InKind

I don't promote anything unless I actually believe in it. Depending on the product, sometimes it takes years, and sometimes, I never promote it because I'm never convinced. Today, I'm promoting something.

My SIL introduced me to InKind a while back. I got the app but I didn't actually use it. In short, it's a restaurant rebate program that rewards you for eating out. I browsed the restaurants on the app but didn't end up using it for a long time. I didn't really understand how to use it, and I didn't feel like eating out just to find out how.

Fast forward about 6-8 months, maybe more. We were going to New York. I was going to be taking two kids around the city by myself for 1.5 days. I was pretty terrified. I am not your tour guide/planner when it comes to vacations. I like to be the one who goes along for the trip and has someone else telling me what to do, where to go, and what we're going to eat. Needless to say, I was stressed and put off planning this trip for a long time. 

The week before we left, I finally started to think about what to do with my kids. I knew if I didn't have a plan, we'd end up sitting on the bed in the hotel room watching HGTV or Food Network for hours and hours. That was no way to spend valuable time in New York! We were even staying overnight in Manhattan - this may never happen again in my life. Planning food is one of my childhood traumas. Growing up, if we went on vacation, we ate a lot of McDonald's and Burger King. Why? It was cheap. While I understand the mentality, that is not my approach to vacations anymore with my family. Taking that into account, I had to find restaurants where I could bring my children by myself and find them safe food they would eat. This ended up being some version of chicken nuggets and sushi.  

Premade or Homemade? Make your guess!

The perk of being in NYC and using InKind was tons of restaurants were on the app. I was able to save my favorites and mark their locations in the areas where we would be. This gave me options to give my children to pick from and allowed our mealtime choices to be stress-free and enjoyable rather than stressful and angry. 

So let me tell you about this app from someone who is very particular about anything and everything. 

1. You have to pay your bill through the app. Whether you pay directly when you order in the app or pay your bill using the app, it has to go through the app. At a sit-down restaurant, this means when your check comes out, you have to get the check number and type it through the app. Then, the app pays for you with a payment method saved in the app - this could be a credit card or money you've preloaded into the app. If you are ordering at a restaurant, this means you scan your QR code at the register at the end of your order. We encountered some difficulty with this at one restaurant because I saw ordering tablets off to the side upon entering. I went to the tablet, made my order, but then didn't see any way to use InKind to pay for the order. I went to the cashier to ask and he told me I had to place the order with him at the cash register. (I didn't even realize this was an option because I saw the tablets first upon entering). While I probably felt like a dumb customer who didn't know what to do, asking meant I figured it out instead of paying for the order myself at the tablet without going through the app. 

2. The way your rewards work has some caveats. You can only use one reward per transaction. This means you have to choose between getting a % cash back on your order or using your cashback rewards to pay for a part/all of your order. Now you really do get a % cash back on your order. If the restaurant offers you a 10% cash back and your pre-tax total is $50 worth of food, you will earn $5 cash back to use on a future order. The catch is if you are buying $50 worth of food and you want to use $7 in your account that you've earned previously, you will not be earning 10% ($5) cash back on top of the $7 discount you're using. I did not know this until I went to New York and started using the app and earning cash back. On the flip side, any cash back you earn on orders is available immediately. If you earned $5 from your lunch meal and you want to go get dessert somewhere nearby which is also on InKind, that $5 can be used toward your dessert order immediately. This is a really nice perk.

3. Cash back does expire. In short, they give you 2 months, but they're nice enough to give you the full month, so it ends up being between 60-90 days. For example, I have $8.65 sitting in my account as cash back. I earned my last reward on July 14, 2026. That $8.65 in cash back expires on September 30, 2026. It is the end of the second month from the date I earned the reward - 75 ish days. 

If you live in a more urban area, this app is very convenient and handy. I will definitely be using this app again if we travel to larger cities - Seattle, Chicago, LA, NYC for sure. It's a great "bonus" in additional to any normal credit card rewards you'd earn paying with your card when eating out. If this sounds like something which would benefit you, give it a try and sign up for $25 off a $50 meal! (Yes, the discount is instant.)

Storage: Eggs!

As my kids get older, the amount of food we consume has increased.  One grocery item specifically is eggs. We can go through a dozen eggs in about two days depending on what I'm cooking. Because of this, I've started buying eggs from a wholesaler near us. I can get 30 eggs for $2. These are not the kind of eggs I would be making homemade mayonnaise with or using raw, but for how I use eggs, they fit the budget and work for us. 

