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Showing posts from August, 2020

How to make Chocolate Chip Cookies

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 Watch down below or on the link here : Introduction: These homemade chocolate chip cookies are really easy to make tastes really good. I have noticed that a lot of chocolate chip recipes use a lot of butter. In this recipe, I use some butter, but not very much. I also less sugar because chocolate chips are really sweet.  I hope that you enjoy making this recipe as much as I do. (Plus, let me know if you actually do make this recipe. I would like to know how it turned out.) Recipe: Ingredients: ½ cup of coconut oil (You can use butter instead but one of my goals was to not use to much butter.) ¼ cup of butter (You can also use coconut oil but I thought it would be nice to use some because when I first started looking into chocolate chip cookies, I didn't find a recipes with only a little bit of butter) 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract ¼ cup of granulated sugar ¼ cup of brown sugar (You can use either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar.) 2 eggs 2 and ½ cups of flour ¼ teaspoon of s

The Silent Girl (Chapter 11)

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This is created by An Makes and Mei Makes. *Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up.       The next morning all the kids were unusually quiet. We all knew that our great uncle had been telling the truth. We also remembered the sticky thing dropping on my head. We had not decided whether to tell the grownups or not, about our investigation. That's why we were all so quiet.  "Are you okay?" Ye Ye said.     We all just nodded our heads and Ava asked Ye Ye if we could all be excused. Ye Ye agreed and we all headed out to Clara's and my room to decide whether we should tell them or not. We got there. And then Hayden asked what was going on because he was confused.     "What's going on? We are deciding whether we should tell the adults what we saw and heard or not." Ava said.     "Oh. I think we should tell the parents and other adults." Hayden said.     "I second that notion. We

Dragon Ride

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  What is your overall impression of the book? Dragon Ride: True Stories of Adventure, Miracles, and Evangelism from China by Grace Jacob My rating: 5 of 5 stars I like how instead of just starting already in the mission field, Grace Jacob tells people in the book what happens before she decided to be a missionary to China. It starts with her coming home from school when she was in eleventh grade. There are actually four chapters until Grace actually goes to China. Another thing is that she tells us what caused her to want to go to China. How and when she went. I like how she put certain stories from her missionary experience China in her book. Some are adventurous, some are fun, some are funny and some little stories are daring but some are also sad, frightening, frustrating and dangerous. I think one of the daring and adventurous things was when Grace went to a Prison Camp. You can read more about that in the chapter Prison Camp. there are also sad parts like when Grace has

The Silent Girl: Chapter 10

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I would also like to give credit to An Makes for helping me come up with ideas for this chapter.   *Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up. For translations of the Chinese, see the Translation section at the very end.     I looked around our great uncle and Li Li's house. They certainly had lots of stuff. There was even a grand piano! I didn't like playing the piano, but I did know how to play the Happy Birthday song. Ava on the other hand, was wonderful at the piano. She had already memorized 50 songs (including Jesus Loves Me, Amazing Grace and I Like Bananas). It was probably because she practiced on our old piano that Nai Nai¹ had bought Ye Ye² when my dad was a young boy. Just the thought of my dad made me have the image in my mind of the day he died and that thought made me want to cry but I didn't.    "Wow!" Ava said, staring at the grand piano that I had noticed earlier.     Apparently the

Church Service: August 23rd 2020

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Introduction: This is a mini church service brought to you by Mei Makes. It is designed to be a quick alternative to church, so it is only about a few minutes long. During this church service, she will sing one song, tell you a bible story and then end with one more song. Watch for this week's bible story teller and singing leaders. Comment who the bible story teller and singing leaders for the week are. You can watch on YouTube  here or see the video down below. We really hope that you enjoyed the church service!!! Did you find out who the bible story teller and singing leaders were? Let us know if you liked the bible story teller and singing leaders. Who else would you like to hear from?

Drawings: Comparison of Ages 6 and 8

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Check out the different 2 years can make! Here are some comparisons of drawings from Mei Makes from ages 6 and 8: Bunny: Hedgehog: Contour Line Drawing of Kangaroo: Contour line drawing is a special kind of drawing where you put all your attention into looking -- really looking! -- at the edges of your subject, trying your best to avoid looking down at your hand and at the lines your hand is putting down.  This teaches observation skills.  It trains your eye to really see  the nuances of your subject. It can be kinda scary to do at first.  Because you're not looking at your paper, you have to trust your eye and the results that come from it.  But the results can be surprisingly good.  You can learn more about contour line drawing from Drawing from the Right Side of Your Brain. Both drawings below were done by Mei Makes at Age 8.  Nice!

