visitor

we're gecko-sitting for the week for some friends. meet lunera, our nocturnal guest ::

what i made for dinner :: chicken with edamame skordalia

here's the second recipe i tried from this month's bon appetit :: chicken with edamame skordalia. what i liked about it was that i had almost all of the ingredients at home. i cheated and bought a rotisserie chicken at costco to make it even easier.

the recipe says to season generously with salt and pepper, which is something you should definitely do. it was too bland so i added salt and pepper to my individual portion; once i added salt it brightened up the dish. since the garlic isn't cooked it gives the dip some bite, which we liked. i added quite a bit of lemon juice but rupert and i both felt it could probably use more.

this adaptation of skordalia comes together really easily and quickly in the food processor, and since it can be served room temperature or chilled it makes a nice summer accompaniment to your main dish, whether it be chicken or something else. (rupert used leftover chicken and skordalia in a pita for his lunch the next day.)

what i made for dinner :: roasted pork tenderloin + asian avocado salsa

i love getting new issues of bon appetit; without fail i'll find something that makes me drool and seems easy enough for me to make quickly. this month's issue was no exception.

i'd been letting some avocados ripen on the counter for a few days for a different recipe but decided to use it for the asian avocado salsa. now, what to put the salsa on, that was the question. i headed to tj's to have a look around; i was thinking either pork, skirt steak, or tuna. i settled on pork tenderloin, which ended up being a good choice.

unfortunately, tj's did not carry three of the vegetables listed in the ingredients (watercress, green onions, and jicama). and then ian started complaining about a stomach ache so i grabbed some microgreens and hoped for the best.

when i got home, i checked the radishes in the fridge, hoping they were still good (to substitute for the jicama) but no luck. then i remembered there was a single japanese cucumber on the vine in the yard. perfect.

i roasted the pork in the oven after rubbing it with olive oil, salt and pepper. meanwhile, i made the "salsa," which in the end didn't really seem like a salsa but more like a salad. i omitted the green onion (because i didn't have it) and the wasabi (since the kids would be eating it). i have to say, though, the modifications i made were great. rupert and i really enjoyed both the pork (way better than pork chops) and the salsa/salad. it was really refreshing for a warm summer evening.

i think if i make this again for, say, a seared tuna, i'd use the green onion and wasabi. i can see various versions of this salsa being great with a variety of meats.

just another day, but a day just for us

last night, as we were going to sleep, rupert says to me, "eight years ago we were sleeping separately." i was like, "????" until i realized he meant that we spent the night before our wedding apart (me at my parents' house, rupert at our apartment).

this morning, before we could tell each other, ian groggily said to us, "happy anniversary!"

indeed, happy anniversary rupert! we didn't do anything special per se, but we did spend our evening playing rock band, our anniversary gift to each other. i love you!

i feel like a traitor

i'm a pretty loyal trader joe's customer. i do at least 80% of my grocery shopping at tj's. if i can get it at tj's why would i get it anywhere else?

earlier this year we noticed that one of the stores right next to our local tj's was being converted into a fresh and easy market. i vowed that i wouldn't go to this new market ... sadly, my resolve only lasted 6 days. my curiosity got the better of me (and the $5 off coupon helped too) and i took the kids to check out the competition.

turns out the selection is pretty good considering the size of the market. i doubt i'll go there often but it's a nice backup market when i can't get something at tj's and don't want to make an additional trek to a different store.

i'm sorry tj; i feel bad for betraying your trust. i kinda feel like i've cheated on you and i regret it.

what i made for dinner :: chicken milanese

it's been another week since i've made dinner. and yet again i couldn't think of anything to cook. so i fell back on a recent favorite :: chicken milanesa with arugula. i can't remember where i found the original recipe last year but it's so simple that you don't need a recipe.

ingredients ::

• chicken thighs
• panko breadcrumbs
• 1 egg
• parmesan cheese
• salt + pepper
• arugula
• lemon
• vegetable oil

1. in a rimmed plate or pan grate parmesan cheese into the panko breadcrumbs. mix in freshly ground pepper. in a separate rimmed plate beat the egg with a little bit of water, salt and pepper.
2. heat some oil in a large skillet. dip the chicken thighs in the egg mixture and then bread them in the breadcrumbs.
3. panfry the chicken until golden on both sides and cooked through.
4. plate the chicken on top of a bed of arugula dressed with lemon juice. shave more parmesan on top and serve with a wedge of lemon.

one of these days i think i'll make the cutlets and pair it with japanese curry + rice to make chicken katsu curry.

32, but who's counting?

lots of weekend trips for us lately. this time around? good ol' san francisco.

at the last minute we asked our friends if we could head up there for the weekend. last time we were there we stayed with J+J but this time our friend MZ offered up his place near haight-ashbury since he and his sister would be out of town. we had a whole apartment to ourselves, which worked out great.

we arrived on thursday night and had dinner with J+J at park chow near their house (a few years back we went to chow in the castro with them too). after some post-dinner wii-ing, we headed over to MZ's apartment to get some much-needed rest (my allergies were really bothering me all day).

we woke up to a lot of fog on the fourth. i went for a run along the panhandle towards golden gate park in the morning and came back pretty wet from the very misty fog. the weather was pretty cold and gloomy the entire day, unfortunately. made for a very odd fourth of july; i'm used to sunshine and beach weather. (come to think of it, the last time we were in sf for the fourth in 2005 it was pretty darn cold too.) lunch was at burma superstar in the richmond. the tea leaf salad and the pumpkin pork stew were quite tasty; the salad in particular has a really unique taste and texture.

