So I cut open a watermelon the other day and found this beautiful swirl-shaped design. Are watermelons always like that? I thought this was super cool!

I wanted to buy a purple pen. I also wanted to buy a green pen. The pen section of the local stationary store is crazy... Just baskets and baskets of pens alongside enough scrap paper to try them all. The problem is that the color of the pen's exterior doesn't correlate with the color of the ink. Thus, I faced a day at the pen store, furiously scribbling swirls onto test paper.

In the end, though,  I settled for this little pen, a pen that took me right back to the days of elementary school. Seven colors. One pen. Limitless fun.

This is millet. Commonly sold in America as a major component of birdseed. Recently discovered by me as a fantastic seed (often classified as a grain by cooks), and a new favorite in our kitchen.

This stuff is wonderful. It cooks quickly. It provides a great alternative to rice, white flour, and white pasta, none of which are really providing us with the get-up-and-go our bodies need.

I'm just beginning to discover all I can do with it. So far, I've toasted it to bring out the nutty flavor before boiling it as a side dish, I've added it to oatmeal, and I've thrown it into some muffins for a bit of a crunch.

Oh, millet, I love you!

This is Mel. He's my newest workout buddy, and he's perfect. He's always available for workouts whenever I'd like to start, and he never talks to me while I'm gasping for air because the workout's a little intense.

 Since arriving in China, I've found that it's sometimes a little difficult to workout outside (mainly running) because there are a million people who want to chit-chat during their 3 leisurely laps around the track while I'm trying to endure my 2.5- 3 miles, exercise-induced asthma not really helping with the whole run-and-chat factor.

So I've adopted some at-home workouts, a cardio video, a Pilates video, a kickboxing workout, and now, a new 30 minute workout that requires a ball for a few of the moves. That's where Mel comes in. He's the friend I use to roll up and down the wall as I do wall squats. He's the one I squeeze between my feet when I lay on my back to do hamstring curls. And, if ever I need a shoulder to cry on, he's an excellent listener.

We've all got our tools. Men have power tools. They have saws. They have hammers. Screwdrivers. And they're so cool. I try to drive a thumbtack into the wall with my little fingers, then I feel a presence behind me. I look up and a knight in shining armor with a shimmering smile clears his throat. "Eh-hmm. You need a hand with that?" Then he steps in with a  big old hammer, taps the tack in with just three easy taps. "Anything else I can do for you?" Yes, men and their tools are impressive, and I'm not about to be one of those women insulted by a knight in shining armor stepping in to save the day.

No, I'm not sitting with my panties in a bundle over a man flaunting the fact that he knows the way around a toolbox. Instead, I head for the kitchen, my own personal tool shed. You see, I have plenty of tools myself. And in the kitchen, these tools can greatly shape my cooking experience. Most of the time, it's not a "make it or break it" issue, nothing extravagant or incredibly unique; they're just that some tools are fun to have and use. Here's my "top 10" list in no particular order.

The dumpling ladle. So, in the land of rice and dumplings, people have these ladles to lift the dumplings out of the boiling soup pot. I bought one mostly because it looked cool and partially to be prepared for the occasional dumpling shindig! I've found it to be SO WONDERFUL though as a mini-strainer for pasta, potatoes, veggies, etc. I hate hate hate regular strainers because they seem so near-impossible to clean, especially in our sink that's barely 6 inches deep. This little guy is fast, easy, and will definitely be making the trek back to America with me someday.

Crock pot. Need I say more? These things are amazing! Chili, fruit butter, stew, fondue, meatballs... Are there any limits to what this thing can cook?!?!

The Pampered Chef adjustable measuring cup. I don't really care about name brands, but Pampered Chef really did it right and saved me room in my suitcase coming over by making an entire wet and dry measuring cup set in one easy cup. This little guy is a gem, especially for things like peanut butter and honey, which can be measured and easily pushed out into a the batter. If you don't have one of these, I'd highly recommend one... it's one of my best friends in the kitchen and was really cheap too... (I don't remember exactly how much it was, but I wouldn't have bought it if it was more than a few dollars!)

A mini-muffin tin. I'd always enjoyed those little mini-muffins at Sunday socials and women's retreats. What I didn't know, however, is just how much fun it would be to make the bite-size wonders in my very own kitchen!

The metal scraper. Our friend Mark bought this for us as part of the bread-making-themed gift he gave us for our wedding. It's useful for scraping the counter during & after the bread-making process. The edge is also great for cutting the kneaded dough into pieces. I use this all the time for dividing dough and counter-cleaning!

My apple corer/ slicer. Austin bought this for me when we saw it in another town after first moving here. At the time, the weather was so hot that I didn't have an appetite for anything except apples. I'd slice up several a day and this little tool has continued to be put to good use. And really, anything Austin buys for me is especially treasured.

Blender. For Christmas this year, we used the money from Grandma Mary and Grandpa Joseph to buy a blender/ food processor, and it has possibly been the most used Christmas gift. This thing is amazing! Though it is not as tightly sealed as an American blender tends to be, it doesn't matter much to us. After a year and a half of no blender & no canned veggies, and thus a year and a half of hand slicing veggies into individual pieces for every recipe, I might as well call this thing The Miracle Maker. Cooking is so much faster, and we also enjoy healthy 100% fruit and veggie smoothies several times a week. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

The lemon juicer. I received a fabulous lemon juicer from family for the holiday, but I guess I was a little too hard on it and it snapped. Fortunately, sometime before asking American family to send one over and effectively breaking my new gift, the local supermarket started carrying such juicers, so I grabbed one and love it... So so so much better than squeezing lemons one by one. I love the way the juice falls down into the pouring cup as I juice the lemon. Very convenient.

We picked up this little grating gadget, made of possibly the cheapest plastic I've ever beheld, in the market one day, where it was being sold for the equivalent of about $1.50. It has multiple attachments and can make so many different shapes of food, including waffle-shaped things. We've used it for waffle-shaped carrots, radishes, and potatoes.

And of course, what would a kitchen be without one's most important tool-- a taste tester? Austin has really well-developed taste buds (from extensive practice, undoubtedly), and is much better than I am at tasting something and having a good guess of what it might need.

Austin bought me a bike for Valentine's Day/ my half-birthday. It's blue and it has a basket. (It used to have a bell but it broke. Now I make my own bell noises with my mouth when I want to pass somebody on the street.)

The bike was super great and useful, but with just one bike, we weren't getting to use it when we wanted to go places as a couple, which is pretty much all the time. (One time I did sit on the back metal rack while Aus rode, and while many people here do this, I thought it was terrifying.)

SO... A few weeks ago, one of our friends was moving out of town and I bought his bike from him. I didn't try out the bike before agreeing to buy it. I paid about $6 for the bike. It's probably worth $1 or $2. Total. Piece. of. Junk. When Austin rides it, it shakes and rattles, but it also rolls just fine.

Here are our wheels:

We like to call the blue one the Prius. It's fast, efficient, and perfect for a girl on the go!

The red one, on the other hand, is the Ferrari. It's racer-red, a classic edition, and oh, so dangerous!

Was there any doubt which tissues I'd buy? No, not really.