Category Archives: Coffee/Cafes/Tea

Cute, Single, Smiling Baby

June 8 – 14, 2011

6.8.2011
Simon and Daddy have been frequenting Home Depot.

Simon trying to control the direction of the shopping cart.

Simon had his 15 month checkup today and he’s continuing on the same growth curve. He got a few shots today and he only cried for a few seconds before calming down.

6.9.2011

Simon is trying to say new words everyday. Here he is trying to say “blueberry”.

This afternoon we took a walk around downtown Walnut Creek. Simon was instantly drawn to this fountain. He really wanted to crawl into it to splash around (but we didn’t let him).

6.10.2011

Anyone want to date this cute single dude?

He even does his own grocery shopping? (He insisted on grabbing a few canned goods and daddy accidentally bought a few that we didn’t need).

6.11.2011

Simon really likes the sand and water park at Civic Park. He got soaked and sandy.

6.12.2011

We took a trip to San Francisco to meet up with one of Ron’s friends. We had dim sum but then went to have coffee and donuts at Dynamo Donut. We tried an earl gray strawberry, maple bacon apple, and monte cristo.

Contemplative.

Our happy baby.

Simon’s funny napping position.

6.13.2011

Simon loves watermelon!

Wanna see Simon’s teeth?

He opened his mouth and let me hold his mouth open to take a picture. His 1st molars are in and his canines are coming out.

I took these pictures for Simon. I let him see it on the camera screen, took the picture, then let him see it playback on the camera again. He had a good giggle seeing his two friends, Winnie the Pooh and Ziggy the Zebra.


To bed early.

6.14.2011

I want to go outside!

Daddy taught Simon how to imitate an elephant trunk. We ask Simon “show us elephant” or something similar.

Simon has discovered his foot (“jiao”)

Karate kick!

Somehow Simon learned how to shrug. Probably from watching us. Maybe not a good habit…

Another wonderful week with Simon.

Visit to CAL

Day 172

Dressed up with shades on, ready to head out for the day.

It was move-in day at UC Berkeley so it was tough finding parking. But once we did find a spot, our first stop was Caffe Strada for a bianca mocha. A fresh dollop of whipped cream makes the drink, otherwise, it would be way too sweet to drink.

Next, The Campanile for a photo opportunity. We were last here in December 2009 when Simon was still in my belly. Now he’s all decked out in his CAL gear with a big smile.

Simon sitting up by himself near the plaque declaring the campus a historic landmark. He’s concentrated on reading (which is even harder because it is upside down).

Then to Sather Gate with a view of Sproul Plaza.

This Daily Cal newspaper stand in Sproul Plaza is where Ron and I met for the first time face-to-face. If that coincidence had not happened, Simon may not be here today.

It may look like we’re grooming Simon to go to CAL but he really is free to go wherever he wants. We will go to Stanford at some time too to take photos.

After our visit to Berkeley, we met up with my parents in Oakland Chinatown for lunch. First stop at the pharmacy to say hi. Check out his protruding stomach!

We went to Restaurant Peony for lunch. They have very delicious Portuguese egg tarts. Flaky crust (lots of lard…) and egg-y creamy custard.

It was fun to walk around campus again. I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since my graduation. I hope it won’t be too long before we go back for a visit. I have a craving for chili cheese fries from IB Hoagies.

Ferry Building Excursion

Day 123

After a long first week at work, all I needed was a little more sleep and to be able to spend time with Simon instead of rushing off to work.  His sweet little face (and funny expressions) make it all worth it.  “Yo, mama, what’s going down?”

photo.jpg

Ron is still trying to train Simon to hold his own bottle and most of the time he’s able to hold it.  It seems hard for him to hold onto it though when it is near empty and sometimes he flails his arms and drops it or tosses it to the ground.  Ron likes taking silly pictures of Simon for Facebook.

photo.jpg

Simon and I had an excursion planned out to meet with friends at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market.  Karla, Brandon, and their son Miles are visiting from Santa Barbara so we met up with them for coffee and lunch.  It’s been 5 years since we’ve seen each other and both of us have adorable little boys now.

IMG_0815.JPG

Simon was having a bit of an off-day, probably from the vaccines but Miles was a cheerful happy baby the entire time.  We had iced coffee from Blue Bottle (yum!) and a light lunch at Delica, a Japanese deli.  I had their ma po tofu salad which had romaine lettuce, noodles, minced pork, and a bit of spices but wasn’t spicy overall.  A bit pricey too, $12/lb so a full pint container was $9.60.  But they have fresh strawberry mochi and I bought one ($2.75) to try but haven’t had a chance to dig in just yet.

It was really nice catching up and talking about our babies but Simon and I had to make our exit when he started to cry his head off.  Not sure why he did but he probably realized he was really tired and wanted to go to sleep.  On our walk home, he took a little nap and was more pleasant when we arrived home.  It was good to get out and good exercise for me since I hadn’t been walking all week.  It’s a little over a mile there and takes about 20-25 minutes to walk.

Simon had a nice long 2 hour nap when we arrived home and was quite a bit more cheerful.  He hasn’t been eating much today, it seems like his appetite is down again just like the last time he had shots.  He wore this outfit today from Auntie Virginia, his version of wearing a shirt and tie.

photo.jpg

So now he had a shirt and tie onesie or a black tuxedo bib to look dressed up for special occasions.  He actually does have other outfits like button down shirts and a fake tie (the ones that are like a necklace) but they’re still a little too big so will have to wait until he is older.

