Browse Category: yum

Pear Puree

I’m making baby food again!  This time I used my stick blender!!  Yeeeaaahh, Baby!  I only bought one pear (organic, of course) at the supermarket this time so I could experiment but I think I should have bought more.  Here’s what I did:

1) I peeled the pear.

2) I cut the pear into chunks.

3) They all went into the measuring cup.

4) And then bzzzzzzz went the stick blender!

Here is the finished product.  I got a smooth puree in just seconds.  However, I didn’t buy enough pears so I ended up with a few lumps since the stick blender requires a little more volume to get it all pureed.

Regardless, Kumquat loved it and I was able to join her by eating the chunks for her.  Yum.

Half Birthday

Today Kumquat had her half birthday and I had a long Saturday to really reflect on everything that has happened so far.  Sounds silly since she’s not even a year old yet but I can’t help feel nostalgic.  I already have thousands of photos and videos of my little girl and yet I feel like I haven’t done enough to really capture the experience thus far.

After attending my lactation class this past week, I was impressed that my hospital did such a great job in teaching me and Jes all the things we needed to know regarding feeding and caring for a newborn because it was all repeated in the class.  They also provided us with every opportunity to bond with her (by delaying the weigh-in and bath) from the moment she was born, which I think helped her grow into an adaptable and secure baby.  Of course we’re also first and foremost lucky to have a baby that is so healthy and so eager to eat and learn from the start.

Six months later, I now have a chubby baby girl who sits up on her own, has two little teef, eats solids, and gives me a big smile when I come home from work.  She’s been a pretty easy baby so far and I’ve learned a lot from her already.

Here are some of my favorite moments from the past 3 months:

1. Watching her play with her pal Sophie.
2. Seeing her face light up at the aquarium.
3. Seeing Jes walking back from the lavatory in the airplane with a naked baby.
4. Hearing her cracking up at Koa’s every move.
5. Feeling her first tooth.

Here are my least favorite moments:

1. Leaving her on my first day back at work.
2. Seeing how miserable she was when she got her first cold.
3. Searching for a nanny.
4. Putting away her 0-3 month clothes.

Today I took her on a walk to the new Target down the street and on the way home we picked up a cupcake to celebrate out accomplishments as mommy and baby.  We’ve both endured together the nighttime feedings, stuffy noses, and afternoons of being just plain old grouchy.  We’ve also shared lots of conversations, giggles, naps on the couch, and new experiences.

So, after her serving of sweet potato, I lit a candle and wished her a happy half birthday in hopes of a smooth second half to the first year of our life together as a family.  I hope that we’re doing everything right so far and even if we’re not, I hope she grows up knowing how much we love her.

Happy Half Birthday, Kumquat!  We love you!

Dinner Outings

We’ve had really pleasant weather these past two nights so we went out to eat both nights.  On Wednesday, we went down to Super Duper for a tasty tasty burger and garlic fries.

I also love that they have jars of pickles next to the ketchup so you can have as many pickles you want with your burger.  Yum.  The also serve beer and wine too!

Afterward, we stopped at SMALL, which is a small bodega-like shop on our way home.  It’s a neat little store that stocks a bunch of pre-packaged products for the people who work nearby and eat at their desk.  What’s a little weird is that they also have a beer/wine/coffee bar that’s open until 9 pm.  So we stopped in for a drink while Kumquat slept.

On Thursday night, we also went out to Paragon for dinner out on the patio.  Kumquat loved all the noise, lights, and the Giants game that was on the TV overhead.

She was also really interested in the other people around us and stayed awake long enough to socialize with the waitress and the people seated next to us.  It’s good to know that we can still go out once in a while.

 

Happy Sweet Potato Day!

Kumquat is one week away from turning 6 months old and in honor of the appearance of her first tooth, I decided to start her on solids today.  For her first meal, I wanted to make sweet potato puree so we took a little trip to the Farmers’ Market and picked up a couple for $1.50.  What a deal!

This was my first attempt at making my very own baby food and it was pretty fun.  Here’s what I did:

After washing them, I wrapped them in foil.

They went in the toaster oven at 325 degrees and cooked for about an hour and a half.

Yeah, that’s a long time.  I think it needed to be baked at 350 instead.

When they were done, they looked so tasty – like Thanksgiving tasty.

Once they cooled, I cut them in half and they went into the ricer.

It was super easy to get the sweet potato mashed and looked pretty cool when it came out like spaghetti.

The sweet potato came out nice and smooth while all the “strings” and skin stayed in the ricer.

When I mixed it up, it was pretty thick so I thinned out a small portion with a tablespoon of water at a time until it was a thin puree.  It’s so simple and nutritious and without anything extra added to it.

Here’s the final product along with Kumquat’s cute little spoon. 🙂

After I fed Kumquat and knew that it was passable to her, I prepared the rest of the batch and it all went into the ice cube tray and in the freezer.

When it was all frozen, they popped out so easily!

They all went into a freezer bag and now they’re in little 3/4-ounce portions. Neato.

It’s a little bit of work for a whole lot of awesome.  I think Kumquat liked it and as a therapist who feeds babies for a living, this was an exciting day for me too. 🙂

Back to Cali

On Wednesday (10/10), Jason and Jia drove up from Southern California after returning from their month-long Asia trip.  They moved into their new apartment in Foster City and bought some new furniture.  The rest of their stuff arrived on Thursday morning.

We drove down to see them on Wednesday night and helped assemble their dining table set so that we could have dinner together.  They live right next door to a 99 Ranch so I walked over to buy some meat and other items and then we sat down for a hot pot dinner.  Yum!

We’re so happy to have Jason back in California after so many years and we’re so excited that Jia will be starting a new life on the west coast with him.  Ah, it’s so nice to have family nearby.

New Goal!

I simply love cookies and I just read this list of the Best 12 Cookies in SF and realized that I’ve had only one of the 12.  Dang.  I’m behind.  So this is my new goal: Try every cookie on the list before I leave this city.  I don’t think we’re moving out of SF any time soon but I suppose anything can happen, right?!  So if we all of a sudden have to pack up and move to Hawaii or something, I will need to fulfill this goal before we move – even if I have to use up my last two days driving around the city picking up one of each!

So far the only one I’ve tried is the Gingersnap from Miette but I might be able to convince my co-worker to snag me a chocolate chip walnut from Mission Beach Cafe since his boyfriend is THE Alan Carter, the pastry chef.