PRgal

I thought this show was gone, after disappearing last season. I guess I was wrong.

Starbucks Teazzi (or however you spelled it). It was kind of like a frappucino with juice and tea. They got rid of it about 10-12 years ago.

Middle eastern. Love falafels. I also like Indian and Italian. Chinese, not so much. When you grow up eating it, it can't really be a favourite - LOL!

In terms of more "traditional" flavours, I like chocolate chip and strawberry. An ice cream parlour near me serves up apple cinnamon ice cream, which tastes like apple pie. A gelato place has Nutella. Other favourites: Muskoka Maple Mocha, Basil Gelato and Wild Blueberry Cheesecake from a local ice cream brand called Belly (they also have a flavour called Muskoka S'mores, but it seems to lack a bit in the graham crackers. It ain't s'mores without graham crackers.

A small list of things I won't eat/don't like: Duck of any kind Most shellfish (though I will eat shrimp in fried rice) Crunchy, packaged cookies unless they're sandwich cookies (but even then it's a bit low on my list) Potatoes, especially in large amounts (makes me feel bloated. I will eat them in very limited amounts and only when cooked in stew has lots of flavour) Canned cranberry sauce (I make my own...with maple sugar) Froot Loops, Lucky Charms and any high sugar/high colour cereal Anything super hot/spicy Taro Overly sweet soy milk, especially served hot (the kind you find in some Chinese restaurants) Watery congee (rice gruel/cereal) my parents often make, especially after Thanksgiving Pepperoni pizza Peanuts (I had a bad reaction to airplane peanuts when I was a kid, but was later told that I was NOT allergic. Still, I avoid them) McDonald's "sausages" Kraft Dinner (known as Kraft Macaroni and Cheese in the US) Cheez Whiz Chinese red bean "soup," a very standard dessert at Chinese restaurants. Also won't eat tofu pudding, even though I LOVE tofu otherwise, or black sesame dessert soup. As for what I DO like? Quinoa, chickpeas (especially in hummus or falafel form) kale, avocado, eggplant, tofu and wild pacific salmon. If I only had those foods, I am good - especially if there's garlic to go along with it.

When I was little, my parents made Thanksgiving stuffing with sticky rice, taro and mushrooms. I'm not a fan of sticky rice, so as an adult, my stuffing is made with quinoa! I've experimented with various items since I married, but lately, I like onions and sun dried tomatoes. I also make slow cooked or baked apples (i.e apple pie filling) as a dessert. Save for bread, my Thanksgiving/Christmas meal can be completely gluten-free.

I like more "alternative"-y toppings and alternative grain crusts. My favourite pizza place here in Toronto is Magic Oven, where I often get a 10" pizza on spelt crust with toppings like kale, feta, spinach, tofu or grilled salmon. Once, I had about 16 toppings!

I'm Asian (Chinese) and a Cantonese speaker and STILL have issues remembering certain Chinese (given) names - especially if they're Anglicized pronunciations. It's very foreign/confusing to me as it isn't quite Cantonese nor is it quite English/western. Family/last names are easier to remember for the most part. Also, most non-related Cantonese speaking/people of Cantonese (Hong Kong) heritage I know have (official/legal) western names and I know them through work or school. Those are the names they use in that situation. Mozelle: Is Chimamanda Ngozi pronounced : Chee-ma-MAN-DAH GNO-zee? (ngo as in gnocchi) Wondering because the Cantonese pronunciation of the family name Ng sounds more like the gno in gnocchi than the Anglicized "ing."

I'm sure Rainbow herself had issues being taken seriously based on her name. Rainbow = "were your parents high when you were born?" I think each culture has unique naming methods for their kids. Hong Kong Chinese parents often give their kids "y"/"ie" names, especially for females. And sometimes, the names are from an older generation. I'm 35 and I went to school with a girl named Peggy, for example (other "y/ie" names were Amy, Patty and Mandy. There were also LOTS of Jennifers, but that's generational, not just for Asians but for white people, too). The white girl with a Margaret derivative was a Megan. My parents legally named me Cindy until I officially changed it to Cynthia when I was 20. I didn't think "Cindy" would be taken as seriously as Cynthia. It DOES sound like a mallrat sort of name. And dated, too.

They're doing another season of Celebrity Apprentice? I thought it was over!

