It’s the first official week of summer break. The elementary schools here let out last Wednesday and we had a class party in a nearby park to celebrate. Other than that we’ve been relaxing and hanging out at home.

On Saturday, we drove down to Santana Row in San Jose to have lunch at EMC Seafood, a modern Asian-fusion kind of seafood place. Their uni pasta is amazing, and even my father-in-law who usually doesn’t eat pasta enjoyed it. But the star of the show was the seafood tower, which had scallops, oysters, mussels, prawns, sashimi, uni, crab and a whole lobster.

When in Santana Row, one also has to wander into the Amazon bookstore. But one bookstore wasn’t enough for us and we also went to the Barnes and Noble in San Jose. We sadly don’t have a proper bookstore in our city now – although when we first moved there, there was a big Borders (RIP) and a B&N which apparently had a dispute with the landlord and left and is now a supermarket.

Then on Sunday, a barbecue at home.

Currently…

Reading:

Watching:

Terrace House: Opening New Doors on Netflix!

At first I was wondering, why should I watch it? It doesn’t seem very interesting, plus I was never into the kind of strangers-in-a-big-house kind of reality shows. But I love it! Nothing very much happens to be honest, but that’s somehow very refreshing. Interestingly, the six strangers still go to work or go to school, get access to phones and Internet and whatnot. They range in age from 19 to 31, one wants to be a chef, another is a pro-snowboarder, there is an aspiring model, a writer. And in between, there is commentary about the show by six people sitting in a studio. Somehow I cannot stop watching it!

Listening:

We finally finished listening to the Stephen Fry-narrated Harry Potter series. And we are now trying out Chris Colfer’s The Land of Stories series. I am also listening to Alan Cumming read Leviathan.

Eating:

Last night for dinner, laksa fried noodles.

Drinking:

Lots of water

Cooking:

Tonight, perhaps a steamed whole fish if we find a nice one at the Asian supermarket later.

Browsing:

This cute market bag crochet pattern 

Black pepper parmesan biscuits sound delicious

It’s been a while since I’ve read crime/mystery/thriller type book and The Last Place You Look sounds good

Number One Chinese Restaurant is on my TBR list so I’m glad to hear it’s a good read

Last week:

I read:

Dear Committee Members – Julie Schumacher
A Tale for the Time being – Ruth Ozeki
Annihilation – Jeff Vandermeer

Good day to you, wherever you are!

I feel like this year hasn’t been a fantastic one health-wise. Last year was pretty good – I don’t remember being sick much but this year coughs seem to have been plaguing me.

And last week, not long after we returned from Oregon (more on that in another post), I got the chills, and a cough and cold. Then somehow that got worse with some chest pain in the middle of the night. So I finally dragged myself to a doctor, he looked me over, listened to my lungs and all that, said, “it doesn’t sound like pneumonia but I’m going to send you off for a chest x-ray just to rule it out”.

Chest x-ray done, waiting for results, trying to cough discreetly into my mask in a corner of the waiting room, he calls me in and says, “it’s pneumonia”.

So I’ve always thought pneumonia was something that affected old people especially in their dying days. Apparently not.

Also, I’m not dying or in hospital or anything, in case you were concerned!

I was given an antibiotics prescription and told to rest and take deep breaths now and then.

And I’ve just been trying to rest and recover since!

Last weekend, the boys attended a friend’s mini golf birthday party, did a Home Depot workshop, and we hit the farmers market and bought a ton of fruits and vegetables.

Currently…

Reading:

Amberlough – Lara Elena Donnelly

Watching:

Lords and Ladles – a lovely Irish series about three chefs who recreate banquets from time past, including strange things like boiled turkey, Cabinet pudding, stuffed pike and more.

Listening:

No audiobook at the moment

Eating:

One of these pastries

Drinking:

Water and green tea. Also, over the weekend I made a lemon-ginger-mint-lemon thyme tea that was quite nice and apparently is good for coughs.

Last week:

I read:

Turtles All The Way Down – John Green
Paper Girls Vol 4 – Brian K Vaughan
A Girl on the Shore – Inio Asano

I posted:

#AsianLitBingo wrap-up

Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga

#AsianLitBingo – Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig

#AsianLitBingo – Don’t Let Him Know by Sandip Roy

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T Lee #AsianLitBingo

#AsianLitBingo : After Dark by Haruki Murakami

My in-laws arrived from Singapore on Saturday evening and the kids were just so excited to have their grandparents visiting. And of course receive all those books and treats they brought with them!

Also last week, the kids at tennis class

And the elementary school open house. My 7yo thinks he’s tall and has a medium voice, hmmm

Currently…

Reading:

Watching:

With the kids, Masterchef Junior. I love how the young contestants are inspiring my kids to want to learn how to cook!

Listening:
Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve – Leonora Chu

Eating:

A ham and cheese sandwich

Drinking:

Water

Cooking:

Tonight, chicken rice

Fried noodles

Last week:

I read:

The Land of Forgotten Girls – Erin Entrada Kelly
Unicorn of Many Hats – Dana Simpson
Giant Days vol 3
Tell me again how a crush should feel – Sara Farizan

I posted:

#AsianLitBingo – The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly

#AsianLitBingo – Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan

#AsianLitBingo – Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao

#AsianLitBingo – The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by FC Yee

#AsianLitBingo Kinder than Solitude by Yiyun Li

Happy Monday (or Tuesday)!

