valentine's:

Back-to-back Friday dates!  Thank you to Manny for planning them.  It was a tough week with Isaac being sick, pretty much a blur.  But he was better by that Thursday thankfully.  The place Manny wanted to take me was all booked up, so he said for us to just go early,.  So I pulled in my plans by three hours.  I bought a pizza early.  The email coupon I received said it was good for a free heart-shaped pizza with a $10 order until February 16.  But then I found out the promo had closed on February 13.  But I promised the kids a heart-shaped pizza, so I bought them the pizza anyway.  It was expensive, although they included a (sharp) pizza cutter and some chocolates.  Then Lucas had his voice lesson before I picked up Naomi and her friends to bring to our house.  They watched Cars and Frozen.  Then I scrambled to get myself ready and prepare Isaac for our absence. 

Manny made a tremendous effort to get home early, and we made it to Meso, a Mediterranean restaurant, just in time to get seats at the bar (all the dining room tables were reserved for the entire evening).  The food was so good.  Mediterranean remains one of my favorite cuisines, if not my favorite most of the time.  Manny ordered a spicy beet hummus to share which I'd never had before but was already a favorite.  We also shared a delicious salad and some honey sweet potatoes.  I got a lamb shank with couscous and ratatouille.  The lamb was cooked perfectly.  Manny doesn't eat lamb, but he helped me with the ratatouille since the portion was so large.  He got a roasted chicken dish, but it only came with half a chicken instead of a whole one like we'd seen on Yelp.  Maybe it's just half a chicken now, because even if small, who can eat a whole one (well, Manny can)?  I loved the food, but I had no room for dessert.  The server gave us some ice cream on the house.  I made a little room for it.  Haha.  Afterward we went to lululemon, and Manny gifted me some expensive leggings.  They'll be perfect for my exercise classes.  We got home pretty early.  It was a wonderful Valentine's Day, and it's been many years since we've celebrated it separately from my birthday and our anniversary.  I did not make Manny take me on a third date for that.  😀

Getting medicine for Isaac.  Masks all gone due to the coronavirus.

Nacho enjoying the return of sunshine.

While Isaac was not feeling well, we watched a NASA special together.

I love that he enjoys looking at the stars like I do.  We can't begin to fathom the size of the universe.

Just a card and a couple of chocolates from me.  On the inside of the card is the whole Incredibles family, who match up with ours.  There was even a picture of Frozone in the background, whom we liken to Nacho.  I don't really do cards anymore, but this one stood out to me.

Heart shaped pizza--cheese and olives for Isaac and pepperoni and olives for the other two.  Yes, he got more than they did, since they could also eat tortellini pasta with it, and he can't.

Pizza cutter and chocolates.

Beautiful roses from Manny.  💝

At dinner.

Spicy beet hummus, chicken and citrus salad, grilled flatbread.

Lamb shank tagine, roasted chicken, sweet potatoes.

I don't know what type of ice cream this was.  Turmeric?

By the fountain at Santana Row.

Fun fact:  We got engaged on Valentine's Day 21 years ago.

birthday weekend:

I am 44!  I actually feel pretty good, younger than I did in my 30s, to be honest.  I have a new lease on life, and I'm taking better care of myself.  It does help that the kids are older now.  Plus, we pulled up the old carpet and have a dishwasher.  I feel like a new person.  The older I get, the wiser I get, and I realize how little I really know.  Life didn't turn out exactly as I thought it would when I was younger, but I was younger, so what did I know?  I still, however, have dreams and goals that I'm going to keep striving for.  In this last year, I feel like I have finally become comfortable in my own skin, and I have found myself again, or perhaps for the very first time.

My birthday weekend was wonderful, even though became kind a blur with Isaac not feeling well.  Naomi usually has rehearsals for the school musical every day, but on the Friday she didn't, I took Naomi and a couple of friends to the thrift store and Target.  Funny, I did the same thing at her age.  When I came back to pick them up, someone had hit a fire hydrant across the street.  It was kind of amazing to see.  The road wasn't closed, so we could have driven through it, but I decided it wasn't worth the risk as I saw some cars get a little stuck in the flooding.  So I went the other way.  That was a lot of wasted water, I thought.  I was there for maybe 20 minutes, and still no one had shown up to fix it.

Then Naomi babysat the boys so Manny and I could have dinner and see a movie.  He picked a perfect place for us, a Taiwanese hot pot restaurant, new to us, with individual hot pots over flames.  It was really good, though they skimped on the seafood for mine as one would expect in our area.  I've been wanting to see Parasite, as I often support Asian representation and films.  They re-released it ahead of the Oscars.  I really enjoyed it, but I had to look away during some scenes toward the end.  If you haven't seen a lot of Korean films, the violence can be quite graphic.  We got a good parking spot, too.  I know that's a weird thing to say, but I was very thankful for that.