Because of our refrigerator is constantly holding over 15 eggs at a time, I needed a better way to store them. Back in April/May, we were at the store browsing and came across egg drawers. The idea was cool but I couldn't fork over the money. They were around $12 each to store 18 eggs. The plastic felt thin and cheap. Some of the ones on the shelf were already cracked. I looked online to see what else was out there and found ones sold at The Container Store. These were over $20 each. We didn't end up purchasing anything. 

Earlier this month, we were facing an egg surplus in our refrigerator. I always like to have eggs on hand because they're an easy meal-maker if I don't feel like doing any serious cooking. This time though, I overdid it a bit. We still had eggs at home and I added to our collection by buying another 2.5 dozen from the store. What resulted was 43 eggs in our refrigerator at one time. 

I saved egg cartons from the stores that hold two dozen, but I didn't have enough to hold all 43 eggs. What resulted was a weird mishmash of three containers in our refrigerator to hold them all.  

Chaos.

Storing these eggs precariously in our refrigerator like this drastically reduced our storage space. I couldn't put anything on top of the eggs in this level anymore. It is true this setup doesn't stay forever as we eat the eggs, but it does make for an inconvenient use of our refrigerator for at least a few days. As we ate the eggs, I rearranged them in the fridge to be more organized, but even so, it wasn't ideal. 

I was able to consolidate the eggs to one side of the shelf, but still 
couldn't stack anything on top. The ones in the bowl are raw.

After enduring these days of precariously storing eggs in our refrigerator, I decided again to look online to see what was out there. I remember seeing The Container Store advertise their big clearance event. I had even browsed a few pages of their clearance online for fun but didn't see anything worth purchasing. This time, I searched their egg storage again. Did I get lucky?

I did! They were 70% off regular retail so I was able to get two for the price of one. I've purchased their brand of organizational bins before so I knew their plastic quality was much better than the ones I'd seen at the other store a few months prior. I ordered two of them and waited patiently for my in-store pickup confirmation. The eggs in my refrigerator are now organized nice and neatly in two stacks of 18 (when maxed out).

Open.

Closed. I should probably remove the front stickers...

 

I am super happy with how this turned out! I have room for 3 dozen eggs in my refrigerator now, and if somehow I happen to have overflow, they're going to live on top for a little bit in my half dozen carton. It is true my refrigerator will have two egg drawers taking up space on this shelf even if I have zero eggs in my refrigerator. The likelihood of that is pretty slim though. Regardless, this organization works for us because I know exactly how much space I have in my refrigerator to use and it will not be affected by how many eggs I need to store. 

If you want your own egg storage drawers at a good price, they still have some left (in my area)! Not sponsored by The Container Store. 

Eternal Company

 

I went to visit my aunt this summer. I've met her three times in my life. The first was when I went to Taiwan as a toddler. The second was when she came to visit us in Texas at our old house before we moved. I remember it being after my mom had just been diagnosed with cancer. My aunt had been diagnosed with an illness herself about a decade before. I remember loving the week my aunt came to visit us. She could speak English so we felt very comfortable talking to her. We moved the following summer and then my aunt came again to visit, this time, with my grandparents. That was the third and last time I saw her in person. 

My aunt always made it a point to show she cared about us. She sent us Christmas cards from overseas. She gave us small gifts and trinkets. I still have a key chain she made for me. She had drawn a design and written my name on the other side. 

 

My aunt died four years after my mother died. My dad didn't fly back when she passed. To give him the benefit of the doubt, I think he was torn. He was still working, and he had two children he was taking care of. On the contrary, he could have flown back if he really wanted to. I was a junior in high school who had a car and was driving myself. My brother was in college. He was already living on his own and I could have made it myself for a week or two if I had to - my dad could have left me some money for food and I would have been fine. But that's not what he chose to do.

(My dad has not been to visit his sister since she died. This, I can no longer give him the benefit of the doubt because it's been 18 years and he has been back overseas numerous times. I'm sure he has a set of "logic" which he makes his decisions by, but this is "logic" I will never agree with. )

When I told my dad I was pregnant with my daughter, I had told him my due date. The first thing he told me was, "That's your aunt's birthday." Mentally, I made a note how cool it was if she could be born on the same day as my aunt. (She didn't end up being born on her due date, but later, I'd find out for myself that my dad was wrong.) 

When we went back to Taiwan this year, we spent most of the time with my family. It wasn't a tourism visit. I knew we were going to be spending a lot of time with my family and doing "simple" adventures together. We visited a lot of parks. We walked various neighborhoods in the area and joked about buying houses to live as expats and raising our children overseas. We ate a lot of home-cooked food and shopped downstairs at the closest grocery store. 