Animal of the Week: Owl

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These owls were drawn by my dad and I when I was 6 ears old.   Fast Facts: Did you know that owls can see a night? It's called nocturnal. They sleep in the day time and are quite active in the night.  That's how they catch their prey. (animals that they eat) They catch them at night, when rodents and other animals are asleep. There are many different kinds of owls. There are Barn Owls, Snowy Owls, Great Horned Owls, Long-Eared Owls and Short-Eared Owls to name a few. Owls also mainly eat mammals, birds, insects and fish. Eagles eat owls.   Owl Poem: Fluttering without a sound,  To the right and left, And gently landing downward! Owl Jokes:  Q: What kind of owl loves snow? A: A Snowy Owl. Q: Why did was the unicorn called the Great Horned Owl?  A: Because her horn was huge, pretty and magical, which made her horn great and because she could fly just as well as an owl.  Make sure to come back next week, so that you can see more animals!!!   

The Silent Girl (Chapter 9)

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  *Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up. For translations of the Chinese, see the Translation section at the very end.     We went to the airport at 5 pm. Our flight was at 7pm, but it took a long time to go through security. My mom told me that it was because we were taking an international flight.     Japan is an island in in Asia. Even though our family isn't Japanese, our great uncle lives there. It's because he went to collage in Japan and he married a Christian part Chinese and part Japanese girl named Li Li there. He loved Japan so much that he decided to live there. Everybody just called him Uncle because everybody felt like he was their uncle for some reason.     When we finally got through to the waiting room, they had just called all of the seniors and their families to board the plane. Since Ye Ye ¹ and Nai Nai² were seniors and we were family, we could all board the plane before any other passeng

The Silent Girl (Chapter 8)

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  *Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up. For translations of the Chinese, see the Translation section at the very end.     We finally got over it. (Not everyone was the same, but they made it through.) Clara smiled real smiles, but never laughed again. She still talked though, which was better than me. I also stopped any ideas of talking again.     School was now one of my few comforts. At least most people were happy there. I even got to continue the story, since the substitute couldn't find the stuff we were working on. Here is how my story continued: "Lily didn't know that Disgrace had a curse. Lily thought it was weird that Disgrace's father named her Disgrace. She called Disgrace "Lily" because the youngest girl or pair of girl twins are always called Lily, since she is the youngest. One day, there was an announcement that the royal family was coming to Disgrace's little town. Ever

Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems

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  What is your overall impression of the  Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems by Janet Benge My rating: 5 of 5 stars My overall impression is that this book is wonderful. Amy Carmichael is a stubborn and opiniated women. Her stubbornness causes her to go to India to serve the Lord and be a missionary. Originally, Amy worked with the shawlies, Irish women who had come to England to escape poverty but they only found more of it, but then she gets really sick. When she eventually gets better, she decides to be a missionary to China, but the doctor says she was medically unfit and his word was final. Then, because of her stubbornness, she feels called to Japan and goes there. In Japan, she works as a missionary, but she soon gets Japanese Head (an illness in Japan) and the only cure is to leave Japan. Finally, some time later, she goes to India and she works there with the Indian people for the rest of her life. Most people probably would already give up if they got rejected, bu

Mary Slessor: Forward Into Calabar

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What is your overall impression of the book? Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar by Janet Benge My rating: 5 of 5 stars My overall impression is that it was very exciting and adventurous. She is very lively and daring. I really like it when, even though begged her not to go and said that she would surely be called if she went to Calabar. I like how she showed a lot of courage and bravery to go to Calabar because a lot of people who go there don't even survive their first term. She also showed a lot of bravery by going inland where no white person had ever been. She even stops her engagement to stay with an inland tribe called Ekenge. This book shows all the different parts of Mary Slessor's life. It's amazing how she grew up working at a cotton mill and grew up to be a famous missionary who went inland into Calabar where no white person ever set foot in. View all my reviews What is the book about? This book is about a girl named Mary Slessor and mo

