This is k again. I am 14 months old! My parents forgot to celebrate this occasion, but that’s OK because I ate a ton tonight. I had the oldie but goodie (rice), some potstickers, garden vegetables and turkey burger patty. I ate longer than my parents again. I couldn’t figure out why my parents were eating the thick noodles and not sharing. But I digress.
I am here to tell you that I have advanced my speaking skills past Ay-Da. I say DaDa and MaMa. It is funny because I say DaDa a lot and I get everybody’s attention all the time, however the guy with the spiky hair always points to himself and repeats the word. Like he is the only DaDa! Anyway, I also say nana when I receive this curved yellow fruit. My parents get a big kick out it. They are easily amused.
Buh-bye.
SCP
Our Saturday outing was at South Coast Plaza. We didn’t buy anything aside from food. For some reason, not very many clothes appeal to me lately, and the few items that do are way too expensive. Anyway, we ate at Boudin SF, which recently opened in the main part of South Coast. We really enjoyed the tomato soup in a bread bowl. The chicken sandwich was just OK. D thought the salad dressing on the organic greens that came with sandwich was “fantastic”. 
Afterward k and I went on the merry-go-round, k’s first time! 
We ended up not being allowed to ride like this (one person per horse!) so I got off and held onto k. She was OK for a little bit, but then became scared of the up and down motion, so I just held her the rest of the time. She had fun looking for and waving at D each time we passed him.
So colorful!
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Belated Valentine’s Day
It’s kind of difficult to celebrate Valentine’s Day on a weekday. Instead of going out, I made a “special” dinner of salmon and asparagus on top of soba noodles and tiramisu for dessert. I really liked how the tiramisu turned out.
This would have probably looked better on a smaller plate, but it was delicious if I do say so myself.
I bought this kid-size beach chair for k as a Valentine’s Day present. It matches our beach chair and she loves sitting in it. Notice that she is hugging her Hello Kitty that she received from her Aunt and Uncle for Christmas.
Hello World!
This is k. I would like to tell you about all the cool places I have seen before my 1 year old birthday. Here is my Top 10 List…
#1 South Kohala Coast (Big Island)
#2 Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (Big island)
#3 Huntington Beach
#4 Berkeley
#5 Napa
#6 Seal Beach
#7 Laguna Beach
#8 Irvine Regional park
#9 El Dorado East Regional Park
#10 Fashion Island Mall
It was a lot of fun visitng all the places; however sitting in the car seat for hours was not.
My parents are cool. However, there are a couple things that bug me about them. For one, they make me brush my teeth and they think that if they say “brush brush” in a excited voice I will want to. Also they make me drink milk and sometimes I am not even thirsty. I am looking forward to year two. I haven’t been anywhere cool since I turned one; however I hear them talking about a place called Mammoth Mountain. Stay tuned!
Can You Blog About Something?
This was the questioned posed to me by D tonight. Well, things have been busy, but not with anything exciting. The mundane activities of life certainly take up a lot of time. The highlight for this weekend was going to Home Depot to buy a new hose for the dryer and a fire extinguisher. Various magazine/newspaper articles put me on a safety kick. D actually had to go back to Home Depot because we bought the wrong kind of hose, which is very typical of us non-do-it-yourselfers. Afterward we ate lunch at Fuji’s Famous Burgers. k slept through the whole lunch, but we saved some for her. The place is small, but there’s plenty of tables and it is nice and clean. We shared a teriyaki-avocado burger and a beef and chicken teriyaki plate and fried zucchini. We were still hungry and also split a spam musubi, which was probably the best part of the meal. If we go again, maybe I’ll try one of their burritos with fried rice–sounds interesting.
Here are some pre-race pictures from last weekend.
Cute mile markers. D is contemplating running a full marathon next year. Yes, I think he’s crazy.
We carbo-loaded alongside D with a spaghetti dinner on Sat. night. k seemed to enjoy it!
