Vida is playing summer soccer so we find ourselves yet again at West Sunset Field for practices. As she gets older the practices get longer—two hours at a time this season. Vic loves the park at West Sunset. There is plenty for him to do there but two hours is a very long time for me to be there without losing my mind. It can be very cold-- times when the fog was so heavy that the girls could barely see each other on the field. Vic makes his way through almost all the features of the park---a cursory glide down the slide on the structure built for smaller children and then on to the big kids structure. He loves to climb and will take on almost any challenge. I don’t have to watch him as carefully but I often have to climb up after him and be the monster. The jumbo 4 seater teeter totter gets a lot of attention as well has the sand area with shovels on pulleys that can be raised and lowered and chutes to pour sand or put toys into and watch fall to the ground.

After an hour of this I need to break it up. Sunset Super is just a half a block away so I try to entice Victor to go “see the fish” in the very extensive fish market there. We visit the fish in tanks, the clams and crabs and then move on to the amazing selection of Asian groceries. I love to walk the aisles and just see what there is as we search for “Pocky” and whatever strange candy looks edible to us. We inevitably pick up a multitude of Pocky varieties but strawberry is the hands down favorite. While I’m there I might pick up some noodles or other random grocery item. One day I was trying to expand Vida’s instant noodle experience and I bought a cheap ramen “roast chicken flavor”. When I got it home and looked at the ingredients I found they were serious about the “flavor” since it contained absolutely no chicken. I didn’t know there was such a thing as “artificial chicken flavor”. After the “wheat flour” and “palm oil” there was a list of horrible preservatives before getting to the sugar, MSG, and “dried leek chip leaf” and more horrible preservatives. We got a good laugh out of it anyway . . .I also bought Vida some shrimp chips. The beer selection isn’t fantastic there. I decide to try Taiwan Beer a lager with about as much flavor as Tsing Tao but with a sweeter edge. I didn’t like it much.

Victor and I take our Pocky back to the park where sustained and amused by the little cookie sticks I can make it another half and hour before we slowly make our way to field where Vida is practicing.

Vic’s Snack—Pocky Vida’s Snack—Shrimp Chips Beer of the Day-Taiwan