6.15.2013
breakfast for two
We couldn't make it to the new Superman movie this morning, so instead we stayed home for a slow Saturday breakfast. I made the kids some waffles (from frozen), and after they were done, a smoked salmon and goat cheese omelette (from scratch) for Imo and me. He made us some pour-over coffee. Then we sat outside in the patio while the kids went off to play in their own corners around the apartment. It felt like a treat, to have our own grownup breakfast for two, our own little morning date.
6.08.2013
kidspace
The last time we were here was four years ago. It's hard to believe it's been that long. Yumi was only two, which was why, when we visited earlier today, she said, "I've never been here before." It really was Olivia whose first time it was today at the museum. She loved the water play exhibits. They all did, actually. I let my girls get wet even though we didn't bring a change of clothes, or even towels. When it was time to go home, they were so angry that I had let them play and get soaking wet. Ah, well. Everything I do is wrong. Good thing that's not what my photos say.
6.03.2013
yumi's happy birthday weekend
Yumi turned six on Friday. With Nacho and Asha in tow, I brought vanilla cupcakes and strawberries to her kindergarten class. Her teacher lit six candles on a fake cake and everyone sang happy birthday. Then the kids lined up excitedly and I gave them each a cupcake and some strawberries (if they wanted some). They were so polite, saying "please" and "thank you." They all headed out to the yard to eat their treats and to play.
At home, after school, Yumi helped me with the green tea jelly roll cake which she had requested for her birthday. I was a little nervous because this was my first time to make a sponge cake + jelly roll. It ended up slightly overcooked and I broke the cake when I rolled it, but it was nothing that couldn't be salvaged (I iced the cake) and thought it was still delicious. I followed this recipe, but flavored the whipped cream filling with matcha as well. There was extra whipped cream so I made the girls a special snack with that and the strawberries left over from the class party earlier. In the evening, the Mendozas came over and we ate the cake and Yumi unwrapped her present. She unwrapped just one from all of us, but didn't mind it, as it was the American Girl doll she'd been asking for for months. She was in a pretty good mood, until later that night when she, from overtiredness I believe, threw a tantrum and the day did not end the way that I had hoped it would. I went to bed late after cleaning everything up, resigned to the fact that when it comes to raising kids, you can try your best but the outcomes will not always be within your control.
Saturday was much better. Imo took Nacho to basketball tryouts early in the morning, but I didn't get out of bed, and just listened to the girls' noises as they played in their room. When the boys got back, we got dressed, packed our swimsuits for Knott's Soak City, then went out to brunch at Shakers. We arrived at Soak City at past noon. There was already a big crowd there, but nothing unbearable. It was a hot day and our kids were thrilled to be there. We got to try the tidal wave pool, the river, and three big slides. We ate cheeseburgers, hot dog, chicken tenders, fries, and churros for a late lunch, then the kids played at the "Gremmie Lagoon" for the rest of the afternoon. Imo and I were happy to just lie on the grass and soak up the sun. We hung around till the park closed at 6 p.m.
We were in the mood for seafood, and I remembered Vegas Seafood Buffet in Glendale and thought to give it a try. The birthday girl was not happy about this decision, since she had her heart set on Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant, and screamed "I WANT BISCUITS!" in the car for a good hour before finally conking out from tantrum-exhaustion. When we got to Glendale, Yumi woke up feeling better. We checked in for a table at the restaurant, and in the middle of our 10-minute wait (we were asked to wait for 20), discovered that their all-you-can-eat buffet cost $21+ per person (half-price for kids 3' to 4'6" tall). I stared at Imo like, "Should we leave?" But he shrugged and said, "We're already here." And thank god we decided to stay because that restaurant was incredible. Even the kids ate really well and loved it -- all the king crab legs they could eat, and a chocolate fountain to dip strawberries and marshmallows in for dessert! Nacho couldn't resist the teppanyaki steak; Imo loved the prime rib; I loved the oysters, the sashimi, the baked prawns, the fresh scallops on a shell, the cocktail shrimp -- oh my goodness, it was heaven. Even Yumi had to admit, "This is better than biscuits." We went home full and happy.
At home, after school, Yumi helped me with the green tea jelly roll cake which she had requested for her birthday. I was a little nervous because this was my first time to make a sponge cake + jelly roll. It ended up slightly overcooked and I broke the cake when I rolled it, but it was nothing that couldn't be salvaged (I iced the cake) and thought it was still delicious. I followed this recipe, but flavored the whipped cream filling with matcha as well. There was extra whipped cream so I made the girls a special snack with that and the strawberries left over from the class party earlier. In the evening, the Mendozas came over and we ate the cake and Yumi unwrapped her present. She unwrapped just one from all of us, but didn't mind it, as it was the American Girl doll she'd been asking for for months. She was in a pretty good mood, until later that night when she, from overtiredness I believe, threw a tantrum and the day did not end the way that I had hoped it would. I went to bed late after cleaning everything up, resigned to the fact that when it comes to raising kids, you can try your best but the outcomes will not always be within your control.
