I truly believe that there is nothing funnier than Japanese Human Tetris (or any of those crazy Japanese game shows).
With that said, I was looking forward to ABC’s I Survived a Japanese Game Show. After the hour, I wasn’t sure what to think of the show. I admit that, yes, it’s poor reality-summer-programming and the whole competition/Survivor-esque thing they’ve got going on is not helping them. (Honestly, the show reminds me of that Simpsons episode where our favorite family from Springfield were mere guinea pigs being exploited for entertainment.)
But, the actual game show was effin’ hilarious, it brought me to tears. Conveyor Restaurant? Laughed out loud! Smashed bug on windshield? Loved it!
Tivo through the commercials and “reality” part of the show and you’ve got a winner.
Btw – does anyone think that Judge Bob is Ciaran Hinds’ Japanese counterpart?
I love taking online quizzes, something to waste time, procrastinate, what have you…
What were you doing ten years ago?
Crap! Has it really been 10 years already? My lord, I believe I was packing up my corner of the Turquoise house where I lived with 5 other girlfriends, all of whom I don’t talk to anymore. (Sad!) I had just graduated from UCSD and was moving back home, starting life all over again.
What are five things on your to-do list today?
- finish up laundry
- buy a bridal shower gift
- decide on 1st birthday & baby shower gifts
- buy tickets for the Frida Kahlo exhibit at SFMOMA
- plan a Tuscan/Florentine getaway
Snacks you enjoy?
Kashi TLC Chewy Granola Bars (Honey Almond Flax is the fave du jour); Coke bottle gummies or peach gummies; good ol’ mild cheddar cheese with wheat thins; pirate’s booty; fresh fruit; and when it’s been one of those days, a snack pack of famous amos chocolate chip cookies from the company vending machine.
Places You’ve Lived?
- San Francisco, CA
- Daly City, CA
- La Jolla, CA
- San Diego, CA
- South San Francisco, CA
- Belmont, CA
I guess one can say that I’m a California girl through and through.
What are 5 things you would do if you were a billionaire?
Well, 5 things after quitting my job…
1. pay off our home, buy a bigger home in San Francisco, an apartment in Paris and a home in Hawaii
2. put away enough money for college expenses
3. start my own business and/or go back to school
4. spread the wealth with family & dear friends
5. invest (key word, invest) in a Hermes Sac Kelly
Technically more than 5, but a billionaire implies a lot of money…
People you want to know more about?
my grandfathers (I know enough about my grandmas), Paul Klee, Julia Child, Antoine de Saint Exupery, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Frida Kahlo, the Dalai Lama, Josephine Baker, the six wives of Henry VIII (I’m really into the Tudors right now), Grace Kelly
In the later days of my Mads pregnancy, summer was in full force – even in SF – and my poor feet were swollen beyond belief that even my beloved flip-flops were getting uncomfortable. So, for about 30 minutes, I was entertaining the idea of buying a pair of crocs so that I wouldn’t have to go barefoot to the hospital.
So, we all know that they’re not the most beautiful shoe, but I was desperate. Maybe if I bought them in a super cute color, like fuschia, it wouldn’t be so bad. Yeah, right. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. And that was the end of those 30 minutes.
No offense to all you Croc wearers…bien sur.
Flash forward to present day, summer is here and Mads needs summer shoes pronto. At first she refused to try them on at the store, but now, I can’t get her to wear any other pair of shoes. (She’s got a pair on converse slip ons and a pair of vans.) She fondly calls them her “pink shoes”.
Photo from here.
Now, I’m even thinking about getting her some jibbitz! She’d be over the moon if we got her these!
…sadly costs as much as a car payment. Le sigh.
Photo from here.
I believe that this dish is British in origin. It’s nowhere to be found in Julia’s repertoire.
S had made it for me a while ago…and it was good, but I wanted to get away from using mayonnaise – as some online recipes have called for.
What you’ll need:
- one prepared pie shell – I use organic whole wheat crusts
- 4 eggs
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 leek – white, yellow and light green parts only, sliced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Olive oil
- 1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
- 1 can tuna packed in spring water, well-drained and flaked
- salt & fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Melt the butter with some olive oil in a pan over medium heat, add the leeks and saute until softened and cooked down, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs, cream and salt and pepper until combined. Add cooled leeks, tuna and goat cheese. Stir to combine.