To God Be The Glory
As I was running my 3rd Half-Marathon on a Sunday it was refreshing to see phrases on shirts that said “God Is My Coach” and “To God Be The Glory” and I wasn’t even at church. The temperature was pretty ideal during the Surf City USA Half-marathon; however the rain and wind weren’t. My shoes were already wet by the time the race started. At mile three things were looking pretty good since I was pacing under 9 minute miles. By this time the back of my shirt was soaked along with my shorts. Then the race turned a little uphill and I was passing people. However, I ended up getting a side stitch during miles 4-6 and gave up some ground. Then on mile 8 I started to cramp in my legs. And on mile 10 it worsened. When hardship comes my way, I only know of one solution. So I whispered out loud, “Help me Jesus” and I was able to get through the race staying at about a 9 minute pace. The result was a personal best of under 1 hour and 58 minutes and I believe my best physical accomplishment.
I have to go now and eat junk food.
Stop to Smell the Roses
This afternoon k and I took a walk to our mailbox. Usually she goes with Sasa, but Sasa had jury duty today. I led the way and mostly waited for k to catch up. k kept on stopping along the path, looking at the leaves on the grass and the lines in the cement. She also stopped to listen to the various barking dogs and chattering people.
Of course, she had to stop to look and wave at the kitty. 
During our walk I reflected back to the different stages I have been in while walking to the mailbox. I remember rushing to the mailbox after work after getting home from long days of work. I remember walking a little slower when I was pregnant. I remember carrying k in a sling when she was so tiny she could fit. And now, she’s walking there herself. Amazing.
Go-To Dinner
It’s not easy coming up with what to have for dinner every night. One of my “go-to” dinners is tofu stir-fry, which I made up by myself. D actually really likes it, and its healthy and easy.
Directions: Heat up a few glugs of olive oil over medium. Add a couple cloves of chopped garlic, half an onion, and whatever vegetables you have on hand, fresh or frozen. Stir-fry until the vegetables are just tender. Push the vegetables to the side of the pan, and add cut-up extra-firm or firm tofu (drained). Stir the tofu so it is heated through, and then mix everything together. Here’s what it looks like at this stage:
Add a couple tablespoons each of soy sauce and mirin. Serve with a squirt of rooster sauce or chili sauce. Serve with rice.
While k was waiting for dinner, she was filing her nails. Notice that her hair has reached a cross-roads: bangs or no bangs? I’m still hesitating to use barrettes since I don’t want her to eat them. We might have to do a little trimming.
Some Weekends Are Like That
Sorry, but we don’t have anything exciting to report on regarding this past weekend. D worked Sat. AND Sun. for a total of 16 hours. k and I were both sick with colds. It rained off and on.
French 75
Today we participated in Newport Beach Restaurant Week. From today until Thursday, various restaurants in Newport Beach are offering special prix fixe meals. We chose French 75 since they had a $15 lunch deal. We had attempted to go on a previous occasion at a different location, but it was closed on weekends during lunch. It did not disappoint and we were full…probably from all that butter/cream.
They served us rolls with marmalade and strawberry jam. We managed to polish off six of them. Well, k did help us, too! We ordered different things for each course so we could try more items.
First Course
D: Shrimp Dijon–This was a nice size portion for a one-person appetizer. The regular menu listed this for $12-13 alone, so we were wondering if you usually get more or if we were just getting a really good deal.
L: French Onion Soup–The sweet onions and the salty cheese/broth went well together. The soggy crouton was good too…whoever thought of that?
Second Course
D: Chicken/Forest Mushroom Crepes–The chicken was nice and moist and the mushrooms were juicy (D’s words).
L: Short Rib with Horseradish Sauce and Mashed Potatoes–Probably more suitable for dinner as we are not used to consuming large hunks of meat for lunch. The meat was quite tender. I also enjoyed the brussel sprouts that were on the side. We ended up taking a lot of this home since we knew we should save room for dessert.
Third Course
D: “Petite” Chocolate Souffle–Nice and warm. D was disappointed that the waiter dolloped whipped cream on top instead of ice cream. He still enjoyed it though!
L: Orange Cherry Creme Brulee–D was surprised at how much he enjoyed this. We gave k a few bites too, but mostly she enjoyed eating the raspberries on top. I liked the vanilla bean specks.
k seemed to enjoy both of our main courses. Hopefully we turn her into a foodie!