Saturday was much better. Imo took Nacho to basketball tryouts early in the morning, but I didn't get out of bed, and just listened to the girls' noises as they played in their room. When the boys got back, we got dressed, packed our swimsuits for Knott's Soak City, then went out to brunch at Shakers. We arrived at Soak City at past noon. There was already a big crowd there, but nothing unbearable. It was a hot day and our kids were thrilled to be there. We got to try the tidal wave pool, the river, and three big slides. We ate cheeseburgers, hot dog, chicken tenders, fries, and churros for a late lunch, then the kids played at the "Gremmie Lagoon" for the rest of the afternoon. Imo and I were happy to just lie on the grass and soak up the sun. We hung around till the park closed at 6 p.m.
We were in the mood for seafood, and I remembered Vegas Seafood Buffet in Glendale and thought to give it a try. The birthday girl was not happy about this decision, since she had her heart set on Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant, and screamed "I WANT BISCUITS!" in the car for a good hour before finally conking out from tantrum-exhaustion. When we got to Glendale, Yumi woke up feeling better. We checked in for a table at the restaurant, and in the middle of our 10-minute wait (we were asked to wait for 20), discovered that their all-you-can-eat buffet cost $21+ per person (half-price for kids 3' to 4'6" tall). I stared at Imo like, "Should we leave?" But he shrugged and said, "We're already here." And thank god we decided to stay because that restaurant was incredible. Even the kids ate really well and loved it -- all the king crab legs they could eat, and a chocolate fountain to dip strawberries and marshmallows in for dessert! Nacho couldn't resist the teppanyaki steak; Imo loved the prime rib; I loved the oysters, the sashimi, the baked prawns, the fresh scallops on a shell, the cocktail shrimp -- oh my goodness, it was heaven. Even Yumi had to admit, "This is better than biscuits." We went home full and happy.
5.30.2013
yesterday
Imo left early in the morning to catch a plane to San Jose. (Do you know the way to San Jose.... LA is a great big freeway... Sorry, had to do it. I heart Burt Bacharach.) I was half-asleep still when he said goodbye (Imo, not Burt). I got out of bed a few minutes later at 7:15 to get the kids ready for school. Asha, who is usually Miss Lazybones, was up early and had gotten dressed. There was cereal and milk for breakfast. Yumi, who goes to school later in the day, got up as well and got dressed in a similar outfit as Asha's because they "wanted to be twins." After dropping off the older kids to school, Yumi and I went back home -- she played in their room; I tried to write. We had a late breakfast/early lunch of oatmeal. I decided to do the laundry, including our camping laundry, which I had been dreading to do, and put in the first of four (big) loads in the washer. I packed Yumi a snack of graham crackers and Nutella (her request) and grapes. On the way home after dropping off Yumi, I stopped to take a picture of a street lined with jacaranda trees in bloom. I thought about having lived here long enough to know which trees are in bloom in what season. Jacaranda turns bright purple in the early summer.
Back home, I tidied up, loaded and unloaded laundry, folded the clean clothes (to me the worst part of doing the laundry) and organized them neatly in piles by owner, tried to write again, went online (email, blogs, Facebook), bought tickets to Soak City where we're taking Yumi for her birthday. By 3 o'clock, I was done with laundry. I picked up the kids from school. We had a late lunch at Fiore: a grilled veggie sandwich and a latte for me, roasted pesto chicken for Nacho, grilled cheese for the girls, followed by a red velvet cupcake.
