Farmers Market Part Two

On Saturday I went to the Farmers Market.

I went to the Rolling Wok and I had a crab rangoon and a egg roll. They tasted like normal crab rangoons and egg rolls. I may go back to that place but I'm not sure.

And then we down to the end of the block and passed a Hulk balloon at the balloon stand. I didn't want to go there and get a balloon because the line was really big.

Then we went to the Kettle Corn stand and I wanted to get a mixed bag. But then I didn't want the one I got because I saw another kind, the "Chicago Mix." Chicago Mix is cheese popcorn and caramel popcorn. One is salty and cheesy and the other is really sweet. So that makes it good. My cousin Theron picked out the "Fourth of July" mix -- it was blueberry, cherry and vanilla popcorn. I tried some of it and it tasted pretty good.

So then we saw a stand that was a Russian place to eat and I got a pierogi. It had cheese, dill and hard-boiled egg inside and on the outside was bread. It was probably fried. It was my first time having Russian food. It was better than I expected. It tasted so bizarre that it made it taste good because the eggs were covered with cheese sauce and I am pretty sure it was fresh dill. And on the outside was really good bread. There were other kinds of pierogis. And there was some sweets, too. We'll probably go back to that sometime so I can get another pierogi.

Then we left.

Goldfish King

On Wednesday we went to The King and I. It is a Thai restaurant. When we went in, we were the only people there. And we could pick any seat we wanted so we picked a seat. And Grandma Katy was there, too.

Then we all sat down and ordered sushi. We got a California Roll and Salmon Skin Roll. The California Roll was really good. It had fish eggs on top and inside was crab, avocado and cucumber. And of course it had seaweed and rice. It was the best California Roll I've had. I tried the Salmon Skin next. It was really good, but the skin was kind of odd, smoky tasting. And it was very hard to chew. So you had to chew it for at least five or 10 minutes. Chewing, chewing, chewing, chewing, CHEWING! It looked like normal sushi -- rice and seaweed, and instead of vegetable inside it had salmon skin in the middle. It was some of the oddest sushi I've ever tasted. But anyways it was good.

 When we were waiting for our real food, not the appetizers, there was a fish tank full of goldfish so we went to look at it for a long time. After awhile, a lot of customers started coming.

This is a picture of my baby sister. She seems amazed like that all the time.

 This is a picture of the sushi I had. The top is the Salmon Skin Roll and the bottom is the California Roll. 

 When I was eating the sushi, it looks like I was wanting some more and I was. I was asking for more and more and MORE!

 (above photo) This is what my dish looked like. It was called Pad See Ew -- it is a noodle dish with broccoli, tofu, carrots, eggs and noodles that are pretty big and flat. They taste great though. I never had this before that's why I got it. And anyways I like to eat things that sound strange. But the strangest things are the best things!

I ate half of mine because, you know, it was BIG! The leftovers we put in a box and I ate most of it at home the next night. It warmed up well and tasted great as a leftover. I will go to The King and I whenever I have the chance. But it's up to my mom and dad. I think everyone in our family liked the restaurant.

Restaurant Rating: Thumbs Up!
The reason I put a thumbs up on this is because I've been here many times and this is one of the greatest dishes I've had. You should go to The King and I in West Des Moines and try whatever dish you think sounds good. And remember you should tell your friends and all the people that you like how it tasted and maybe even make a blog about fun foods. See you next time!

Once Upon a Pella

Yesterday I went to Pella, Iowa -- home to the biggest windmill  in the United States. Well, we drove there and it took like an hour. And first we walked up to the windmill and couldn't see much of it because it was SOOOOO high! So there were big shoes right in front of the entrance but we didn't get to go in there so I just stood in them. They were BIGGGG!! I guess they used those in the old days, but who was big enough to wear those? A giant? Maybe even too big for him.

So we went into the real entrance and we got a stamp and it was of a tulip which I'm guessing was the town symbol. And after that I went into a room that said "Pella's History" and I saw something that was pretty interesting. Two things that were pretty interesting. A model gun -- it looked like a real gun to me because it was done so good and a picture of when a really big flood hit Pella. Then I started thinking if that flood was bigger than the flood that happened in Des Moines a long time ago. I'm pretty sure they were the same heights but maybe Des Moines' was bigger. Or maybe Pella's was bigger. So after that we started to do a tour so we went up an elevator to the second floor and we saw an old-fashioned playhouse. It was a small kitchen and it had lots of accessories in it. It looked very fragile and a board slided out of the bottom so a kid could sit in it. I thought that was pretty cool.

