We made pizza for dinner on Friday. Lots of broccoli, mushrooms, sausages. And on the other, mini bell peppers, bacon, mushrooms and more broccoli.

 Love this xiaolongbao place near us. It’s not as pricy as Din Tai Fung and doesn’t require a long wait (as long as you go when they open at 11). And it has red bean pancake!

 

 

Currently…

 

Reading:

 

 

 I leave this little book in my car for emergencies like this when I forgot my book!

 

I’m reading this out loud to the boys. This is the second book in this series about a TV cooking competition for kids

Watching:

 How to Get Away With Murder

Listening:

 

American Like Me

Eating:

 

Drinking:

Yorkshire Gold

 

Last week:

I read:

The Plotters – Un-Su Kim

I posted:

Daisy Jones & The Six

Library Loot (April 10 to 16)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did you take part in the readathon over the weekend? I sort of did. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do very much as my parents are in town and we would go out and do things, but I still wanted to join in for a bit. And I ended up reading four comics on Saturday!

 

Here’s what else we did this weekend:

Took my Dad to Texas Roadhouse for prime rib and those delicious soft buns that they have.

 

Did lots of gardening. We’ve had such a wet winter this year in Northern California – it was just raining again last week – and I haven’t been able to really get out there and handle all the weeds and plants that didn’t make it through the winter! I finally got to doing that, did some tilling of the soil, and hopefully the kids can plant some of their seeds soon. They selected some vegetables and some flowers and I haven’t exactly been successful planting flowers from seed (except sunflowers) so I hope they won’t be disappointed!

 

The 8yo and I made this Vermont Whole Wheat Oatmeal Honey Bread (recipe from King Arthur Flour) and it was fun teaching him how to knead the dough.

 

Currently…

 

Reading:

 

 

 

Watching:

I started watching How To Get Away With Murder and am hooked!

 

Eating:

Godiva soft serve

Drinking:

Water

 

Last week:

I read:

The Serpent Sea – Martha Wells
Daisy Jones & The Six Taylor – Jenkins Reid
A Woman Is No Man – Etaf Ram
The Backstagers Vol 1: Rebels Without Applause – James Tynion , Illustrated by Rian Sygh
Backstagers Vol 2 – James Tynion , Illustrated by Rian Sygh
Moonstruck Vol 2: Some Enchanted Evening – Grace Ellis
The Diary of Anne Frank: graphic novel – Anne Frank, adapted by Ari Folman, David Polonksy (illustrator)

I posted:

 

#WeekendCooking Funfetti birthday cake

Library Loot (April 3 to 9)

Things That Make Me Pick Up a Book #TopTenTuesday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My parents flew in from Singapore on Friday evening, just in time to celebrate my older boy’s 8th birthday yesterday.

He placed an order for a funfetti cake with chocolate buttercream.

So tada!

 

We started the birthday off with homemade waffles

He requested burgers for his birthday lunch so we tried a new place called Grub Burger Bar.

Then he got to spend the afternoon playing video games and in the evening cycling – we got him a new bike for his birthday present.

Oh and on Saturday, his music school had their annual recital and he did great!

Currently…

 

Reading:

Daisy Jones & The Six – Taylor Jenkins Reid
 

 

 

Watching:

I’ve been watching Zumbo’s Just Desserts, an Australian baking competition. It’s a slightly different take on TV baking competitions – the two worst scoring bakers of the day go head-to-head and recreate judge Zumbo’s super-fancy desserts. It’s always a technically difficult creation, like one which was a dessert in a dessert in a dessert in a dessert kind of thing like a brownie within a lemon tart with a ricotta pancake and a raspberry gel all encased in a meringue layer. Or something like that. And there was a levitating dessert!! Inside that chocolate hat was a ridiculously difficult ice-cream gobstopper with like five layers that sounded more like a savoury dish than dessert like tomatoes, avocado, corn, some chocolate-chipotle thing. I was intrigued but also appalled that this was a challenge for home bakers….

Listening:

The Fellowship of the Ring – JRR Tolkien

This is the BBC radio production with a full cast and sound effects and all.

 

Eating:

Funfetti cake

Drinking:

Lots of water

Cooking:

We had hotpot last night so lots of leftovers!

Last week:

I read:

Lu – Jason Reynolds
Wundersmith – Jessica Townsend
Geekerella – Ashley Poston

I posted:

Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend

Book Beginnings/Friday 56 – A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

Library Loot (March 27 to April 2)

Top 5 audiobooks with multiple narrators #toptentuesday

 

 

 

 

Ugh I was hit with some kind of cold bug again last week. It just seems to be a winter of colds and coughs over here. I’m so grateful that the husband was able to work from home for a bit as I really was unable to drive the kids to school that day – the cold just made me very whoozy and I didn’t want to risk driving. That was also the day I binge-watched the last season of Terrace House: Opening New Doors. Oh man was that dramatic or what!! (There was off-camera conspiring, and a sock saga!) Also there was a hint of a new season in Tokyo! Can’t wait. Do you watch Terrace House?

 

 

 

Swimming in a pool of foam cubes at a friend’s birthday party at a children’s gym

 

 

Lunch at Dish Dash. I had a craving for baba ghanoush!

