Café Con Monica

On Pumpkin Patches…..

So this past weekend my family finally made it out to the pumpkin patch…we try to do this every year but as we know I was too far away to make it happen last year! 

This year they had so many new things at Bengston’s, where we have gone every year since I was a little shit and my brother was even born(before I was 13). They had camel rides, which I was super excited about until I saw the very small space that I was going to pay $7 to travel around on his back…then I just pouted and kept walking! 

Going to the pumpkin patch since my nephew was born is actually pretty great since he is so young and gets to enjoy all the things we have seen over & over. 

BEST PHOTO OF THE DAY! 
we were running around the corn maze trying to get catch my dad and brother and lost my Mrs.M, so she jumped out and caught my nephew. 
Part of the tradition of us going is to take photos in the pumpkin patch area…its really amazing to see how everyone, especially my brother & nephew have changed. 

This guy is amazing! When we passed by the pumpkin was untouched, an hour later we came back by and this is how it looked. Seriously…after just an hour. 
It closes today so I can’t recommend that you go visit if your in Chicago but maybe next year?! Did you go to a pumpkin patch this year? 


Five on Friday….

So I always see these fashion posts pop up…and I seriously can barely dress myself every day let alone put together some masterpiece outfit to compete with the other girls that get up hours earlier to get pretty. I get up at 5 am right now…imagine if I actually combed my hair and put makeup on before work!?! HA! never. 

So I thought it would be fun to list 5 trends that I can never pull off….


{1} 
Awesome hair styles…You know why?! Because I have curly hair..not wavy…actual curly hair. So yea. I can’t do cool shit like that to my do. 

{2}
 Printed pants or leggings.Besides the obvious fact that I do not have thin thighs there is the fact that I am short. One can be helped the other can not. Short/chunky thighs DO NOT look cute in printed pants or leggings.

{3} 
Pointy Nails. This is one of those I am sure I could pull off but won’t. They are gross. That is all.

{4} 
Ridiculous shoes. I mean seriously…who besides an expert stripper can walk in anything over 3″ without doing that weird shuffles so you don’t fall? Not me. That’s who.

{5} 
A T-shirt. This pretty much encompasses any DIY type outfit. For 1 I can’t possibly get my ass not to hang out the back of a t-shirt dress & 2. I am just not creative enough for that nonsense.

Do you have trouble with any of these? What are some trends you just can’t work with??

Chinese Food

One of the things I love most is food.(thats my inner fat kid talking) but really I do. I fell in love with the food in Thailand right away and am basically ruined for life because nothing will compare. But I have not had this same experience with Chinese food. I have found some things I really enjoy and some things I would rather not see ever again. 

Here are some of my fave Chinese foods that I am going to try making and finding here in the US: 

Red Bean Konnyaku jelly 

This stuff is delicious and different. It has a jelly like texture and obviously uses red beans which is not usually something you find in a dessert but Asians love red beans in their sweets! 

Kai-Lan (Chinese Broccoli) 
I love Broccoli and this tastes nothing like it but it was delicious and I never once went to a restaurant and didn’t order it. I made it in my apartment all the time too! Here is a recipe if you would like to try making it. 
Eggplant…
I’m convinced they put crack in their eggplant dishes. Before moving abroad I had eaten eggplant less times than I have fingers. Now I miss it so much and have asked one of my old chinese coworkers to give me a recipe to try and make it at home…minus the crack of course. 
McDonald’s Taro Pie
I should be ashamed of myself for admitting this but I loved these things! I am a fan of the McDonald’s apple pies even though I rarely ate them here so I definitely interested in trying these. They were amazing and I am so unhappy with McDonalds for not having them here. 
Jian Dui(Sesame Taro Balls) 
Another Taro food that I fell in love with. They are probably horrendously bad for me but I loved them anyway. Deep Fried and I think made with some kind of rice? I think it might be possible to find them at a Dim Sum place…I will investigate this! 
Yangmei(Waxberry) 
These are delicious and have an odd texture sometimes sweet sometimes tart…but I was very excited to find a fruit I hadn’t tried before. 

Fish balls
I couldn’t really find a proper name for these but they are delicious. They could really be all kinds of parts of the fish or not even real fish but I don’t care. They are spongey balls with a fish flavor that taste great in soup or with noodles. I often ordered them as a snack at 7-11 and it was not uncommon to see people walking around eating these with skewers. 

There are other things I miss…but these were some of my favorite. 
Have you tried anything while traveling that you miss now? 


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