One thing I almost forgot to do was to visit my aunt. My grandparents were more on the forefront of my mind because my grandma had just passed this year. But then, I remembered my aunt. Her resting place is in the same city as where my family lives. My uncle was able to drive us to go see my aunt. 

My aunt's birthday is February 20th.

 

When I saw her marker, the first thing I noticed was the Bible verse. It's written in Chinese, and it may be the only verse I can recognize and read in Chinese. It is the same verse that we picked for my mother. 

 

If you can read the characters, you'll see they match the ones on her marker. It's the last verse of Psalm 23.  I really couldn't believe two different people in my family, laid to rest in two different countries, unbeknownst to each other, share the same verse for their legacy. 

Happy Birthday, Mommy. I hope you're enjoying each other's company. 

Deja Vu

My kids are responsible for their own water bottles. They don't carry purses or wallets, no money or credit cards, but the one thing I've expected them to keep track of by themselves is their water bottle. About two and a half years ago, I met a friend at a Dunkin' Donuts and my son came with me. He did some homework and sat on the side eating donuts while I chatted with my friend. We left Dunkin' when I had to go pick up my daughter from school. I don't remember how much time had elapsed until I realized, but my son didn't have his water bottle anymore. That afternoon, I called the store to ask to see if they saw it. They told me they did not see a water bottle. 

His teal water bottle...that we almost lost. 

The day went by and I was completely baffled by where his water bottle could be. That evening, I told my husband I was convinced it was at Dunkin' Donuts still. He drove back to the store, and 'lo and behold, the water bottle was in the store on the chair at the table where we had sat that morning. The employees probably didn't see it when we called because the water bottle wasn't on top of the table and they didn't walk out to the area to inspect closer. I was impressed it was still there nearly 12 hours later. I guess not a lot of people sit at the tables and eat in.

*** 

My son has now had two more years to mature since this incident. But once again, I found myself asking him where his water bottle was. We had just gone to Braum's for ice cream and driven back home. I had opened the back door to put my purse and water in the back since I was driving my dad. It didn't even occur to me I didn't see his water bottle anywhere.

After parking at my dad's, I was in the back seat grabbing my things when I realized his water bottle was nowhere to be seen. He wouldn't respond to any of my questions when asked so I looked up the phone number for Braum's and called to see if they had it just to be sure before I drove back. 

I asked them about a gray water bottle with a blue band around it. They looked and told me they didn't see it. In my head, I was thinking you've got to be kidding me. I'd literally experienced this exact situation just years before. I went back to the car and searched the backseat again, not that it was very big to begin with. I craned my head and peered under the two front seats to see if it had rolled. I couldn't find it. 

I ended up telling my dad and the kids I'd drive back to Braum's and just go look myself to see if it was there. Thankfully, it's not too far from my dad's. I parked the car in the same vicinity as we originally did just to make sure his water bottle wasn't rolling around the parking lot somewhere. Then I got out of the car and started walking toward the entrance. I saw the bottle on the table even before the sliding doors opened for me since they built out a glass window. 

Different water bottle. Same name band. Different year. Same situation. 

I walked in, grabbed the water bottle, and left, wanting to shake my head at how similar once again this situation was.

And then I remembered something. I called the wrong location.

If you don't live here, I have to give you some backstory. These two Braum's are less than 3 miles away from each other in the same city. They are located on the same street. It would be less than 10 minutes drive to get from one to the other. But there's one catch. The street name changes after you cross the highway. When I did my quick Google search to find their phone number, I only looked up Braum's and the city name. I failed to remember to check the street name because in my head it was the same street. 

So when they told me over the phone they didn't see a gray water bottle with a blue band around, they really didn't, and the water bottle in fact was not at their location at all. 

This was extra drama I really didn't need added to my day, but we had a happy ending.  

Sticky Rice Dumplings（粽子）

I have a vague memory of watching an old family video of my grandparents at their third to last house. We're in their kitchen and they're wrapping sticky rice dumplings. I'm probably no more than 2-3 years old. I've always loved these, but they're not an everyday food because of how labor-intensive they are to make. When I moved to China for a year, I remember wanting to find some. I flipped back through my scrapbook of photos from that year and I didn't find any photos of sticky rice dumplings. Honestly, I don't remember eating any that year. If I did, there's a high chance it was a sweet one filled with a date. 

Although by definition, it is still a sticky rice dumpling, it wasn't the kind I grew up with as a child. I wanted the savory salty ones filled with pork, peanuts, and mushrooms. A few years ago, I told myself I'd try making them. After reading some recipes and realizing it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment type cooking endeavor, I gave up on it. 

