Happy last Monday of May! It’s the last week of school for my kids. My older son is graduating from sixth grade on Friday
Some things last week:
Last week was a busy week! The school had their open house so we got to visit the classrooms and see their different projects. This one is by the fourth graders, a cereal inspired by the book they read for their book presentation. My son’s is the Secret Charms at the bottom, inspired by The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart.
He also had a concert with his elementary orchestra. It was wonderful to see how much they improved over a few months (their first concert had been in mid-January).
The sixth graders’ geometry project.
Some sushi takeout from our nearby Japanese eatery. We tried a baked sushi (the one in foil at the back) for a change. It was surprisingly spicy! I say surprising because the description didn’t say anything about a spicy sauce…
Not sure why it’s been ages since we’ve had In-N-Out. Maybe because the one near us is always busy. But we got there early so there were plenty of seats.
The husband had Friday off (it’s Memorial Day today), so we tried out a new-to-us Caribbean/South American restaurant. This is a jerk pork shoulder with caramelised plantains, and rice and beans.
Also tried out some street food doubles (chickpea curry topped with chutney, sitting on a bara pocket ie flatbread). Also, these delicious spicy beef patties. What made them especially good was that green sauce on top. Not sure what it was but it had that nice hit of acid that makes it better.
At the farmers market, stone fruits are coming in! I grabbed a few white nectarines to try.
Currently…
Reading:
Y/N by Esther Yi
Watching:
Still watching some Succession, also I’m waiting for tomorrow’s new episodes of Love Village on Netflix.
Listening:
Imposter Syndrome and other confessions of Alejandra Kim – Patricia Park
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
Tuesday morning, I get a call from the school office to pick up the 10yo who was shivering and feeling unwell. Turns out he had a fever. He continued to have a high fever the rest of the day, and a slightly lower one the next day as well. After lots of rest and hydration, but not much food as he just couldn’t eat much, he finally went back to school on Friday. He was pretty much ok on Thursday but had to stay 24 h fever-free before returning to school.
The 12yo made dinner on Friday – a one-pot creamy zucchini and leek spaghetti.
The kids had an away volleyball game in San Jose on Saturday. It was a nice cool morning at a very busy park – there were several little kids’ art classes going on behind us, a popular neighbourhood playground, as well as a large dog park.
Since we were in San Jose, we decided to just eat lunch around there and found a Japanese restaurant that was supposed to be izakaya-style, but it wasn’t really..oh well, they had this delicious pork belly crunchy rice. And a crab croquette.
At the Sunday farmers market – cherries are back! Because of the kids’ weekend schedules (volleyball and band), it’s a bit harder to go to Brentwood for cherry picking this year, so we may just have to get our cherries from the farmers markets.
Last night’s dinner – miso butter ramen. The 12yo picked ramen for dinner. He had performed with his elementary intermediate band at their first ever concert. They played 5 songs. There were a total of six different bands, from beginner to advanced, all elementary students.
Currently…
Reading:
The Monkey King – Wu Cheng’en
Watching:
Love Village on Netflix, it’s a Japanese dating reality show where the members are all in their 30s and up, I believe the oldest is 60. Some of them have been divorced and have kids, others have never married. They live together in a very old traditional Japanese house in the middle of nowhere, which they have to work together to refurbish, tend to the garden, cook, and fall in love (hopefully).
Listening:
I just finished listening to All the Living and the Dead by Hayley Campbell
Eating and Drinking:
For breakfast, a slice of homemade bread and some brie. Also tea. Once I’m done with this post, I’m going to have a Nespresso.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
Well, we are in mid-May now, guys! The kids have just a couple of weeks of school left!! It feels weird to say that because the school year has always ended closer to mid-June, but the school district decided to move the start of school ahead last year and so here we are, ending school in early June.
Also, in blog-related news, I’ve decided to let the URL reallifereading.com lapse, as well as the WordPress domain connection to that URL. Originally this blog was known as olduvaireads.wordpress.com but I’ve since changed that to reallifereadingreads.wordpress.com. Hope that’s not too confusing!
Some things last week:
Not a fan of being at crazy crowded restaurants on Mother’s Day, we instead had our own kbbq in the backyard. We had 4 different kinds of mushrooms, zucchini, leeks, pork jowl, bulgogi, and some non-marinated beef. We also picked up a couple of banchan (Korean side dish) at the Korean supermarket, I’ve recently become fond of the spicy dried squid (here’s a recipe), which surprisingly my 12yo enjoys too.
