I’m back after yesterday’s guest post! I asked Aisha to blog again, especially since she got so many comments (”But four of them were from me, weren’t they?” she asked), but she missed her deadline! Hopefully she will be back soon. In the meantime, here is a site that my cousin tipped me off to, called Stuff Korean Moms Like. As much as my mom is a goofball, I have to say she doesn’t fit the Korean mom stereotype at all. She doesn’t go to church, nor does she assume everyone speaks Korean, and she hates Korean dramas. She’s the anti-Korean. The site should be called “Stuff Korean Moms Except BKNY’s Mom Likes.” Or something like that!

Hi Everyone! Welcome to the first-ever guest blog, written by my sister. Please post lots of comments!

One of the best times in high school was the foreign exchange trip, probably because it was an opportunity to leave campus grounds. I went to France, and while I brought back a sophisticated but boring collection of pâté, red wine, used RATP tickets and cotton lingerie from Monoprix, my sister Beth, who had chosen Germany, impressed everyone when she returned with Kinder Surprise eggs and a piece of the Berlin Wall.

The Kinder Surprise egg, not to be confused with the Cadbury Crème Egg, is a large-ish hollow chocolate egg wrapped in foil. Inside the chocolate is a plastic capsule. Inside the plastic capsule is a surprise toy like this one. These were super awesome! And the chocolate was yummy! I remember wishing Beth had brought back at least a dozen more.

If you grew up in the U.S. and have no idea what I am referring to, this is because the Kinder Surprise egg has been banned since the 90s because the toys were deemed a choking hazard. My Internet “research” yielded this article from Consumer Reports. The comments are hilarious. Note that the editors plugged their own book, “Consumer Reports Guide to Childproofing & Safety,” which advised: “To prevent choking in children under 3 years old, don’t give them any toy that can fit through a toilet-paper tube.”

As it turns out, millions of German kinders may soon be joining their deprived American counterparts due to a proposed ban for safety reasons by the German Uber-mensch committee or some such. Here are excerpts from an article in the Guardian about it:

“The children’s committee of the German parliament, which is responsible for introducing legislation, fears children might mistake the toys contained in the eggs for food and swallow them. Critics have also said that mixing toys and food is not helpful when trying to teach children the value of good nutrition.

“Children can’t differentiate between toys and nutritional items,” said Miriam Gruss, a member of the committee. “It is a sad fact, but that means that Kinder Surprise eggs have to go.”

It’s going to be touch and go for me for the next week and a half so I’ve stockpiled some cool links and things so I can keep posting daily. This site will keep you busy — Abecedarium: NYC, an “interactive online exhibition” about New York through words you’ve probably never heard of. Have fun!

Life doesn’t get much better than a leisurely bike ride to Coney Island on a cloudless day, which is what we did yesterday. We went past old Brooklyn brownstones and cruddy industrial areas, and all of it was great, because that’s New York.

Naturally, by the time we got to Coney Island I was craving a lemonade from Nathan’s. But I was shocked to see that they had pulled a Chipotle-like move and now post calorie counts for each item. Do I really need that information?! Ignorance is bliss, especially when it comes to artery-clogging junk food.

The difference between the regular and large sizes is enough to break a hungry bicyclist’s heart. Fifty cents and 50% more calories!

At 297 calories, the original frankfurter is the health food option.

Who knew wine coolers were so fattening! That must account for the freshmen fifteens across the country!

Mmm. 370 calories of sugar water goodness.

Justin just sent me this. I was repulsed. It reminds me of that girl I knew in college who used to throw away pennies. Maybe she has upgraded to this process!

Remember the video I told you about a few weeks ago with my mom making kimchi? It was really long so my sister kindly edited it. Thanks, Aleeesha! Here it is!

I like non-ironic shirts like this one that I saw on Chris Glass’ site. And here is the inspiration! Hee hee!

I saw this bike rack on West 3rd Street and La Guardia Place. Cute!

Wow! Please visit the New York Times’ City Room blog and give it lots of hits, because my friend Sewell linked to my blog post about the crazy piano guy! Weeeeeee!

Who knew that the Great Lawn closes at 8? We found out on Saturday after a pleasant afternoon picnicing in the park, when a grouchy groundsperson came along and told us to get lost. I then discovered that the curfew is an attempt to protect the lawns in Central Park, which were partly wrecked after The Gates three years ago.

I was trying to reconcile the whole paradox of people simultaneously appreciating and wrecking man-made nature when I got an email from Anthony about how Olafur Eliasson’s waterfalls are hurting the poor trees at the River Cafe in Brooklyn, due to salt water spray. The Brooklyn Paper went so far as to call Mr. Eliasson’s art an “arborcidal maniac”! See here for more. Thank God they’re only up through October 13. I am all for the environment, but that doesn’t mean the waterfalls don’t kick ass. Run, don’t walk! I would go with you but I’ve already gone three times.