alicezhaox

[alicezhaox]

“It does! And I’m glad it does!” Alice grinned. She was glad if she was going into a haunted house with anyone, it would be Stelly. They knew what they were doing. And Alice trusted them. Looking up at the house and then nodded towards Stelly. “Let’s do this!” She said, taking a deep breath and moving towards the door.

"And as long as it works, that's what counts!" Sometimes you had to be your own biggest cheerleader, push yourself to believe that you weren't being a great big baby. Stelly didn't get scared that often, but even they had to give themselves a pep talk now and then. "You're very welcome," Stelly turned their gaze from Alice to the haunted house, taking a breath and grinning, feeling equal parts anxious and excited. "Okay. Let's do this."

[alicezhaox]

“Jell-o that sometimes doesn’t even look like Jell-o,” Alice shook her head with a smile. Dessert was one of her favorite things, probably ever, no matter what it was, as long as it tasted good! She smiled more at him and took his arm. “And it’s much better than ice cream or questionable cups of Jell-o, or pudding,” she grinned.

"And then you're stuck eating Jell-O that's been sitting under a light for who knows how long," or some sort of pudding that supposedly was actually pudding, but didn't really look (or taste) like pudding should. But he supposed it was better than having no dessert at all. "Let's," he smiled, holding his arm out for her to take, leading her back towards the food, "at least we don't have to worry about broken ice cream machines or questionable pudding here."

[alicezhaox]

Which is what I like to do because it’s just extra tasty, you know? Everything tastes ten times better during the holidays. Speaking of, I found a really cool recipe for Mac and cheese and I might actually try it as well. The Center always knows how to have a good time, especially with that sense of community. I’lol be there as well! Oh yes, that is the hard part, because by the time you get to the store… everything’s gone!

And you don't want to be made to feel bad if you want extra gravy on your potatoes, or if you accidentally dumped the entire bag of cheese into your macaroni, you know? We just want to eat some feel good food, that's all! I love the leftovers from Thanksgiving almost as much as the actual food, like I'll probably go help out at the Center again this year, and they always send me home with leftovers, which is nice. Oh, me too, you're in good company. And then you have to decide if you want to run back to the store… or just get by without.

[alicezhaox]

My famous xiao long bao, I always make those for special occasions. It’s a bit extra work but still fun and tasty. How about you?

Is that what you usually make for Thanksgiving?

[alicezhaox]

Always, always what happens with me. It’s awful. But I’m also terrible because I’m on my computer for work so sometimes I need to look something up and something else shows up so I end up checking it out. That’s still nice though, getting to share that even your tastes are a bit different.

That's the curse of online shopping, because you don't try it on in store you tend to indulge and then suddenly you have all of these clothes you don't actually need. We do, she has very different taste than I do, but that's understandable. Plus, she still has good taste even if it is different.

[alicezhaox]

"That's what I say to make myself feel better, actually," Alice chuckled. Sometimes it was hard to hold back with the reactions, especially to spooky, scary things. "Well, thank you," she grinned at them. "I will be sure to keep that in mind and not run away so fast," she nodded as they approached the bigger, darker, more intimidating haunted house.

"You're going to react however you're going to react, you can't really help that," which meant that if you jumped and gasped and caused a scene, no one could actually make fun of you for it, it wasn't as though you had chosen to react that way. Probably, anyway. As they made their way closer to the haunted house, Stelly let out a laugh and slung an arm over Alice's shoulders, squeezing gently. "I promise not to laugh. Let's do the big ole scary one, and I'll even hold your hand if you need!"

[alicezhaox]

"That's always a must. The most disappointing part I'd say is when the ice cream machine doesn't work," Alice smirked. She had her share of good and bad buffet experiences. The best were when the food was always fresh and hot, especially the seafood which was a favorite of hers. "You're welcome," she winked. "Would you like to accompany me to find some dessert?"

"As long as it's a good buffet, granted," he replied with a raise of one brow, "I hate when you stumble into a disappointing one. Find out that the food is cold or dried out, or just otherwise subpar and not at all what you were hungry for," and they normally cost so much money, too, that made the whole situation that much worse. Not something he wanted to deal with. "Thank you," he laughed, spinning her around before stepping back into the dance. "I appreciate that."

[alicezhaox]

Oh no, you’re right! Healthy food can be absolutely delicious, and it should be! Sometimes you just wanna indulge in your favorites for the holidays and enjoy it as much as you can. And then you can worry about everything else later. Holiday food has to be extra special, you’re also right about that. Mhmm, yup. I cannot tell you how many times that has happened to me because it’s too many times for me to remember.