It wasn't very busy and I chatted with Bill a bit about photography and the little urban farm he had going there and his new cookbook acquisitions. He said that Nacho will become famous someday with a name like "Iggy." Yes, Ignacio has become an Iggy -- he is Nacho only to family. "Do you know Iggy Pop?" Bill asked him, and I have a feeling that Nacho said no only because he'd seen a list on the internet somewhere of the Top 10 Ugliest Celebrities, and Iggy Pop was #10. I made a mental note to have a talk with Nacho about the arbitrariness and the social construction of "ugliness," and also to tell Imo to educate Nacho about how cool Iggy Pop actually is. After Fiore, we stopped by the grocery store to get milk and ice cream, and some stone fruits because they were available and we'd missed them. We got peaches, and yellow and red pluots; I hoped they were sweet. At home, the kids put away their freshly-laundered clothes, then played (they didn't have homework) until it was time for dinner. I'd made adobo flakes, in a flash of inspiration, out of leftover roast chicken and leftover adobo. After dinner, we went to the Y for a swim. We all showered there, then went home, put on pajamas. I gave the kids some ice cream (they declined my original offer of peaches and pluots), then they brushed their teeth and went to bed with zero whining. Night swimming at the Y always seems to cure pre-bath and pre-bedtime whining. I am so out of shape, my legs hurt from swimming. I washed the dishes, then spoke with Imo on the phone about our day and said good night. I thought about being in a state of equilibrium and how, for the longest time, I thought it would never come. But here it is. I made myself a cup of hot rooibos tea with milk, checked in online for a few minutes (okay, several minutes... okay, a couple of hours) and went to bed. It was 12:30 a.m. I'd had the most ordinary, most fulfilling day.
Back home, I tidied up, loaded and unloaded laundry, folded the clean clothes (to me the worst part of doing the laundry) and organized them neatly in piles by owner, tried to write again, went online (email, blogs, Facebook), bought tickets to Soak City where we're taking Yumi for her birthday. By 3 o'clock, I was done with laundry. I picked up the kids from school. We had a late lunch at Fiore: a grilled veggie sandwich and a latte for me, roasted pesto chicken for Nacho, grilled cheese for the girls, followed by a red velvet cupcake.
It wasn't very busy and I chatted with Bill a bit about photography and the little urban farm he had going there and his new cookbook acquisitions. He said that Nacho will become famous someday with a name like "Iggy." Yes, Ignacio has become an Iggy -- he is Nacho only to family. "Do you know Iggy Pop?" Bill asked him, and I have a feeling that Nacho said no only because he'd seen a list on the internet somewhere of the Top 10 Ugliest Celebrities, and Iggy Pop was #10. I made a mental note to have a talk with Nacho about the arbitrariness and the social construction of "ugliness," and also to tell Imo to educate Nacho about how cool Iggy Pop actually is. After Fiore, we stopped by the grocery store to get milk and ice cream, and some stone fruits because they were available and we'd missed them. We got peaches, and yellow and red pluots; I hoped they were sweet. At home, the kids put away their freshly-laundered clothes, then played (they didn't have homework) until it was time for dinner. I'd made adobo flakes, in a flash of inspiration, out of leftover roast chicken and leftover adobo. After dinner, we went to the Y for a swim. We all showered there, then went home, put on pajamas. I gave the kids some ice cream (they declined my original offer of peaches and pluots), then they brushed their teeth and went to bed with zero whining. Night swimming at the Y always seems to cure pre-bath and pre-bedtime whining. I am so out of shape, my legs hurt from swimming. I washed the dishes, then spoke with Imo on the phone about our day and said good night. I thought about being in a state of equilibrium and how, for the longest time, I thought it would never come. But here it is. I made myself a cup of hot rooibos tea with milk, checked in online for a few minutes (okay, several minutes... okay, a couple of hours) and went to bed. It was 12:30 a.m. I'd had the most ordinary, most fulfilling day.
5.28.2013
malibu creek camping highlights
- First time to go camping with Lille, Adam, and Jah. Second time with the Chos.
- We had a huge campsite with a great view of field, mountains, sunset. It was hard to believe we were only 45 minutes away from home.
- The kids entertained themselves on the hammock, with walkie-talkies, badminton, soccer, bugs. They went off on their own little hike up a nearby hill and Nacho reported to Arthur via walkie talkie that they spotted some dogs. The conversation went:
Nacho: There are some dogs here. Over.
Arthur: Those are not dogs. Those are coyotes. You are in danger. Retreat!
Nacho: No.... I think these are dogs.
Arthur: YOU ARE IN DANGER. RETREAT!
We cracked up. The kids came running back in no time. "I really think those were dogs," said Nacho. "They were on leashes."
- Food was delicious, as always. Why is outdoor eating always so good? Anyway, we had: grilled sausages and veggies, and agurkesalat on our first night; breakfast sausages, eggs, and waffles for breakfast the following day; a variety of sandwiches for lunch (Lille was in charge of making the sandwiches and some of her creations included hummus & apple & alfalfa sprouts and ham & cheese & spinach-artichoke dip); grilled pork chops, chopped kale and apple salad, and couscous for dinner; oatmeal and fruit, bacon and toast for breakfast on our last morning. We also had lots of fruits: oranges, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, bananas, cantaloupe. And coffee. And wine and beer and rum. And s'mores, of course!