afterwards we headed to the legion of honor for a hike down the trail near the water. maya and i made it down el camino del mar but since we had the stroller we opted to wait back at the car. good thing, too, since the trail ended up having a lot of stairs (222 in one set alone, according to ian). sadly, that meant maya and i missed the nude guy walking around on the beach. nudists i understand, but who walks around butt-naked in weather like that?? rupert was not kind enough to bring back photos of the big naked man.

dinner was an impromptu bbq back at the apartment. i was already in a it's-my-birthday-and-i'm-not-gonna-lift-a-finger mode so i sat around on MZ's very comfy two-seater couch and read stiff by mary roach. very morbid and entertaining. in fact, it was so entertaining that while the rest of the group (a couple of other people joined us for dinner) watched air force one ('cause it's patriotic?) i went into the bedroom and kept on reading.

after staying up until an ungodly hour reading, i woke up nice and early with the kids. just like last year, i let rupert sleep in on my birthday and spent the early morning feeding the kids and watching tv. thankfully the weather started clearing up and by the time we made plans with J+J to go to the ferry building it was quite sunny out. lunch was at the primavera stand since there was no way we were getting into the slanted door (my first choice for a birthday meal) without a reservation. no biggie since i really enjoyed the ceviche tostada i ordered. sure, it was $9.50 but i felt like it was well worth it. (and, heck, it was my birthday.) i had a bite of ian's pork tamale and that was good too. it's just too bad the famous chilaquiles were already sold out.

since it was saturday the farmers market was going on and it was so fun to see all of the great stands and taste the sweet fruit (have you had a candycot before? yum!). i even saw a wild boar leg being sold and it reminded me of the hunter/gatherer section of michael pollan's omnivore's dilemma. what wasn't so great was the price of everything. crazy expensive; i was going to buy some strawberries for the long drive home but balked at the $3.50 per basket price.

what i really like about a place like the ferry building is that almost everyone around you is a foodie. they share the same love of food that you do and the same fascination with interesting ingredients. J+J and rupert decided to make pasta for my birthday dinner after i picked up a package of ink squid dry pasta from italy.

later in the afternoon we headed to the de young museum to see the dale chihuly exhibit. unfortunately, by the time we got there the special exhibit tickets were sold out. we had to settle for the not-as-impressive-during-the-day chihuly saffron tower sculpture in the museum's garden of enchantment. after a stroll through the golden gate park botanical garden we walked back to the apartment and took a little break before dinner.

i got to sit around while a wonderful dinner was prepared. the garlicky squid ink fettuccine was served with really plump mussels and tasty clams on top. i'm used to squid ink pasta sauce, which is much brinier in flavor than squid ink pasta. although it might look scary because it's so black, the squid ink dry pasta doesn't taste fishy at all.

before heading home on sunday we had brunch at squat and gobble in haight-ashbury. i had the strawberry blintz crepe, which was good but had a bit too much ricotta in my opinion. ian had belgian waffles and maya inhaled part of rupert's omelette. we are beginning to notice more and more that the kids are eating like real people lately, which means they are starting to cost us more. darn kids!

after a weekend of lots of eating, rupert drove us home amidst end-of-fourth-of-july-weekend traffic. i am thankful to him for taking us up there for the weekend and really looking after the kids so i could enjoy my birthday weekend. thanks honey!

32 months.

maya @ 32 months :: july 4, 2008

• first time away from mom + dad :: three days at baba's with ian and my aunt.
• first time at a movie theater :: kung fu panda :: and she actually sat through it on my sister's and her boyfriend's laps (until she fell asleep). now everytime she sees the panda -- on tv, in the newspaper, on a happy meal box in a random garbage can -- she gets excited, yells "kuh-fu panda!" + does her kung fu arm moves.
• first time on a real pony @ griffith park while she was with my mom. unfortunately, the camera battery died and there are no pictures of her going around the pony trail, by herself, twice (ian only went around once).
• the last month has been her verbal spurt. among some of the things she's been saying are her favorites :: "go away, ian" + "that's mine, ian." picked up "cool!" and "oh my gosh!" from somewhere.
• went 16 days without going poopy, a new record. we started giving her "candy juice," a rootbeer-flavored children's laxative. then she went 12 days without going so we called the pediatrician. we saw a new (to us) doctor who jumped into action right away, warning us that it could take a year or two for maya to get over her constipation. we got an x-ray done of her abdomen and, sure enough, it was completely clogged with poop. poor girl had to endure three days of daily enemas (her "i don't like that!" crying was heart-breaking), and now we have to sneak miralax into her food and drink. but it's the first step towards breaking the cycle of constipation (and, hopefully, crankiness).
• asks begs rupert to play lego indiana jones :: "play jones, daddy. please! just little bit!" she's actually pretty good at taking control of the nunchuk and, therefore, the lego character; guiding it around the screen and wielding the whip like an expert. she's particularly fond of the female characters, calling them "pincess maya," and she goes around the room screaming like willie. you can also get her to pretend like she's actually wielding a whip (using a long fabric scrap) with a "whupsh!" sound.
• she's really into candy -- she plays with it more than she eats it -- and popsicles. as you can imagine, the pinata at a friend's party really piqued her interest. after all, there was candy falling out of the sky!
• even with her short little legs she's becoming quite the climber ... but her jumping still needs some work.
• it's happening -- she's interested in disney princesses! the horror! the horror!! she watched "beauty and the beef" (yes, that's what she calls it) and "the little mermaid" at my mother-in-law's house. she also declared her purple dress to be her "pincess dress."
• when we bought rock band, she came in from the beach and instead of going down for her nap, through her groginess, insisted on "rock band! rock band!" sometimes she'll sing parts of "blitzgrieg bop," but usually she just dances to our horrid singing.
• while we were at the park last week a boy fell of the slide and the ambulance had to be called. maya asked her usual, "wha happen?" and we explained that he broke his arm and had to go to the doctor. ever since, when she sees an ambulance she talks about how "broken arms? boy broken arms?" the power of association is pretty amazing ... and maybe a bit traumatizing.