Currently…
Reading:
Chlorine – Jade Song
Stay True – Hua Hsu
Watching:
So while I’ve enjoyed watching Succession, it’s hard to watch too much of all that backstabbing and betrayal. So in between that, I started watching Queen Charlotte on Netflix. I think I’m actually enjoying it more than I did with Bridgerton!
Listening:
All the Living and the Dead – Hayley Campbell
Eating and Drinking:
Cooking:
We visited the local farmers market for the first time this year. It runs year-round but we tend to go usually when strawberry season starts. And hey, the strawberry vendor was indeed there, although since it’s at the start of the season, the prices are a bit on the higher side. Still, the strawberries were so sweet compared to the ones from the supermarket. It’s worth it. Hopefully the prices will go down a bit as the season moves along. There was also one fruit vendor that had a few baskets of cherries. But it was really expensive! We will have to wait a bit or maybe go cherry picking ourselves. I posted about our 20 pounds of cherries that we picked last year.
Last week:
I read:
Our Stories Carried Us Here – Daniel Zueniga Gonzalez
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
The kids have been playing in a volleyball league since last month and last weekend, they had their first games. At first, we weren’t sure if it was going to be on as it was raining (surprisingly) where we were. The game site was a half hour drive away, and luckily, it wasn’t raining there, although it was windy and cold. The kids had fun and their teams won some games.
Jjampong for dinner
Some reading for AAPI month
Currently…
Reading:
Chlorine – Jade Song
Watching:
Succession season 2
Eating and Drinking:
I had a slice of walnut bread, toasted. Also a mug of tea.
Cooking:
Today, we have some dimsum leftovers from yesterday. But I picked up some salmon from Costco, so I’ll do a miso-soy sauce marinade and panfry it. Eat with some asparagus and rice, maybe.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
Hey it’s May already. How did that happen? Weirdly, after a rather hot week, today it’s cloudy and chilly, and we may even see some rain this week.
Some things last week:
So last Monday was my younger son’s 10th birthday, and I had posted about his birthday party over that weekend. We also had our own little celebration at home after school. I made a chocolate cheesecake – the first time making a cheesecake! We are not big on cheesecake, except for the 10yo, who loves cheesecake. So we occasionally may pick up a slice of cheesecake from Whole Foods. But I’ve never tried to make one before. I do however, put my trust into King Arthur’s recipes, and this one was easy enough, although the cake did crack a bit as it cooled in the oven. It did taste delicious though, even my older son, who’s always a “I don’t like cheesecake” person, enjoyed it.
We had a busy weekend, the kids had volleyball practice, and also the annual piano recital, which was held in-person for the first time in four years. The music school has previously done online ones, and that’s not the same. The recital was held in a nearby church and the kids did great.
My mum had been visiting us from Singapore since earlier this month. She flew back home last night. It was really great to have her stay with us for about a month. She loves Korean food so we made sure to take her out for some Korean food (although there’s great Korean food in Singapore too, my dad doesn’t like to eat Korean food as much). We had seafood kalguksu (thick noodles), vegetable pancakes, bibimbap and more. And of course the side dishes or banchan. Because we recently have been eating more of what they called Korean fusion or Korean street food eateries, these places tend not to serve banchan with the meal. The street food dishes include more stuff like fried chicken, gimbap, and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes).
Currently…
Reading:
Queerly Beloved – Susie Dumond
Romantic Comedy – Curtis Sittenfeld
Watching:
We watched the last episode of Jinny’s Kitchen on Amazon video. I’ve also just started watching Succession. Not sure what to make of it yet.
Listening:
Haven’t figured out a new audiobook yet.
Eating and Drinking:
I woke up early today, as my 10yo has a full-day field trip to Sacramento. They had to be at school at 630, and the buses left at 645. It’s about almost a 2h drive there one-way. He insisted that I wake him up at 530!
Cooking:
Miso eggplant and maybe some kind of stirfried noodles. It is a bit cooler this week, so maybe I’ll make some soup.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
My younger son had some friends over on Saturday as it’s his birthday today. I made funfetti cupcakes with chocolate frosting – and one kid who doesn’t eat frosting so just a plain cupcake.
