Happy Monday! Hope you all have a great week ahead.

Some things last week:

The 11-year-old recently joined a jazz band. He plays the piano and is one of three 5th-graders in the group, the rest are teenagers. They practice every week and once a month, they perform at a local pizza place. He’s enjoying the music but still has a lot to learn when it comes to jazz piano!

Currently…

Reading:

Watching:

Hacks! on HBO Max. I really like this show about a legendary Las Vegas female stand-up and a 25-year-old entitled comedy writer. It’s smart and funny, and has an older female lead.

Listening:

Still listening to Qian Julie Wang’s Beautiful Country.

Eating and Drinking:

I had some leftover steel cut oatmeal for breakfast.

Cooking:

We have more Indian food leftovers. But I’m thinking of cooking some claypot rice this week (traditionally done in a claypot but I don’t have one, so I cook it in my rice cooker). It’s a seasoned rice with Chinese sausage, chicken, and mushrooms.

Last week:

I read:

Chew volumes 8 to 12. I feel like I was in a bit of a reading slump over the past week or more. So I read a lot of these Chew comics.

I posted:

Library Loot (May 11 to 17)

So the kids are on the mend from Covid. Thanks for your well wishes! The younger one was back at school last week, and the older one took a few more days off (he also got symptoms a few days later than the younger one). So he just went back to school today.

Warning: food pictures coming up!

We decided to have Korean BBQ at home for Mother’s Day. The kids helped prep the vegetables, the bulgogi was a premarinated one that we got from HMart. We also got some nice kalbi and pork belly. We ate it with rice and also lettuce leaves. There was also fish cakes and anchovies from the HMart deli area.

Also, on Cinco de Mayo, the kids wanted to have tacos and burritos. This was my al pastor taqueria taco from our local Mexican restaurant.

I was going to add some photos but WordPress is being a bit sh*tty so I’m giving up.

Some things last week:

Currently…

Reading:

China Boy – Gus Lee

Watching:

Upload Season 2 on Amazon video

Listening:

Beautiful Country – Qian Julia Wang

Eating and Drinking:

I had toast and a slice of Brie for breakfast.

Cooking:

I have some extra pork belly from the KBBQ so I might cook that up and add it to some ramen. I also have to cook up the rest of the bag of asparagus. Maybe a pasta with salmon and asparagus?

Last week:

I read:

A Magic Steeped in Poison – Judy I. Lin

I posted:

Tangzhong marble bread #WeekendCooking

Asian diaspora

Library Loot (May 4 to 10)

Read in April 2022

You may have seen in my post last week that my younger son tested positive for Covid after our return from Hawaii. Not long after, my older son had a slight fever and cough. It took a few days for him to test positive after that. So for last week, it was mostly about resting at home, but also having the kids do some work that the teachers had assigned them.

My younger son is doing a lot better and had no symptoms yesterday so he went back to school today. My older son still has a cough so he’s going to stay home for a bit longer.

So we didn’t really do much over the last week. But here’s a few things:

Currently…

Reading:

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance – Lisa Yee

The Wedding Crasher – Mia Sosa

Watching:

The Walking Dead season 10

Listening:

I recently finished Intimacies by Katie Kitamura and haven’t yet picked a new audiobook.

Eating and Drinking:

I had a pain au chocolat from Paris Baguette for breakfast.

Cooking:

I’ll be cooking some simple foods this week. Noodle soups, rice and fish with lots of vegetables. Hopefully it’s nourishing and will help improve everyone’s immune systems.

Last week:

I read:

Chef Yasmina and the Potato Panic – Wauter Mannaert

Intimacies  – Katie Kitamura

While Justice Sleeps – Stacey Abrams

To Love and to Loathe – Martha Waters

I posted:

Library Loot (April 27 to May 2)

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel

Happy Monday! My younger son turned 9 over the weekend, and also had a positive covid test the same day. Sigh. It was something I had been worrying about since we returned from Hawaii last week. The mask mandate on airplanes was still on when we flew to Hawaii but it was shot down a few days later. And at least half the people on the full flight back to the Bay Area were not wearing masks. We still kept ours on, but with a five plus hour flight, can’t avoid taking it off to eat and drink. So it’s unfortunate that he now has Covid. As of today, the rest of the family has tested negative, but we’ll keep testing over the next few days.

But, we did have a wonderful time in Hawaii. It was the kids’ first time to Hawaii and everyone’s first time to the Big Island. We went night snorkelling with the manta rays, saw the lava glow at the Volcano National Park, and lots of swimming and relaxing at the beach.

You can see more details and photos on my Big Island post.

Some things last week:

Currently…

Reading:

While Justice Sleeps – Stacey Abrams

Watching:

The Walking Dead

Listening:

Intimacies – Katie Kitamura

Eating and Drinking:

Jasmine tea. And a maple doughnut.

Cooking:

I’ll cook some simple meals this week. Noodle soup. Rice and dishes. I’ve got some asparagus and spinach to cook up. Some maybe I’ll turn that into pasta.

Last week:

I read:

The Hawthorne Legacy – Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The Love Con – Seressia Glass

Sea of Tranquility – Emily St John Mandel

Last Night at the Telegraph Club – Malinda Lo

I posted:

Big Island April 2022

Library Loot (April 20 to 26)

Hello, April!

Some things last week:

My older son turned 11! I made him a Black Forest cake (also a blog post on that!)

He loves burgers so we ordered burgers from The Counter. His had bacon and onion rings. Mine had a grilled pineapple, spring mix, roasted red peppers, and sprouts.

