Furlough Score Card

Two weeks of forced company furlough, how did I do? 1. Sent out all the Christmas cards, including our very first family letter, put up all the decorations +1 2. Shopped, lots of it, as planned +1 3. Spent too much money -1 4. Bought Henry his first video game, a Play Station Portable -1 5. It made him very happy +1 6. Henry is addicted to Yogi Bear clips on YouTube. We spent at least an hour a day watching Yogi. +1 7. Took my family to see The Phamton of the Opera in the Orphem Theatre in San Francisco +3 8. Henry got scared and couldn't sleep that night -1 9. We watched the Phamton movie +1 10. Henry got scared again -1 11. Now he can't stop talking about Phantom and wants to understand everything about it, which gives us a chance to discuss fantasy versus fiction +1 12. Had a lovely relaxing Christmas, including our tradition of opening gifts in the morning, having lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Palo Alto, and taking a walk in the neighborhood +3 13. Saw Marley and Me on Christmas day and cried my eyes out. It's a good movie. +1 14. Fixed Henry's loom and helped him start the first project +1 15. Didn't write as much as I planned, but Bill came up with a writing project that I will be involved in, and I'm very excited about that. +2 16. Didn't exercise nearly as much as I should -1 17. Did fifteen minutes of stretching at least every other day +1 18. Took two long walks and hiked up the hill at the knitting retreat +1 19. Ate way too much -2 20. Worked too much -1 21. Paragard :-) +2 22. Tried my hand at baking cookies, in the toaster oven because the electronic control for the oven was broken +3 23. Everyone loved the cookies +3 24. Had the oven fixed so it's ready for the next batch of cookies +1 25. Visited my mom, who recently had heart surgery, and helped her with some errands +3 26. Took Henry to Carmel beach and he loved it +3 27. Found out Henry has vision problems and had to get him glasses -1 28. He looks so handsome in them +1 29. Bucky was not well -1 30. Didn't knit as much as I planned -1 31. Had a wonderful knitting retreat +2 32. Slept in almost every morning +1 33. Henry scored two baskets in his game today +2 Ending score is positive, so I am rather satisfied with myself.

Word Play

A page from Henry's homework: Use these words in a sentence: prepay, prefix, precede, prevent Henry: I had to prevent from letting him prepay to have the teacher precede with the prefix lesson. Mrs. S: Henry, Nice try but each word needs to be in its own sentence. I might be biased, but I think Henry must be pretty smart to come up with a sentence using all those words together. Another word game. We have this board in the kitchen for our random thoughts (mostly mine). We did this word association awhile back (click on the picture to see a bigger version): All three of us participated. I started with appreciate, then it went like: appreciate -> celebrate -> chocolate -> ingredient -> culinary -> knives (this is from Henry) -> lightening -> rain -> check -> housework -> contribution (this is deffinitely mine) -> money -> cash -> June (this is Bill's) -> sun -> astroid -> rocks -> mountains -> trees -> forestry (this is mine, since I was doing research about my maternal grandfather at the time) -> dentistry (this is probably Bill's, after a dental appointment) -> teeth (this is Henry's) -> threaten -> robber -> justification -> facts -> history A new Word Association is currently on the board, with the condition that words need to be more than three syllables or five letters. The first word is enjoyable. Anyone wants to play? Just go from this word, or the last word you see in the comments.

Here Is 2009 Already

I welcomed the new year in my sleep. It's rare for me to be asleep at that hour, especially for a new year's eve. In fact, I can't remember when was the last time I didn't stay up to welcome the new year. But consider I had three hours of restless sleep the night before, extra slumber time was very needed.

May your 2009 plentiful, peaceful and profitable. May your children behave. May your fur kids healthy. May your knitting and stash grow as you please. May your computer bug free. May the gas price stay below $2. May the companies keep their workers. May the workers keep their same level income and benefits. May all the committed couples remain committed and enjoy each other's social, economical and legal existence. May the country go upswing. May the world a better place.

I will end on a positive note and share couple of pictures I took the other day at a Chinese super market. Dried sharks fin on sale for $199.99 per pound (regular price $269.99). To the left on the second row, dried scallops $49.99 per pound.

On the right, triple X large dried scallops $99.99 per pound. On the left, sea cucumber on sale $99.99 per pound, regular price 129.99.

If you are still with me, Happy New Year!