pencil bag

we're headed up to SF for the fourth of july weekend (and my birthday) to visit our friends J+J. i missed J's birthday last month so i decided to make a bag for her (i mean, really, what girl couldn't use another bag?).

i found this tutorial for a pencil bag at craftlog (via the craft zine blog) and it looked like something even i could manage (seeing as i can only deal with straight stitches). admittedly, it wasn't the simplest thing in the world, but i did finish it in a couple of hours despite some errors here and there. i made a tutorial photoset at flickr so you can see how it was made; hopefully the pictures will help anyone else who may want to make this cute bag.

it's actually a bit bigger than i expected so it can be used for items other than pens + pencils. i even got two diapers in it, so i might make one for myself to keep in my purse as a diaper holder.

[fabrics :: linen (outside) + turquoise cotton fabric with tropical fruit print (inside)]

recycling, purging, reflecting

yesterday turned out to be an unexpectedly productive day. i woke up late with a massive tension headache caused by my sinuses and i thought sunday would be a repeat of saturday :: sitting on the couch and doing nothing.

but the headache medicine kicked in pretty quickly so i took some things out to the garage to put away. that, for some reason, triggered an urge to go through the junk that's piling up near the garage entrance. lately, going into the garage was like going through an obstacle course :: dodging and stepping over empty boxes, sports equipment, the drying rack, various art supplies, etc. plus, there were tons of stuff to be donated from months ago, so i pulled it all out of the garage, reorganized the sports equipment, finally decided to recycle all of the empty boxes i'd been saving for a rainy day, and went through containers and drawers i hadn't opened in a long time.

rupert took a prius-full of stuff to donate, and i set my sights on making a dent in my crafting supplies. that's going to be harder to deal with. i have no issue purging other people's stuff but when it comes to my stuff my hoarding instinct kicks in. my goal is to go through it all this summer and decide, once and for all, what i will use and what i will never use. that means i have to abandon some of my crafting ambitions and admit i'm never going to make polymer clay accents or learn how to calligraph.

let me back up a moment and talk about those boxes. i have been saving almost every single usable box i've received in the mail for the last couple of years. since i sell my crafts i kept the boxes in case i needed to ship something. the boxes piled up higher and higher, and packing materials started overflowing out of them. it was overwhelming to walk by that tower of corrugated cardboard. and guess what? i hadn't used a single box! getting rid of them was enough to clear the air in the garage to make it feel more clutter-free (that's an illusion, though; there's still much more decluttering to be done).

towards mid-afternoon, while going through a container of stuff i found old letters i'd been saving in a plastic bag. you'd think that if these memories were important enough for me to save, i wouldn't leave them in an old grocery bag buried inside a box i don't ever open. so i went through the letters, sorted them by sender and approximate date, and slid them into sheet protectors in a binder. i could just get rid of them all, but i'm a sentimental sap. how could i possibly throw out recycle love letters from rupert? or from my best friend?

skimming through some of the letters it really hit me that my world was so small back in high school. my friends and my relationship with rupert were everything to me; even the slightest disturbance in my relationship with these people was traumatic and emotionally all-consuming. seriously, judging by the letters, my life must've been d-r-a-m-a-t-i-c compared to my life now.


i do have to say, though, my generation (or was it just my friends?) were good letter writers. in this age of emails, texting, and im-ing i think the art of old fashioned note-passing and letter-writing is getting lost. we took the time to truly express ourselves in words and complete sentences. i'm glad i kept these letters because they really reveal my life and feelings when i was 17 years old; things that i've forgotten but i know helped to shape me. i'm not sure i want to share some of the letters but it's good to know i have them to read again and again as i get older and need a reminder of what it was like to be young.


so, after a jaunt down memory lane i finished up in the garage for the day and headed inside to play rock band with my sister and her boyfriend (even ian joined in). after that i managed to make a quick layout, which i hadn't done in months. so i think i ended up using all of my productivity for awhile!

what i made for dinner :: spinach + brie chicken with tomato orzo

seems like i haven't cooked in forever ... what the heck have we been eating for dinner lately??

while cleaning out some old emails i came across one from martha stewart with 30-minute recipes. wouldn't hurt to give it a try; it sounds tasty and easy enough :: spinach + brie chicken with tomato orzo.

instead of chicken breast i used skinless chicken thighs because we like the juicier meat. i didn't have dijon mustard so i made a 1:1 mixture of regular yellow mustard and mayonnaise, but we couldn't taste it at all in the dish. maybe next time i'll get some dijon or, my favorite, grainy mustard.

handling the brie was the tricky part. as per someone's comments on the recipe, i put the brie in the freezer for a bit, but it could've been kept in longer. i didn't use dental floss to cut it, but a regular cheese knife, which was fine until the brie started to warm up and got kinda gooey on the cutting board. i also used toothpicks to keep the chicken rolls together. i didn't heed the warning to soak the toothpicks beforehand, so i cut them down as close to the meat as possible so they wouldn't catch fire under the broiler.