So then I saw another thing and it was with 40 horses carrying one carriage. It was pretty strange because the carriage was not that big and there were only two people on it and the carriage was not carrying anything. So then we went into another room and that room was a giant model of Pella and in the old days when the houses were not that big and wide. They were very narrow and bunched together and the yards were very narrow too, and since the stairways were so steep and narrow, they couldn't get new furniture up them so well. So there was a hook connected to the roof and there was a rope on it and what they used to do was tie the rope to a piece of furniture and pull the furniture up and it would go through the window. Big things like shelves and beds they would also do that too. And since the houses were so thin so your kitchen might be on the top of the house and your bedroom on the bottom and your basement might be in the middle. Some people had storage in a basement beside their house. And some people that were really poor lived in huts. And some huts were really deep down in the ground.

So then we went up another floor and we had to push a button with a "M" on it and that stood for "Mill" so I pushed the button because M is my favorite letter after all. When we got there, I stepped out and I thought I was going to fall because it was wood I was standing on and there were big gaps between the boards. But I was a tiny bit scared when I stepped on. So I jumped on it and nothing seemed to move so then I lost my fear. There was a tour guide and he told all of us that it was the tallest windmill in the United States and other windmills were close to the ground and used for houses. This windmill had a lot of stuff in the top and there was a flag that could tell which way the wind was blowing and to tell if the person who worked the windmill was there or not. And there was a wheel that I think it made lightning go away. We went inside and I saw a big bag full of flour and it was sitting on a trap door. There were many trap doors so the person who worked the windmill didn't have to take it all the way downstairs because it was so heavy, instead the trap doors made it fall to the ground. When I went out the other way I saw the blades of the windmill and I thought they were going to hit me because they were so close up to me!

In the old days people used to live in windmills so we went down a whole bunch of flights of stairs, most of them were full of storage, and we went to floor two and finally got to the living quarters. When I went inside I saw a kitchen -- it was pretty fancy. And a bed that I thought was awesome. The bed was in a little house and you could open up a window and crawl in, so I really wanted one of those beds. But it was pretty small and I think I was too big to go into it, but I still wish I could sleep in it instead of my metal bed. But my metal bed is still pretty nice.

Then we went to the bottom of the windmill and I saw some models of windmills. Then we went to the bottom floor where the shoes were and saw more things. And then I went all the way back up and went down the elevator to floor 2, and then to floor 1 and then we had more to do still. One of the ladies at the front office gave us a book and it said Old Fashioned Villages in Pella so we went to every village there. The first was a log cabin. It was nice because the bed was nice and there was a fireplace and everything. I wish I could live there, it looked pretty nice. Much cleaner than our house! And much smaller than our house. I've always wanted to live in a cabin like that. There was another house that was a dugout. Dugouts are a house that are built halfway into a hill and they are good shelter for tornadoes. Ones that have porches and a door aren't that safe, but ones inside hills are safe because tornadoes can't destroy hills, they only destroy stuff that is not stuck to anything and is not stable. We saw more houses and then a few minutes later we saw a watermill house. It was pretty awesome because I'd never seen one of those things before in real life. And it was in a blacksmith shop. So we kept walking and walking and there was a sprinkler that was sprinkling all over so me and Bo ran through it for a long time and then we saw something amazing and incredible and almost the most amazing thing in Pella! It was Wyatt Earp's house! Wyatt Earp is a cowboy lawman. His house was pretty huge and there were a lot of guns in one of the rooms and there was his most famous gun -- a kind of pistol and it was named after him. So when we kept going on we saw a heritage hall place. We walked inside and it was huge. There was a greenhouse in there. You could open a little door to see what was inside. So when we kept walking there was a whole bunch of guns everywhere. Upstairs there were bedrooms and there was even a church there -- an old fashioned one. Those churches were much differenter than the churches now. They had a big stand with stairs and a little tube thing that a guy could stand in and talk to the people that were there. And the boys were on one side and the girls were on the other. There were a whole bunch of clothes everywhere because I think they were performing something. Then we got out of the house and decided it was time to eat lunch.

So we went to a playground and ate lunch. And then we left to go to the famous bakery. I got a goat leg, which was a piece of bread with lots of nuts and chocolate on each side. And I got some cherry balls, I think that's what they were called. They were some bread that was like doughnut bread and on the inside it tasted like cherry. Here's a picture of me eating the goat leg and cherry doughnut hole:

So after the bakery, this is what I did in the alley:

  

I'm doing something that I saw on a show. It's pretty ridiculous, I know. I called this the "spider climb" and it's on a show called "Ninja Warrior" on the G4 channel. Only three people have got through the whole obstacle course. I drew a drawing of it that I will show you. I hope you think it's pretty good because that's really what it looked like.

