chip-y’s

The kids were allowed to save 10 treats from Halloween to eat one a day. Kai remembered as soon as he got up from his nap, and chose a small bag of potato skins chips to eat. he made sure kalena had a snack to eat, too as they say together enjoying their treats at the table. then they had their little conversation together:

“kalena, sit at the table to eat please”.

“okay, Kai”.

“do you like it”?

“yup”.

“hmm…(referring to his chips) why do they make this SO good?! is this made of potatoes, mom?”

“yes kai, can you believe it? And you say you don’t like potatoes”. (me)

kai: “raise your hand if you like potatoes”.

we all raise our hand up.

Little girl has a mind of her own

Kalena put a towel on her head and walked around saying “boooo!”

“are you a ghost?” I ask.

“no mommy not a ghost, a GOOSE!”

Of course.

a weekly gift to myself

thanks to the encouragement of my hubby, i started going to this power/vinyasa flow yoga class closer to town on tuesday nights.  i have been to this studio many times before, and was just about to give up and try another one (or just stick with my free online classes) when i found kara miller’s class.  from day one i was hooked!  it takes awhile to find the kind of teacher you like, and a level that is just right for you.  some classes do too much om-ing for me; others are too slow/fast, and sometimes you just don’t like the instructor’s delivery.  every time i go to her class i feel so happy afterwards, even though i just got my butt (gluteus maximus, as kai would say) kicked.  it is the perfect balance of sweat workout, muscle working!, balancing poses, personal inversion time (handstands, etc.), and stretching, all with a kripalu twist.  i am tired now, but so grateful for this precious time for me.

little grad

Sibling love

I love to see the nice moments where the kids are kind to each other. It really makes up for all the fighting times

sun-dried tomato zucchini pesto

we always have the most perfect zucchini’s at the farmer’s markets here.  finally i wanted to try something different from our usual pasta with zucchini, or our korean style zucchini.  i found this cool idea to make zucchini pesto from a saveur recipe.  since i already had a bit of sun-dried tomato pesto from the day before, i combined that with the zucchini pesto recipe and the result was surprisingly great.   there is actually a whole zucchini in it!  you should try it.

chinese steamed fish with ginger, scallions and chinese parsely (cilantro)

rick and i really like to eat, but i rarely blog/document these things!  so i am going to start.

last night i made chinese style steamed fish.  yellowtail was the freshest looking thing at don quixote’s, but  unfortunately i didn’t realize they hadn’t de-gutted the thing! thank goodness for youtube (i knew i should have paid more attention after our family fishing trips).  i stir fried some bok choy and mapo doufu (to be pictured another time) and we had a feast!

here was the finished result:

 

 

evil cats

i have to admit that after the age of 5, i started hating cats.  it all started after the cat that i loved so much next door scratched my neck and face up pretty bad.   i know – hate is a strong word. but seriously, i started to not like them so much, and then that feeling grew stronger (sorry j and all you cat lovers out there). i’m not sure if it’s the endless shedding hair, their whining, how they are rarely friendly, or the idea of hairballs being barfed out every now and then.  they must know that i hate them, because they have chosen to continually follow me wherever i go in the world.  seriously.

i seem to get woken up in the middle of the night by cats in heat, wherever i go.  they whine as loud as they can until i finally get mad enough to yell or something. this has happened to me a lot, no matter where in the world i am.  i am not joking – hong kong, morocco, philippines, korea, and now right on my front lanai (porch)?  just leave me alone already!

am i the only one that this happens to so often?

Growing up local

Kai and I were reading a book where there was a picture of someone holding a sandwich (the meat lettuce and cheese were depicted by 3 different colored lines).

Kai asks, “is that girl holding a piece of jello?” (it did look a bit like the multi-colored layered jello people make here.)

fascination with gas

one of kai’s biggest interests (besides tigers, dinosaurs and buzz lightyear) is in bodily functions.  this is no surprise coming from a 3 year old boy and definitely entertaining.  the other day he asked for a good night hug.

kai: “mommy, i need a hug goodnight”

(i lean over his bed and hug him)

kai: “not a soggy one!”

(i lean over and almost picking him up, give him a huge squeeze.  he lets out a huge toot. roars with laughter.)

he recently earned a special treat because we went to the dentist.  he decided he wanted to pick out a whoopee cushion, because it had something to do with ‘toots’.  needless to say, it has kept him busy all day.