Kids these days all would prefer to just stay in and play video games, even at birthday parties. But at least we got them outdoors to play some tag and frisbee in the neighbourhood playground, and some nerf gun battles in the backyard.
On Sunday, we went out to get conveyor belt sushi.
Also some soft serve ice-cream that’s topped with a taiyaki that has filling inside. The older kid picked an ube and milk swirl, topped with a taro-filled taiyaki. The younger one went for a Thai tea and cookies and cream swirl, with a custard filling. I’m not typically a fan of taro but this filling and softserve ice-cream were really good.
The husband was in Palo Alto for a lunch meeting and picked up a fruit tart from a French bakery
Currently…
Reading:
Whale by Cheon Myeong-Kwan
She Is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
Watching:
Suchwita (or R-chwita for this episode)
Listening:
I just finished listening to Indelible City, and am looking for my next audiobook.
Eating and Drinking:
I had sourdough toast with a slice of brie, and a cup of tea. But because I woke up at 4-something – I don’t know, but it sounded like a helicopter?? – I just had a shot of espresso too.
Cooking:
It’s my son’s birthday today, so I’m making a chocolate cheesecake today, using this recipe from King Arthur. I’ve never made cheesecake before, as the rest of us aren’t really fans of cheesecake. But for a tenth birthday, I’m going to give it a try!
We’ll take him out for dinner tonight, and I think he wants burgers. As for the rest of the week, maybe some chicken rice, noodles.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
The kids were on spring break last week and we took a short road trip to Sea Ranch, which is on the coast. It’s such a beautiful place. This planned community was developed in the 1960s and there are still new homes being built today – we saw at least two new structures on our walks. The houses are all designed in a specific style, that’s supposed to kind of blend in and not be eyesores. The colours of the houses are usually like browns and greys, like in the photo above. We had a nice time relaxing, taking walks, and enjoying the view. I’ve got a proper post on that tomorrow.
It’s been getting warmer and we decided to have a backyard bbq on Saturday.
We also had Korean fried chicken – one order with cheddar powder and the other with a sweet-spicy sauce. Delicious! We ate it with kimbap from the Korean supermarket HMart.
Currently…
Reading:
Love and Other Words – Christina Lauren
Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble – Alexis Hall
Watching:
Well, I tried to watch the Love is Blind “live” reunion (that turned out not to be live but whatever). And I never managed to even get on to watch it, kept getting error messages.
Listening:
Indelible City – Louisa Lim
Eating and Drinking:
I had a piece of toast and a cup of tea for breakfast.
Cooking:
Picked up some salmon bones at the Korean supermarket. Will use it to make fish soup!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
He asked for a Black Forest cake so that’s what I made. It’s a four-layer cake, with homemade cherry filling, fresh whipped cream, and shaved chocolate and raspberries on top.
The birthday boy wanted burgers so we went to get The Counter. This is becoming my usual order – roasted red peppers, baby kale, grilled pineapple, alfalfa, on a brioche bun.
His friends came over on Saturday for video games, nerf gun battles, pizza, and chocolate cupcakes. I used this recipe from King Arthur for the cupcakes.
The kids wanted to try volleyball and so the volleyball season just started on Saturday.
My mum (who’s visiting us from Singapore) loves Korean food, so we went out to a Korean eatery that is more of a street food/drinking place, and had some great Korean fried chicken (it’s served with pickled daikon and cabbage), corn cheese, kimchi fried rice.
Currently…
Reading:
Still working on this book, Heart of the Sun Warrior. I also just started A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger last night.
Watching:
The latest ep of Jinny’s Kitchen on Amazon video
Listening:
I just finished listening to Pop Song by Larissa Pham
Eating and Drinking:
I had a slice of Black Forest Cake for breakfast!
Cooking:
We have some Korean food leftovers today, but might want to cook some Singapore-style pork stew later this week. I’m also making some tangzhong bread today, and since I have additional heavy cream leftover from the cake making, I’ll make some scones too.
Last week:
I read:
The Hell Bound vol 1 and 2 – Yeon Sang-Ho, illustrated by Choi Gyu-Seok
The Islands of Chaldea – Diana Wynne Jones, Ursula Jones
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date.
Real Life Reading 