The next morning, I had my fitness group meetup and class.  I love going, and I wish more people could make it, although we did pretty much fill up the room already.  I got through cardio and one part of the teaching video, but missed the rest of the video and the yoga because Isaac called me crying.  He said he didn't want to tell Manny he had this sudden pain in his mouth, so I had Naomi give him some medicine, and I rushed home.  But I know Manny could take care of it.  I then had to leave quickly to go to my dentist appointment.  At the appointment, they told me to get Isaac to a dentist, so I did.  I got Isaac to an emergency dentist, and she said he'd be okay as long as there was no major swelling or signs of infection.  He was well enough for a while that Manny and I could make a trip to Costco.  But then he was in pain and feverish and cried all night for a couple of nights, so I stayed with him.  The Motrin and Tylenol didn't seem to be helping a whole lot.  Amazing that he was well enough again the next day for a short period of time, and we were able to celebrate my birthday with some tres leches cake that Naomi and I picked out.  I also bought myself some Korean walnut mochi pastries.  I didn't have a lot of time to cook, so I threw a big pork butt (shoulder) into the IP, and made carnitas.  The Instant Pot is a lifesaver.

Finally the tooth broke through on Monday, and his face did swell up.  The pain was gone, though, so that was a good sign.  He threw up the antibiotics the dentist prescribed, and I'm not sure how much it helped.  He's had a similar facial swelling ever since his MMR shot.  The doctor said it's a mumps-like viral infection (so antibiotics won't help), and just have to give him fluids and rest.  Poor thing.  He was able to eat some frozen fruit the first day, but after that couldn't chew much anymore and I relied on smoothies and yogurt to feed him.  Manny cleaned the whole kitchen and spent time with the kids while I tried to sort out the mystery of the missing prescription at the drugstore.  I was very thankful for that.

K and Naomi watching the hydrant geyser.

Getting ready for my birthday dinner with Manny.

My seafood hot pot.

My date.

Manny had the spicy hot pot.

About to watch a dark comedy.

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Instructor setting up for the fitness class.  The drumsticks are my favorite part!

Isaac at the dentist.

Teeth having trouble coming in.  That's his own hand--I wouldn't yank his lip up like that.

Six years ago with my cousin.  Poor Isaac--third kid just gets set on the floor.

  

Reminds me of Nacho.

Red bean walnut pastries from cocohodo.  They are an acquired taste.

Blessed birthday.

I said, "Nacho didn't get to have cake."  He then went over to his toy cake and sat down.  Haha

Thank you to my mother-in-law for the card and gift card.  I love cards.

super bowl liv:

I thought the 49ers were going to win this one!  I guess if we had to lose, it was good to lose to an underdog team that hadn't won in 50 years and Manny's friend JP's favorite team. 

Chris came for the weekend, and Naomi's friend K joined us just for some food before she and Naomi went to the thrift store.  Manny went out the Friday night before with coworkers and then out with Chris Saturday night.  Naomi was at her friend's E's party Saturday as well. 

I love my kitchen and table--was able to cook up quite a bit of food quickly.  We had nachos--ground beef, citrus chicken, wings, homemade guacamole, (not homemade) green and red salsa, jalapeno refried beans, black beans, jalapenos, lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese.  Limes and lemons.  I made Velveeta nacho cheese in the Instant Pot and didn't like it.  I've never made it before, and it tasted so processed.  So will go for a real cheese, hopefully healthier version next time.  I also splurged and got a giant cookie with football decorations on it.  The toys like the Super Bowl ring don't seem as special now since we didn't win.  The guys had some beer.  Funny I had nachos and ginger beer, which has been mentioned on 'This is Us,' one of my favorite shows. 

Some friends took to Facebook to protest the impropriety of the half-time show, but I thought it was entertaining (our kids didn't watch it).  I had to miss the end of it to go pick up the girls, but I caught the rest later.  I also caught more of the Super Bowl ads later as I missed some of them.  There were a lot of empowerment and message ads this year and ads overloaded with celebrities (vs just the one, though they had those as well).  I really was touched by the old man recording things about his late wife so he wouldn't forget them. 

Drinks and chips.

Good ole Super Bowl food--nachos and wings.

Pretty cool pizookie.

Getting ready to eat.  Isaac hiding from the smell.

Yolanda Adams, one of my favorite artists, singing "America the Beautiful."  God sheds His grace on us indeed.

Coin toss.  Didn't know our man Sherman was the captain.

