Baby's First Christmas

Emma spent her first Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the Central Valley, but her holiday season actually kicked off a couple of weeks ago when she took a picture with Santa:

Grandma and Grandpa waited for us to arrive on Christmas Eve to decorate the tree:

Look at all those gifts!  Emma received a truckload of gifts from generous family and friends.  There was even personalized wrapping paper for baby:

Emma, unfortunately, did not get to go to her great aunt and uncle's house for the actual Christmas festivities because she had a cold.  She threw up (think fountain) right before we were scheduled to leave for the party.  She's ok, though, and resting and recovering nicely.

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by for us and Emma.  People commented that each time they see her, she has a new trick to show them.  She is grabbing everything now and putting things in her mouth.  She can sit up on her own, but it's hard work!

Surprise!

Just arrived in time for the holidays...two CDs chock full of documents to review by this weekend.  Ho ho ho!

Visiting the Country

I don't know if you know, but living in California spoils you.  You get accustomed to the temperate and gorgeous weather (Yeah, yeah, I know, there is something to be said about beautiful fall foliage and white Christmases. I mean, I did grow up on the east coast!).  And you start to demand the freshest produce possible.

My in-laws live in the Central Valley, where Californians get a lot of their vegetables and fruits.  My husband's family comes from a farming background, although most of them do not actively farm anymore.  When I first visited my in-laws, this city girl was surprised to see the size of people's "backyards" and how much produce people grow in these yards just for personal consumption.  Count my in-laws in this group.  They grow oranges, tangerines, avocados, cherries, and until recently, plums (sadly, their plum tree bit the big one).  Right next door to my in-laws, my husband's grandmother grows Chinese long beans, eggplants, persimmons, pears, and tons of flowers.  I think I might have left some stuff out, but you get the picture. 

Every year, my husband and I share in the bounty of my in-laws' crops.  Right now, it is orange, tangerine and avocado season:

Delicious!

In Memoriam

On December 5, 2009, my grandmother passed away peacefully in the middle of the night.  My husband, little Emma and I flew out to the east coast immediately to attend her wake and funeral and spend time with family.

At the funeral, my cousin gave the eulogy.  He described my grandmother and her quiet presence.  When she was alive, she made sure that things got done, but without complaint.  She raised five children on her own, with little help from others, and then she helped raise her children's children.  She lived with grace, and truly believed in following the ways of Jesus Christ and the Golden Rule.  Even in her last few years, when she slipped further into her dementia and stopped recognizing all around her, she still smiled and if she was suffering, she again did so without complaint and with dignity.

Although we all knew her time to leave us was imminent, it didn't make my grandmother's passing any less difficult or less heartbreaking.  We will all miss her so much.  I am grateful that Emma got to meet her great grandmother before she passed away.  And even if Emma is too young to remember, and my grandmother was too far gone into her dementia to have realized the significance of the meeting, one day, I will show my daughter pictures of the meeting and tell her all about her beautiful great grandmother.

Turn a Square - Noro Striped Hat

Here's my latest knitting creation:

It's the Turn a Square Hat by Jared Flood, aka Brooklyn Tweed dude.  His designs are so stunning, and he himself is an excellent knitter.  His blog is beautiful, with gorgeous photos of his knitting and designwear.  I once told my cousin who lives in Brooklyn to try to find him and date him.  Yes, like a stalker.  I was having a crazy moment.  Anyway, I think he has a girlfriend already and now my cousin is engaged to someone she loves very much. 

The hat fits husband's head nicely. 

It's hard to see in the picture, but the hat pattern has an unusual decrease structure which results in the crown looking like it has little striped squares, instead of the traditional circular decreases.  I like it so much, I might "borrow" it.   Of course, now that I am back at work, much of my knitting has to take a backseat.  I hope I will get some Christmas gifts done, but not counting on it anymore.  Those hopes went out the door with the hope of slow transition back to work!

