Jennifer & Ronald

Link: http://www.parksconservancy.org/our-work/crissy/

Yesterday, we went out for a picnic lunch at Crissy Field. It was quite windy so we ended up eating in the car then taking a walk on the trail and along the water. It was the first time walking down there for the both of us and we're glad we finally had time to explore the area.

It was still really windy even though the sun was out so we had to head back to the car before we got too cold.

Counting down the days until Baby Chung makes his appearance!

Things I look forward to eating and drinking again with less restriction (in no particular order):

Pho/Ramen/Noodles
Fruits
Donuts/Cupcakes/Cookies/Cake
Cereal
Milk
Ice Cream
Juice
Breads/Croissants
Pancakes/Waffles/French Toast
Pizza

If you know me, I love to eat fresh fruits and it's been so tough to just eat small pieces of fruit. I just want to eat a big fruit salad!

I love baking and it's so hard to restrict myself to half a cookie or half a cupcake plus I've been really craving a donut especially after watching a show about Voodoo Doughnut in Portland, Oregon where they have a huge donuts and a delicious looking apple fritter.

Surprisingly I'm not craving candy or chocolates...

But these are just a few of the things I've been missing out on the last few months. I'm getting tired of carbohydrate counting but I have learned a lot about eating better so after I get it out of my system and eat my fill, I may go back to the low carbohydrate diet. It's probably overall better for our health and will help to prevent me from developing type 2 diabetes later on.

Link: http://www.koipalace.com/default.htm

Last weekend my dad had his company dinner for Chinese New Year. We always have a wonderful dinner, karaoke, raffle prizes, and enjoy good company. This year it was held at Koi Garden in Dublin.

Just one picture to share that I took with V and my round belly!

I hope everyone had a good Chinese New Year!

I am trying to use up a carton of buttermilk so came across this Food Network recipe for Buttermilk Pie. The recipe didn't have a crust so I decided to try making it with a graham cracker crust.

Graham Cracker Pie Crust INGREDIENTS
* 1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
* 1/3 cup white sugar (reduced to 1/4 cup)
* 6 tbsp butter, melted
* 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional so I did not use)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix all ingredients together then press into 9 inch pie tin (I used a 9 inch springform pan). Bake for 7-10 minutes until lightly browned.

Buttermilk Pie INGREDIENTS
* 1 1/2 cups sugar (used 3/4 cup sugar)
* 1 cup buttermilk
* 1/2 cup biscuit mix (recommended: Bisquick) (used 3/4 cup Bisquick)
* 1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) butter, melted
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 3 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 F. Blend all ingredients together with electric mixer or hand mix with a wire whisk. May be poured into a greased 9 inch pie pan or on top of some sort of crust. Bake for 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. May be served after cooling for 5 minutes or after refrigeration.

It smells and looks delicious. I can't wait to try it. I hope I didn't overcook it and that it still has its custard-like texture. I plan to top it with some fresh fruit, maybe some strawberries and bananas.

Had a slice this afternoon and it ended up more like a piece of cake rather than a custard. Next time I would probably reduce the amount of biscuit mix and increase by 1 egg instead. The graham cracker crust was a bit too sweet so I would reduce it to maybe 1/8 cup of sugar. I topped it with a sliced banana and strawberry which gave it a fresher taste.

Less than one week until his due date. I had an appointment with my NP this morning and she said she wanted to put me on the induction schedule. Her supervising MD said to be safe, she rather not let me go too far past my due date because of the gestational diabetes. Partially afraid that the baby may grow too big and make delivery difficult for me.

The only available times they had were either tomorrow (!) or next Thursday March 4th. We chose March 4th, I was a bit caught off guard and definitely not ready for it to be tomorrow. But I hope he'll want to come out by himself and won't have to go through the induction process.

So otherwise, all is going fine. I'm still having non stress tests twice a week. Yesterday I finally got the chance to see him exercising his diaphragm to get ready for breathing outside the womb, aka fetal breathing. I'm looking forward to having him take his first real breath.

Link: http://www.blisstree.com/breastfeeding123/free-pattern-to-sew-your-own-nursing-cover/

Since I finally have some free time, I decided to work on my project of a homemade nursing cover. One of my co-workers had one of these and said they were very useful for breastfeeding your baby in public.

You can purchase a commercial one made by Bebe au Lait and it is known as a nursing cover or Hooter Hider, which sells for about $35.

I found instructions here for a homemade one which can be as inexpensive as $8. If you buy the fabric on sale, it can be even cheaper.

