Machuuuuuuuuuuu!

The way I wrote that I guess it sounds more like a sneeze than an excited war cry. Maybe both. Can't believe we're flying out to Peru day after tomorrow! Which means we have to finish packing - a daunting task. While we were organizing our stuff last night, we realized that Nolan has only 2 shirts for hiking...he usually works out in cotton, I guess, and that is no good for hiking!

So there's a challenge already in packing. Not to mention deciding whether to cram everything into a small carry-on or to go big with room to spare. Choices, choices.

Peru: 2 days!

Poffertjes!

This weekend Nolan and I tried making (finally) one of his favourite Dutch specialties: poffertjes. These are basically a variation on pancakes, but the recipe calls for a few differences and the cooking style is very different:

But when all is said and done, they look like puffy mini pancakes:

Also: they are delicious.

Peru: 4 days!

#69

Yesterday morning, my coworker and I took a little walk to Liguria Bakery to pick up another item from the Top 100 list.
#69 - Foccacia at Liguria Bakery
(featured in Time Magazine!)

I put my hand in there for scale - so you can see how giant the pieces are. Needless to say, Nolan and I are still savouring both pieces. We went with the raisin and the rosemary garlic flavours...but at the rate we're devouring it, we may have to go back for more and try other flavours!

Today I went on a little hike/walk with Ash U and Elli...

...in lovely Glen Park Canyon! It's always such a shock to find a place like this in the middle of San Francisco. Truly an enigma of a city. And then we parked at home and walked to San Tung for their famous Dry Fried Chicken (also from Top 100 list, but we've already covered that one :) ). And it was FAN.TAS.TIC.

Nolan and I have discovered another little oddity recently. Apparently when I'm slightly stuffed up or sick, I snore at night (I'll admit it!). He hates this because it wakes him up. So instead of trying other methods, he simply lays there while I snore, and says gently, "No snoring". And apparently every time he does that, I slightly wake and say "Ok". And then all's well for the rest of the night. Haha!

Also, he's jealous of my sleeping skillz. Because not only do I have ridiculous dreams and sleep through the night, but I also can sleep on anything, anywhere, and I can fall asleep instantly. Last night we were chatting, and then there was a slight lull, and I started dreaming about the circus, of all things (go figure), and next thing I knew, he was nudging me saying "Seriously!? Were you already asleep?!" This is an EXCELLENT skill to have.

Quote of the day:
Safety training at work: "Don't have an accident! Accidents are failures, and we can't accept failures." hahaha

Peru - 6 days!

tired.

This week I've felt a little bit like dying each day. The first day I was SO.TIRED. from a severe lack of sleep (compared to my norm), Tuesday I was tired OF doing things. Today my body is tired...probably because I forgot to eat my afternoon snack and because I walked home from work and ended up basically scaling Twin Peaks in the process. HUFF. So maybe tomorrow will be better.

Also I've made a new commitment with coffee (almost). At first I decided to do what I did for Lent, which worked wonderfully...and give it up for a few months. At least until Halloween, but then I'll get to be back into it just in time for the "scrumptious November drink season at Starbucks". But then I realized that I do my most productive work on my research paper when I am sipping a white mocha at Starbucks. So I will allow myself that. And I realized that it's fun to have a little mid-week treat when I have my Wednesday morning breakfast with Ash U. So I will allow myself that. What do you think, am I cheating?

Bee Pee

The other day we had a BBQ in honour of Father's Day. While carrying out food, etc., my Opa caught me by the door with my iPhone and wanted to check out stocks on it. So we looked at stocks and noticed that (miraculously) BP's stock had risen 2 points. Then Opa said that "back in the day" they used to have a BP joke and did I want to hear it. Okay. 10 minutes later I can feel us nearing the punch line, still going at a hearty rate of 1 sentence per minute. It ended up being a joke about a guy's car breaking down and some bees offering to help him, settling in his tank for awhile, and fixing his car. He asks them what they put in there, and they said "B(ee)P(ee)". Okay, along with the social commentary even "back in the day" = good joke. But I still can't believe it took 10 minutes to get there.

Today at work we had a luncheon, complete with balloons, etc. Afterwards the balloons were just sitting there, so I thought I'd put them to good use and decorate my coworker's cube. He left them there and was basically drowning in balloons the rest of the day and undoubtedly tomorrow:


ps - we've decided that our house just isn't the same without our permanent furry little fixture perched on his rug. And his 4th birthday this week, too. Sad day.

Quote of the day:
A: "Ever since I hit my 20s, I can't believe how hard my body has to fight to work off this tiny little cup of ice cream."
Mom: "Girlfriend, wait 'til you're 40!"

Escargot!

Tonight, in honour of Father's Day, my mother's birthday, and my upcoming birthday, we went to dinner at Zachary Jacques, which is a random little restaurant near Placerville. Interestingly enough, it's a FANCY French restaurant that serves bona fide French food in a European style. Yes. In Placerville. I KNOW. My parents have been eating there (sporatically) for over 26 years now, starting with the night they got engaged...which was promptly minimized by the waitress who we told this to ("do you know how many times I've heard that story?"). I think it's sweet and romantic.

