Items

• 
  2020-01-08

  Baked Breadfruit

  Baked breadfruit is a typical Samoan traditional food. Fully ripe breadfruit is baked or boiled for Samoans to enjoy as a common staple starch. Samoans eat breadfruit for everyday meals and in large feasts or celebrations. The video shows my family setting the baked breadfruits on the table to cool down before packing them to be sent over with my cousin leaving the island. Before the pandemic, whenever one of our close friends or family members left the island, my family always prepared baked breadfruits for them to bring over to us here in the states. Now, we could only enjoy the sight of it through video chats with my parents back home. To prepare for this delicious delicacy, we prepare everything the day before the cooking. If you are to visit Samoa, Sunday is the day when every family is baking breadfruit. Sundays are considered feast days or holidays in Samoa. We enjoy baked breadfruits every Sunday after church and other delicious home-cooked Samoan dishes. While we can also enjoy baked breadfruits here in the states using an oven, we can barely find any excellent, fully ripe breadfruits in-store in Washington. And besides, I know it will never bring the same taste as I grew up enjoying back home.
• 
  2021-04-08

  Cocomelon or Blippi

  In the early stages of COVID, I was in Utah finishing up my Bachelor’s. Finally, after reuniting with my sister’s family in Washington, not only did I have a hard time adjusting to the noise, I had to deal with the 24/7 nonstop routine of my nieces and nephews watching either Cocomelon or Blippi. We can’t even have a movie night because the kids will end up crying to change the movie to Cocomelon or Blippi. Night and Day, my nieces and nephews would be singing to the nursery rhymes on Cocomelon or the opening song of Blippi. Although there were times when I would get annoyed or frustrated watching the same thing on the television, I am grateful for these moments. After spending many years on my own, I am thankful and blessed to be with my family during these times. In the end, it became a routine for me and my nieces and nephews to watch Cocomelon or Blippi in the evening. Not only do I get to see their sweet smiles, but I also get to hear their cute little chuckles and laughter while singing “The Wheels On The Bus” or spelling Blippi’s name. The noise that I once had a hard time adjusting to and the overbearing sound of the nursery rhymes from cocomelon or blippi's name did not matter as their sweet laughs and chuckles filled the house every evening making COVID quarantine bearable.