cooking time was about seven minutes but you should check it periodically. some of the chicken pieces that were close to the flame started to burn part way through so i turned the baking sheet. i even lowered the rack to the middle of the oven about five minutes into the broiling.

no suprise that ian did not like it much; he's not a fan of tomatoes or spinach. the orzo side dish can easily be altered to include a different vegetable (i'm thinking about using blanched asparagus next time, which i know ian will eat). the chicken reminded me of a chicken florentine dish i used to make in college, which was time-consuming and more labor-intensive. this one is simple and easy to make, but because everything cooks quickly, active time is about 20-25 minutes.

i {heart} nyc

i spent my first three semesters of college in nyc at barnard college. and for someone who spent that much time in the city, i really do not know it that well. that's because i didn't take advantage of everything it has to offer. what a mistake! i think i missed rupert so much that i was blind to what was around me. now i miss it a lot, especially since one of my best friends lives there, and i wish i could visit more often.

sadly, last summer's trip with the kids was my first time back in nine years. but luckily, rupert and i had the chance to go again to attend his cousin's wedding. my mother was nice (and courageous) enough to watch the kids for three days so that we could get away for the weekend.


and what a weekend it was, jampacked with activities and seeing people. we flew in on a red-eye so we got into manhattan around 7:30 on saturday morning. we checked in, took a quick shower, and we were off to meet a friend of mine from my morgan stanley days in tokyo. after coffee and catching up, rupert and i had to dash off to c-town for dim sum with my best friend K and our other college friend HJ, who i hadn't seen in 10 years.


after dumplings and boba tea, we drove up to barnard and columbia. it was a mini-reunion of sorts for us since it's been 10 years since graduation and none of us had really visited campus. the old student center, mcintosh, was demolished and a new gigantic building is going up in its place. i have so many memories of hanging out in mcintosh that i'm pretty sad it's gone.




then we (minus HJ) headed to the met. oh my god -- suggested admission is really expensive now! i remember when we were students we'd just drop in and not pay anything at all. just like old times we headed to the arms and armor exhibit first, then wandered over to the temple of dendur where we realized it had started pouring outside.

it was a good thing we decided to forego the vampire weekend concert in central park that afternoon. from the museum window we could see tons of concert-goers wandering around in the downpour. after awhile rupert and i managed to make a dash to the subway station when the rain let up for a few minutes, just in time to get ready for the rehearsal dinner in times square.

the next morning was father's day so we tried to get up as early as possible to spend time with rupert's dad. we had breakfast, took the train to columbus circle, and then walked through central park (sometimes in the rain) to zabar's. we didn't have much time to explore since we had to get back for the wedding.

luckily the weather cleared up and we walked the block from the hotel to the prince george ballroom. it's a great venue with a gallery-like entrance area and a wonderful, grand ballroom where the ceremony and reception were held. it was a fun reception and the food was pretty darn good. rupert's cousin S and her husband E looked absolutely ecstatic -- congrats!

and that was our entire weekend. we flew back the following morning and arrived in time to pick up maya at my mom's and then swing by to pick ian up at school. sometimes rupert-and-me-happiness is fleeting.

[more pictures here.]

what we'll be doing this summer

after much back-and-forth, i convinced rupert to buy rock band for the wii. the morning it went on sale, i think our conversation went something like this ::

r :: i don't know if we should get it.
y :: we're going to get it.
r :: okay.

seriously, though, we did have to think about it because there are so many games we want to get. sadly, our family spends most of its free time playing video games and, therefore, our wish list of purchases only includes video games. rupert spends some of his free time "researching" upcoming games, and we debated for awhile whether to get rock band or wait for guitar hero IV - world tour to come out in the fall.

anyhoo, we decided that rock band will be an early anniversary and birthday present -- and we won't go out for our anniversary -- since it's a big purchase for us. hopefully, i'll get birthday money to offset some of the $180 it cost to buy it.

and now that we have it, there are a few things that are bothersome (we did know this stuff going in to the purchase but that didn't stop us from getting annoyed) ::

• it's fun, but it's not as cool as the xbox version :: you can't create the members of your band; you can't go on tour; and you can't download new songs (you can, though, buy an expansion game with 20 songs).
• dang! the drum set takes up a lot of room!
• i cannot get used to the guitar buttons' stickiness. i'm still used to the guitar hero guitar with its clickity-clackness, so i can't seem to get the hang of strumming the rock band hero repeatedly.
• banging on the drums is loud, which is a problem when you have a light sleeper (i.e., maya) sleeping in the next room. luckily, rupert's co-worker's huband is going to make us felt pads for them.

we're now splitting our time between rock band, lego indiana jones, playground, and boom blox. that is, until we get wii fit, mario kart, super smash brothers, house of the dead 2 & 3, resident evil 4, lego batman, star wars: the force unleashed, and order up! (or maybe we'll get iron chef america if it looks like it'll be any good). yeah, we're going to be busy through the end of the year.

writer's block

i'm in a bit of an emotional funk -- maybe due to the heat, maybe due to hormones, maybe due to summer vacation starting -- so i don't feel like writing much. i'll be back soon. posts in the works :: nyc weekend, new wii games, parenting.

great commencement speech

MG at momentarybliss posted j.k. rowling's commencement speech at harvard this year. i've posted before that i don't remember a single thing about the commencement speech from my own graduation 10 years ago(!), but had it been this speech i probably would've remembered it.

