Lunch on a Summer Day! Panda Rice and Ramen Noodles by Ainna

I don't really know how to cook.
Whenever I make something, I just kind of wing it.

A long time ago, I remember seeing rice and seaweed shaped to look like pandas.
My siblings and I were hungry so I decided to make us lunch.

I would give you a detailed recipe but I really just improvised with what I was able to scour from the pantry.

First, I made some rice. I wanted it to be soft so I put 2 cups of rice and almost 4 cups of water in the rice cooker.
While this was cooking, I started on the shapes for the "rice panda." I used scissors to cut these shapes out of the seaweed I found. It became very tedious but it was definitely worth it.

 They looked like this.


I cut the seaweed into strips first. This made it easier to cut the shapes out and waste less of it.

By the time I finished cutting, I decided to start on the ramen noodles. I don't really need to go into detail with that, but here's a picture because it looked tasty

The kind of ramen I cooked was the Lucky Me Instant Pancit Canton (Chow Mein).

My favorite from the Lucky Me brand is the calamansi flavor, but we didn't have any.

The rice was a bit difficult to work with!

I didn't use the Sushi Powder Vinegar we had because I didn't even know we had it until Buzzer handed it to me. I just took about 3/4 of the rice I made and put it into a blue container, adding a little bit less than 1/4 cup of white vinegar. I kept mixing it until the rice became sticky. I shaped them to look like this.

 There was enough rice to make about six more after I made six. I would have continued but my siblings and I have been snacking on the rice while waiting anyway.

I added the eyes, nose, and ears but also cut strips to horizontally fit the back of the panda and the butt of the panda.

They were really cute to look at.

I don't know if anyone will ever try this after reading my post, but it was fun anyway.

I'm a happy rice panda :)

Voilà!

I Tried to Stripe My Lawn?

          The neighbors that are behind us always seem obsessed with their lawn. I really feel like they mow their lawn every other day just to keep it perfect. The cliché saying "the grass is always greener or the other side" fits them perfectly. 

          I'm an amateur lawn mower. I only mow when my parents ask me to. A couple days ago, Momsy said the lawn needed mowing again. It felt like it had only been a week since I mowed it. Whatever. I mowed it anyway. This time, however, I didn't do the boring vertical lines Popsy always does when he mows the lawn. I mowed it diagonally. (This was, of course, after I spent half an hour on YouTube watching videos of people "striping" their lawns.) 

          I didn't really think this would work, but it didn't turn out too bad. If you look really closely and squint your eyes a bit, you can kind of tell. I looked ridiculous trying to do this, but I think it was worth it. I'm also secretly hoping our neighbors see it. Maybe they'll be impressed. Yeah, probably not. I also got too excited and thought I somehow became a landscaper, so I also edged the sidewalks. The edging was actually really difficult and I do not plan to do that ever again. My arms and shoulders still feel funny. Boo. 

          According to one of Justin Bieber's songs, "...the grass ain't always greener on the other side; it's green where you water it." I like my lawn better than my neighbors. Even though there's absolutely nothing in it.