Exactly! I'm not saying that some healthy food can't be delicious, but it's all in the way that you prepare it, and making sure that it's well seasoned and actually tastes good, not just seems good on papers, know what I mean? I want my food to taste like a Thanksgiving feast! Oh, totally, you go in with the good intentions of following the list, and by the time you're heading to the check out and look at that list… you've forgotten everything.

[alicezhaox]

They do get busy! So I write about the festivals during the season as well as what’s trendy around town, what’s going on, what’s new. There’s a lot during the holidays. Oooh, that sounds like fun. Which was your favorite?

Do things get busy for you towards the end of the year at the Times, or just when things happen around town? I had a fun time myself, no haunted houses, but I caught some of the classic Halloween movies at Stubs and hit up a cemetery tour since I'm not as much of a fan of the spooky stuff.

[alicezhaox]

Shopping is always a weakness of mine! I love how convenient online shopping is but also hate how convenient it is. I have a whole box of things I bought on sale that I need to go through, mostly work clothes so at least I know I'll use it eventually! Ah, yes! I'm sure you love getting to pick things out for her too. Do you two enjoy shopping together?

I think I'm the sort of person who is always shopping, it's one of my favorite hobbies in the world, spending money on things. And it feels like now that my daughter is a young adult, I spoil her all the more.

[alicezhaox]

And there's always so much to choose from. From food to the little knick knacks, I absolutely love it. Then I plan on spending one evening trying to get everything wrapped up. Except this year I think I'm going with gift bags because I might start crying if I get another paper cut. Ha! I know that feeling. I am very much looking forward to making lots of dumplings and noodles.

That's very true -- and the market itself ends up being a good time every year when Christmas rolls around, for the simple fact that there's so much to see and do around town, you know? Not to mention the fact that we're all busy with buying presents and wrapping everything and trying to keep our heads on straight. Absolutely, my mom is planning a big feast this year, which… isn't any different than any other year, or any other holiday, when it comes to her.

[alicezhaox]

“Exactly!” Alice nodded with a laugh. Sometimes it was hard to hide shock like that. But then again, it was usually all just in good fun. She nodded at Stelly, following them out of the rideshare and making their way towards the haunted house. She looked around. “Well, as long as you promise not to laugh when I get spooked out of my skin at the scary one, we can give that one a go!”

"I can understand that, though -- when you don't expect something to happen and then bam, there it is, you can't really help but to be surprised, right?" Whether it was a scary movie or a kids movie, if something happened that really made you jump in your seat, that was that, you were going to end up being spooked no matter what. "It's probably going to be," they grinned, opening the door and thanking the driver, having already paid on their phone, and shouldering their bag. "What level do you want to do? Scary, or keep it tame?"

[alicezhaox]

Alice smirked. “Exactly. Although the idea of just sitting at the buffet sounds like something I could get into,” she teased. She didn’t think he’d be asked to leave and things weren’t that bad. So she was pretty amused. Sometimes having fun was the core of enjoying life. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret,” she grinned. Imagining Raf just breaking into dance moves in the middle of work was also amusing.

"And then by the time that the dance competition was ready to judge, we'd be nowhere to be found, off at a buffet somewhere, kicked out, asked to never come back again," he said on a laugh, although there were definitely worse things than being kicked out of a competition that he didn't think he would do very well in to being with, that was for sure. "Absolutely not," his laugh was louder then, shaking his head, "I would end up losing clients -- and I mean that both as someone working in law and real estate, no one would trust me if I was on the clock hand jiving."

[alicezhaox]

I absolutely believe that. I know I’m not. I’m making food because it tastes good and I want my guests to enjoy themselves. There will be options but I want to have fun with it. I have a list but then I usually stray from the list and end up losing track!

Oh yeah! No one's really sitting at home trying to figure out what kind of healthy meal they're going to cook for the holidays, they want to cook up something ridiculously unhealthy. And delicious. I slowly pick things up so that I'm not stuck shopping last minute for everything that I need and end up being lost and not knowing where to get it all, you know?

[alicezhaox]

I enjoyed it a lot! Even went to a haunted house. Now I’m going to spend the weekend around town, maybe at the animal shelter

Halloween was a fun time, with all of the festivities available to enjoy. Did you have a good time?

[alicezhaox]

I’m looking forward to getting to cook some more dumplings when Thanksgiving comes around. I haven’t made them in a while.

It was a fun time, getting to enjoy all of the activities that were put on. Now, it's just fall, cozy, gearing up for all of the delicious Thanksgiving food to look forward to.

[alicezhaox]

An online shopper, yeah, pretty much. I tend to try to get things as soon as possible shopping-wise. But I’ll also pick up some things from the market to add on.

Oh, are you a big early shopper? I like a good mix of early and later, because I love to shop at the holiday market to get some local made goods for my loved ones.