R. Tran Books

I thought I would share five things about me that you probably don’t know. Sorry they aren’t embarrassing and my site is family friendly so no luck there. These are just random tidbits about me that unless you met me you wouldn’t know. So where to begin? We’ll begin with the most extreme and work our way back to tranquil.

I am a roller coaster fanatic. I love them. Really, I can’t get enough. When I was a teenager my family didn’t have a ton of money so I would ask for a season pass to Six Flags for both my birthday and Christmas gifts. My whole summer was spent at the park until I started working, then it was nights and weekends.

I’ve been to Cedar Point in Ohio and rode every coaster. I want to go back as soon as my girls are old enough. I’m also dying to ride the new Batman coaster at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. I keep trying to get friends together for a trip. All the way to Texas for one coaster, it seems perfectly logical to me. I’m just sad I haven’t got to ride it yet. The link above will show a video in case your wondering what all the fuss is about.

Only slightly less risky was petting a 300 pound tiger and two tiger cubs. I know it seems worse than the roller coasters, but it was a one time experience. The Tiger was in a cage and everything was in a controlled environment.

When I was in high school and my first couple years of college I wanted to be a veterinarian. A wonderful lady at church named Mary Starks had connections at the St Louis Zoo and knew my interest in Veterinary medicine. She arranged a tour of the hospital at the zoo.

They also took me behind the cages to see Max the tiger and his two cubs. I will never forget how soft his fur was or how big his paws were. The cubs played like any other kittens and had to be bribed to come close enough to the fence for a pet. If I can find the pictures I will post them to my blog at a later time.

In case you haven’t guessed my husband is Vietnamese. I however am not, I’m as white as they come being mostly German, Polish, and Croatian. There’s a little British Isles thrown in there as well making me a good old American mutt. Needless to say I grew up eating hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and spaghetti. Spaghetti was at least twice a week because my dad loved it.

I am pointing it out because I love Vietnamese food now. When we first started dating the food was an adventure. Not that it was bad, we just had a rule: never ask what something was until you decide if you like it. I’ve eaten some pretty interesting things. Some of it was amazing, I love goat curry. Some of it pretty bad, don’t try pig Fallopian tubes. While other things are an acquired taste, durian and balut being the two biggest ones.

Now that my mother in law lives in California I had to learn to make a lot of my favorite dishes myself. I try to learn something new every time we visit. There are also great blogs to follow my favorite is The Ravenous Couple . The quickest thing for me to make that will feed the family for several days is caramelized chicken, but they really love Pho, too bad it takes a full day to make. The picture shows a quick version called Pho Ga featuring chicken instead of beef.

Now we move on to the tame facts. The first is my collection of teapots. Its not out of control yet. I do find myself in resale shops flea markets and garage sales searching for that perfect quirky old pot. I have a few newer pieces that can be used because Isaac loves tea. My preference though is the old and unique.

This little teapot started the whole thing. My grandfather brought it back from Japan after WWII. I used to stare at that teapot when I was a little girl. When we had to pack up our grandparents house it was one of the few mementos I received from him. His flag from his service in the army was the other. My grandmother, his wife, left me a tea service and I have a cream and sugar set from my other grandmother. Things have progressed from there to a nice collection. I think my love for the first teapot explains my taste for the old and unique though.

Finally we reach the last tidbit. I sew and quilt. I started sewing when I was a kid. My mom showed me this valuable skill. She even taught me how to read a pattern, apparently that is a dying art. I’ve made several dresses, pajamas, and Halloween costumes for my girls. The girls started picking out their Halloween costume for 2017 in November of 2016 they were so excited about last years costumes. Requests are never finalized until September 1.

Quilting came much later. I just started that about three years ago. My little brother in my fraternity was having a baby and she needed a quilt. (All members of our Frat are brothers AAAE) I combed Pinterest for something easy and cute, drew out a plan, did a lot of math, bought my fabric and figured it out. The elephant quilt is what I came up with. It was pretty cute for my first quilt. Since then I’ve made several more. There are pictures of some below. I have one I am working on now and hope to have it finished by the time summer is over.

So that’s it five little things you didn’t know about me before. Some of them interesting others, maybe not as much. I’m sure there are more and If I think of anything interesting I’ll share those too.