Sunday Quiche
I was up early this morning while the baby and husband were asleep. Koa and I took a long walk outside and watched the sun come up. Lately my walks with Koa have been rushed and chaotic because I’m either late for work or trying to manage him on a leash while pushing a stroller. It was beautiful outside today. I forgot how nice it can be out there. I think Koa had a good time too.
After our walk, I decided to make breakfast and found a recipe for a Spinach and Bacon Quiche. Since I had to buy who pie crusts, I decided to double the recipe and make two. They keep well so why not? Here are the ingredients laid out before pouring the egg and cream mixture in.
Here’s the final product. Voila! We have a quiche!
I must say that 2012 was a very good year. I spent the first quarter cookin’ a baby and getting ready for our newest family member.
I also had an awesome month off before Kumquat arrived and spent the last week hanging out with my mom.
Then in April, our lives changed forever when our beautiful baby girl was born.
The rest of Spring and most of Summer was spent at home recovering and learning how to take care of a little human being while keeping up with the daily chores.
Right before going back to work full-time, we took our annual trip to Oahu and baby came along too.
Then it was time to return to work and it was so hard the first week. Eventually, I adjusted and it was nice to have such good friends around. Jes also did a great job as a stay-at-home dad for a month.
In September, we hired Mirian, who has been a wonderful addition to Kumquat’s life. She takes her on outings, reads to her, and kept her on her schedule better than any of us. In fact, Kumquat started sleeping through the night after her first day with Mirian.
Then Fall and Winter arrived and Jason and Jia moved to California! It’s been so fun to have them around and we see them almost every week.
We celebrated all the holidays with our little girl and even took her to Disneyland. It was a busy Christmas trip home but totally worth it.
This afternoon I had lunch with the old college roomies and it was so much fun to see them and the kids too.
We met up at The Counter for some tasty burgers and onion strings and Kumquat got to finally meet little Micah who was born just 3 weeks before her.
Afterward, Sandy and Linda joined me on the UCLA campus for some photos with the Bruin.
It was weird being back after so many years and I was so happy to have Kumquat there with me.
Sandy and Carl joined me farther up Bruin Walk to Royce Hall and it was like a walk up memory lane. I had forgotten how beautiful the campus is and was a little giddy thinking about all our lunches on the steps with the fatty squirrels and the naps we used to take by the fountain.
Those were fun times and I can’t believe it all started 20 years ago.
1) My health and well-being: I had a smooth and pretty easy pregnancy, uneventful labor and delivery, and a quick recovery. I’m also 4 pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight. Woohoo!
2) My husband: He worries for us. He cooks for me. He loves me no matter what.
3) My family: They’re always there for me even if they live far away. I feel so lucky to have had my mom around to help during Kumquat’s first 6 weeks of life. It’s also been so nice to have Jason and Jia back in California and in the Bay Area now!
4) My friends: They’ve helped me through some of the toughest parts of this year and have celebrated with me during my happiest moments.
5) My beautiful baby girl: I’m thankful for such a healthy (sturdy!), happy, and thriving baby. She brings me so much joy and I’m so proud of all that she’s already accomplished these past 7 months.
For the past month, we’ve been at work without our manager who has been on extended sick leave due to her battle with breast cancer. We all knew that she wasn’t feeling well but not exactly how badly. She had treatments last year too and came back just as strong and we were expecting the same this time around. Then on Monday morning, we were called in for an emergency meeting at lunch and were told that she had passed away on Sunday night. It was such a shock to all of us since she was the type of person who didn’t want to worry us with details and kept a lot from us on purpose. So the rest of the afternoon was spent grieving and coming to terms that our fearless leader wasn’t going to be returning to us after all. We were all in tears and most of us took the rest of the day “off” with a minimal workload and time to process. This is a photo of Sue having some “Janie Time” back in June when she was only 10 weeks old. Sue was a great person, awesome therapist, and I learned so much from her. *sigh* I’m going to miss her.
This evening, a bunch of us met up at our other manager’s house after work for a little “family time”. She’s been out due to hip surgery too so it’s as if all the birdies at work haven’t had their mamas around for almost a month. I took off work a little early in order to hurry home to pick up Kumquat and then headed back over the bridge to Alameda. I had thought about not bringing Kumquat but I’m so glad that I did. I think we all needed some “baby time” to lift our spirits. It was like she was a “therapy baby” for all the girls and made everyone smile. Steph brought her buffalo chicken dip and we ordered Indian food for dinner. We all sat around the table talking and laughing as we usually while reflecting on all the funny times we had with Sue. I think we’ll all heal in our own ways but this was a nice start. We just need to remember that we really are a family at work and that we’ll get each other through it in the end. I feel so lucky to be able to spend most of my waking days with such great people. Kumquat had a pretty good time tonight too. 🙂
On November 2, 2002, we tied the knot. That was ten years ago!! We’ve also been together for 17 years now. Sheesh…1995 was a long time ago.
To celebrate, we both took the day off work and Mirian came to watch Kumquat while we spent the day hanging out together. After I got a long-overdue haircut, we headed out to Hog Island Oyster Co. for one of our favorite meals. 
We ordered almost everything on the menu (again) and walked out of there stuffed and 
Next stop was Tiffany & Co. No, I didn’t get anything shiny. It’s our tradition to go there to get our rings cleaned and polished. It’s one of those courtesy things that we take full advantage of every year.
For dinner we went to Coi. It’s a Two-Michelin Star restaurant that we’ve had on our list for a while. Jia came over to babysit Kumquat and we had a long 3-hour-12-course meal with a shared wine pairing. All the dishes were good and some were really interesting in presentation and flavor.
The most beautiful plate was a beet rose on goat cheese and a bed of rose ice that was intricately assembled using very thinly sliced beet “petals”.
Jes’ favorite was the grilled abalone on nettle-dandelion salsa verde.
This was one of our three desserts: grapefruit with ginger tarragon meringue. There was also a little dot of essence (on the left) that we had to rub on our wrist to smell while we ate the dessert.
My favorite dessert was a really yummy frozen lime sorbet covered in a lime marshmallow. It was also toasted on top.
Meanwhile, Kumquat was home with Jia and they played, took a walk, and had her usual bedtime routine.
Happy 10th Anniversary, Jes! I love you and can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in the next 10 years.
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