Browse Category: kumquat

I just had to do this.

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I couldn’t resist this morning.  KK was riding the tricycle up and down the sidewalk and it reminded me of when I used to do the same thing.  Then it dawned on me that I could recreate the photo that my mom and I took when I was KK’s age.  So, that’s what we did.  And then my mom wanted in on the action so we had her get on and we took another for old times’ sake.  We all got a good chuckle out of it.  KK was the only one who was a little confused and wondering why everyone wanted to ride her tricycle.

The Passport Saga

IMG_9916The last 24 hours have been very stressful here.  It started last night when Jes came home while I was filling out a passport application for KK.  I needed her social security card and all our legal documents so I took it out of the safe and gave Jes his passport for his business trip to London and Grenoble.  I happened to look to see when it expires and it had said April 2014!!!  OH NOOOOO!!!  He leaves on Saturday evening and it was already Thursday night! The trip could not be postponed and it would have been a really embarrassing mess if he had to cancel for this reason.

So, we scrambled for answers on the internet and made some calls but it was not looking good.  The Passport Agency that processes last-minute passports didn’t have an appointment until Monday at 10:00 am!  Jes found a 24-hour service and paid a ridiculous amount of money for it.  The next step was to get his picture taken so we went to Costco.  It was still only 6:30 so we had a chance!  When we arrived, the photo guy said he could take his picture but it wouldn’t be ready until 10 am the next day.  Uh oh…

IMG_9901So I called the nearest CVS to see if they would be able to take and print a passport photo tonight and the guy said, “Yes, we are available.”  Nice.  So we drove down to San Bruno and they had it ready in just minutes.  We even took the opportunity to get KK’s photo taken too.  She stood on a stool and actually looked at the camera.  No smile but I’m perfectly fine with it.

Once we got home, Jes looked up the 24-hour service again and it said that they wouldn’t be able to deliver until Monday morning.  What?!  So, his heart sank and decided to wake up at 5 am to call them.  I think the only person who slept last night was KK.

At 5am, the alarm went off and Jes called.  The guy said they wouldn’t be able to deliver today and said that he would refund his money at 6am.  In the meantime, Jes happened to be on Yelp and read some reviews from people who had gone to the Passport Agency without an appointment.  One of the reviewers said to go early – like 6:45 early!  So at about 5:45 am, I heard Jes take a shower.  I thought, “he must be really stressed out”.  Then he got dressed and left the house!  I texted him from bed “where are you going?”  and he said, “state department”.  I think he meant the Passport Agency.  So there he was at 6-something in the morning all by himself.  He was first in line for about 30 minutes before 3 more people showed up.  Wow, that reviewer wasn’t kidding.

IMG_9908KK and I were up and ready by 8am so we walked down to the office to see how things were going.  By then it was 8:30 and they let Jes in.  He got his paperwork processed and met us at the Specialty’s next door with a receipt that said he could pick up his passport at 3:30.  It was sort of a relief but there was still chance there would be a delay or his application would be rejected.

In addition to dealing with Jes’ passport, we walked down to the Sutter Post Office to process KK’s stuff.  When we arrived the lady asked “do you have an appointment?”  I had called the night before and the automated message said that this location did not require an appointment and didn’t even give me the option.  Luckily, they weren’t very busy and the 9:15 appointment didn’t show.  So, we got everything processed and KK’s passport should arrive in about 2 weeks.  Woot.

IMG_9917Later this afternoon, Jes went back to the Passport Agency and he had his passport in his hot little hands by 3:30 pm and he can go on his trip tomorrow.  Phew.  I hope this never happens to us again.  Luckily mine doesn’t expire until 2021.  Is it possible to set an alarm for something that far out?!  I’ll have to find out.

The End.

 

Jason’s Birthday Weekend

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This weekend, Jes’ parents came up to visit.  It was to celebrate Jason’s birthday and to hang out with their granddaughter, of course.  I just love their expressions in this picture.  They were so happy to see her when they arrived at the CalTrain Station on Saturday morning.IMG_9783

We took them to the Ferry Plaza for brunch and we lucked out with some really nice weather.

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For Jason’s birthday dinner, we drove down to Woodside to eat at The Village Pub.  This is my crudo appetizer.  That clear liquid off to the side was actually a gelee.  Neato.  KK ate all the pickled veggies off my plate.IMG_9809

Speaking of KK, she got her first fine dining experience and it was such a success.  I mean, we’ve taken her to places with white tablecloths and stuff but this was one of those drawn out fancier dinners.  We even ordered her very own dish, a very tasty mushroom consomme.  She loved it and I only got a few sips of the broth and one of her dumplings.  I have to say this was one of my prouder moments with her.  The server was so impressed by her behavior that evening and treated her with a scoop of ice cream.  I was pretty impressed too.IMG_9815

I ordered the kale and ricotta ravioletti.  It was really good and I totally forgot that it was a vegetarian dish.IMG_9821

This was Jason’s birthday souffle and present – a toy replica of his current Mustang in the same shade of blue and everything.  He said it will go well next to his Cobra.

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And here are a couple pictures that KK took with my phone.  It’s fun to get a little view of her world.IMG_9830

This morning, the whole family came over and we took the bus to Chinatown.

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We feasted on noodles and porridge and then had a little birthday cake complete with a candle.IMG_9843

Back at home, we all took a nap and then Jesse started preparing the crab that had been given to Jason and Jia from their landlord.  He’s a crabber and drops off live crab every once in a while.  Jia was home alone on Thursday night so she put them in the freezer and we ate them today.IMG_9851

This time, Jes boiled them in some seasoned water and then made a side of mashed potato and grilled corn.  IMG_9853

Yum yum!!  Three crabs and the sides fed all 7 of us very well.