For full instructions, click here but the basic supplies you need are:

1 yard fabric, cut into the following:
26 x 38 inches (1 pc)
3 x 31 inches (1 pc for long strap)
3 x 10 inches (1 pc for short strap)
8 x 8 inches (2 pcs for pockets, optional)

2 D-Rings (I bought 2 inch but 1-1/2 inches should be enough)
1/2 yard (18 inches) corset boning (1/4 inch wide)
Matching colored thread

I wasn't as talented as the person who put together the instructions so I ironed all my hems before sewing (per the instructions, she didn't pin them, just held them as she sewed).

My completed one:

The neckline so you can see your baby while breastfeeding:

I added pockets to both inside corners to tuck in a tissue or washcloths as suggested.

Now I'm having fun making them so I have a few more fabrics so will try to finish them up before the baby comes. These may become gifts someday soon as I don't think I'll use more than one.

Let's see if I can get some more baby projects done that I've been wanting to do...

It's actually been a busy few days but during some down time today, I decided to bake. Taking a recipe from my favorite cookie book, Big, Soft, Chewy Cookies, I made the oatmeal cinnamon cookies and added some milk chocolate chunks from a candy bar, used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, and used a mix of white and light brown sugar.

Ingredients:
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tbsp dark molasses
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup milk chocolate chunks

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Combine oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together egg and sugars. Add butter and continue beating. When completely blended, add molasses and milk and blend again. Stir in the oat mixture, pecans, and chocolate.
4. Using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure, scoop level amounts of dough and drop 2 1/2 inches apart onto an ungreased gookie sheet.
5. Bake until cookies are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and let them set for 1 minute. Using a spatula, transfer cookies to a rack and let cool.

Cookies may be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to three days.

Makes 14-20 cookies.

The kitchen smelled delicious as the cookies baked, cinnamon and nutty. I let them bake a little more than 15 minutes because I like it a bit more crispy on the edges. Tastes like breakfast, great with a glass of milk or coffee.

These are different than the Tartine Chocolate Oatmeal Walnut Cookies since they are more cake-like. The Tartine recipe makes thin and crispy cookies so it will depend on what I'm in the mood for because I like these cake-y cookies too.

On my last day of work, I had a very BIG surprise from my coworker. He's been warning me all month that I'd better have Ron come to pick me up on my last day because I couldn't ride the bus home with what he was going to bring me. In the last few days I've been wondering what in the world it could be.

Well, here it is:

It's called a Biggie Pooh! and boy, is it big! The baby will probably only be the size of Pooh's paw. It'll make for a very cute picture once baby can sit up. Until then, I have no idea where we are going to store it... it's so huge!

Thanks Herb! It's a really sweet gift.

Now the countdown begins... today is my first day off of work and I am enjoying relaxing at home and finally updating our blog. I have a few things planned for the next few days but I just really want to relax a bit before the baby decides to show himself as after he is born, I'm sure I won't have much time to rest so want to energize myself now so that I can take good care of him.

In walking downtown, Ron and I came across this new heart in San Francisco. There are a lot of these scattered around town and looks like this one was installed on Feb 11th, 2010.

Walking has been getting harder for me especially on the hips. I think it's partially because he is dropping down so the weight distribution is different. My feet have been swelling a little more easily too which makes shoes uncomfortable. I had to remove my toe rings a few weeks ago because they were getting too tight. I hope my feet will eventually return to normal.

Link: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/blueberries-and-cream-cookies

My last baking feat for my last day of work. They have all said they will miss my baking so I thought I'd bring something on my last day. Plus the week after a holiday weekend is always super busy so a sweet treat always helps to make the day a bit easier.

I decided to try this recipe for Blueberry and Cream Cookies but with some changes because I didn't have all the ingredients. I followed some of the substitutions recommended in the comments on the Martha Stewart website.

Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (used whole wheat flour)
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons salt (used 1 tsp as recommended by others because 2 tsp made the cookies too salty according to the comments)
* 1 cup (8 ounces) Plugra European-style unsalted butter (used regular unsalted butter)
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
* 1/4 cup glucose (used agave syrup)
* 1 large egg
* 3/4 cup dried blueberries (used 1 cup blueberry preserves)
* 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup Milk Crumbs (used 1 cup white chocolate chips but recipe for Milk Crumbs available online at Martha Stewart website)

Directions

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together butter, sugars, and glucose until well combined. Add egg and mix until well combined.
3. Add flour mixture and mix until well combined. Add blueberries and milk crumbs and mix until well combined. Using an ice cream scoop about 2 1/8 inches in diameter, scoop dough into balls and place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Transfer baking sheets to refrigerator until dough is chilled, about 15 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until cookies are golden brown and tops begin to crackle, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

I think the cookies came out a bit too sweet so I would reduce the amount of sugars and/or agave syrup (or glucose if following the recipe). One day I'll have to try the Milk Crumbs recipe to see what they actually are like but since I had white chocolate chips, that's what I used and it turned out fine. The cookies are pretty dense and cake-like and seem to go well with a cup of coffee or tea (to even out the sweetness). Because I used blueberry preserves, the coloring of the cookies were not that great looking but still tasted good.