Not only was there fabulous food, but also coffee, wine and dessert, of course!

And even though I wasn't brave enough in Paris, my mother was brave enough tonight to order the escargot, and we each had to try some:

My opinion jumped back and forth between:
"This is good."
"Wait. This is a snail."
"I love the garlicky taste and the texture isn't too bad!"
"I think I stepped on one of these this morning."
"Tasty!"
"THIS IS A SNAIL."

Also I had to post this because it was too cute. I tend to lose Milo when I'm here...until I hear a rustling sound and follow it to the kitchen, where I find this:

Back to Black

When we bought our bed, we were so excited about it. The frame was gorgeous! It's perfectly firm! And the pillowtop is amazingly soft! We love how high it is! But we didn't realize that when you buy such an amazing bed that has pillowtop AND is humongous...you can't find sheets to fit it. So we have had this ongoing issue with having only certain sheets that will fit the dang thing. Like maybe 1 pair. And that pair has to be redone each morning because sleeping on it makes it not fit. SIGH. So a couple nights ago we decided we'd had it! And we needed a vacation from our bed if only for a night. So we migrated to the guest room for the night, brought the sound machine and the alarm, locked Milo out, and enjoyed a bed with unmoving sheets! And as we climbed in there, Nolan turned to me and said, "This is exciting! Like staying in a hotel or a cabin!". Yes, yes it is. A hotel right here in our own home.

After my little incident with the hair and spending $$$ and then loving it, the time finally came to decide: the roots have grown out 1/4 inch in the last 4 weeks (I know, my hair grows FAST), and I needed to either get a touch-up or go back to natural. So...I went to natural, and voila! It's amazing how easy it is to go from light to dark again (though it's actually still lighter than my natural colour) for just $10. Why can't you go the other way without paying mucho dinero? One of life's big mysteries I guess.

This week has been nuts. Monday we had meetings until 2pm. Tuesday I was in the office for 2 hours before heading to Sacramento for a tour with our intern group. Wednesday I came in late recovering from the late night in Sacramento (home at midnight!), worked for a couple hours, then headed to an offsite with my team...which turned out to be:

I have a hard life.

ps - just watched The Soloist. Excellent movie - go Netflix it!

#8

#8 - Morning Bun from Tartine Bakery

Since I was in the mission this morning anyway, I thought I'd devote some time to the insanely long line at Tartine for a famous morning bun, straight off the Top 100 list. With it's delicious orange sugar and sweet bread, it was worth the wait!

Weather this weekend in SF has been UNBEATABLE. 80s-ish and a light breeze, perfect clear skies. I even fell asleep reading on my roof and got a little pink. Who knew? Plus it was perfect weather for visiting Sarah B. in Menlo Park, where she was visiting the West Coast again for the weekend. Sitting outside at Starbucks with a dear friend on a Sunday afternoon? Even better treat than the morning bun!

#80

"#80 - Apple Fritter at Bob's Donuts"

Tonight after church, I decided I'd slash another item off of our Top 100 list, and this time I'd get something mobile so I could bring it home to Nolan while he studied. I had to drive all the way across the city to find this one, but nestled in Nob Hill, there was the greasy little spot I was looking for. Just a hole in the wall donut shop run by an older asian woman and man, this place smelled amaaaazing--even from across the street! I ran in and asked for 2 apple fritters, and she cheerfully handed them over, for only $1.65 each. Other than the fact that I went from feeling healthy to fat immediately after consuming this fritter, I'd give it a hearty thumbs up.

And now, because reading is fun...

This is not news, but I've been tutoring for Project READ for a little over a year now, and I absolutely LOVE it! We've made a lot of progress over the last year, and my learner has come so far. I'm so proud of her.

Tonight we got to celebrate that, and she and I were asked to speak at an event honouring the program and it's participants. Though we discussed for 40 minutes beforehand what we were going to say, when we got up there, what basically came out was nothing like we had planned.

Seriously, if anything makes me want to ever volunteer for something ever again, it's my learner.

Dry Eyes

The worst part about "seeing" the Eye Doctor is the feeling that they are about to either blow an inappropriately loud PUFF of air onto your open eyeball with a metal rod, or they are going to touch your eye with a sharp piece of plastic. Yesterday, my eye doctor assured me they no longer PUFF the air at the eye because it scares people (*raises hand*), but instead they put fluorescent yellow numbing drops in it and look at it with a bright light. Sooooo now instead of a puff of air, I have a droopy numb eye that you could probably stick a blunt fire-torch in without me noticing, and my eye is weeping soggy neon yellow tears of its own accord. Wait. Make that both eyes.