Happy Birthday, DiDi!

Project Piglet

pigletThis year, I decided to make KK’s costume.  She was going to be Piglet and I thought it was easy enough to figure it out.

IMG_8791At Target, I found a shirt, tights, and hair clips that were the perfect shade of pink.  Then I went to the fabric store and bought a big piece of bright pink felt.

IMG_9106I traced one of KK’s dresses for the pattern and then cut out two pieces.

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The two pieces got pinned and sewn together.  Thanks for lending me your machine, Susie!!

IMG_9115The fabric got flipped over to make a little dress!  When I tried it on KK, it came out too long.  Luckly it worked out because then I could tuck the fabric inside and pin it to make it a little poofier.

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The last part was drawing stripes with a Sharpie.  It was surprisingly easy to do!

I also cut out the ears and glued them onto hair clips.  Thanks for lending me your glue gun, Stephanie!!

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Here are all the pieces put together and ready to go!

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And here’s the final product in action:

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Mission Accomplished!!

Halloween 2014

DSCN3385We flew down to Southern California this morning and went to the Halloween Festival at Regional Park this evening.  Instead of Trick-or-Treating, KK played games and received candy from each of the booths.

DSCN3371For some reason I seem to appreciate this more than going door-to-door begging for candy.  It was also just the right amount of activity for our little piglet.

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Here’s what the costume looked like when it was all done.  I forgot the scarf but it seemed to be fine without it.

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Happy Halloween!

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October

Is it really October 26th already?!  Didn’t I JUST celebrate my birthday?!  Well, this has been a busy month at work and at home and has likely resulted in the sprouting of 4 grey hairs on the top of my head this month.  *sigh*

The rate of blogging on beakatude hasn’t been as frequent as it used to be.  It’s been so bad lately that I felt the need to recap some highlights from this month before it ends.  I’ll be traveling down to Cerritos for Halloween/Alice’s Birthday and that will require an entire post or two all on its own.

Let’s start out with some tasty eats from this month:

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These are the mini waffles and 6 fried chicken wings that I had Little Skillet.  Actually, they opened up a bar/restaurant right next door to the window and called it Victory Hall & Parlor.  They serve the same menu but now there’s plenty of places to sit and you can order a drink too!

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Ah…this is an old favorite and still as good as the first one I had.  It’s an open-faced smoked salmon sandwich from Cap’n Mike’s Holy Smoke at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market on Saturdays.  KK likes it because she gets all of my capers.

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For brunch one morning, I had this Crab and Avocado Eggs Benedict from a food truck called Benedict Arnold’s.  It was parked at the SOMA StrEat Food Park on the morning we were there waiting for our car to be serviced by the Costco Tire Center.

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It’s been nice and warm this month and we had dinner outdoors one night at Sauce, located in the Belden Place alley.  These are the tater tots: made of pureed potato with bits of bacon mixed in, rolled into balls, and then fried.  Reminded me of miniature potato croquettes.

OK.  Now for the rest of this month:

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As I had mentioned, we had a warm first half of October.  It was warm enough to take a dip in our pool.

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Fleet Week came and left.  I saw the Blue Angels fly over the Bay Bridge one evening as I was driving home from work as they were practicing for the weekend show.  We missed the show this year (on both days!) because it coincided with KK’s nap.  Oh well, at least I got to see them from our condo window every once in a while.

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I did a lot of running this past month and enjoyed a few solo runs in the wee hours of the morning.  This morning was particularly neato because the fog was rolling over the bridge near Treasure Island.

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This is my favorite photo of the month.  It looks staged but it was completely not.  I was just able to press the button on my phone at just the right time.  I also love the fact that KK can pump a swing now.

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For Halloween this year, KK is going to be Piglet from Winnie the Pooh.  I decided to make her costume and was able to whip it out during her nap on the day I stayed home to take her to the doctor for her check-up.  Here’s my pattern for the body.  It came out a little long but I managed to tweak it just fine.  You’ll see the final product a little later this week.

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Sleep deprivation has also been a theme for this month.  KK has been going through some weird sleep patterns this month and she kept me up every 1-2 hours all night for the past 3 days.  Luckily she sorta figured it out last night and I got to sleep in 4-hour chunks.  Woot!

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And finally, the Giants have made it to the World Series again for the third time in the seven years we’ve lived here.  IMG_9261

This was the scene around the 7th inning last night before the crowd rushed out.  The energy is actually pretty fun and the rowdiness has been peaceful so far (because they’re winning).  I’m rooting for them to win the whole thing just out of fear that my neighborhood will be rioted if they don’t.  Go Giants.IMG_9260

Some people at work don’t believe that I live RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from AT&T Park when they ask me where I live.  This is the view from our front door and that’s Willie Mays Plaza right out front.

And of course, this month will always have significance to me because the anniversary of Koa’s passing, which also falls on the same day of KK’s half-birthday.  I’m glad I took that day off this year.

So there you have it…most of October in a nutshell.  Before I can even catch my breath from this month, it’ll be Thanksgiving, Christmas, and then 2015 in a flash.  I’d better stop once in a while to appreciate the things around me.  Luckily, I take photos of everything to remind me of how I’m spending my time and energy.  My memory is certainly not as good as it used to be.