I think the cultural barriers, at least now, has more of either historical (especially regarding golf and tennis) or just something that the older generations don't "get." I don't think Asians not playing hockey (I'm in Canada, so I have to bring this up - LOL!) is necessarily due to historical segregation, since there were relatively few Asians in Canada when the NHL was white-only compared to today. None of the full-Asian kids I went to school with had parents who were born in Canada - the parents mostly came as adults or younger teens. Therefore, they wouldn't have grown up watching hockey, so the kids don't play, even though the kids took skating. Of course, size may be an issue, too. I mean, a 5'8" or 5'9", 150-160 lb Asian being bodychecked by a 6'1", 200 lb player...ouch. Probably reason why there aren't a lot of Asians in football.

It might be an Anglo thing. I'm pretty sure the belt/strap at British boarding schools were done on the behind. I know that Hong Kong families (perhaps due to British colonialism/influence) also spanked on the bum back in the day. They also slapped on the palm.

It's not white women/white people. It's white, Anglo people in North America. I was at a recent fashion event where the designer, where a (white) Canadian woman who has since moved to France, complained that kids here (in Toronto) get away with just about anything. There, kids are still taught to respect adults - non-relatives, for example, are still addressed as Monsieur et Madame, kids don't DEMAND, and while she didn't talk about spanking, REAL grounding/punishment is still done (she did not elaborate). Kids are also taught proper table manners, thanks to the lunch programs schools have there (seriously, I see kids (mostly boys) hold cutlery improperly ALL THE TIME - even if they're older than an age where coordination is still an issue. You see this even in (cereal) commercials. WTF is with that?) as well. One thing that really frustrates me to no end is when (white, Anglo) acquaintances of mine tell their (under 12) kids "say hello to Cynthia." Ummm, when I was little, my parents would have said "say hi to Ms./Mrs. LASTNAME," or if they're more familiar friends/friends of Chinese descent, "say hi to Auntie FIRSTNAME."

Then it isn't just a "minority" thing (which I take it as "non-white"), but immigrant/non-WASP, period. This criticism from the older generation happens to children of European immigrants as well. Why do (non-immigrant) black people mock intelligence? Why not mock, say, food (Chinese immigrants do that..."Chicken feet? She'll never eat that. She's jook sing ("hollow bamboo" or not one (Chinese) or the other (WASP))! At least food is more about one's palate, which can be "different." I mean, I like kale on pizza). And how common is it for the kids to mock their parents? The FOB (Fresh off the Boat (or immigrant)) thing is common in (many) Asian communities.

I only had to keep my room clean when I was growing up, and no, I didn't do any laundry until I moved into my dorm. It wasn't hard to learn how to use a machine. You just throw the clothes in, add detergent, insert change (they switched to a debit system later on) and press a button.

What's interesting is that if dads take TOO MUCH time off, they face something similar to the so-called "Mommy Penalty," at least according to this Globe and Mail article. Quote from the article: My immediate boss, who is 15 years older than me, has a very traditional nuclear family, with a wife who stayed home, and he went home whenever. When I say I have to pick the kids up at daycare, he doesn’t quite understand why I am doing this or why my wife isn’t doing it. I wonder if that'll be addressed if the topic comes up again.

I know that they want to address the idea of moms needing to juggle two jobs, but in the real world, most families in the Johnsons' income bracket would likely have some sort of help (at least someone coming in once a week to do the cleaning) - at least in my circle. I also think they could have spent some time addressing the issue by having the kids do some of the work. I mean, there are four of them, right? And it could be funny...

I'm an outsider looking in (Chinese descent) and have only seen the pilot/first episode. Based on what I saw, a lot of it isn't really a "black" or "race" thing, but a socio-economic class thing. Andre grew up poor (from the sounds of it) and has since become upper middle class. This is not that different from my family and many of his peers (my dad grew up in post-WWII Hong Kong and his family shared an apartment with at least two other families/boarders). However, I grew up in a suburban home in Canada where I had a bike, piano lessons, went to camp, Brownies, etc, etc... I went to Chinese school for a bit and was taught my heritage, but my dad's more disadvantaged upbringing was never really touched upon as part of my "heritage." True "heritage" came from folk tales, songs/nursery rhymes (which my parents mixed with western ones - they really tried their best to ensure that I wasn't too "different" once I started school. I also took char siu (Chinese style roast pork) and soy sauce roast chicken sandwiches to school rather than full out "immigrant" food (which, to be honest, doesn't taste good cold, anyway)), language and food. Andre, on the other hand, seems to equate being black with his less advantaged upbringing. It's funny to see these differences of course - without it, you won't have a show. But it's good to note the class situation - and from the older generation's perspective (we too often see the kids' perspectives in movies like My Big Fat Greek Wedding or Bend it like Beckham). ETA: A reply up noted that Italians are seen as "white." Sure, but they are also still "ethnic" and even today, often have their own "identity" that isn't WASP - especially in cities like New York. Same with Jews.