Not sure how much I will be baking once baby is born but I'm hoping he will want to join me in the kitchen once he's old enough.

Ron decided that we should take a drive out of town at least one more time before our baby is born so we headed out to Petaluma to walk around and relax. It seemed pretty quiet generally, maybe because it was a long weekend and people had left town.

We stopped by to have lunch at a place called Old Chicago Pizza. Famous for their double crust deep dish pizza, it has an extra layer of dough and extra cheese. You can only choose two toppings but the regular deep dish, you can split the pizza in half and have different toppings on each half. We chose chicken and artichoke hearts.

One piece is quite filling, even without eating the outside crust (which I couldn't eat but was quite delicious).

We had plenty of leftovers with a medium size. Lunch for tomorrow!

The location on the restaurant is supposedly the main downtown of Petaluma and used to house a brothel! The women would entice men from the windows and as they came up the stairs, they would go into one of the small rooms in the hallway. Pretty interesting history.

We went for a walk around the outlets before heading back to San Francisco. Back in SF, we went for a snack at Golden Island Cafe which has my favorite Asian desserts. I love their tapioca desserts with fresh fruit and any of their steamed egg or milk desserts.

Ron ordered the rice balls with toasted sesame and ground peanuts and syrup. Not exactly what he wanted as he likes it with nuts inside the rice balls.

I ordered the steamed egg custard with ginger. These take about 15 minutes to steam and come out super hot. I love the bit of spiciness from the ginger and the creamy texture.

It was getting cold outside so it was also good to end the day with a warm dessert.

Old Chicago Pizza
41 Petaluma Blvd N
Petaluma, CA 94952

Golden Island Cafe
1300 Noriega St
(between 20th Ave & 21st Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122

Link: http://www.yelp.com/biz/kukje-market---the-restaurant-daly-city

We spent Valentine's Day at Babies R Us checking out the new baby strollers and adding last minute things onto our baby registry. Afterwards we decided to have lunch at the restaurant inside Kukje Market. We heard the tofu soup was really good.

Of the appetizers, the seaweed and squid/cuttlefish was really good. They kindly refilled all of them too.

We ordered the kalbi, meat was very tender. On weekends, the serving size is the "dinner" size even for lunch so a bit more expensive.

The seafood tofu soup. Ron is putting the egg in it. You can choose how spicy and we chose hot. Lots of clams and a few shrimps. The heat was just right, we love spicy food.

We picked up some supplies at the market to last us for a week or two but will have to do some more shopping before the baby comes because I'm not sure how often we'll be going out once he's here.

Kukje Market - The Restaurant
2350 Junipero Serra Blvd

Link: http://www.jollibee.com.ph/

We had lunch at Jollibee today after watching Valentine's Day. It was the first time we tried their food but weren't very impressed so probably won't go back.

It was kind of expensive too. This is one of their meals, a piece of fried chicken and Palabok (not exactly sure how to describe this but it is a noodle dish) with a drink. I think this was $8.

We also ordered a corned beef sandwich for 99 cents and a bowl of noodles.

Afterwards to cheer up my tummy a bit, we walked to Blue Bottle to get a latte.

We probably won't be returning to Jollibee but then they do have a Spam sandwich for 99 cents so may go back to try that.

Jollibee
200 4th Street

Link: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/best-marble-cake

I tried another recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.

Marble Cake

Ingredients

Makes one 9-by-5-inch loaf

* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
* 1 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup sugar (used light brown sugar)
* 3 large eggs, room temperature
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 2/3 cup buttermilk, room temperature
* 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan; set aside. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the buttermilk and beginning and ending with the flour. Set aside 1/3 of the batter.
3. In a bowl, mix cocoa and 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add the cocoa mixture to the reserved cake batter; stir until well combined.
4. Spoon batters into the prepared pan in 2 layers, alternating spoonfuls of vanilla and chocolate to simulate a checkerboard. To create marbling, run a table knife (or wooden skewer) through the batters in a swirling motion.
5. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack to cool 10 minutes. Turn out cake from pan and cool completely on the rack. Cake can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

The cake came out really dense, the chocolate part almost like a fudge but simple and yummy.

