DONE after an hour there.  There were 4-5 isles of Asian food, and half of an isle that was specifically Taiwanese.  Score!  I really did buy eight boxes of pineapple cakes that were made in Taiwan.  We bought moon cakes, Chinese candies, Taiwanese wafers, dragon fruit, lychee fruit, Japanese sodas, and Japanese crackers.  For the kids, there were a few displays of animatronic animals.


  HUGE, right?!?!

  Dragon fruit, grown in Florida.  Why haven't I ever seen these for sale in Florida???






    I can't imagine consuming this in my lifetime. HUGE!
The highlight of our trip was hanging out with our friends the Savages that recently relocated to the Cincy area.  So glad that they are just a couple of hours away now!  We like to bring their kids horrible treats, so we brought the kiddos large disgusting gummy snakes.  Amy got us back by handing our kids bright red popsickles "for the road."  Well played, Amy.  Well played!




For dinner on Saturday we went to the House of Sun because they had Taiwanese offerings.  I had three cup chicken which was AMAZING!  Three cup chicken 三杯雞 sān bēi jīis a popular dish in Taiwan that is named for using a cup of three different sauces for each chicken.  The sauces are soy sauce, rice wine, and sesame oil.  The chicken is usually left on the bone with the bones chopped up and the dish is usually cooked and served in an earthenware pot with the sauce reduced.  My three cup chicken was served with white sticky rice.  Loved it!  Kevin had Taiwanese noodles with chicken.  The kids both loved the noodles, but Kevin and I really loved the three cup chicken.  The House of Sun also offers Chinese breakfast.  Kevin tried to convince me to come back when they opened at 11am for Chinese breakfast, but we'd promised the kids the zoo in the morning, and needed to do that.  We'll be back for Chinese breakfast on another trip, for sure.


  Mom, let's stop taking pictures and see more animals. This mama likes taking photos of her little monkeys!

  little boy + dirt = happy

  I know. So stinkin' cute!

  Hudson really liked snuggling in bed with us at the hotel. He curled up so close to me at night that I kept getting edged off the bed and had to move him back to the middle.