Last year when we went to Taiwan, we bought some sticky rice dumplings from a food market. We bought a few different flavors to try, and one of them was the kind I grew up with. For the duration of that sticky rice dumpling, I was teleported back to my childhood when I was able to eat this flavor because my grandparents made them. 

This year, I planned ahead and purchased ingredients to make my own sticky rice dumplings. 

• bamboo leaves
• cotton twine
• sticky rice
• split mung beans
• pork belly
• shiitake mushrooms

mise en place

 

To make these, I consulted various recipes including the ones from Woks of Life, Made with Lau, and a video to teach me how to fold them. Between these three recipes, I came up with a blended version of my own. Primarily from Woks of Life, I used their rice seasoning as well as meat marinade. I consulted Made with Lau on cooking time as well as other marinade variations. Then, it was time to get messy and get folding. 

 

I don't have great advice on how to fold these. It's pretty tricky at first. Once you get the hang of how to hold them and fold the leaves, it goes much better. I ended up using a mixture of two leaves and three leaves to fold depending on the size and quality of the leaves. The smaller leaves I used three just to be sure I could get a good seal on it. If the leaves ever cracked, I would just add another leaf on the outside as a "bandaid" to keep everything together before tying. 

 

We ended up making over 60 of these with the ingredients we had. For a first-try, I'd say it was quite successful overall. The first batch I cooked according to the recipe and boiled for 4 hours. This was way too long. We had already soaked the rice overnight so I think 4 hours yielded way too sticky of a texture for my liking. Even cutting off 1 hour would have made a big difference. The later batches we boiled, we cut down the cooking time to 2 hours and even without soaking rice overnight, I think they turned out fine. 

For loving sticky rice dumplings so much, I didn't actually know the story behind why these are eaten. My kids and I watched a short video summarizing the history of this holiday. In short, there was a Chinese poet named Qu Yuan. Due to corruption, he was banished. After this, he walked into the river holding a giant rock and was never seen again. Balls of rice were dropped into the river to prevent fish from eating his body. These balls of rice have evolved into the sticky rice dumplings eaten to celebrate this holiday. 

I personally don't think about the cultural reference of these very much. I just enjoy eating them. 

Yum!

 

Along with my own nostalgia after eating these, I got great feedback from sharing these with family and friends I view as family. The highest compliment came from an auntie friend of mine whom I view as a motherly figure. The closest translation of her response would be, "It was very similar to the ones I ate in Taiwan - very sticky and fragrant."

My dad on the other hand had a very different response. I had brought these over to eat with him for lunch and didn't say anything regarding where they came from. While we were eating, he asked me, "Did you buy these or did a friend give them to you?" I told him I made them. His eyes flashed wide for a split of a second and that was it. He didn't even tell me if they tasted good or not. 😂 Sigh. 

I'm not going to do the cost breakdown on these like I did last year during my Takeout series, but realistically, these are being sold at the store for approximately $4-5 each. Maybe one day if I get desperate, you may find me selling these somewhere...🤣

The Costs of Growth

In March of 2024, I blogged about two plants I had. One was an aglaonema I purchased in the fall of 2023. The other was a calathea I purchased in March of 2024. Here's what they looked like in the spring of 2024.

They're quite pretty. Or...they used to be.

My aglaonema is on the left. The calathea is on the right. Both looked great, had healthy leaves, and seemed to be on their way to a healthy life. I've never considered myself a plant guru, but I figured some water and light would sustain these plants.

In the last 2-3 years, these plants have tested me a lot. My calathea struggled constantly with spider mites. Leaves would grow and then die. My aglaonema had its own set of issues. I realized the big box store had planted them with plastic cages around the roots. Upon realizing this, I had to un-cage each root and then repot it. Both plants came with self-watering pots which I learned work for neither plant. They had severe root rot and their death was impending. 

You want to see what they look like now? You scared? Yeah, I was scared too. 

They're still alive!

 

My plants are a shadow of what they used to be. However, they are still alive. Yup, that's right. They are still alive. That's not to say they didn't go through near-death experiences to grow again. My calathea has "died" twice. After the spider mites and root rot, I realized I had to basically start over if I wanted any chance of the plant surviving. I moved her to a terra cotta pot to better control water absorption and ended up cutting all of the leaves off and letting the plant re-grow completely. Was this risky? Absolutely. I knew there was a chance she wouldn't make it. And yet, if I sat back and did nothing differently, it was guaranteed death for this plant. After she started re-growing, I got excited to see new leaves bud. Little did I know, due to watering errors, she was going to cycle through death again and re-grow new leaves a third time. This is the plant you now see. There are a total of four leaves and another one emerging. 