Pour mixture into prepared and cooled pie crust. Bake at 375F for about 35-40 minutes until the top is golden brown. Let the quiche cool slightly and serve with a green salad.
As this was a create as you go quiche, it worked out well (and tasted quite good) for S’ low-key b-day dinner. I served it with a spinach & romaine salad with organic grape tomatoes, english cucumber and a red wine vinaigrette. For dessert, makeshift strawberry shortcakes.
From an article in the NY Times:
Mr. McCain, by contrast, has been emphasizing national security more than any other issue and has made clear that he would like to fight the election primarily on that ground.
I believe that it was James Carville that said during the 1992 presidential race: “It’s the economy, stupid”
Yes, a little optimistic on my part. 🙂
So here we are in Chicago…
As much fun as Minneapolis was, I was happy to arrive in Chicago and be surrounded by much needed diversity. Diversity – it’s a good thing.
It was a bit tricky as we arrived. Hoping Mads would again fall asleep during take off, she did quite the contrary. She fell asleep during landing. Without a baby carrier of some sort (note to self: bring the Ergo), she was going to wake up as soon as I picked her up. I let her sleep as long as I could – waited for the plane to empty before headed out. As expected, eyes shot open as soon as I picked her up. We slowly made our way to baggage claim and then hopped on the bus that would take us to our rental car. (I love that you can request a car seat from Hertz!)
We drove back to the airport to pick up lola and were on our way to Bucktown.
My cousin, who had arrived the night before, greeted us and after we got settled we headed out in search of my favorite coffehouse on Damen. It had been a while and I couldn’t remember how much farther down Damen it was, so we instead stopped at Chipotle for tacos. The funny thing is, that two doors down, was my coffeehouse. Oh well. We stopped at Psycho Baby and the Marc Jacobs store before walking back home.
One of my uncles had arrived home and directed us to a cute little neighborhood playground. Mads really enjoyed herself on the swings and was crazy about the slide. She’d go down by herself and then squeal, yes squeal, and run around the play structure, cross the bridge to head down the slide again…and again…and again.
After we managed to pry Mads from the playground, we picked up my uncle and headed out to dinner here.
I was hoping that Chicago was going to be just as kid-friendly a trip as Mpls, but honestly, I was just too tired to venture out to Navy Pier and the Shedd, so we stayed close in Bucktown/Wicker Park/Lincoln Park. Next time, I promise.
Chicago peep show
For those of you not familiar with Chicago architecture, homes are typically high and narrow. The room I was staying in was on the top floor. I was 3/4 through my morning shower when I realized that there was a contractor of sorts on the roof of building structure next door. Naturally, I didn’t have my contacts in, so I couldn’t tell exactly if the guy was watching me shower while chatting away on his cell. Fabulous, I thought. This guy was getting a look at the goodies for free.
After a late breakfast and a nap, we headed out to shop (what else is new) on Armitage and Halsted, then stopped at the Whole Foods Market in Lincoln Park to pick up stuff for dinner.
Our last full day in Chicago was crazy wet, with threats of tornadoes. As I was telling a friend, “I’m from California, I don’t DO tornadoes.” But people seemed to be going about their business and didn’t seem too worried, so neither was I…a little. ;o)
So we got rained on as we shopped and then went to Li’l Guys for a take-out lunch.
I put Mads down for a nap was able to relax and chat with my mom and cuz.
I was looking forward to dinner that night as my uncle had reserved the private dining room at this amazing restaurant A Tavola. Very unassuming, as the restaurant is housed in one of those typical Chicago homes. It was very nice to enjoy a nice restaurant dinner, but have Mads be able to run around and make as much noise as she wanted. Our meal was out of this world. I get full just thinking about it:
- Starters: salami & proscuitto drizzled with olive oil; marinated & roasted vegetables; sauteed mushrooms
- Pasta: House-made gnocchi with a brown butter-sage sauce and tagliatelle with bolognese
- Entree: roast chicken with parmesan polenta & garlic spinach; braised short ribs over saffron risotto
- Dessert: sampler plate of flourless chocolate cake, apple tart, lime tart, panna cotta
Are you full yet? If you are in the area, I highly recommend this restaurant.