i guess i'm officially a runner now

the 10-week fitness challenge is long over but i've been trying to keep up with some kind of fitness regimen. i'm not going to the gym everyday like i used to but i've been a regular jogger for a few months now. the extra cardio activity is helping me keep the weight off, but not necessarily losing additional weight (i blame overeating).

jogging is not fun. in fact, i'm not even sure i like it. the only thing that keeps me going is that i'm simply impressed with myself for moving forward constantly for an extended period of time. i try to run three to five times a week; between a mile or two most days and a long run (three to four miles) on the weekend. it's not very far -- yet -- but i'm working my way up.

when i started running i made it my goal to complete a 5k before the end of the year. i managed to accomplish that goal by mid-year :: yesterday i ran the hawthorne 5k with my step-sis and a couple of friends.

before

my time was a decent (for me) 33:23. i came in 131st out of 644 runners. not too shabby for my first 5k. and i have to say that i'm pretty proud for finishing it without stopping, and actually working towards a goal, and accomplishing it.

after

kudos to my sis, D, for coming in 3rd in our age division despite having a bad foot. she's the athletic one in our family and her encouragement really helped me these last few months. thanks also to my friend Y and her sister for participating with me; trying to catch up to them (which i never did) kept my pace faster than usual.

now, i wonder if i should challenge myself to a 10k in the fall ...

what i made for dinner :: okonomiyaki

my mother is a whiz at making okonomiyaki, a japanese savory pancake-like dish. being from the kansai region of japan, this is soul food for us, and my mother's made-from-scratch version is what i consider to be perfect okonomiyaki. my version? i make it from a mix and i cut some other corners too. guess what? it doesn't come out nearly as good as my mom's. no surprise there.

but it's still fairly tasty, especially since we smother ours in okonomiyaki sauce, doro sauce, and kewpie mayonnaise (if i'm at my mom's i also dump on the aonori). besides the chopped cabbage and green onion, i usually mix some shrimp and squid into the batter. if i feel like doing some more work, i'll also sautee diced konyaku on high heat in shoyu and sake to add to the batter. i always layer sliced pork on top after sprinkling the batter with ground pepper, msg (the horror!), tenkasu, and katsuobushi.

greening up my clean-up

i'm in a slightly panicked mode at the moment. my aunt (my mom's older sister) is visiting from japan and i cannot have her over to visit until the house is spotless. my aunt is a traditional japanese housewife, which means my standards are waaaaaaaaaaaaay short of acceptable. even my own mother, who shakes her head in despair when she comes over to my house, was worried that my aunt would give her a hard time about the state of her house.

seriously, i was almost tempted to hire a maid service to get the house in order before my aunt's arrival. almost. but i was even too lazy to do that.

instead, this was the perfect opportunity to get started on a green, deep clean. i ordered green up your cleanup by jill schoff and went scampering around town gathering up the materials needed to make my new cleaning agents. this is a fantastic book and i highly recommend it, even if you haven't been thinking about greening up your cleaning routine; it'll make you rethink what you're doing to your house and your body, and then give you easy alternatives. i also had my aunt bring me a japanese book about cleaning with vinegar and baking soda. i'm really hoping that with these two books i can get rid of all the toxic chemicals that purport to clean my house, and rely on more natural methods.

i'll let you know how it goes ... i've only just begun to clean the bathroom ::

baking soda scrub :: i used this to clean the hard-water spots on the glass tub doors
2 tablespoons baking soda
liquid castile soap (i used dr. bronner's peppermint liquid soap i bought at tj's)

i put the baking soda in an old plastic reusable container, added a couple squirts of the soap, and mixed it until it became a foamy paste. i scrubbed it on the glass with a brush and left it for about 15 minutes, at which point the doors got a squirt of vinegar water before a rinse with the shower.

love this stuff. it smells good and it actually works. the hard-water spots on our glass doors are really bad but i managed to get most of it off. to do a comparison test i left the bottom half of the door untouched and there was quite a difference.

31 months.

maya @ 31 months :: june 4, 2008

• i got around to starting her on pull-up diapers. she opted for dora ones rather than disney princess ones ... thank god! but we aren't having much luck with getting her to go shishi on the potty very often.
• finally interested in the names of various shapes, and when she feels like it she gets her colors right. numbers and the alphabet aren't really coming along, but she did show some interest in the hiragana book i checked out for her at the library.
• it's happening ... the dreaded, incessant "why?"s and "what's that?"s.
• she is one bossy little lady. i will often find her talking to her little friends by literally wagging her finger at them and commanding them to do as she says.
• picking up new phrases like "calm down!" and "whoa! that messy! (in regards to her own mess in the living room that's been there all day)".
• one of her new favorite toys is the toy cash register and the pretend money in it.
• was actually quite well-behaved on our plane trip to milwaukee. it probably helped that she had her own seat and we replaced our aging portable dvd player. and much to rupert's delight, she called the photo of matthew fox on the cover of the inflight magazine, "daddy."
• she says, "c'mon! c'mon!" to get her unchi to come out.
• if i give her a 1-2-3 warning to do something, she usually does.
• she locked the bathroom door ... and shut it behind her.
• she now answers "two-half" when people ask her how old she is.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!

we spent last weekend in milwaukee to attend rupert's brother's medical school graduation. he and his girlfriend will be moving to rochester next month for their residency so this would probably be the only opportunity (reason) to go to milwaukee.

and what a wonderful midwestern city it was. rupert kept saying that it wasn't as dingy and rundown as he thought it would be. nice, huh? what was he expecting, exactly?