I tried making dorayaki or Japanese red bean pancake for the first time.

 

 

Currently…

 

Reading:

 

 

The Queue – Basma Abdel Aziz

 

Watching:

 Finally finished The Big Family Cooking Showdown season two and I have a lot of things to say about it. So I’ll maybe actually write a post for the weekend!

 

Eating:

We were in San Jose and picked up some mochi – the cube at the bottom left is mango. The pinkish one is white bean inside. There was also green tea. And the rest were red bean paste.

 

Drinking:

Water

Cooking:

Maybe Japanese curry again. The kids have been asking for it!

And I’ve been wanting some kind of soup. I made tomato soup last week but am trying to make something else. Any suggestions?

 

Last week:

I read:

Every Heart a Doorway – Seanan McGuire
Sweet Bean Paste – Durian Sukegawa
At Dusk – Hwang Sok-Yong
The Fated Sky – Mary Robinette Kowal

I posted:

Library Loot (March 20 to 26)

Reading Sweet Bean Paste and making dorayaki #weekendcooking

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a weekend away at Dodge Ridge. It’s probably the closest ski resort to us and it’s a slightly less than 3 hour drive. The husband and I took ski lessons and the kids did snowboard lessons. The 5yo didn’t last the full class but the 7yo loved it! I discovered I’m not a big fan of skiing but at least I tried it and I’m glad I did!

We also did lots of eating.

At The Pie Pizzeria in Sierra Village, a tiny place run by just two people, a really scrumptious pizza with salami, Italian sausage and artichokes. I tend to prefer thin-crust pizzas but this one, though a thicker crust, was nice and crispy underneath and not too bready.

 Also a nice breakfast at the very friendly Sweet Pea’s Bakery in Mi-Wuk Village.

Currently…

 

Reading:

 

 

The Plotters – Un-Su Kim

 

Watching:

 

Listening:

Just finished Beastie Boys Book and wondering what next!

 

Eating:

 Sushi for dinner

Drinking:

Lots of water

Last week:

I read:

Sabrina – Nick Drnaso
Half-Hazard – Kristen Tracy
My Sister, the Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite
I posted:

Library Loot (March 13 to 19)

Standalone books that need a sequel #toptentuesday

National Geographic’s 100 Dives of a Lifetime – Review

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo is an enchanting read

 

 

 

Happy Monday you guys!

Hope you all had a great weekend.

 

 

 

We took the kids to the optometrist and it turns out the 7yo’s prescription has increased! Luckily the 5yo is still spectacles-free.

We tried a new-to-us ramen place and I gave the spicy ramen a try. It was more peppery than I would have liked though! But I liked that they had lots of grilled pork belly.

 

Currently…

 

Reading:

Half-Hazard – Kristen Tracy

My Sister, The Serial Killer – Oyinkan Braithwaite

All You Can Ever Know – Nicole Chung

 

Watching:

Season 2 of The Big Family Cooking Showdown

Listening:

Beastie Boys Book

Oh wow this is such a great audiobook! The cast of narrators is amazing! From Rosie Perez to LL Cool J to Jarvis Cocker.

Eating:

Homemade whole wheat walnut bread – recipe from Ruby Tandoh’s Crumb

Drinking:

Yorkshire Gold with milk

Cooking:

Maybe this crispy spinach pizza from Smitten Kitchen. Although I may reduce the number of cheeses and keep it to mozzarella and gruyere and then add some bacon!

I made a lemon-butter-garlic salmon pasta a couple of weeks ago and still have the other part of the salmon (I bought that really large piece of salmon from Costco) and so I may make that again.

 

 

Last week:

I read:

Magician’s Land – Lev Grossman
The Perfectionists – Simon Winchester
The Night Tiger – Yangsze Choo
The Cloud Roads – Martha Wells

 

I posted:

The Perfectionists: How Precision Engineers Created the Modern World by Simon Winchester

Book Beginnings/Friday 56 with The Night Tiger

Library Loot (March 6 to 12)

2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? Let me know in the comments!

We had a bit of a wet one. But still did our usual swim class, tennis sessions, lunches out. We also met up with the husband’s cousin who had just flown in from Singapore for the week for work.

 

 

Currently…

 

Reading:

 

 

The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

 

 

 

 

Watching:

The Grand Tour

Listening:

The Perfectionists – I’m almost done!

Eating:

Waffles

Drinking:

Yorkshire Gold

Cooking:

Browsing:

Much as I love peanut butter, I haven’t actually eaten a peanut dessert of the western variety, at least none I can remember. But this salted peanut tart has me considering!

A great post on book recommendation sites and whether they work

Just learnt about Serial Box from Jenny at Reading the End

Last week:

I read:

Witch Boy – Molly Ostertag
Golden Tresses of Dead – Alan Bradley
The Wedding Date – Jasmine Guillory
I posted:

 

Golden Tresses of the Dead

#BookBeginnings #Friday56 with Why I Wake Early

Reading notes (February 28, 2019)

Library Loot (February 27 to March 5)

Top Places In Books I’d Like to Visit #toptentuesday