Hope you had a lovely weekend. My three fellas took me out to a new-to-us sushi restaurant and after that we had a nice wander around the bookstore.

And we ventured back into the farmers market again – our farmers market is a year-round one but we’re mostly there for the summer fruits. So we were excited to see the strawberry stall again.They have the best organic strawberries. And also there were cherries and peaches and nectarines! Hooray!

The preschool had a Mother’s Day celebration on Friday morning and the kids performed three songs which included Bruno Mars’ Just the Way You Are.

Currently…

Reading:

Tell me again how a crush should feel – Sara Farizan
Miss Burma – Charmaine Craig

Watching:

Friday Night Lights and The Good Wife

Listening:

Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve – Leonora Chu
Eating:

A Mother’s Day brownie

Drinking:

Coffee
Cooking:
Taco Rice

Fried noodles with tofu and cabbage

Last week:

I read:

Less – Andrew Sean Greer
Fables deluxe edition Book 3 – Bill Willingham

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha #1) – Tomi Adeyemi

Girls Burn Brighter – Shobha Rao

I posted:

#AsiannLitBingo – Such a Lovely Little War by Marcelino Truong

#AsianLitBingo : Rainbirds by Clarissa Goenawan

Lucy and Linh by Alice Pung

Happy Monday! I’ve got 15 minutes before I’m off to do the school drop-offs, then it’s my day to volunteer in class (I stuff all the homework folders) so let’s make this quick!

Last Tuesday we celebrated a very special 5th birthday with a homemade funfetti cake with chocolate buttercream. The birthday boy also asked me to make tomato soup for dinner, and sausages. So we ended up with a hearty homemade birthday meal with mac and cheese, sausages, grilled broccoli, and tomato soup.

I made the boys amigurumi Pikachu. It really took a lot of patience!!

The boy got his pick of lunch – pizza at Pieology!

Currently…

Reading:

Rainbirds – Clarissa Goenawan

Watching:

More of The Good Wife. Also the Great British Menu.

Listening:

The boys and I are listening to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!

Eating:

I had a slice of homemade raisin bread for breakfast

Drinking:

Water at the moment

Cooking:

Thinking of cooking oyakodon

Maybe some pasta with bacon and asparagus

Last week:

I read:

All’s Faire in Middle School – Victoria Jamieson
The Cuckoo’s Calling – Robert Galbraith

(Books read during the readathon)
Gwenpool vol 3 – Christopher Hastings
Gwenpool Vol 4 – Christopher Hastings
The Interview – Manuele Fior
American Panda – Gloria Chao
Pashmina – Nidhi Chanani

I posted:

Hooray! Spring Break is over!

(Not what my kids are saying, just me)

For the past four weeks I’ve been working on this afghan stitch-along with The Crochet Crowd and I’ve learnt quite a few new things like crocheting cables and popcorn stitches. And this week I’m working on putting the final border on.

We didn’t do all that much over spring break – the husband was busy working so we didn’t get to travel anywhere. But we did some fun stuff around our city,  plenty of play time and playground stuff, and when a pineapple express decided to head our way, the boys got building their Lego Ninjago sets!

Currently…

Reading:

The Dog of the Marriage – Amy Hempel

Watching:

Together with the kids, we’ve been watching The Kids Baking Championship via Sling TV. It’s quite amazing what some of these kids (aged about 11-12) can do, not just in terms of decorating but also their choice of flavors.

Listening:

The Last Black Unicorn – Tiffany Haddish

Eating:

Homemade walnut bread with Brie

Drinking:

Yorkshire Gold with milk

Cooking:

Not quite sure yet this week. Pork chops perhaps.

Some fried beehoon or rice vermicelli with carrots, green beans and tofu.

Last week:

I read:

A Kind of Freedom – Margaret Wilerson Sexton
Sourdough – Robin Sloan
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – JK Rowling (audiobook)

The Owl Service – Alan Garner

I posted:

It was an exciting weekend – the start of spring break and a 7th birthday!

There was cake (a chocolate cake with strawberry frosting and raspberries inside).

And of course presents. He got some dinobots and books and Pokémon things and clothes and more!

And there were rides. As a birthday treat we took the boys to Great America for the first time and the birthday boy sat on one of those really big roller coasters. It didn’t go upside down (it’s the type on wooden tracks) but it sure looked scary! He later said he was kinda scared cos it went up so high. Even my husband said it was really fast.

Currently…

Reading:

Watching:

All sorts of things – finishing up the Big Family Cooking Showdown (I can never remember the name and had to go look it up!). I love Good Girls! And The Good Wife which I never finished watching and now requires a rewatch from the beginning.

Listening:

Just downloaded this one

Eating:

Cake of course!

Drinking:

Tea

Cooking:

Tonight, a slow cooker pork stew with five spice, star anise, cinnamon sticks and dark soy sauce.

Last week:

I read:

 

A Song of Ice and Fire George – R.R. Martin
See what I have done – Sarah Schmidt
Fables Deluxe Edition Book One  – Bill Willingham
The Countess Conspiracy – Courtney Milan