rupert's brother, A, and his girlfriend, A (i know, it's confusing), live in the shorewood area of milwaukee and it's just gorgeous along lake drive :: the huge mansions, the spring flowers, the view of lake michigan. i went for a jog both mornings we were there and it was lovely ... and quite possibly some of my favorite moments of the trip.

one of the things i wanted to see in milwaukee was the milwaukee art museum and the burke brise soleil. unfortunately, everytime we passed the museum the wings were closed. we didn't stay long enough to view the exhibits in the museum but we managed to get a few shots of the amazing glass chandelier by dale chihuly.

afterwards we headed to the betty brinn children's museum, which the kids really enjoyed. it's a great little museum with tons to do. right now there's a curious george exhibit going on, which is one of maya's favorite shows.

on sunday, since the weather wasn't as nice, we headed to sprecher brewery for a tour. the tour itself isn't amazing, but for $3 you get a small glass, four refills of any beer on tap, and all the soda you want at the end of the tour. i didn't get the beer but i really enjoyed the root beer (which is usually not one of my favorite drinks), cherry cola, and the ravin' red.

and the last thing i *had* to do before leaving milwaukee was get a taste of frozen custard. i made my brother-in-law drive us across town to leon's. the butter pecan was delicious and i couldn't believe it only cost $1.65!

i left milwaukee really liking the midwest vibe and historic feel of the city. of course, we were staying in the nice part of town and the weather was absolutely perfect. had we gone in the middle of winter i would probably not be so enthusiastic!

see more pictures from the weekend here. thanks to A+A for hosting us for the weekend!

what i made for dinner :: baked eggplant + ground pork and tofu salad

i found these recipes from the orangepage magazine website because i was trying to find a way to use the japanese eggplants + cucumbers i had in the fridge. [and, as if i had to tell you, the recipes are in japanese.] it was a completely mismatched dinner (the eggplant is more italian and the tofu salad is asian) but i managed to enjoy it anyway.

the eggplant "bake" is really more like a lasagna with the eggplants replacing the noodles. just layer sliced (and sauteed) japanese eggplants, meat sauce (made with ground pork, chopped onions, a bay leaf, a can of chopped tomatoes, and pepper, salt, and a dash of nutmeg), and grated mozzarella cheese, and bake in a 375 or 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

the tofu salad is really simple and perfect for warm weather. i used one whole block of soft tofu. it's best to drain the tofu really well by putting a weight on it for awhile; a lot of the moisture will leach out and that will prevent the dressing from getting too watery. break up the tofu with your fingers and add half of a finely chopped japanese cucumber and one green onion, and a handful of quartered grape tomatoes. the dressing doesn't even have to be made separately. just pour 2 tablespoons each shoyu (soy sauce) and rice vinegar and 2 teaspoons sesame oil over the tofu and veggies. toss well. enjoy!

what i made for dinner :: soy braised short ribs + hard boiled egg

this is another recipe from orange page magazine, but a slightly deconstructed version of the original. it's supposed to be soy braised pork belly and hard-boiled eggs on rice. but i used short ribs and separated the rice and meat.

it's a multistep recipe but not overly difficult. first, you boil the meat for about an hour (and hard boil the eggs separately). then you fry the meat and eggs in some oil until they're crispy. last, you cook them in a soy sauce broth for 45 minutes. i sauteed komatsuna greens on the side.

what i made for dinner lunch :: pozole

my friend L is a wonderful cook and she brought me pozole awhile back. boy, is this the kind of dish for me! i've been making my own version since then based on what L told me, but it's probably not completely right/authentic.

i make a blanco version by sauteeing minced garlic and chopped onions, and then browning pork neck bones and stew meat. (i made it with pork feet once but i'm not sure it added anything to the flavor.) after adding water and simmering, i skim off the crud that accumulates on top. once the meat is tender i add canned (drained and rinsed) hominy, salt and pepper and let it cook for an hour or two.

depending on what i have around the house i serve the pozole with cabbage, radish, avocado, lime, and/or corn tortilla chips.

what i made for dinner :: soba noodles with squid meatballs

have you noticed the pace at which i'm posting food entries is slowing down? that's because i'm finding it more and more difficult to find new recipes to try out. (that's just a nice way to say, "i'm burning out on cooking.")

as i was rummaging through the fridge crisper checking out the vegetables i still have, i was somehow reminded of the many japanese cooking magazines in my collection. surely there's something in one of them i could cook for dinner tonight.

what i found in an old orange page magazine was ika dango soba, soba with squid meatballs. (unfortunately, they don't have the recipe online.)

the ika dango was easy to make, even though i had to clean out two whole squids, which was actually kinda fun. instead of mincing the squid by hand like the recipe says, i used the food processor after separating the body from the head/tentacles, cleaning out the inside of the body, and coarsly chopping the meat. the food processor works quite well actually; not only does it finely mince the meat but it whips it up so the meatballs are nice and fluffy. to the mixture i added chopped green onions, salt, and corn starch.

before cooking the meatballs i blanched fresh spinach and cooked the soba noodles (which i overcooked -- again -- what is wrong with me?!). the recipe also calls for enoki mushrooms but the stuff i had in the fridge was bad. my fault for not checking before going to the market.

as the soba is cooking i spooned little balls of the squid into simmering soba broth for a minute. when everything is done, i plated the noodles into a bowl with the squid meatballs and spinach, and poured the broth over it all. i finished off mine with shichimi togarishi.