I Spoke Too Soon

Sigh.  As the subject line reads, I was too quick to think that all would be fine and dandy upon return to work.  I had imagined a nice slow December, allowing me an easy transition from maternity leave to the office, but I was so wrong.  It has been crazy busy at work, and it feels like going from 0 to 60 without any warm up time.

In addition, when I dropped off Emma at daycare on Thursday, I think she finally realized what was happening.  She looked at me with a betrayed look, then started to cry.  It was like she was saying, "Mommy, the jig is up, and I know what is going on here. You stink."  Heartbreaking.  Two caregivers rushed out, told me to kiss her goodbye, and then swept her away, saying, "Don't cry, Mama**, she will be fine."  I am sure she will be, but nevertheless, it was very hard.

In any case, as promised, here are some pictures from Thanksgiving weekend and Emma's Red Egg and Ginger and 100 day party.  Emma's grandparents threw her the party.  Emma met a ton of new faces, and received lysee (money in little red envelopes) and cute gifts to celebrate her entrance into this world. 

There were red eggs and party favors for the guests - little cookies with her face on them (some people peeled off the edible paper with her face printed on it before eating the cookie so they wouldn't have to bite into her adorable little face), a mochi manju from a San Francisco Japanese bakery, and manju shaped like chicks handmade by my aunt, Emma's great aunt.

(Check out my mad photo collage skillz, yo!  Just kidding, it is all Picasa.  Thanks, people at Google. Now, if only I could figure out the damn spacing of picture on Blogger...)

Prior to the party, on Thanksgiving, she took a little plane ride.

Then, after the party, she felt like cooking a little bit.

Overall, my little girl had a busy and fun weekend, and her mommy and daddy ate a ton.  I have to admit publicly that we fell off the vegetarian wagon on Thanksgiving and at Emma's party.  It was just too difficult with already planned menus, and we might have starved. We were pretty careful (or tried to be, at least), and Lance did not suffer any deleterious effects.  We are, however, back on our veggie diet now, and it feels pretty good.

** I find is hilarious that everyone at daycare calls me "Mama" and my husband "Daddy."  I am not sure that they even really know our first names at all.  They know Emma's name, though, and are good with her, so that's the important part, I guess.

Back to the Coal Mines

Well, today was my first day back in the office after taking maternity leave. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be, although I had a weepy moment when we dropped off Emma at daycare this morning. True to her little self, she had a big poop right as we arrived at daycare. We were getting ready to change her ourselves, but her caretaker, Ling, came out and said, "Oh, let me handle of that!" She took Emma to the changing table in the infant room, changed her and brought her back out to the reception area for mommy and daddy to say goodbye.

We picked Emma up from daycare in the evening, and apparently, Emma had a very good day. She drank almost all her milk, smiled at the caregivers, did some rolls during tummy time, and didn't cry much. I am slightly offended that my baby girl didn't seem to miss me very much, but also very proud that she is such an easy baby (well, at least for now).

We returned yesterday after visiting husband's family to celebrate Thanksgiving and Emma's Red Egg and Ginger/100 Day party. Emma turned 100 days on November 22, 2009. There is a special significance to turning 100 days in Korean and Japanese culture, probably because way back in the day, many babies did not survive past 100 days. The red egg and ginger portion of the party celebrated Emma's Chinese heritage. We took lots of pictures, and I will post those over the next day or two!

We're Back

We arrived back in San Francisco today from the east coast.  My grandmother made a surprising and unexpected recovery while we were there, and no one can tell what will happen over the next month or two.  Before we made this emergency trip, we had already purchased non-refundable tickets to go east for Christmas, so we will be going back again soon.

Emma did so well on the plane rides there and back.  She had a little poop accident and some got on Daddy during the flight to the east coast (hee hee), but other than that, nothing disastrous.  She was complimented on her good behavior by fellow passengers and the flight crew.

