kumquat – Page 20

48 hours in SoCal

By beakatude
on Nov 13, 2013
in family, holidays, kumquat, outings, outta here

On Saturday morning, I flew down to Cerritos. It was really weird flying solo. It was so easy and I actually got some reading done. I arrived at Long Beach Airport, which had just gone through a big renovation. I love flying through that airport because it’s so close to the Magical House and they let us deplane from the back.

Before heading over to the Buena Park house, we stopped at a local Target. Apparently there was a special deal that involved Target taking old iPads in exchange for a $200 gift card. Initially I thought the transaction wouldn’t go through because the lady couldn’t get the register open. Fortunately for us, she found a bunch of the trade-in cards in another cabinet. Score!

Later that afternoon, we went to Janelle and Stan’s wedding. It was a very touching ceremony in a beautiful church.

In the evening, there was a reception at the Hyatt in Garden Grove. They had a full Chinese banquet and it took FOREVER for all the food to come. We were there pretty late that night and Kumquat held it together as well as she could.

On Sunday morning, we went to the Magical House and met up with Brother, Joy, and the Chamkasems. My mom ordered a bunch of Thai food and we had such a feast!

The best part of the day was meeting my little niece Alice!! She is so cute and it was interesting to see Kumquat’s response to meeting her.

It seemed like she had no idea who or what she was but she was also showing a little jealousy. Then again, she was a little grouchy and clingy that morning already.

That evening, we went to Lawry’s for Jason’s birthday and left Kumquat at Jes’ parents’ house. Then it was back to SF early Monday morning and straight to work. It was a busy weekend but totally worth it.

24 hours

By beakatude
on Nov 08, 2013
in *sniff*, babies, family, kumquat, outings, work

Jes and Kumquat drove down to SoCal today while I went to work. At lunch, they stopped by on their way out and I got one last hug. It’s my first night without my baby and it was really weird to come home to an empty house. There was no baby, no dog, and no husband. The house was so quiet and lifeless. Since I had not company and no responsibilities, I took full advantage of my Friday night. I went down the street to get a pedicure and then took the train to the mall. I stopped at Gap for the Friends and Family sale and then strolled the mall for a bit. It was so strange to be able to take the train and ride the escalator without a stroller. I had barely anything in my bag and carried nothing in my hands. I didn’t have to push a stroller and I took my time browsing the clothing racks. When I got home, I ate some leftovers, opened a bottle of wine, and turned on a week’s worth of tv. I’m flying down tomorrow morning and can’t wait to see my baby again.

I also get to meet my little niece for the first time!!! Happy Weekend to me!!!

Pasta Cups

By beakatude
on Nov 04, 2013
in kumquat, projects, yum

Tonight I made up a new recipe. Went to Safeway to pick up some ground turkey and ricotta. Had some pasta, kale, and leftover shredded cheese and tomato sauce at home. I cooked up the ground turkey, added the tomato sauce, and then mixed in chopped kale until it wilted.

At the same time, I boiled some wheel pasta and when it was done, I scooped some into the turkey mixture.

While it was still hot, I folded in some bread crumbs and ricotta (about 3 heaping scoops). It all went into the trusty muffin tin and got a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese.

They turned out quite well and has a flavor and texture similar to lasagna. You can barely taste and feel the kale so it’s an easy way to packed in the vitamins and iron too!

This is how they looked after they cooled and placed in a ziploc for the freezer. I set aside one of the cups for Kumquat’s lunch tomorrow. Hope she likes it!

detached

By beakatude
on Nov 03, 2013
in babies, friends, kumquat, life, outings, work

I’ve been so used to bringing Kumquat around with me everywhere I go that this weekend felt a little weird. On Saturday morning, I had a hair appointment so Jes took her along to Costco to get the car fixed. I had an hour to kill before my appointment and I didn’t seem to know what to do with myself.

So, I did some laundry and went out for a cup of coffee.

On Sunday morning, Kumquat was supposed to join me for brunch with Vyl and Michelle. It was going to be a mother-daughter brunch but since she had a cold, I had to leave her behind with Jes. I had some time to have a meal without having to feed another little human and she got some more time with her dad.

Later that afternoon, I had plans to go to Patty’s house for dinner. She invited a few of us over to her cute little apartment for a pseudo book club evening. Kumquat was supposed to come and hang out with Vivian but again, she had to stay home. Patty prepared a full dinner complete with a pork roast, veggies, and a poached pear dessert!

It was weird having my little shadow separated from me for half of my weekend but I’m glad that she was able to spend some quality time with Jes too.

11 years

By beakatude
on Nov 02, 2013
in chuckle, family, holidays, kumquat, life, outings, yum

We celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary this evening by having a tasty steak dinner and bringing our little girl with us. Kumquat came along this year and it was certainly the shortest and cheapest anniversary dinner we’ve ever had. We usually go out for a drawn out multi-course dinner at a fancy restaurant but not this year. I suppose we’ve had 10 good years to ourselves and now it’s the beginning of a new chapter in our marriage. Besides, I can’t think of a more fitting way to kick off the next chapter than to have a little person clinking her sippy cup to our wine glasses!! On top of that, Kumquat is such a good little diner and she adds a little extra something to the mix when we go out nowadays.

Here she is double fisting her milk and water.

And here I am making fun of her.

Happy Anniversary, Jes! The next few years will be quite an adventure and there’s no one else I’d rather have by my side. Love you!

Sunday

By beakatude
on Oct 27, 2013
in *grr*, family, kumquat, life, outings

Sunday started out kinda slow. We were about to leave for the California Academy of Sciences when the tire pressure in our car had gone down again. We went straight to Costco to have them take a look. While we waited, we had lunch at SOMA StrEats again I had a scrumptious spicy chicken and pineapple sammich with a rice cake “bun”. When our service was done, the guy said that our replacement rim is cracked already!!! Seriously?! Jes convinced the manage to let us have the wheel put back on so that we could drive it home. Initially they said it was unsafe to drive and that we’d need to have it towed to a shop. So, we drove very slowly back to home and regrouped.

Shortly after, we packed up again and took Muni to the Academy. The ride was actually pretty quick and we didn’t have to bother with driving in traffic and parking. We had some good family time taking Kumquat around to all the exhibits and watching her discover new things about the aquarium and rainforest.

After the museum closed, we hopped back on the train and went straight to dinner at Hillstone. We got off N-Judah at Embarcadero and then caught the F-line. That’s when things got a little interesting. As soon as the trolley stopped and opened its doors, I was carrying Kumquat and about to board when this large crazy lady cut me off. I let her go ahead but then she stalled at the steps to enter the car on the right side of the door. So, Jes went up the left side with the stroller as I waited. He accidentally nipped her in the hip with the stroller and said sorry but apparently she didn’t hear him. She was taking too long so I followed him on the left side and as I was in the middle of saying sorry to her too when she straight up elbowed me in the face. She totally did it on purpose!! I yelled, “OW! I said SORRY!” Then she turned around to me and said “I didn’t see nothing. All I know is that that guy hit me with the stroller.” Before we could do anything else, she stormed to the front of the trolley. I swear, if she had hurt Kumquat I would have gone Mama Bear on her and pushed her off the steps and thrown her back into the street. The people that boarded behind me said to me “That was messed up! You ok?” Luckily, all I had was a little tingle on the cheek and a huge adrenaline rush. That lady was crazy.