- Wood fires weren't allowed, but we discovered Duraflame so we had a real campfire going on our second night.
- The full moon.
- Live ukelele music c/o Adam.
- Close encounters with earwigs and a very bold skunk. No one's ears got crawled into, and no one got sprayed.
- The first night was very, very cold, I couldn't sleep. We heard coyotes howling.
- Getting lost on our hike to the Rock Pool, which only meant we walked farther and got to take in more of the scenery. We saw a hawk flying overhead and heard rattlesnakes in the tall grass.
- We made it to Malibu Lagoon State Beach, a 10-minute drive away from camp, on the afternoon of our second day. Our timing was perfect because we easily found parking. And the tide was low! The kids got to explore the tidal pools. We saw anemones, hermit crabs, a large sea slug, and a purple sea urchin. Adam and Imo tried to fly a kite, but without success. The kids went in the water and played on the sand. I took a cool group photo, the first decent photo, with my old Polaroid camera.
- Heard Jah sing "The Wheels on the Bus" over and over while Adam washed his butt. When Adam was done, Jah said to him, "Beri good job, Daddy."
- The nearest restrooms had to be closed for repairs on our second night. Washing dishes was also a pain. For a second, I wondered why we put up with these inconveniences. But I knew why.
The great outdoors is love.
5.24.2013
hello, polaroid.
What I've been quiet about since the first Sunday of May is that I went and bought myself an old Polaroid land camera, the kind with the bellows, that came out in the 1960's. I made up my mind about it after I saw it on eBay and asked a few questions from the seller, then I emailed Imo that I was going to go and get it. And my dear husband, who, despite being masungit, is so good, so generous to me, justified the purchase by saying, "Okay. Mother's Day gift."
Yesterday, the uncommon 4.5 volt battery for it finally arrived in the mail, and I could finally test the camera. I'd never taken a picture with a Polaroid ever before in my life. I do have an app on my phone called Polamatic, which is pretty cool, and a "Polanoid Generator" on Photoshop (downloaded for free here), and every time I would churn out these digital Polaroid clones (with the frames and light leaks and all), I couldn't help but feel a little bit like a fraud. Ha! I wanted to experience what it was really like to shoot instant film. This probably sounds silly, if not pretentious, but I thought I could somehow authenticate? deepen? make more meaningful? my Instagram experience by experiencing the actual thing that inspired it. Not that the use of Instagram needs to be authentic or deep or meaningful, this is just me being a complete and utter nerd. Plus I love film, and I love photography. And I want to know all that I can know about them while I am alive -- and while these things are still around.
Here are three of the four first photos I took with my new old Polaroid camera. (The very first photo turned out too dark.) They are not great -- my children look like they are from The Ring with all that hair + blurriness -- but I loved the experience of the tab-pulling, and the counting of seconds of development time, and the peeling-apart of the film. When Asha and Yumi saw the first photo come out, they said, "WHERE DID THAT COME FROM, MOMMY? HOW DID YOU GET THAT?" These are kids who are totally nonchalant about the fact that images can be captured by a phone or a digital camera. Kids know magic when they see it.
Yesterday, the uncommon 4.5 volt battery for it finally arrived in the mail, and I could finally test the camera. I'd never taken a picture with a Polaroid ever before in my life. I do have an app on my phone called Polamatic, which is pretty cool, and a "Polanoid Generator" on Photoshop (downloaded for free here), and every time I would churn out these digital Polaroid clones (with the frames and light leaks and all), I couldn't help but feel a little bit like a fraud. Ha! I wanted to experience what it was really like to shoot instant film. This probably sounds silly, if not pretentious, but I thought I could somehow authenticate? deepen? make more meaningful? my Instagram experience by experiencing the actual thing that inspired it. Not that the use of Instagram needs to be authentic or deep or meaningful, this is just me being a complete and utter nerd. Plus I love film, and I love photography. And I want to know all that I can know about them while I am alive -- and while these things are still around.
Here are three of the four first photos I took with my new old Polaroid camera. (The very first photo turned out too dark.) They are not great -- my children look like they are from The Ring with all that hair + blurriness -- but I loved the experience of the tab-pulling, and the counting of seconds of development time, and the peeling-apart of the film. When Asha and Yumi saw the first photo come out, they said, "WHERE DID THAT COME FROM, MOMMY? HOW DID YOU GET THAT?" These are kids who are totally nonchalant about the fact that images can be captured by a phone or a digital camera. Kids know magic when they see it.
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