I'm sort of in that 35-65 age range (I turn 35 in a matter of weeks) and I DO NOT like Lenny. Maybe it's because I'm a city girl from Toronto who is a bit of a foodie (and with a somewhat diverse palate), but I find Lenny unpolished and unsophisticated. Food Network already has someone like him - his name is Guy Fieri and he's on ALL THE FREAKIN' TIME. Besides, since Lenny trained in Europe, he's faking his "unsophisticated" vibe. Take that Chelsea Market yogurt spot for example. The cut made it sound like he didn't know what sumac was (rather than being surprised). If Lenny is a trained chef (I heard that he was trained in Europe?), then he should know. Of course, the vast majority of the North American population (or world, even) isn't exactly like me (or my husband). I have a cousin who only tried quinoa for the first time late last year while I've been making quinoa stuffing for my Thanksgiving/Christmas turkey since 2011 (to be fair, she lives in Asia where it might not be as common/readily available).

I'd say that their home's fairly accurate. My parents bought a house in a new development around that time, so our kitchen was a little more modern and everything else a bit newer looking. For example, our fridge resembled theirs, but it was white, rather than yellow (yellow is more 70s). As for houses in general, I recently did an MLS search and noticed that homes in that neighbourhood are twice the inflation. Keep in mind that I live in Toronto, where the average single family home is $600K+.

A neighbour of mine had that. I printed my first Printshop birthday card on her computer. I was probably five (we're looking at 1985ish). She actually kept that computer well into the 80s, and got a DOS machine around late '89. People kept their computers for a very long time back then. My current Mac is from 2012, and we'll likely get a new one in 2015.

Technically, words spoken twice are more colloquial. Nai Nai is more "granny" than "grandmother."

I'm only a little older than you (born September '79, so maybe just a few months). I remember making graphs on an early(ish) home computer (this was in '86) as well. The first program I remember running was "Samples" when my mom bought our first DOS machine. In order to run Samples, we had to go into BASICA, press F3 ("Load"), type in "Samples" and then press F2 to run it. There were ten programs, I think, including one that played music (either Music or Keyboard). We had that computer for YEARS (until some time in the early 90s!!!!!!) and games I played on that machine included Rogue, Jump Joe 2, Math Castle (had to answer math equations to find my way out of a haunted castle (or risk being eaten by a dragon)) and Paratrooper (BTW, a recreation of this game is available on iTunes for $0.99. It's called DOS Paratrooper if you're interested. You can get Rogue, too).

I asked my mom about being in IT back in the day and she told me that in the 1970s, when she first arrived in Canada from Hong Kong, she noticed that the gender balance back in the "old country" was a little bit better (not by much, but still better). She attributed this to the relatively affordable help that middle class families got (and can still get) over there. That way, moms (and you know it's always the moms) don't have to worry about hurrying home to make dinner for the family. The domestic helper will get everything started. I went to school with quite a few people who are from Hong Kong and many have moved back. While one might see Facebook posts asking about daycare here, there, there, it's about getting a referral for a helper. The helpers, mostly foreign women from Southeast Asia (generally the Philippines), are live-in nannies and housekeepers for the families. Someone like Donna, whether 30 years ago or today, wouldn't be as stressed about juggling home and career in places like Hong Kong.

My mom was in IT, but she also didn't work for an IT firm (she worked for a government-controlled operation). She and another woman were pretty much the only women on the team (there might have been another, but I am not sure). She never talked about the lack of women in the industry, only that it didn't seem as bad as how others seem to portray it. She also joked about how she was a "double minority," being Asian AND female. Of course, working in IT for the government is a different ballgame in terms of demographics. I learned A LOT about tech while she was working there (she left when I was 12 because my dad was transferred to another country. She probably could have been C-level had she stayed. Not sure of her title when she resigned, but it was likely along the lines of director).