Our trip was very family oriented.  The experience was strange, because everyone was upset about my grandmother, but so happy to see each other.  We saw members of my family from Seoul whom I have not seen since high school.  We went to the hospice everyday to see my grandmother, and just spent time with relatives and friends.  I finally got to meet my friend H's baby girl.  Adorable.  Someone in my family received a marriage proposal while we were there, too!   Eveyone was enamored with Emma, and I was grateful that my relatives met her while she is still a little baby.

Sad

My beautiful, loving grandmother is not doing well.  We don't expect that she will pull through this time.  We (me, husband and little Emma) are flying out to the east coast this Friday.  My mother is so sad.  Hopefully, seeing her little granddaughter will help a bit, like a little cuddly care package arriving.

Smile, You're on Camera!

Ok, smiling time is over. Now, it is time for "serious face."

The Every Way Wrap

I am making the Every Way Wrap as a gift for my mother.  She actually picked this pattern so it isn't ruining the surprise to post a picture of the progress.

Due to my lack of experience in reading cable charts, the 15-row repeat cable pattern and the severe errata published in the original pattern, this project had a tumultuous start.  I ripped it apart five (!) times before I actually got into the groove and figured out the chart and the pattern.

The design is by a Korean knitwear designer, and it is really cool. It is a reversible cable, so it won't have a right or wrong side, as most cable knits do. It is also designed to be worn in a multitude of ways, either as a scarf, a wrap, or even, with clever placement of buttons, as a vest.

I can't wait until it is finished so I can give this to my mother.  I hope to have it finished by Christmas time, but with a baby, and with my return to the corporate peon world looming on the near horizon, that might not be possible.

Flipping Over

Yesterday, we caught Emma on video flipping herself over.
 
She actually flipped herself over for the first time a couple of days ago, but we missed it.  That day, we placed her on her playmat tummy side down, and turned away for a few seconds, only to turn back around and see her tummy side up, placidly smiling at us.

She is growing up so quickly.  I have such mixed emotions about it.  On one hand, I want her to stay a little baby forever, so small and cute.  On the other hand, I can't wait to see all the fun interactive things she will do with us in the future.  It's exciting and sad all at the same time.

About the video camera - Lance bought the Flip video camera (warning: clicking on this link will take you to the Flip video website which will play music and stuff) a couple of weeks ago.  It is small, really easy to use (meaning even I can use it), and you can edit the videos using free editing programs.  We don't really know what we are doing on the editing programs, but Lance was able to add music to the video in this post, and to take out our ridiculous proud parent exclaimations using free Windows Movie Maker.

We Finally Got In!

Here's an unexpected benefit of having a small child - you can get a table at practically any restaurant because you have to eat early. And thus, we were finally able to get a table at Burma Superstar at 5:30 PM (half an hour later and the small restaurant was packed). We have tried probably three other times to go to this restaurant, but gave up because we were told the wait would be 1 hour or more. It is a local San Francisco favorite, serving up unusual foods like fermented tea leaf salad, samusa soup and other delectable Burmese selections. This restaurant has been featured on the show Check, Please! Bay Area and on the Food Network, which turned it into an even more popular spot. It is also nice that Burma Superstar has a fair selection of vegetarian foods, or foods that they can adjust to make vegetarian, including their famous tea leaf salad.

We started with the samusa soup. It has a deep, spicy, rich curry broth with vegetables and chunks of potato samusas.

Someone once told me that this soup is supposed to induce labor, and that many pregnant women who were desperate for the baby to come out have ordered this soup. One of the three previous times we tried to get into this restaurant was during the last week of my pregnancy. Perhaps if we had gotten in and eaten this soup, little Emma would have arrived on time, or even early.

We also tried the fermented tea leaf salad. It has a lot of ingredients - split yellow beans, sunflower seeds, peanuts, tomatoes, lettuce, jalepenos, etc. - but the real star of the salad is the fermented tea leaves. Our waiter brought out the salad, explained each ingredient, then mixed the salad at the table. The salad was salty, spicy, crunchy, sweet and delicious.