all in all, an edible creation but i think it was a bit too salty because i didn't measure the broth-concentrate-to-water ratio correctly (yes, i cheated by using bottled mentsuyu). also, there's only so many squid meatballs you can eat before you get all squidded out. maybe i'll make this again, and maybe not. i'm kinda thinking that in warmer weather i could make cold soba and deep-fry the squid meatballs. that would by tasty, i imagine.

what i made for dinner :: cold ramen noodles

last week we had a heat wave so i made cold ramen noodles for dinner. unlike the more popular hot ramen noodles, remen (literally "cold noodles") doesn't have a soup. you pour a sauce over the noodles and topping.

i prepared a few more toppings than usual that particular night :: char siu pork, poached chicken, kinshi tamago, cucumbers, tomotoes (for me), and sauteed eggplant and green beans. i buy my char siu pork from the japanese market; it's the sweeter variety, but at some point i may try to make my own savory version. kinshi tamago is "golden thread eggs"; you make a very thin egg omelet and then thinly slice it. i poached the chicken breast in the microwave with sake and cilantro for six minutes (five minutes might be enough).

a couple of days later i made the last packet of noodles for lunch with the leftover cucumbers, tomatoes, chicken and pork. i didn't want to spend the time making the kinshi tamago, so i made sunny side up eggs with slightly runny yolks, which mingles really well with the noodles and sesame sauce. (see picture above)

rupert joins the bandwagon

rupert has this deluded notion that he can write a dissertation and a blog. so he's started his own blog about life as a phd student. if you can understand what he writes, then you are a smarter person than i am.

30 months.

maya @ 30 months :: may 4, 2008

• coloring better, and attempts to stay within the lines sometimes.
• spits ... in the house. but we put an end to that pretty quickly. another icky thing she's been doing lately is eating hair, oftentimes my hair.
• assumes "the position" to put her diaper on standing up.
• writes draws Os + Is, and recognizes a few other letters. when i complimented her on the O she wrote one day, she took a bow, so to speak, by saying, "thank you, thank you, thank you very much." her counting is improving ... sort of :: "one, two, three, six, seven"
• we're starting her on playing boardgames. the buzzer on "operation" scared her, though.
• movie of the month :: meet the robinsons. she also watched amelie with me a couple of times.
• when she's in the mood, she's kind enough to jump over the cracks in the sidewalk so she doesn't break her mother's back.
• she managed to clog the toilet ... twice ... this month (we had to call the plumber + get a snake for the toilet). she's also been reluctant to go unchi on the toilet lately, but we still make her.
• she loves to move the hose/sprinkler in the front yard with rupert when he waters the lawn. and even when he doesn't have to water the lawn she insists on going outside to do the "spinklah."
• she's capable of saying "sorry" and "thank you" at the appropriate moments ... it's just that she usually doesn't choose to. and who knows where she picked up her sassy "oka~y, oka~y!" from.
• for some reason she calls roly-polies "wakamolies." she also seems to be confused about "chickens" and "kitchens." it took rupert a few days to get her to say "pineapple" instead of "apple pie." yeah, it's taking her awhile to get the hang of the english language.
• has a new best buddy, the little sister of two kids who go to ian's school. at drop-off in the morning the two love to chase each other around and sit on the steps to the office and chat.
• the librarian gave her a tootsie pop, at which point maya wanted to go straight home to eat it. after she unwrapped it she asked me to take pictures of her eating it (like with the ring pop she got from the library last month).
• every little noise/change in voice/thing makes her ask, "what happened?" and she'll keep asking until you give her an adequate answer. i can only imagine what it'll be like when she starts asking, "why?"
• she and her brother are beginning to "fight" more. not real fights but little tussles. usually i'll find maya sitting on top of ian and hear his muffled cries of, "get off of me! get off of me!" but i'll also catch ian trying to bop her in the head with the couch pillow or throwing balls directly at her in the backyard.
• she's always curious about ambulance/fire engine/police car sirens, but she seems to be confused about the ice cream truck music. when the ice cream truck stops at the library on the next block -- which is everyday -- she asks with a hint of concern in her voice, "what that noise?"

everyday is earth day

i realize the official earth day was last week but i still wanted to write about my efforts and thoughts on becoming more eco-conscious. "going green" is constantly on my mind. i'm all over the place with my emotions, though :: enthusiasm for what i can do to help the planet, guilt about over-consumption, discouragement for not doing enough, and wonder at how much there is to learn. it is overwhelming, but i'm determined not to let that stop me from doing what i can to minimize any negative effects my existence on this earth can have.

just so i start off on a positive note, here are some things we do in our household ::

• recycle ... almost obsessively.
• wash our clothes with cold water (except for the towels and sheets, which get washed in hot water).
• compost + grasscycle.
• change our light bulbs to CFLs.
• turn down the thermostat.
• keep lights off as long as possible and turn them off when they're not necessary.
• when the wallet allows it i try to buy organic + local produce.
• donating unused/unwanted items to friends and charity.
• gradually going paperless for bills + statements (i have to admit i'm a little bit paranoid about not having a paper trail of my finances).
• carry around reusable shopping bags (i also reuse produce bags numerous times).
• drive a prius ... actually, rupert drives the prius.
• hang clothes out to dry when it's warm (but i only have one clothes drying rack and ian's basketball hoop so there's a limit to how much i can put out at one time).
• during the summer we grow a few vegetables and herbs ... and now rupert can use some of my very own compost to keep the plants healthy.
• instead of giving gifts we've been donating to the recipients' (or our) favorite causes.
• check out books from the library instead of buying them.