It was a beautiful day in SF today and I was glad to be able to enjoy it outside with Simon.  The farmer’s market was pretty crowded but it was fun since they had lots of samples out of peaches, nectarines, figs (yum!), blueberries, cherries, etc.  I picked up some organic nectarines and peaches as these are at the top of the list for still having pesticides on them.  We picked up a list from Simon’s doctor yesterday that has a list of which fruits and vegetables should be bought organic because of their high pesticide content and also a list of fruits and vegetables that are low in pesticide content so it’s not necessary to buy organic.

The list is available at FoodNews.org called “The Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides”.

The Dirty Dozen (buy organic)

Peach

Apple

Bell Pepper

Celery

Nectarine

Strawberries

Cherries

Kale

Lettuce

Grapes (imported)

Carrot

Pear

Clean 15 (lowest in pesticides)

Onion

Avocado

Sweet Corn

Pineapple

Mango

Asparagus

Sweet Peas

Kiwi

Cabbage

Eggplant

Papaya

Watermelon

Broccoli

Tomato

Sweet Potato

They fit!

Day 85

What fits might you ask?  One, my wedding ring!  Two, my jeans!  I am amazed… and just a bit giddy that they both fit again.  Finally the swelling is completely gone from my hands and as for my jeans… either the Skechers Shape-Ups are working or else they are just motivating me to walk more and eat healthier so that the weight is coming off faster.  I am almost to my pre-pregnancy weight, only a few pounds left… plus hopefully a few more will join them.  It feels really good to wear my regular jeans again.

Simon is getting his workout too to strengthen his core.  I love how he looks sitting in the Bumbo Baby Seat.  It’s like he’s enveloped in it and he looks a bit perplexed and unsure what he should be doing.  If the TV is on though, he’ll try to watch TV… all he needs is his own remote control.

IMG_0343.JPG

He had a rough napping day today, he couldn’t really stay asleep.  He seems to be having more digestive problems the last two days because he’s been having more gas and it’s been difficult to get him to burp completely right after eating.  So we would burp him, he’d let out a few small ones, then he would sleep for about 20-30 minutes then wake up crying and after picking him up and patting him on the back, he’d let out a huge burp.  So by evening, poor Simon was exhausted and fell asleep right before I was to go out to meet Vicki for dinner.  I was able to wrangle him into the Baby Bjorn and he slept pretty soundly for the next 3 hours.  He must like the motion of walking, it feels like I’m constantly rocking him probably.

As for our adult part of the evening, we did a bit of shopping and had dinner at Cocola Bakery.  We wanted to try something different since we usually eat on the lower level food court.  They don’t have that much selection and they ran out of our original sandwich choice but it seems like a good place for a quick bite and bit quieter than downstairs.  My only complaint is that the server was kind of unpleasant.  We had asked for our sandwich with potato salad but it came out with another salad so when we asked him to change it, he seemed exasperated and that he was doing us a huge favor by re-plating our sandwich with the potato salad.  I could hear him slamming plates behind the counter.  The person we placed our order with was much nicer.

This is Vicki with our chicken sandwich and potato salad.  It was a very simple chicken breast on a baguette with some lemony sauce and the side of potato salad.

IMG_0348.JPG

We decided to have a light dinner and then having two desserts.  On the left is cappuccino mousse cake.  The cake itself was a bit dry but the mousse was yummy.  On the right is a slice of millefeuille (or Napoleon).  The pastry cream was light and fluffy but the puff pastry was already a bit soggy so kind of tough to eat.

IMG_0346.JPG

I also decided to try the banana hot chocolate.  I loved the design in the foam and the mug was great, easy to hold and held a lot of hot chocolate.  The banana flavor was light so not overwhelming.

IMG_0345.JPG

I might not go back for the food but I do want to try their French macarons.  They have a rose flavor which sounds yummy.  I think they are only $1.50 each which may sound expensive but they are usually $2-$2.50 per piece.  They do take some work to make so I can understand the cost.  I would make them myself but they never turn out as pretty as the ones in the bakery.

An update on Simon’s sleeping situation.  We started him on a sleep routine two nights ago to see if this would help him sleep longer through the night.  Around 8:30 pm, we give him a bath, put on a fresh diaper and put him in some long sleeve PJs, feed him, wrap him in a blanket, put him down in his crib and whisper “shh shh shh, it’s bedtime Simon, good night” a few times.  He usually gets really drowsy after eating so it’s been easy to let him fall completely asleep on his own.  So far it seems like it’s been helping.  The first night, he slept 5 hours then woke up to eat and slept another 4 hours.  Last night even though we were out late, we did the routine with him and he still slept 3 hours then 4 hours.  Just a few days ago, he had still been waking up after 1.5-2 hours.  I hope this is a good sign that’s he’s getting more restful sleep so that we can get more restful sleep!

Boxed Foods Company

We had lunch this afternoon at Boxed Foods Company. For some reason I was craving a salad and this is one of the places that came up in our area when I searched on Yelp.

Ron ordered the honey-lime chicken and avocado sandwich ($8). It’s served with a small side salad and some oranges. I only had a little bite and everything tasted really fresh and light.

I ordered the grilled steak salad ($9) which has grilled flank steak (cold), cherry tomatoes, shaved red onions, cucumber, feta cheese, fresh mint with caper and lemon vinaigrette. The steak was a bit tough because it was cold and was a bit bland. Otherwise it was refreshing and satisfied my craving.

I can understand how this would be a popular lunch spot with all their fresh ingredients and they brew Blue Bottle Coffee. It does seem a bit pricey but when you want something of higher quality, you have to pay for it…

Boxed Foods Company
245 Kearny Street