After that I went to a canal. I will tell you what a canal is if you really don't know. Canals are a big river with sides kind of like a dock but there are some small docks with boats that you can get on. I drew a picture of what it could look like. After that, we went to a butcher shop. We were buying some bologna. And we were allowed to sample some cheese. So I picked cheddar cheese. I really wanted another piece, but I couldn't. But there was some bologna I could try so I tried it and it tasted really good. The word "bologna" looks like "bu-log-na" is that really how it's spelled? It's like the Weird Al song, "My Baloney."

So after that I went to a giant sculpture. It was for the Tulip Time Festival. You should really go because there's like 20 stairs and a whole bunch of chairs behind that big thing and there's plenty of places to hide, but you would have to pick a different time than when they are having the festival because I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let you up there. There were two little spaces. I was hiding in one. And when Keesia and Sherie came really close I jumped up and said, "Ladies and Gentleman!" I kept running from spot to spot for the whole time. And then we had to leave. My adventure at Pella was great and I'm going to go there some other day, too. See you next time, folks!

Mini Reviews: Sushi Monday and Fishy Thursday

Sushi Monday
This week I'm having break from school and I started swimming lessons. Today we went to a park and had lunch. That's pretty much all we did. I ate a sandwich -- actually a tortilla with roast beef and cucumbers. And I had some cheesy tortilla chips. For dessert I had an ice cream sundae at Sonic. Mmmm. The vanilla ice cream had chocolate sauce on top of it. I really liked that. And I always like vanilla and chocolate flavors combined together. Bo's spilled a lot. He spilled it on his pants. Oh gosh.

After swimming lessons, I went home and we had supper. But there was sushi. And you know how I like sushi. But it was big sushi. It was in a tofu wrapping with rice, spicy sauce and a big shrimp inside. It tasted really good. It was different from other sushi because it was bigger than normal sushi and it wasn't seafood that surrounded it. Here's a picture of me eating it and a picture of it:

Fishy Thursday
Last Thursday I was having a presentation about fish and aquatic life. I was a piranha. Everyone had a shadow puppet they would move and it would make a shadow. I talked about what a piranha looked like, what they ate, where they lived, what ate them, how they laid their eggs and protect them, and if they ate humans and how much they kill you. They don't kill many people a year. Like four.

After that I went to the Marine Biology Lab up in my school and I saw lots of creatures with my dad Shawn. After we went to the lab, Shawn had to leave so me and my mom went to Taco John's because there was a new fish taco that I wanted to try. I ordered two. they were unusually small but there was a lot of stuff inside and I could squeeze fresh lime on it. The hot sauce had too many ingredients on the packet -- things that weren't so good for you like salt and other things. And for dessert I got a churro. A churro was a big crispy stick of bread covered with sugar. It tasted really good like a cookie kind of except much longer and you should check out the two new YouTube videos of me at Taco John's -- Mazy Hanson Reviews Taco John's Part 1 and Mazy Hanson Reviews Taco John's Part 2. And also check out the day when Violet was born.

Get Some Fresh Air

Yesterday at my grandparents' farm I played outside ALLLLL day with my cousins. I played jungle games and fort games and lots of other games, like golf. The areas I like to play at on the farm are by the hay bales and the cows, and up by the little pond.

We were celebrating Mother's Day and also celebrating my Grandpa's birthday. He was turning 59. So for supper we always have a southern fish fry every year. Uncle Troy and Uncle Steve fry the fish outside -- this year it was tilapia fillets.

 

I was sitting at a small table with my cousins. They put us in the den. They do that because they don't want us to bother the adults all the time. 

 The fish was crispy on the outside and tasted really fishy on the inside. I liked the fried fish. I've always been a big fan of fried fish. 

 Then I had hush puppies. You've heard me talk about those before. You know what they taste like -- crispy on the outside and tastes like bread on the inside. I really like hush puppies. I'm a big fan of them.

 Mmm, this was good. This salad had cheese, broccoli, raisins, green onions and bacon. I only got one piece of bacon on my plate. What I liked best about it was the cheese. I ate the broccoli too. My Aunt Sherie made this.

 Mmm, this was good, too. This coleslaw came with ramen noodles, sunflower seeds and green onions. All those mixed flavors together were really good. I'm a big fan of green onions so I really liked that. And the sunflower seeds were crispy, and the noodles were good, too. Aunt Sherie made this one, too.