like most people, i recycle because it's simple and it makes me feel good. but something i read on treehugger made me realize i'm going about this all wrong :: reduce, reuse, recycle is listed in order of importance, which means i'm focusing on (and sitting on my high horse about) the least important part of household conservation.

there's more i should be doing instead of relying on recycling to be the easiest and best thing i can do at home. in fact, i should be striving to reduce the amount of regular garbage and recycling that leaves my house. that means i need to create less waste in general, and to achieve that i should be consuming less of everything.

so, here are things i plan to do to reduce my intake of resources and to reuse items i already have ::

• after i get through my stash of sponges, start using the kids' old washclothes to wash the dishes that don't go in the dishwasher.
• figure out how to use baking soda + vinegar for my cleaning needs.
• sew up some cloth napkins and stop using paper napkins.
• reduce the number of paper towels i use by switching to rags for clean-ups (i already use dishcloths for drying), and only purchasing paper towels made from recycled paper.
• stop buying so many individually wrapped/packed snacks + drinks.
• replace plastic reusable containers with glass ones.
• be much more careful about my water usage.
• switch from liquid body soap to bar soap (to cut down on plastic containers).
• walk more to our local stores.
• finally buy a water bottle for rupert (like mine) so he'll stop asking me to buy bottled water. do you know how guilty i felt buying a case of water at costco on earth day of all days?!
• get a clothesline put up in the backyard.
• sign up for renewable energy sources.
• reduce the packaging on the tagE*blankEs i sell.
• learn more about recycling properly.
• visit second-hand and vintage shops instead of buying brand new all the time.
• no more magazine subscriptions.

most importantly, i have to stop buying so much stuff [i.e., junk]. i really have very little need for more things but i keep buying. it's awful and wasteful and just plain bad. the clutter around our house is causing me stress, too. i look around and i'm fed up with living amidst so many unnecessary objects. i tried to follow the rule "one object in, one object out" but that hasn't worked at all.

in order to make a drastic change in lifestyle and consumption mentality, i'm participating in the buy nothing challenge from crunchy chicken's blog, albeit a month late. it's going to be a real challenge, especially since we'll be traveling to milwaukee mid-month to attend rupert's brother's medical school graduation (that means not buying souvenirs and figuring out an alternative to purchasing a graduation gift). going cold turkey is what i need, though, in order to see the absolute waste of money, time, space, and mental energy caused by unnecessary shopping.

one area in particular has been haunting me :: my scrapbooking hobby. i've been in love with paper since i was a little girl and i don't foresee that changing in my lifetime. my stash of beautiful decorative papers is probably making my house a fire hazard, and yet, i have no intention of getting rid of any of it. i could easily switch to digital scrapbooking, but i'm resisting that change because i like the tactile nature of paper scrapbook layouts. if i'm not going to give up scrapbooking then i need to stop buying so much paper and use it instead of admiring it in it's 12"x12" glory. so, you heard read it here first folks -- no more buying scrapbooking supplies!

and, looking to the future, some things i wish i could do ::

• reuse grey water.
• get my own hybrid car.
• install solar panels on the roof.
• buy energy star appliances when our current appliances go kaput.
• plant a proper, year-round garden ... and have rupert take care of it (i have a brown thumb).

hmm ... too many of those things require me to buy something. i should probably think of a different kind of future.

i would love to hear what you do in your homes + lives to be more eco-conscious. are there green books/websites/documentaries that you recommend? did anything i wrote above sound ludicrous or wrong? this is one issue i would love to get some feedback on.

contrary to previous posts, this is not a food blog

i've been short on family news and long on recipes, i know. food is constantly on my mind and i'm enjoying the cooking. what can i say? it's my current obsession and, not being a multi-tasker, i can't seem to get anything else done.


but there are scrapbook layouts that need to be completed and creative juices that need to be percolated and flowed (yes, i'm pretty sure the past tense of "flow" is "flowed"). i have quite a few layouts and mini-albums that are near completion; it's frustrating to see them almost done and to know that i lack the few extra drops of creativity (and time) needed to complete them.

i have to remember that each layout doesn't have to be a masterpiece (not that they ever are) and i don't need everything to be perfectly laid out or perfectly embellished. just finish the darn thing, for pete's sake! tell the story, slap the picture down, use a few pretty/cute/cool things and be done with it already. yeesh!

my hope is that i will have a few more layouts to share in the coming weeks.

what i made for dinner :: potato, carrot, and zucchini kugel

for passover this year i contributed the kugel to our big family seder at my in-laws'. i knew i wanted to try it out when i saw the recipe in the april issue of bon appetit because i really enjoy kugel but i'd only had more of the sweet noodle-y kugels in the past.

this one is loaded with potatoes and vegetables, and it comes together pretty easily (although you will spend a bit of time peeling and chopping). it makes way more than eight servings; besides the red baking dish, it also made a panful of kugel in a 13x9 pyrex. because of the whipped eggs in the recipe it comes out quite light, and takes on the flavor of whatever meat dish you're serving (we were having lamb).

if it weren't for a burn on the roof of my mouth i think i would've been able to better critique this dish. i *think* it was too salty and perhaps a bit too raw onion-y. a recipe reviewer mentioned she would try sauteing the onions first, which may mild out the flavors better. also, instead of all of the onions, it might be worth it to up the amount of zucchini and carrots because those flavors were basically non-existent.

all in all a recipe worth tinkering with ... but next year i may try the sweeter noodle kugel i love so much.