Elsie Dinsmore

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What is your overall impression of the book?     Elsie Dinsmore by Martha Finley My rating: 5 of 5 stars I think it is very good. I like how Elsie is very obedient and doesn't tell on people, even if she knows they purposely tried or did hurt her. She also is very kind even to the people who are mean to her. The book tells all the good and the bad in her childhood. It's just like normal human life. Another good thing about her, is her love for God. She is very willing to suffer for the Lord and she is very strict on things that she should not do on the sabbath. She sometimes gets in trouble by her father but she is very firm. She says that her father's frown is way easier to bare then her heavenly father's glare. Overall, she is a very obedient girl but she always obeys her heavenly father over her earthly father.  View all my reviews What is the book about? This book is about a girl named Elsie Dinsmore. Her mother died soon after she was born. H

Guest Blog: Zucchini Gao!(American-Chinese 萝卜糕, LoBakGo, LuoBoGao)

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Ever go to Dim sum to eat that steamed radish cake that is freshly pan-fried, with delicious thick soy sauce? Turns out the same tasty treat made at fancy dim sum restaurants can be easily made at home! And since the local grocery stores do not have daikon radish available for curbside pickup, an easy, delicious and economical substitution is zucchini!  ... especially if your zucchini plants look anything like ours. 😁 First start with fresh, tender zucchini. You need about 4 pounds.  Next, grate it. You can use a hand grater, a food processor, or be like me and zap for a minute or so in the dry Vitamix container (on variable speed 2).  Here are all 4 pounds!  Then stir-fry with a tablespoon of oil, adding 1/4 cup of water until nearly translucent. Below is what it should look like AFTER cooked (check out my well-seasoned wok in the back -- oh yeah!).      While the zucchini is cooking, mix 1 pound of rice flour with 3 cups of water. This is the rice flour I used, but the Red Elephant

Guest Blog: One (Instant) Pot Meal - Chicken Vegetable Rice

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Thank you for inviting me to guest blog!  I'd like to share an easy and healthy recipe that makes a complete meal in one pot, specifically, in one Instant Pot! I make this recipe all the time, and you'll soon see why! I make this recipe in a 3 quart Instant Pot, and it's for 2 servings. This recipe can be doubled or tripled, and made in in a 6 quart Instant Pot. The cook time is the same in a 6 quart Instant Pot or if recipe is doubled/tripled. One (Instant) Pot Meal - Chicken Vegetable Rice 2 servings Equipment needed: 3 quart Instant Pot 1 cup measuring cup microplane grater (optional) Ingredients: 1 cup Calrose short grain rice 1 cup water Salt Turmeric Powder (optional) 1-2 inch knob of ginger (optional) 1 chicken breast, cubed and seasoned with salt 2-3 leaves of collard greens (or green cabbage, or carrots) Soy sauce to taste   1) Rinse 1 cup of Calrose short grain rice in Instant Pot inner pot twice. Add 1 cup of water to the rice. (TIP: Other types of rice may requi

Drawing with Mei Makes

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This is Ba Ba, Mei Make's special guest blogger for today.  I'm here to share with you a side of Mei Makes you might not normally see.   Mei Makes has been interested in drawing since she was a little girl.  When Mei was just 6-years-old, she and Ba Ba went on a special Daddy-Daughter Drawing Getaway.  They brought Mei's favorite stuffed animals and house sat Ye Ye and Nai Nai's house for 3 days.   Here are some of the fruits of their getaway weekend...   Bunny: Seal: Giraffe: Hedge Hog Owl:

The Silent Girl (Chapter 7)

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*Disclaimer*: This is a work of fiction. Some events may be based on real life, but some events are made up. For translations of the Chinese, see the Translation section at the very end.     "What do you want?", the lady asked.     "I am Emily Lee. We all came here to help you.", my aunt said.     "Oh. Don't forget I have a rule. Always follow everything I say. I hope that you will stay longer than my last helper.", she said.      We all followed her inside. The building didn't look very friendly. It was dark and gloomy. Not to mention dirty.     The first day was bad. She kept saying stuff like: "that is not how you do it" and "have you ever baked in your life". We went to the cottage tired and discouraged.     We soon became lonely and homesick. We decided to go home. Home was wonderful. I was even glad to milk the cow!     I soon went back to my old routine. It was nice to hear everybody laughing around the table. I