I Left My Hat in San Juan Bautista

San Juan Bautista is a mission city the Spaniards set up in the early part of California history. The town is rather run down today, being part of the "gone with the old". Kids in Silicon Valley, being part of the "in with the new", usually learn about this place in history lessons, and the accompanied field trip is an excitement all on its own. Right before the holiday break Henry's school took all the fourth graders to San Juan Bautista, as part of their current California Missions curriculum. I was lucky enough to hitch a ride with them. The town is about forty five minutes from school, through some part of windy country roads. The car was warm, kids were rowdy, and Henry got car sick. I was sitting in the front passenger seat, yakking away with the driver mom who happened to be Chinese; Henry was in the seat behind the driver. By the time he got my attention, I had about twenty seconds to choose between my hat which was in my lap, or his shirt which was on the floor. My hat won and caught Henry's processed breakfast just in time. Luckily Henry was able to quickly recover once we arrived at the destination and enjoyed the rest of the day. My hat, sadly, didn't fare as well. It was old and commercially made, easy decision to toss it in the first garbage can in town.

 This is the bell in front of the Mission.

 

 The Mission and its attached bell tower. The small gate to the right leads to a grave yard of over 4,000 Indians died of western diseases after the Spaniards arrived.

 

Phantom of the Opera

The Andrew Lloyd Webber production on US tour stopping at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. We made it a family event for Christmas eve, and it was Henry's first big theatre experience. Although he's seen the movie and lots of YouTube clips, seeing and hearing the Phantom in person turned out to be quite disturbing. He couldn't sleep half of the night.

The show was amazing -- the theatre, the stage setup, the costumes, the singing, and of course, the music. I wish there is a back stage tour so we can see how they moved Phantom onto the platform above the stage, or how he disappeared in the last scene.

First Attempt at Cookies

Something probably most of you did when you were a little girl. There is no baking in China, no westernized oven for that matter, everything is cooked on stove top in pots and pans. I never had the need to learn to bake in my years here, what with all that sugar and butter involved, things I try to avoid most the time. A few times I grabbed a tub of cookie dough at Costco and we had a great time baking and eating those cookies. It's fun, it's delicious, it must not be that hard to make. It wasn't. I used a basic recipe on the back on the Ghirardelli chocolate chip package. Our oven broke down couple of weeks ago, and I had to resort to baking three batches of cookies in the toaster oven. The guys came home, after being out all day and evening, to a counter full of cookies. No one complained.

Merry Christmas!

Best holiday wishes from our home to yours!

(Trinket: Are we done yet, Santa Papa?)

A Watery Dinner

When I lived in Canton I ate fish almost every day. Given the opportunity, I would still have fresh seafood as the primary protein source. A bit hard to do when I have to work all day. On days when I'm home and can go to the market for fresh fish, we each end up with the seafood of choice. In the picture below starting from the upper left corner going clock-wise: 1. White Pomfret, or flat fish. My fish of choice in the US. I've only seen them in Chinese markets, usually produced in India and flown in to California. The guys at the fish department do the cleaning, and there is almost no scale. Slightly marinated in rice wine, salt, green onion and ginger, cooked and served whole in its own juice. The head is very small, flesh is tender and meaty, and there are very little bones other than the spine and fins. 2. Baby scallops, sauteed in rice wine and green onions. Henry's new love, to show me why I should appreciate the days when he lived on mac & cheese. 3. Stir-fried thin rice noodles from the Chinese deli. This dish is hard to cook at home and we all like the chewy texture, so I try to pick it up from the deli whenever I can. 4. Grapes from the farmer's market. 5. Sauteed Chinese broccoli with king oyster mushrooms. Both I've only seen in Chinese markets. Chinese broccoli is leafier than the American version and slightly bitter. King oyster mushrooms are very meaty, can be a good substitute in vegetarian dishes for meat. 6. A fish steak of some sort from the Chinese market, cooked in rice wine, green onion, ginger, and pearl onion. Bill likes the traditional ocean fish steak texture and taste, and less small body parts to deal with.

Pretty Things

Last rose of the summer. The rose bush is going strong despite the patio cover we put up above it this spring. We will need to prune it very soon. The only persimmon I harvested this year. I was told that fruit trees tend to go into biennial growth spurts. Last year we got at least couple dozen persimmons, so hopefully next year will be a big harvest again. I'm on two-week furlough from work, and not having as much time I would like to play on the computer and update my blog. Lots of shopping to do. Enjoy your holidays!

Sleep Is Hard Work

Why do wee babies and small pups emit such sweet warm smell when they sleep that's entirely intoxicating?

Every night we sit down in the living room to watch TV, and the dogs find their respectable beds to doze off. When it comes time to head upstairs for good, my job is to carry Trinket up with the least disturbance so as not to bother the old injury in his shoulder. I pick him up from the doggie bed, gently, cradle him like an infant, and he usually wakes up, gives me "I'm sleepy and life is good" look. I kiss him on the cheek and tell him he's mama's boy. Then I smell his little paws, especially the white paw sticking out in the picture. They smell so warm, and sweet, it makes me dizzy. I kiss the top of the paws -- never the bottom, I know where they've been to. I drop him off in one of the doggie beds upstairs, and he curls up in a perfect little ball, so tight that you can't tell where it starts and ends.

I'm the mother of this furry little creature. How strange!