Category Archives: Sweets/Bakeries/Desserts

Ghirardelli Square

Day 125

I had the day off today for Independence Day but just really felt like staying at home.  Until the afternoon when I was craving for some ice cream so we decided to go to Ghirardelli Square to have a sundae.  Probably not the best idea since it was super crowded with all the tourists but it’s been a while since we’ve gone there so thought it’d be fun.

After walking around, we saw four places where they serve ice cream now so if there is a long line at one, your best bet is to find one of the smaller to-go places to get your ice cream and chocolate fix.  Only the larger location at the entrance to the square has servers, the rest are more like take-out but there are plenty of places to sit and enjoy your ice cream.

We waited in line upstairs and let Simon entertain himself with Froggie, the frog rattle.

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We think he was a bit cold since it was windy and foggy out so he was a bit cranky.  I had the Gold Rush Sundae which has peanut butter, yum!

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After satisfying our ice cream craving, we headed home to get warm and Simon got all happy.  He’s a silly boy.

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I held Simon while he took a little nap.  He’s grown so much!

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But still comfortable to have him fall asleep on my shoulder…

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?”

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

Simon’s 1st vacation: Southern California – Day 4

Day 69

It is our last day in Southern California, our last day to enjoy some good Chinese/Taiwanese food.  It seemed like Simon had a good night’s rest so was active this morning.  He’s all smiles!

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This onesie is from Auntie Betty.  “I still live at home”… obviously!  But hilarious!

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For lunch we went to Arcadia to SinBala for some Taiwanese food.

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Their menu includes many variations of Chinese sausage.  We ordered one with basil (and some sweet sauce) and one with wasabi.  Basil was delicious.  Wasabi was interesting… but pretty good.

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This is spicy dry wonton.  I didn’t like this because I didn’t think it had much flavor, just kind of bitter with red chili flakes.

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My favorite ba-wan.  Not enough filling in my opinion but decent.

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Green onion pancake.  Very crispy, yet oily.  Not much green onion flavor but the crispiness made up for it.

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I forget what this is called, a steamed dish with meat, mushrooms, boiled egg, and a salty sauce.  Ron’s favorite but not something I like that much.

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After lunch we went to visit  the California Institute of Technology since we had never been on the campus before.  I had seen it earlier off the freeway so just wanted to check it out.  When I was in high school, I really wanted to go there since I was getting really into computers and they had an excellent student to professor ratio.  Sadly I was rejected but it was all for the better.  Berkeley was great and it is where I met to love of my life and now we have Simon!

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An interesting feature at the school is this pond made up of stones from one of their old buildings.  It has turtles and koi plus a few ducks.  The turtles were coming out of the water to sunbathe as the weather was getting warmer.

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Our last stop before heading home was Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain in Pasadena.  The nerdy pharmacist in me just wanted to check out a traditional pharmacy and soda fountain.  It actually wasn’t what I expected.  The pharmacy is in one part of the store with a small OTC retail section.  The soda fountain is in the front, right at the street corner with a retail section of things like Curious George, Betty Boop, cards, books, candies, etc.  We decided to sit down anyways and have a malt shake: pistachio nut.  One shake was enough to split into two glasses so Ron and I shared.  It was nice and creamy, delicious fresh whipped cream, but not super spectacular and a bit expensive ($5.95).  Maybe I had my hopes too high.  But now I can saw I’ve been to a traditional pharmacy and soda fountain.

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We decided to leave in the afternoon since I think all of us were tired and ready to be home and rest.  Simon seems to do great in the car, I wonder how he will be on a plane?  That will be his next vacation when we go to Hawaii in October.


Simon’s 1st vacation: Southern California – Day 3

Day 68 (Mother’s Day)

For lunch we went to Daikokuya, a Japanese ramen joint highly recommended by many friends that they have excellent tonkotsu ramen (pork bone broth).  They open at 12pm on Sundays and we arrived at 11:40am and there were already two other parties waiting.  As we were waiting for the doors to open, a line continued to form, maybe 10-12 other parties.  When they did open, they were ulatra efficient.  They seated everyone then one waitress came to take drink orders then food orders and the cooks started to cook so everything came out quickly.

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We ordered the ramen, one bowl regular and one with kotteri broth (more fragrant, made with pork back fat).  One was a combo with the shredded pork bowl.  The ramen was so yummy!  I usually do not to drink the broth but this one I wanted to drink it all… but was too full so couldn’t.  The shredded pork bowl was interesting, sort of like the grilled eel sauce on pork.  It is worth waiting in line for this ramen.

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After lunch, we headed to The Grove and The Farmers Market.  It was probably a mistaken to go so soon after lunch since we were stuffed but we just walked around and explored.  The Farmers Market is sort of like a food court with many different food stalls.  We walked around The Grove shopping center to make ourselves less full for Bennett’s ice cream.  They were doing a promotional event for the movie Despicable Me so we got our picture taken against with this backdrop.  Simon is yawning as he had just woken up.

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There were also this little people dressed up as the minions in the movie.  Kind of hilarious.

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After working up a bit of an appetite, we went back for ice cream.  The top is cabernet sauvignon sorbet and the bottom is peach ice cream.  The cab sorbet was yummy and refreshing.  The peach only so-so.  Simon looks like he wants some, doesn’t he?

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We drove to Pasadena to have dinner in the evening.  We tried this place called Daisy Mint that was recommended by Betty for their Daisy Noodles.  So we ordered the duck roll, kind of like mushu skin wrapped duck.

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This is the Daisy Noodles.  It is sort of drenched in a sweet coconut curry-like sauce.  It tasted good except the noodles were congeeled together so hard to separate to eat.  It was like they let the noodles sit in the pot too long and they got all stuck together.

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We also had the Green Jungle curry with chicken.  It also had eggplant, green beans, green and red bell peppers.  Nice and spicy.  Served with brown rice.

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The restaurant closes at 9pm but they let us stay there until 9:45pm.  They have this little back patio with heat lamps which was nice since it seemed quieter than inside the restaurant.  Once again, Simon slept through dinner.  I hope this is a pattern but I doubt it.  He got extremely fussy before we left for dinner and was screaming and wasn’t easy to calm down.  He had been sleeping before we arrived to the hotel and I suggested to Ron to move him from his car seat to the bed to be more comfortable.  Bad idea as he woke up and started screaming.  We know never to do that now, just leave him to sleep where he is sleeping.  He eventually calmed down and fell asleep again but spent quite some time whimpering.  It makes me so sad when we can’t figure out how to make him content again.

Oh yes, it is Mother’s Day!  We didn’t really celebrate since Ron says that it is Simon’s job when he’s older.  I look forward to receiving my first Mother’s Day wish from Simon.