JTH Red Egg & Ginger Party
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Monthly Archives: October 2008
October Harvest
So we did something quite unique today, we harvested grapes for wine!
Ron’s former boss started growing grapes a few years ago and have also been making their own wine. Their family invited us to join in the last harvest of the year and for a BBQ after all the hard work.
We started harvesting around 8am and were finished a bit after noon. The grapes were beautiful, plump and sweet.
It was really hard work though, they had rows and rows of vines and there were about 10 to 12 people helping out filling these buckets with 35 pounds of grapes in each bin.
After filling the bins, the strong young men carried the bins up the steps to the top of the hill to deposit it near the waiting truck. The truck would take the grapes away for crushing.
After all the hardwork, we enjoyed a delicious BBQ with some of their wines from 2006 and 2007.
We had a really fun time harvesting and can’t wait to do it again next year!
On the way back to San Francisco, we caught sight of the Blue Angels as we were waiting in the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza.
This dive bombing jet was scary…
It disappeared from view and we didn’t see it coming back up.
I was so exhausted, I slept for 4 hours… my right hand is aching too after the repetitive cutting of the grapes… I think my legs will be sore too because of going up and down those hills…
Lime Tree and Crepevine
Today was a kind of a busy day… I got up early to take care of bills (yuck!) then went to get gas, drove to Concord for my friend Grace’s son’s 3rd birthday party, went to County Square Market (an Asian supermarket), Target, the post office, Pet Food Express, Michael’s, Lucky, and then drove all the way back to San Francisco and we went to dinner with Ron’s friend Andrew at Lime Tree and Crepevine.
The highlights of the afternoon:
1. Picked up great fruits from the Asian market… some prickly pear and white peaches the size of a softball. Will take some pictures as we dig into them.
2. When you buy postage at the post office, the machine prints the stamps on self-adhesive paper instead of spitting out those booklets… pretty cool stuff… but can’t believe that first class mail is 42 cents!
3. At Pet Food Express they were having cat adoptions, I got to see all the babies before they packed them to go for the day. One of the cats looked almost exactly like Mochi!
So Lime Tree is a Southeast Asian restaurant. We got to have some familiar flavors of Malaysia and Singapore.
Murtabak served with curry sauce, a crispy roti prata stuffed with minced meat, green onions and eggs. Smaller than those in Singapore but tasted pretty similar.
Chicken satay with peanut sauce. The chicken was pretty moist. Though it was missing the lontong (a kind of rice cake).
Mie Tek-tek, an egg noodle with chicken and vegetables in spicy broth. Sounded interesting so thought we’d try it. I think it’d be better as a lunch item rather as something to share for dinner. I liked the spice though, glad we got the spicy instead of the mild.
Beef rendang with rice. I only had a bit, had a strong coconut taste. The guys seemed to enjoy it though.
Chili crab! The sauce was good, sweet and spicy and thick! But there was no fried bread rolls to go with it 🙁 Although I have to give the place credit, they are smart and they give you a crab leg crackers, crab meat forks, tons of napkins and wet naps.
Afterwards, we went for dessert at Crepevine. We ordered the “Georgia” sweet crepe which is filled with apples, cheddar cheese (yes, that’s correct!), cinnamon, and sugar. It’s served with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream.
It was lovely. The cheese was a bit salty so balanced the sweetness of everything else and the touch of cinnamon made it even better. YUM!
Lime Tree
450A Irving Street
San Francisco, CA
Crepevine
624 Irving Street
San Francisco, CA
Our kitties
So since Maxwell has been back with us, he’s been having a hard time because Mochi and Misu have been terrorizing him a bit. They haven’t lived together for the whole year and Maxwell has been somewhat of an outdoor cat so doesn’t enjoy being cooped up inside. He tried to escape out a window today!
But he does seem to be settling down a bit… around 7 or 8pm, he starts meowing and looking around for a lap to crawl into and take his nap. Usually it’s me because I usually have the blanket on my lap. He’ll fall into a deep sleep for a few hours. I think he was cranky the first few weeks because he wasn’t getting enough restful sleep, he always had one eye open for the other cats approaching.
I had to get up for a drink of water so wrapped him up in the blanket and he fell right back to sleep… so cute!
Ron and I made a place for him on top of one of our shelves so that he’d have a bird eye’s view so hopefully won’t be so scared that the other cats will harass him. He’s sleeping on a Chococat cushion.
Mochi is so fluffy and she’s gaining a bit of weight. She’s been a bit more friendly than normal which I am enjoying. I’m feeding them a bit less so they don’t overeat.
Tiramisu our very friendly kitty. He can’t sit still when you’re scratching his head, he purrs like crazy and can drool a bit when he’s overly excited. So watch out for a wet nose if you’re petting him.
Meow Meow…
How to Sneeze
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao7eyqoiIYs
So today I had to attend our hospital’s safety training course that is required annually. The course has changed a bit from when I attended two years ago and I think it improves each time.
The best part of the session was at the end when they showed this video. It is important to decrease the spread of germs and after watching this video, it should be stuck in your mind.
[youtube]ao7eyqoiIYs[/youtube]
Sneeze into your sleeve and wash your hands!!!