So, after brunch Saturday, we packed up, took one last walk in the neighborhood and made our way back to the airport. As we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that our our flight was delayed (delayed twice, eventually and a gate change to boot). Luckily, Mads did manage to fall asleep during take off and slept for about an hour.
Obviously, we returned safe and sound and are happy to be home.
More so, not to toot my own horn, but I frickin’ survived two flights with Mads solo (my mom flew home with us from Chicago). Exhausting, but I survived and worried for nothing.
Here’s Mads trying to get friendly with Snazzie. Unfortch, Snazzie was having none of it.
After months of planning, the mommy & me mini-vacay was underway!
Before I knew it, it was time to pack not only clothes, but plenty of snacks, books, toys, DVDs to appease Mads for 3 different flights. Can you take a guess at what she didn’t really need after all? Yup, the portable DVD player. When I did pull it out to watch Finding Nemo or Little Einsteins, all she wanted to do was play with the swivel monitor or press the eject button. Fabulous.
Our flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul was uneventful. Mads fell asleep during take-off and slept for half the flight time (nice!). It was nice and warm when we arrived, so I was happy to escape the roller coaster weather of the Bay Area. We stopped at Liberty’s Frozen Custard – a cute garage turned ice cream shop – to pick up an after dinner treat. My dear friend D took us through Tangletown (clearly not gridded streets like SF) and we had arrived at our home for the next few days. Surprisingly, Mads felt right at home and before we knew it, Mads & Viva were playing off each other, sharing (or not sharing) toys, books and snacks. No rest for the weary…as soon as were settled we walked to D&A’s new home and stopped at the playground on the way home. Mads met a cute little, girl, Liv, with whom she played follow the leader while Viva was swinging on the swings.
On our first full day in Mpls, D and I took the girls to the Minnesota Children’s Museum. We spent the morning grocery shopping, visiting the doctor, riding a bus, playing with water, exploring the forest and jumping around in the toddler play area of the museum. Sigh…to be a kid again.
grocery shopping at the children’s museum
We headed back home and something unexpected happened. Mads went down for her nap in the pack n play, willingly. Nap. Pack ‘n play. WILLINGLY. I was so shocked I didn’t know what to do with myself. So while they napped, D took me on a bike tour of the three lakes near her house: Harriet, Calhoun and Lake of the Isles. Now, I hadn’t been on a proper bike ride in like 10+ years and though it was mostly flat, I was in for it. Part one of the midwest peepshow occurred during this ride. Not expecting to be bike riding, I hadn’t packed any “athletic” clothing, so I hopped on A’s bike in my low rise Sevens and I’m convinced that most of Mpls has seen my crack. Lovely. Just lovely. Only a vanilla milkshake at The Malt Shop would make me feel better about exposing my a** to most of Mpls.
After dinner playtime at Lake Harriet beach
Day 2, Mpls: We spent most of the day in the Linden Hills neighborhood. It really is a cute neighborhood. We stopped first at a children’s bookstore, Wild Rumpus. This place was probably the most perfect place for kids. Plenty of books with caged pets/animals throughout the store. It was difficult to get Mads to leave once she saw the meow. I won’t give the special secret away, but the bathroom is a must see! We then bought lunch at the Linden Hills Co-op and ate it at the Lake Harriet bandshell before jumping on the Minnesota Streetcar Museum.
Later that afternoon we hopped into the non-minivan and drove out to White Bear Lake, hoping to have a picnic dinner. Instead, we had a Cup & Cone dinner in the car. Believe me, I am not complaining. We dined on hoagies, hot dogs and soft serve ice cream…in the car. Mmm…soft serve.
Day 3, Mpls: We rallied relatively early and headed out to Como Zoo for the first part of our day. The highlight for Mads were the animals. The highlight for me was the cheese curds. Yummmmm. Before we left the zoo, D and I decided to take the girls on the carrousel. Mads and Viva ponied up and seemed to enjoy sitting on their horsies. Yeah. Once the music started and the carrousel got going, Mads started screaming bloody murder while I held her for the duration of the ride. Viva told her mommy that she was “all done” after a minute, and D, too, had to carry Viva for the duration of the ride.
Our last morning in Mpls, we visited Viva’s preschool and stopped here to get a strawberry-rhubarb scone before we made our scenic way to the airport.
Thanks Minneapolis – it was fun! Chicago, here we come!
To be continued…