A Perfect Weekend

When it comes to food, I am quite spoiled.

kimchi fried rice topped with fish roe, not pictured two plates of tuna and fried chicken kimbap. At Dan Moo Ji.

shaved duck pizza with pistachios, pecorino, butternut squash, and drizzled with saba. At Corletta.

black pepper tagliatelle carbonara with pancetta and pecorino

bombolini with cappuccino crema

pear and gorgonzola tart with mascarpone gelato

kubideh kabob with rice and veggies. At Baba's Gyro & Kabob.

stuffed eggplant topped with cheese, baba ghanoush in the background

cherry polo

It's weekends like these that make me so happy to be alive!

San Fran

Our view into San Fran. We mostly hung out in Fisherman's Wharf which is really really touristy and I don't recommend spending a lot of time here. Go across the bridge into Sausalito, the cutest little town ever.

Mmm.. being by the water is SO comforting! We ate at Pier Market in Fisherman's Wharf and this clam chowder was as close to perfect as I've found since Alaska (Bar Harbor! Best clam chowder in the galaxy). Lots and lots of clams and super peppery and not gluey. Heaven on Boudin's crusty sourdough! OMG YUM.

YAY!! My first cioppino and so so good. It had salmon, halibut, some other white fish, clams, mussels, shrimp, and dungeness crab all on pasta in a yummy tomato based broth. Below is either bad shutter timing or me gloriously settling into a food coma.

Unfortunately it was super misty and cold so if you weren't on the GGB, you couldn't see it. So no touristy pictures :(

Shopping in Old Sac. This is the face he usually makes when I make him pose for pictures, but now he's got a cute giant mustache on!

Girls' Day Out!

Had a little girls' day since the boys are doing their Ultimate Sports Olympics. We went to the farmers' market in the morning (and ate ourselves sick with raspberries!), and shopped until the afternoon.

My mini haul: 2 cateye sunglasses, 2 cute watches from AE, and 2 super soft shirts from PacSun! Love them all..

People of Walmart

Shopping at Walmart and suddenly this husband-child of mine decides to plop into a bin of pillows. Apparently it was comfy enough to tuck the rest of his body into it. I was laughing in tears and decided to up the ante and hide behind him. (If he's going to embarrass me, he's going to be embarrassed all right!) He started calling my name quietly after a while, panicking, and struggled to get out while a passerby and a walmart employee tried not to notice the flailing arms and legs of the pillow bin.

He finally got out and tried to walk it off all cool, but me and the two onlookers knew the real truth.

Life Achievement Unlocked: Level: Vitamix

So last week our blender pooped out (green smoothie overload... yikes!) and we debated about getting an upgrade to our usual $10 walmart blender. We thought about it, researched it, and slept on it for a whole week and then we finally decided to invest in a Vitamix! We figured we (and our children) will never have to buy a blender again in our lifetime (and their lifetimes) and we'll get a lot of yummy use out of it! Plus, I used some of my birthday money I've been saving up over the years.

Ta da! The motor is as big as a lawnmower. Crazy, right? But we've been making smoothies at least once a day and sometimes for lunch. Green smoothies with kale, frozen berries and flax-seed, oatmeal and chia seed, you name it, we've made it. My favorite has to be the banana soft serve I made a couple of days ago.

Moar camping!

That may or may not be our friend Michael on a pool floatie in the freezing lake. And it may or may not have taken him a good 20 minutes to awkwardly hand-paddle back to shore after the wind pushed him clear to the middle of the lake.

Some cows came down into our camp. Not too close though or else we'd have had some steak for dinner!

Oh what? Herm's again? I THINK SO! Hmm.. camping then Herm's... sounds like a delicious tradition is about to get started up in here! Met up with some friends to get our breakfast on after a great night of camping!

Braden had a breakfast burrito with spinach, feta, and chorizo and we split a huge pancake that came with lemon zest butter (omg!) and buttermilk maple syrup. I had biscuits and gravy (my favorite! Soul food is still the way to my asian but southern-girl heart. Shrimp-and-grits? Where?!).

New hair

Some crappy phone selfies and a fast-moving Rachel Bettis doing my hair. The first photo is after my haircut and the second is after my color. Hello~ gorgeous hair! I've been good about keeping my hair super healthy and haven't colored it in over a year so I thought I would treat myself to a salon visit! Bye bye healthy hair, but hello sexy ombre!

Holy Secret Breakfast Spot Batman!

So Braden and I found this weird restaurant-like place in the middle of some neighborhood by the school one day and we were like.. what is this? It was empty but looked new. Later, we found out it's only the BEST BREAKFAST PLACE EVER SLASH BEST KEPT SECRET in Logan. whattheheck guys.

Their food is generous and hearty and oh my gosh, SO GOOD. Braden and I love finding places like this since we have tried to avoid chain-restaurant-type places. They are only open from 7am-2pm and they serve breakfast and lunch.

Such cute decor and um, mason jar glasses. When they brought our waters, I was like YUP. I already know that I love this place. Braden + Julie + Herm's Inn 4EVA.

First Camping Trip of the Summer

I LOVE camping (Braden, not so much) and we were eager to get on the road and find some secluded spot to do our fishing and camping this weekend. It was a super bleak day but we were all pumped to get in our new truck (that we pretty much bought on impulse to go camping with) and the boys rented a canoe.

Braden chasing away the ducks from our campsite. To be fair, we probably stole their sleeping spot.

"Hold it closer so it looks bigger!" 

Also, that's what she said.

Highlights of the trip:

• Ben hates ducks so I used my chex mix to lay a little trail for the ducks to follow Ben into his tent. While he was in there, a duck almost went in after him (darn it! so close! haha).
• Being terrified of the tip-happy canoe since there were three of us in there and I (idiotically) brought my camera and smartphone ("to take pictures!" I said... yeah, I was too scared to even use them)
• Ben catching a huge fish, first cast in the canoe but didn't net it in time (the one that got away).
• It poured all night. I mean, ALL NIGHT. Braden and I got soaked and our boots filled with water :(
• Drying our butts off in the fire and trying to keep warm.
• Sleeping in the truck was just the worst. HAD TO PEE SO BAD ALL NIGHT.
• Ben caught like 12 fish during the whole trip. All over 12 inches. Not bad!

Still love camping though. Can't wait for more!

Wind Caves

Braden and I (finally!) hiked the Wind Caves. We miss Alaska (so much it hurts!) and being in the great outdoors every day (and if not in the outdoors, we were just one scenic view away from our kitchen and living room windows). So we made and packed up some kimbap, dropped some kimbap off at our friend's place, and hauled our butts up the mountain to see these famous wind caves and have ourselves a little picnic. While we were there, I spotted a narrow cliff and I knew instantly that I wanted to climb it. Please don't ask me why because it was probably one of the dumber things I have done in life and once I set my mind to do something, I have to do it.

It was the most terrifying thing I've ever done (the whole thing was super high and as narrow as my foot is long. One strong gust and I could have tumbled hundreds of feet to my death. But as my favorite First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, advises, 'do one thing that scares you every day', right?

Braden picked me some wildflowers that grew like crazy all over the mountain. In this photo I think I'm singing 'The Hills Are Alive' from The Sound of Music (don't hate!)

They actually stayed fresh for a long time as a reminder of our fun afternoon.