My aglaonema had a near death experience in April of this year. After dropping nearly all of her leaves, I decided it was time to do some major surgery. I had done some research and found that this plant propogates pretty easily from nodes. However, my plant didn't have any nodes on the stems. I ended up cutting the plants about 2 inches beneath the leaves on the stem, dipping the stems in rooting hormone, and planting them in soil. I kept them this way for about a month. When I was getting ready to leave for a two-week trip, I decided to re-pot all the stems in one terra cotta pot in order to make it easier to water. My dad was helping me care for my plants when I was gone and I had told him there was a chance this one may not make it. 

After I came back from my trip, I saw new growth coming out of every stem. I wasn't expecting this because when I had re-potted the stems together, I examined them for roots. I had only seen roots on one stem so I was expecting at least 1-2 to die. 

Seeing new leaf buds brings me a lot of joy.

Taking care of my plants has taught me a lot about life. Especially these two. They have needs, but their needs can be particular. They need light, but too much, and the leaves will burn. They need water, but too much, and the roots will rot. Not all issues are visible from the outside. Root rot can only be found if you dig up the plant and look at the roots. Changes need to be made in order to foster new growth and better health. Research needs to be done so you can understand the signs your plant is communicating with you. Sometimes, change is drastic and risks the whole plant.  Sometimes, change is what it takes to help the plant grow healthier. All of this is work. It takes time and energy. 

It's a far away dream for me my plants will ever look the way they did in the first photograph. It's not impossible. If growth continues, they will eventually fill out again with leaves. Realistically though, it may take several years of continual healthy growth in order to return back to their original beauty.  For now, I'm focusing on keeping the growth going so they continue to grow new leaves. 

A Hairbrush

Who (women and ladies) just goes to the store and picks out a replacement hairbrush when it's time? If this is you, I commend your ability to do so because I cannot. I am far too particular to be able to just pick one. There are too many styles and types of hairbrushes out there.

When I say hairbrush, I just want a basic hairbrush to brush my hair with in the morning after I wake up. I'm not looking for anything to do fancy styling with or even a blowout brush. I really just want a basic hair brush that can be used for generally anything involving brushing my hair. 

About 10-11 years ago, I bought a hair brush to replace the one I had in college and have kept using it since. It met my needs. Since then, it has begun to die and break down. All the color which used to be on the tip of the bristles has disappeared.  The cushioning to which the bristles are attached to has cracked. Many of my bristles are missing in the corner with the crack. It started becoming common where I'd brush my hair and then see a bristle land in my sink. Or I'd hear something lightly ping on the floor, only to realize it was another bristle coming out of my hairbrush. 

A few years back I bought a replacement.  After buying this replacement, I learned a lot about hair brush materials and manufacturing technique. For my first hairbrush, the bristles were plastic. Each bristle however had a rounded tip. This tip was painted a different color, and the color wore off after years of use. But the tip stayed rounded. On my replacement hair brush, I saw a rounded tip which was also colored. After using it for a few weeks, I discovered that the rounded tip was not actually the tip of the bristle. It was a small drop of something added to the tip of each bristle which would fall off with use. This left an extremely pointed plastic bristle. Over time, brushing my hair with this hair brush felt like an intense scalp massage. Although I can see how some people may enjoy this, this was not the hair brushing experience I wanted every day. 

Because of the quick degeneration of this hair brush, I ended up simply going back to my original hair brush and the newer brush was left unused in my drawer. This went on for a while until my husband decided it was time to get me a proper hair brush which wasn't cracked and missing bristles and didn't feel like I was getting an intense scalp massage every time I brushed my hair.  

Oldest to Newest

The hairbrush he bought me was a one piece design. It is completely plastic. The bristles are integrated into the brush head which is connected to the handle. It's unlikely bristles will fall out of this brush, but I haven't used it long enough to see any true wear and tear yet. A few of the bristles have bent, but I think that is bound to happen given the materials and the nature of the function. This hairbrush is specifically not meant to be used with any heating tools or hair dryers because it is completely made of plastic. 

As I get older, I'm more conscientious about quality and materials. I've noticed changes in my hair texture and "personality." I've wondered if the type of hairbrush I use affects the quality of my hair care. I'm sure it does. I just haven't taken the time to really look into it.

My personality doesn't like to throw things away unless they are broken, dirty, or nonfunctional. I don't think my old hairbrush qualifies completely in either of these three categories which is why I've struggled to get rid of it. I did purposely save it long enough so I could capture an image for this blog and write about my hairbrush wisdom. There's a high chance when you are reading about these hairbrushes, I will have successfully trashed the oldest one.

If you have a hairbrush you absolutely love, please tell me which one it is! It just might be my next replacement 😉