Browse Category: life

I’m back but out-of-sorts.

Hi Everyone! We returned from our Eurotrip on Wednesday (9/8) afternoon and we had a great time.  However, I think I may still be jetlagged.  If not, then I’m just a little out of it.  I had the rest of the week off to rest, unpack, and clean-up the house but have managed to take an afternoon nap everyday since Wednesday.  I’m also falling asleep around 8:30 every evening and waking around 5 or 6 in the morning.  On top of that, I caught some kind of cold.  I was stuffed up on the plane (as I usually am) but it didn’t go away once I got home.  I’ve been battling a sore throat and intermittent congestion that makes me a little cloudy in the head all day.  Hopefully I’ll be back to my old self by Monday morning ‘cuz I’ve gotta go back to work.

In the meantime, I’ve been going through my photos and will be posting photos and highlights soon.  Stay tuned!!

Monday off

Yesterday I had the day off to off-set the upcoming 7-day work week.  With Jes in NYC for the next two weeks, I guess it was good timing for me to have a 2-day course over the coming weekend.  Anyway, I managed to be very productive on my day off.  Stopped at work to turn in my parking application and brought Koa along to take him to the dog park nearby.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be a rather ghetto fenced-off area with asphalt and dirt. I suppose it’s a good use to dead space under the freeway.

Koa was a little confused and didn’t know where to poo but eventually gave in and took care of business.  Once that was done, he was able to run around and sniff the two other dogs that were already in there.

Later that day, I cleaned the house, did 3 loads of laundry, and went to Trader Joe’s to buy groceries for the week.  With Jes gone, it was time for me to detox and experiment with new products.  I bought a box of red quinoa, a jar of sundried tomatoes, whole wheat flatbread, and a jar of green olive tapenade.  I made the quinoa in the rice cooker and it came out perfect!  Then I added a tablespoon of olive oil, halved cherry tomatoes, chopped sundried tomato, and a pinch of salt.  Added to a bed of arugula and accompanied with a soft and chewy flatbread plus a small scoop of tapenade, it was a tasty but fiberlicious lunch for me.

Crazy Race Day

On Saturday, it looked like it was going to be an awesome day on the water.  Jes crewed for a captain in an another ocean race and it turned out to be a wild and crazy ride.  While in mid-race, there were 8-foot swells and it caused the boom of their sailboat to break and the boat tipped onto its side with Jes pinned up against the rail and completely in the water.  He had a quick near-death experience but luckily he was on the inner side of the boat and was able to scramble towards the high side.  He certainly got a big scare with a side of adrenaline rush.  To make matters worse, the rudder also broke and had to take a 4-hour trip back to the harbor with a puny motor and super waves that looked like a wall of water that would then sploosh onto the bow of the sailboat.  Jes has some pretty strong sea legs but these swells made him oh so sick.

When I got home from my tournament that evening, I found a trail of wet clothes and shoes leading to the bathroom and Jes fast asleep in bed.  He was exhausted.  When I asked him if he was done with ocean racing, he just shrugged it off and was excited for the next one.  *sigh*

Home Improvements

We got a good deal on 2 additional storage units in our building and got the keys this weekend.  So we spent a good part of the weekend putting stuff away, cleaning the house, fixing things, and rearranging furniture.

Jesse really got into it and even moved the stove out of its nook to level out the burners.  We always had an issue with oil rolling over to one side of the pan but not anymore!  Jes looked like a puppet behind the stove.

We also had a little drip under the sink for the past 2 years and finally found the source!  Of course this involved taking everything out from under the sink and taking apart the drain.  Luckily all went well without any major messes.

Today we moved both of our bikes, the trainer, and bike pump down to one of our storage units.  After a trip to Home Depot, Jes built a rack for them and voila!  The bikes stand upright inside their tiny little kennel!  Now with the bikes off the livingroom wall, we moved bookshelves, cabinets, and tables around.  In the process, we got to wipe everything down, vacuum and scrub the floors, and ended up with some extra space to use in the house. Hooray!  I’m glad we made the most of our rainy Sunday. By the way, it started raining this morning and hasn’t stopped all day. In fact, it’s coming down even harder now at 11 pm!

Rainy Day Cookin’

What is it about lazy rainy Sundays that make me crave soup? After an unsuccessful attempt at going to Target this morning (apparently closed on Easter), I came home and threw two bags of chicken bones and giblets into a big pot of water.  With a few additions and little time on the stove, the house was filled with the aroma of chicken, coriander, and garlic…mmmm.

In the afternoon, we took a nice stroll in the rain with the dog and stopped at Safeway for some ingredients for dinner. I ended up making a big pot of rice, mapo tofu (out of the package, of course) with ground turkey, and pork-stuffed cucumber soup with the stock I made earlier. I even added a bit of my homemade garlic oil to the soup to finish it off.

When I tasted it, the flavor was close enough to give me a nostalgic feeling and Jes was saying it was almost as good as my Mommy’s soup. Phew!  Just last week he said that my Thai Chicken Curry was surprisingly tasty (and spicy) too.  I think I’m on a roll here, people!  I guess some of Mommy’s recipes are getting easier for me to remember now and it’s nice to know that a bit of the Magical House’s pixie dust has finally rubbed off onto me.  Thank goodness ‘cuz I’ve got a picky eater in my house.

Orange is back.

Today was the first home exhibition game for the Giants and so the season has officially begun for the neighborhood.  This morning as I walked the dog, I noticed the lights on the stadium were on and the flag was flying high.  That’s how I know there’s a game today and I debated over and over in my head this morning about whether to drive to work today or not.  I think I lose either way.  Do I drive in traffic over the bridge or fight the crowds on Muni on my way home?  Hm…

The sunrise was spectacular this morning.  It’s one of the only good things about walking a dog before the sun wakes up.  As you can see in the first photo that it’s not even 7 am yet!  *sigh*  At least I got this shot of the sunrise over the water and below the clouds.  By the way, I must give props to my iPhone for helping me capture some pretty cool moments this past year.  This photo was uploaded straight from my phone.  Not bad, right?!

So, baseball season has arrived once again and there was a buzz of excitement this afternoon as Dog and I took our usual stroll around the stadium.  My favorite Muni dude, who does crowd control and helps us cross the street, was even there to greet us this afternoon.  He calls Koa “Rin Tin Tin” and remembers Mommy from one of the weeks that she was staying at our place while we were away.  He usually yells (as we cross the street) “Hey! How’s my Rin Tin Tin?!” and I’ll usually respond with “Hi, Muni Guy!”.  Sometimes he even has time to ask me “How’s your mom?!  She looks just like you!”  Funny.  I guess it’s nice to know that there’s someone out there that has your back among the Orange People (Giants fans).