Nacho watching as well, but he's not allowed on the couch (it's fabric and he scratches it), so we had to get him off.

january misc:

Looking back and seeing a rainbow in the clouds behind me.  God's promises always there.

It's been a while, but we're renting a Rug Doctor!

Naomi wants to bring her lunch so she has more food/nutrition to sustain her long days at school and practice for her show.  I think she was inspired because I make Manny's lunches.

Naomi insisted on going to the bakery alone.  Bought me a pastry.  💓

Veggie scramble for breakfast.

We got Disney+!  Nacho got Frozone since they're both black (and running out of Incredibles characters).

Isaac on the parallel bars.  Gymnastics still his favorite thing ever.

Getting some exercise in on a rainy day.

Cutting celery for Manny's lunches.

My friend sent our group of friends this question her daughter got on her school homework:  The sum of two decimal numbers is 5.3; their difference is 1.7; and the product is 6.3.  Are they doing algebra in 3rd grade already?  I couldn't see any other way to solve it than to sit there and do trial and error all day.  I was so happy to do some math again.  Naomi has never really asked for help on homework, not even projects.

A bed and pillow on sale for $10.  I would never spend more than that, since he tends to tear at them or pee on them (so far this one is still intact and not marked).

Cooking fish

Nacho was playing fetch with Isaac, and then about 5 or 10 minutes into it, was just spent.

happy lunar new year:

With the new kitchen and new me, plus some handy Christmas presents from my in-laws (serving bowls and a meat thermometer I'd been wanting), I decided to cook a full traditional feast for Chinese New Year this year, including char siu pork, drunken chicken, beef noodle soup, long vegetables, prawns, dumplings, etc.  It took as long as Thanksgiving dinner, except I did more mobilizing and active cooking with the New Year meal.  What I mean by new me, is that I used to think it wasn't a good idea to celebrate Lunar New Year too much because of some of the superstitious beliefs around it, but I've learned I can make of it whatever I wish.  For us, it'll just be about the food and remembering the cultural background, since my kids are culturally American and haven't been immersed in either Chinese or Mexican culture.  I tried to instill more ideas of Chinese and Mexican culture in them, like the a strong work ethic and importance of family, but it's not something they can understand from words the way I learned and lived it.  It's okay, though, my prayers are not for that, but that they will know and love God more each day.   I hope they find their identity in Christ first, but also that they accept and even celebrate people's differences, including their own.

Manny got back from his work trip the day before the New Year.  He brought back a lot of treats for the kids and some very thoughtful gifts, including a beautiful cross necklace for Naomi.  He got me these fancy crackers I really liked.  The day of the Lunar New Year (Friday, 1/25 this year), I got to the Chinese market before opening, and there was already a line at both doors.  The seafood section was insane.  Since Manny had to work that Saturday, and I have more energy in the mornings, I made a New Year's feast at lunch instead of the dinner.  Often the meal is served on New Year's Eve, but I left that open because we had an event to attend, but that didn't work out. 

There was so much food; it was enough for a few meals.  I like drunken chicken, but I used an American chicken instead of the small Asian ones, so it was a lot of chicken, and I'm not sure everyone else is used to the shaoxing cooking wine flavor.  So next year, either a smaller chicken or no wine.  I also made char siu pork (using tenderloin for ease and less fat), which I marinated overnight in a homemade sauce.  I think it should be marinaded for 2 full days.  The next day, it tasted even better and we finished it off.  I made a fish I often made for others in college--a Shanghai style braised tilapia.  I would use a different fish like snapper or mackerel, but we don't eat a whole lot of fish here aside from salmon and tilapia.  I made a Taiwanese beef noodle soup with a slightly different recipe than my standard.  I think my usual one is better.  Noodles are supposed to represent a long life.  I also made chili prawns.  For New Year, you leave the heads and shells on, but it makes it less convenient to eat, so I'm debated heads off next time.  I made yu choy (you tsai in Mandarin; many foods are named in Cantonese) for the long vegetables.  Maybe too long.  It can be a choking hazard.  I did not have time to make the dumplings or spring rolls, so I bought those.  I also bought the man tou (sweet rice flour bread), five spice bean curd, and the rice flour cake to save time.  In Chinese, rice flour cake is nian gao.  Nian gao also means year high.  So it's a nice play on words, as are many of the dishes.  I was very pleased overall with the meal, happy to cook it, but oh the clean-up was not fun. 

They are examining it in this pic so they look serious, but they were pretty excited.

Thank you, Papi!

It's the Year of the Mouse (and almost Valentine's Day, too).

Chinese New Year at the market.  This doesn't capture how crowded the seafood counter really was.

Time to eat!

Time to clean!