Currently…

Reading:

The Cartographers – Peng Shepherd

Watching:

Minx on HBO Max.

Eating and Drinking:

For breakfast this morning, a slice of toast with peanut butter. And a fancy coffee that a friend brought from Singapore when he visited. Bacha Coffee is a brand from Morocco.

Cooking:

We had hotpot last night so we have leftovers. I’ll also cook some rice later to eat along with it.

I want to cook some rice noodles this week. Maybe with salmon.

Last week:

I read:

A Lot Like Adios – Alexis Daria

The Inheritance Games – Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I posted:

Black Forest Birthday Cake #WeekendCooking

A Lot Like Adios (But say hello to Black Forest Cake)

Library Loot (March 31 to April 5)

Wow we are moving out of March and into April this week!

Some things last week:

Currently…

Reading:

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch – Rivka Galchen

Watching:

Bridgerton Season 2

Listening:

A Lab of One’s Own: One Woman’s Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science – Rita Colwell

Eating and Drinking:

Cooking:

Ah I didn’t have time to make the sweet potato pie last week, hopefully I’ll be able to this week!! It’s also my older boy’s birthday. He’s asked for a Black Forest cake. Cherries still aren’t in season so I’ve picked up some frozen cherries to make the filling. I’ve been making a Black Forest cake for my husband’s birthday for a few years now as it’s his favourite cake. For the kids, they’ve had funfetti cakes and chocolate cakes. But this year, my son declared that his would be Black Forest too.

Last week:

I read:

The Waiting and Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim

Donut Fall in Love – Jackie Lau

I posted:

The Turning Pointe by Vanessa L. Torres

Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau

Library Loot (March 23 to 29)

Some things last week:

Went with the kids and friends to a BTS cup sleeve event at a local boba store. Order a drink and you get these cute freebies for two of the members’ (JHope and Suga, or as they’re sometimes called Sope) birthdays. And the whole place is decorated with lots of photos with the members. Then a short walk to a Japanese store/restaurant for lunch, where I had chirashi bowl.

Currently…

Reading:

Watching:

With the kids, I watched Is It Cake? on Netflix, where yes, bakers make cakes that don’t look like cakes. First episode – fast food!

Listening:

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

Eating and Drinking:

Cooking:

Maybe some Hong Kong-style baked rice.

I have some sweet potatoes to use up and was considering making a sweet potato pie, something I’ve never had – or eaten – before. But I presume it’s kinda like pumpkin pie? Well, I’ll have to find out what’s a good recipe.

Last week:

I read:

Grass and The Waiting by Keum Suk Gentry-Kim. I hope to post about it later this week as they’re incredible (also incredibly sad) graphic novels about South Korea.

I posted:

Ghost Forest by Pik-Shuen Fung

Library Loot (March 16 to 22)

Hello Monday!

Some things last week:

BTS had their first concert in South Korea in about 2.5 years. The first and third days were broadcast live online and the second was screened in cinemas around the world. So on Thursday, I woke up at 145am to catch the 2am concert and on Sunday, the 1am concert. They’re incredible entertainers and the quality of the video and audio is amazing, perhaps even better than their last online concerts! I got the two-day multi-view pass. Most of the time I watched in single view but there are some songs that they do where they’re roaming around the stage more so I watched that in multi-view.

Of course we had to have Korean food over the weekend. Above is kimchi fried rice with spam. We also had bibimbap and kimbap as well as chicken wings.

Currently…

Reading:

Watching:

Well, I watched the BTS concert over the weekend.

Listening:

I just downloaded the audiobook of The Final Revival of Opal and Nev

Eating and Drinking:

Had a slice of sourdough toast with butter, and my usual Yorkshire Gold

Last week:

I read:

Almond – Song Won-pyung

A Stitch in Time – Kelley Armstrong

Bourdain – Laurie Woolever

I posted:

Almond by Sohn Won-pyung

Library Loot (March 9 to 15)

The Shimmering State – Meredith Westgate

Hey, look, it’s Monday again!

Some things last week:

Currently…

Reading:

Bitter – Akwaeke Emezi

Watching:

Love is Blind Japan. Ok the Japanese edition of this show is such a better watch than the US version, which sometimes felt a bit too over the top. I enjoyed how it moved more slowly and we get also much more of the interactions in the pods.

Listening:

Bourdain – edited by Laurie Woolever

Making:

Among Us crewmates for the kids. Made using Bernat Blanket yarn.

Eating and Drinking:

I had a croissant from Paris Baguette for breakfast.

Cooking:

Korean noodles

Last week:

I read:

I posted:

Read in February 2022

Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan

The Return by Hisham Matar

A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson

Library Loot (March 2 to 8)

Another Monday but this one says goodbye to February.

Some things last week:

A group of friends (our kids go to the same school) went out to a Korean restaurant to celebrate a birthday. We had lots of good things to eat! Spicy pork, kimchi fried rice, seafood pancake, tempura squid, tteokbokki (rice cake in a spicy stew). And can’t forget the soju!

Currently…

Reading:

I’m trying this again. I started it a while back but never finished it!

Watching:

Love is Blind Japan. Oh this one is so much better than the American edition!

Listening:

Nothing at the moment.

Eating and Drinking:

I had sourdough walnut bread with coconut jam for breakfast. Also my usual Yorkshire Gold.

Cooking:

I bought lamb loin chops last week and want to cook it with mashed potatoes and asparagus.

Last week:

I read:

I posted:

Library Loot (February 23 to March 1)