Link: http://www.epicroasthousesf.com/

I had a lovely breakfast this morning prepared by RC. He used these cute egg molds that we bought at Disney World many years ago.

In the late morning we went to the Ferry Plaza to walk around the Farmers Market before meeting up with our friends Susan & Ken for lunch. We wanted to catch up and to thank them for planning our baby shower a few weeks ago. We had lunch at Epic Roasthouse.

It was a lovely day and we had a seat near the windows. I read that this restaurant has great happy hour so I look forward to being able to enjoy that sometime as well.

I started with the lavender lemonade with green tea. The lavender flavor is obvious but the lemon and green tea is not. It was refreshing though.

Ron ordered from their "Hangover Libations", this is called "Orange". It tasted like a mimosa except that it had a bit of bitters.

At the table they offered three types of salt: pink, sea salt, black salt. We taste tested them all and I personally liked the black salt.

Their bread selection included a puff (cheese I think), cornbread-like madeleines, and a airy but chewy bread.

They had a few changes to the menu so I ordered one of their specials, the lobster quiche which was topped with potatoes and a small salad and a sauce of caviar creme fraiche. There were only a few pieces of lobster but the flavor of the quiche was good, I like the pastry and the freshness of the salad.

Ron had the steak enchiladas (one of the lunch items). I thought the wrapping was a bit too thick and the meat not seasoned enough but then I only had one bite.

We also tried their side of onion rings with the housemade ketchup (with anchovies). It was yummy.

I had a lovely day of eating then a massage at Burke Williams in the evening. This was my fourth pregnancy massage, I still have two more to use before baby is born. I look forward to taking my maternity leave in a week and a half and having some more time to prepare but also relax.

Epic Roasthouse
369 Embarcadero

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewarts-Baking-Handbook-Stewart/dp/0307236722

I've been baking about once a week for work. One of the nurses had requested that I bake at least one more time for them to tide them over until I come back from maternity leave but I figured I'd try to do it once a week for the fun of it.

Today's treat are cheesecake thumbprint cookies from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. Mine didn't turn out very pretty because I think the dough may have been a bit dry but still tasted yummy.

I couldn't find the recipe on the Martha Stewart website but you can see it at this link. For the cookie dough, I used light brown sugar and whole wheat flour. The cookie came out very much like shortbread so was a bit crumbly and very buttery. I was able to make about 25 cookies, all eaten up within 2 hours.

Link: http://www.dahukilau.com/

On this rainy day in SF, I met up with LT for dinner at Hukilau. I ordered from their loco moco specials, apparently the dish has been around 60 years! I ordered the mini moco since the regular size has way too much rice (3 scoops) and the mini only has 1 scoop.

I still only ate a bit of the rice but enjoyed the meat pattie, onions, sauce, and fried egg. It was served with a side of macaroni salad. Only $6!

I am looking forward to going back after baby is born so that I can try their saimin...

Just a few more weeks until we'll see Baby Boy Chung in person and no, we still haven't settled on a name. I guess I haven't really been updating on how the pregnancy is going so I thought I'd make a brief post.

So far I've gained about 25 lbs, less than 2 lbs since I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I worried a bit about that but my provider says that the baby is still a good size and growing. I was doing really good with the diet for controlling my post-meal glucose levels but no matter what I did, my fasting blood glucose in the morning just wouldn't stay under 95. So a few weeks ago I started on a small 1.25mg dose of glyburide every night before bedtime. So far, so good. The good thing about starting medication is that I get to see our baby twice a week. I have to go to have "non stress tests" twice a week which involves a sonogram to check amniotic fluid levels and then have a separate monitoring session to check the baby's movement and if I'm having contractions. So I had the opportunity to see him again last week and will see him twice a week until he's really to come out.

Ron and I went to an all day childbirth preparation class which was very informative and made us a bit more comfortable. I'm sure the actual day will still be very intense but at least we have more of an idea of what to expect.

Our lovely friends planned a surprise baby shower for us a few weeks ago where a great time was had by all and we received some lovely gifts. I'll have to post some pictures soon. Thank you to our friends who planned the party and those who attended.

Now just to share a picture that was taken last week while I was at work, my co-workers really liked my top (and so do I!) which I bought at H&M (and it is NOT maternity wear so I can wear it afterwards too!). I know he's a boy but I still like Hello Kitty!

Oh, and a great book I finished reading this week: Baby Owner's Manual, which we got as a baby shower gift. It's an easy read and fun plus actually is full of good information. Ron read it first and he really enjoyed it as it really did read like an instruction manual.

Well, that's all folks (for now)...