 The macaroni and cheese was really good. It was macaroni but with lots of cheese. Really good. And then they put it on the plate and added even more cheese, which tasted really good. I didn't get any bacon in mine, but some people did. I wish I had bacon in mine. My Aunt Jean made the macaroni and cheese.

 This had shrimp and I don't even know what the other stuff was. It tasted good. It was shrimp dipped in something. I only got one piece of shrimp, againnnnnn.... My mom says this is called Shrimp and Grits. Grandma Katy made it using my Aunt Cindy's recipe. My Aunt Cindy lives in Mississippi. (It's a good thing I remembered!) Grits are strange. They tasted pretty good.

This was a cake for Grandpa Kevin. I didn't have any of it. I had some chocolate cake that is covered with chocolate icing. It was really good. It just tasted like chocolate alone. My Great Grandma Maxine made the chocolate cake. She's really famous for that -- the whole family knows about it. I also had some brownies with a big pretzel in them. It was good, the chocolate mixed up with the pretzel made a big crunch when I ate it. My mom made those. They were delicious! They were!

Food rating: Thumbs Up!!

Make sure you get your mother or any woman that you know that's nice to you a good present. Mother's Day is today. The end.

One Day in May

May 5, 2012

Today I went to the Farmers Market. It's a big place where you go and pick out foods and other things. Well, when we first went there we were looking for a parking space. We looked everywhere, but it was all occupied almost everywhere. So we went to a parking garage, we had to go up to floor number four and then go down all the stairs. Then we finally got to the spot where we wanted to be.

First I saw egg rolls. I thought it was awesome so I went over with my grandma and I got two egg rolls (one for me) and two crab rangoons (one for me). I ate the crab rangoon because it wasn't hot, the egg roll had just been baked and was really hot and I didn't want to burn my tongue.

The crab rangoon has mushed up crabs inside. It didn't taste like crabs at all to me. It tasted like cream cheese and crab. It was crispy and crunchy on the outside. There was an unusual meat inside the egg rolls, it tasted like no other meat. I'm not sure what it was because I didn't get a closer look. They were great. The outside was crispy and crunchy, too. There was meat and vegetables inside and the crispiness and crunchiness and everything mixed together was good.

My younger brother said he didn't want anything to eat. Then I said, "Hey look! There's mini doughnuts!" And then he started acting all crazy like a monkey. He did that because he really loves doughnuts and we got them the last time we were there. Then we saw a refreshment stand and he got apple juice and I got orange juice. I love orange juice.

The doughnuts tasted crispy and sweet and more crispier and sweeter inside. They were really small doughnuts, about the size of the tip of your thumb.

I also saw this stand and it had wheat grass juice. I was like, "Oh gosh. I better get that. But I'm not sure it's going to taste good." So I tasted it.

 I wanted to spit it back into the cup because it tasted like grass itself except it was all mushed up. I have to admit it tasted pretty good too. Well, it was pretty sour so I like sour drinks so that's why I liked it. They gave me an orange to eat after it. Then it tasted a little sweeter. I think I'll get it again. Maybe. But maybe even a smaller sample. We also saw people drinking whole cups of it!

Then we went to an Indian stand. It was called Saloo's India. I got a samosa -- it's a crispy breading and meat and vegetables inside. It tasted really good. I really liked it because of those ingredients mixed together. The lady fries the food on a frying pan and turns them over. When they come out they taste great.

We went to a brick wall next. We sat on it and ate our things. Bo was adventurous enough to try a bite of my samosa.

Then we went to a tart place. We got some fruit on a stick -- they tasted good. I got pineapple and strawberry because that was the only choice I had. I didn't really like eating on a stick -- it poked my lips and hurts a little.

 Bo ate his like a corn on a cob.

Then Keesia went over to the breakfast pizza stand, Something Italian. There was like 20 people there so she had to wait a long time. So me and Bo jumped over puddles. Bo fell in them a little bit. I like going to the pizza place because it's our tradition to go there. Almost all the time we get to go to it and we really like to have their breakfast pizza. It's so good because it has bacon on it, and French bacon ("Is that right?") Oh no, CANADIAN bacon and cheese. And that's all.

Market Review: Thumbs Up!!!!!!!
You should go to the farmers market in Des Moines, Iowa, not far from the Capitol. It's open every Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon. You could shop for vegetables, fruits, but you shouldn't because they don't have fruits right now. You could go to the breakfast pizza stand, but you have to wait awhile! Next time I will try more adventurous foods at the farmers market.