Also he stuck a metal pipe in my eye to flip the eyelid inside out, and that wasn't the most pleasant experience ever. Especially when he described my premature blood vessel growth as "poking a pipe through a wall" WHILE he has this tool in there.

After all this, I still had to have my eyes dilated, so basically the ride home on the muni consisted of me staring at my lap because I couldn't look at anything else, wanting to puke, and feeling totally at home underground on the subway. I felt like a creature of the night when the light outside almost burned my eyes. And seeing my pupils in the mirror didn't help:

ps-the reason I look almost cross-eyed there is because I AM.

A Vomitous Mass

I used up more tofu on Friday night, and actually made some pretty delicious stir-fry with it, complete with steamed veggies. But while I was drying and frying, I turned around to grab another piece to throw on, and found that someone had been there first:

Good thing he doesn't like tofu.

This weekend I tried a little hike in Pacifica with Ash U (since Nolan refuses to hike there, saying that it isn't a real hiking spot...to which I thumb my nose and say it's better than nothing!). True to form, it was cloudy and cold, but the ocean was still beautiful! We even found some unique trails that went through the hill:

And a super attractive picture of moi:



I also got around to snagging some files off of my old computer, and when I opened it, I realized how ancient and slow it is! It's virtually (no pun intended!) a dinosaur:

After snagging the files, I closed it immediately, as I got a security message warning that all my personal information would be stolen if I didn't shut it down. Hmm.

And we've still been having issues with Milo. So I've been doing research online about retraining and behaviour, and stress on kitties, etc. This morning almost pushed me over the edge when there was just a few drops of pee on several things, a guilty look on his face, and then a long barfed up hairball on the rug. Joy. It's a good thing Nolan has a newfound love/patience for Milo, otherwise he'd be in BIG TROUBLE.

(image courtesy of The Oatmeal)

Kobe!

Thursday night can mean a lot of things. It can mean that the weekend is near, and that beloved of days, FRIDAY, is around the corner. It can mean a hot shower after a nice long yoga class. It can mean you still have 1 more day of work to slosh through. It can mean date night. It can also mean a Laker's game is on. All of the above apply to my Thursday night tonight, so we'll try fitting in our date night around the Laker's game, which is okay JUST THIS ONCE, since we get to go try another fantastical item from our 100 Things to Eat and Drink Before You Die (in SF) list! We haven't settled on which one, so I'll keep you posted.

Since Milo and my stupid hair were both expensive ventures lately, I've been packing a lunch (which I guess I should be doing anyway, but it's hard when you can get something tasty at Walgreen for only $3!), and honestly it's got its good days and bad days. Sometimes I just really can't wait to eat my soup and crackers or whatever. Other days, I pull a middle-school and ask my colleague if they will PLEASE trade me their sushi for my PB&J (spoiler: it never works). But it almost always means I eat healthier and cheaper, and feel good about myself. Today was tomato bisque with crackers, fresh carrots, a string cheese, and a natural fruit roll-up. Snack was an apple. And yet, because I felt so good about myself, I rewarded myself with a small dose of Tuttimelon from down the street. Sigh. Sometimes my life feels like I'm sweeping a dirt floor.

Tofunky

I've been experimenting with tofu recently, and found my secret answer to keeping it firm and delicious: dry-frying. Even extra-firm tofu will fall apart or melt into sliminess when fried or cooked incorrectly. So the answer is to drain and dry it, and then dry-fry it in little pieces, followed by a good marinade. The first time I tried this, I cooked it in a peanut sauce, and although the taste was pretty delicious, it was maybe the most filling, thick thing ever - like eating a brick. And we just aren't meant to eat bricks. So round 2 was tonight, and I marinated it in teriyaki sauce, added some veggies and olive oil and garlic, a dash of salt and pepper, and voila! In fact, I had every intention of taking a picture (because it was lovely!), but I ate it. So there you go.

Google, you never cease to amaze.

We returned last night from our wonderful time in Brookings with Nolan's family. Even Milo was well-behaved the entire time, and spent most of his time either begging or hiding behind the loveseat. The weather cooperated, and we even got to spend some time at the river and at a parade! Apparently the Azalea Festival is a huge deal up there, so we partook of that a little and saw some sights in Brookings. Here are a few pics I took at the parade:

Nolan protecting his Dutch skin from the sun:

He wanted a picture with the giant tuna:

Shriners in tiny cars:

And what would a parade be without a long line of tractors:

Let me just juxtapose those pictures of that parade with a picture of a San Francisco parade:

Talk about different worlds.

I also managed to get some good ones of Milo, just because some people don't believe a cat can be a good traveler...some of the time he sits on my lap and just watches out the window:
But other times, he just kind of passes out in my lap for hours at a time:


I discovered a new trick from google this morning, where it automatically translates words, sentences, WHATEVER, into Spanish for me. Must have picked up on all the Spanish threads in things I email. Anyway, it's pretty awesome, considering the random words I can't remember that I have to look up or sit and recall...now I can just hover over it and voila! See: