榴槤餅 榴槤酥

看有貓山王榴槤的…我來評論一下。在中國人商店看到两間商家的榴槤餅，即馬來西亞怡保和安順著名的馬碲酥，加了榴槤味。

還有另一家，原是台灣著名的鳳梨酥，餡料換為榴槤。

我各買了一種來吃，看我的評論…

第一打開的是 TA SIN GUAN TIN 餅家，很重的化學榴槤味冲出來，我還没吃就知道不是真榴槤，還會用貓山王名種嗎？

騙吃，騙人吃的！

不過，餅皮有很多層次，軟酥，麥芽糖很軟不很粘牙，整個餅的口感很好。

一包240g USD4.99。

余合餅家的榴槤味不是很濃，可能真是有用榴槤也不一定。

可是，餅皮没很層次，硬酥，麥芽糖不是很軟又會粘牙，整個餅的口感，我覺得不是很理想。

包裝160g (但我稱實際180g）USD4.99。

 這家的貓山王榴槤酥，也許有用不好的榴槤，但不可能是用很貴的貓山王名種。

不僅是騙吃，是很不好吃！皮不香，餡硬，整個餅没什麽香味道。

一盒8塊 USD6.99。

B cup or C cup

看一下，是 B cup 還是 C cup? 

B cup or C cup?

管它，把它喝下去。

每天早晨的濃黑咖啡，配我自己做的有機麵包。

真享受！

冰皮月餅

這十年來做了5次月餅，有傳統的、酥皮的、冰皮的，還有公仔餅，每次做都覺得很多功。要不是想到明天與朋友聚餐，動起念頭再做一次冰皮月餅，與朋友分享。

我超愛的有機紫芋頭。

加有機椰糖及杏仁奶，只有糯米粉不是有機的，攪成泥。

用有機牛油炒干，好香又好味的餡，不甜却蜜。

做皮的料，蒸後放冰箱冷至少20分鐘。

嗯…最不喜歡做的就是包，不能拿掐厚度，也不美觀。我没有冰皮的模，免強用木模好了。

當然也得做心型的冰皮月餅。來，嘗一口。好吃得要奔月了。

Hot Air Balloon Glow

Every year, St. Louis hosts the Great Forest Park Balloon Race.  Balloonists come from all over the country to compete.  In years past, the balloons were spread out on one of the open fields in the park.  The evening before the race, competing teams make certain their balloons are ready by setting up their equipment and inflating their balloons.  As the flames inflate the multi-colored balloons in the twilight, their colors pop out from the darkness.  This is the Balloon Glow. 

This year, the Balloon Glow was moved to "Art Hill", a graceful hill sloping from the Art Museum down to the lake.  

This grouped all the balloons in a relatively small space, creating a spectacular view.

Every five minutes or so, a loud horn would sound, telling the balloon crews to fire their gas jets, illuminating all the balloons simultaneously.

The balloons come in all different colors and patterns.  Some are sponsored by companies, others are privately owned.

With the light breeze, the balloons want to fly.  It takes a lot of family and friends to keep them on the ground.

Turnout for the Glow is always quite good.  The emcee estimated the crowd to be between 30,000 and "a gazillion"  people.  (This didn't include pets brought by some people.)

 

The St. Louis Art Museum is beautiful at night.  The building was originally built for the 1904 World's Fair, held that year in St. Louis.

The statue of St. Louis watched over the event.  From the top of Art Hill, atop the pedestal and his horse, he had the best view of the Glow.

After about two hours, the balloonists began packing up their equipment.  One-by-one, the balloons gradually fell.

The balloons are deflated and packed, ready for the race on Saturday.

Blessing

祈福和平安好 

Praying for world peace

Labor Day parade in Belleville, IL

美國勞動節是9月的第一個星期一。  

Labor Day in the US is the first Monday in September.

我在網上搜索在 Belleville 有遊行。

I was curious, what is a Labor Day parade like?  I saw online that Belleville, a small town about 45 minutes from us, was having a parade.

我很好奇是什麼勞動節遊行？去看看！

大多數是工會團體。

沿著街道，遊行人投擲糖果給人群，有人撿起糖果。

沿街有些糖果沒人想要，勞工需要清理乾淨嗎？

為什麼不是遞給糖果呢？

We arrived after the parade had started.

Most people in the parade represent various union groups. 

As the parade passed by, they threw candy out to the crowd, which both kids and adults scrambled to pick up.  A lot of it landed in the street, and ended up getting walked on or driven over, so nobody wanted them, so who has to clean them up later? Why not just hand the candy to people instead?

The parade also include a flag team...

 ...and no parade is complete without a local marching band...

...followed by cheerleaders.

We didn't know if this car represented a union, but it looked cool.

The parade included heavy equipment, brought by the Operating Engineers union.

Trucks from Budweiser and Coors were on-hand to supply the adult refreshments.

After the parade and lunch, we stopped at the Shrine of our Lady of the Snows on the way home.  Usually, we only see this beautiful place at night, during their winter "Way of Lights" Christmas display.

The Shrine is a large complex, with many chapels.  This is the front of an outdoor chapel dedicated to Mary.

The altar

A view of the whole chapel.

Millennium Spire and Candelarium