Beet Greens

Well, here I am singing the praises of fresh lovely beets, and then I went and threw away the beet greens last time we had them.  This time, we ate the delicious beet greens.  They taste a lot like Swiss chard and can be prepared in much the same way.  Some people discard the tougher stalk portion on the beet greens, but we like eating these.  They just have to be thrown in the pan a little earlier and cooked a bit longer.  The stalks are a lovely shade of purple red.

We sauteed the greens in olive oil with some onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and then a dash of balsamic vinegar at the end.  These were a great addition to our meal of polenta with marinara sauce and sauteed broccolini. 

We got the polenta at Trader Joe's.  It comes in a little log that you can slice up and then pan fry in a little olive oil.  Of course, you can just make your own polenta easily with corn meal, too.

Husband and I were talking the other day about how our new diet is leading us to experiment in new ways with food.  We certainly are eating a much wider variety of vegetables than we did before, and finding healthy substitutes for many old standbys.  It is also making us look harder at nutrition labels and thinking more about where our food comes from.and the choices we make in what we eat.

We Live in a Great City!

On Sunday, we took Emma to Ocean Beach. It was a gorgeous day, and all sorts of people were out walking the trails and the beach.  While we were strolling around, we thought about how, sometimes, it is easy to forget that we live in one of the greatest cities in the world.  Do bad things happen here?  Sure, just as they do in any urban area, and when they do occur it is tragic and unfortunate. Is it ridiculously expensive to live here?  Yeah, but we benefit from so much here.  Tourists travel the world to visit San Francisco, and marvel at how you can find diversity, culture, haute and cheap cuisine and panoramic scenery all within one city's limits.

Here's a sampling of that beautiful scenery:

Emma took this all in from the comfort of her stroller.  She fell asleep most of the time, chilling out in her little sunhat.

A Veggie Month in Review

Thought I would take an opportunity to showcase some of the delicious vegetarian/vegan meals we have had this month.

We made an awesome vegetable stir fry with just about every vegetable you can think of (broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, celery, carrot, onion, bamboo, corn, etc.) with tofu and a great hoisin sauce.

The sauce is pretty simple, if you have the ingredients laying around.  I realize not every family has a jar of hoisin in the fridge...

Hoisin Stir Fry Sauce

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup water or vegetable broth

2 cloves chopped garlic

1 teaspoon fresh chopped ginger
corn starch to thicken the sauce

Mix all ingredients together in small saucepan and simmer for a few minutes.  You can toss in the sauce when the vegetables and tofu are almost done stir frying, then stir fry for another few minutes to coat the vegetables. The recipe makes a fair amount of sauce, so you may have some left over.

Here's a simple roasted vegetable and pasta dish, made by tossing the vegetables in olive oil, roasting them in the oven, then mixing together with hot pasta and a scoop or two of part-skim ricotta, salt and pepper.

 

We also had roasted beets.  For those of you who think you hate beets, have you ever tried fresh beets instead of canned ones? I will admit that canned beets can be offputting (although I do like those, too), but fresh beets are firm, sweet and delicious. They are also high in iron.

My friend, R, worked hard to create a vegan Thanksgiving dinner (early, I know). 

The meal was complete with mashed yams, mashed potatoes, great stuffing, mushroom gravy, brussel sprouts and vegan sausage. Yes, vegan sausage, and it was pretty darn good.   It's hard to capture these smushy foods on camera, although here is my best shot.  It kind of looks a mess, but it was scrumptious.

There has been so much more, just didn't want to stuff it all into one little post! 

As I mentioned before, we have been really good about our committment this month.  Husband has cheated three times (!), and I cheated once at a baby shower by eating half of a meatball.  (That darn meatball!!  It burns in my mind).  We are going to try to continue with this vegetarian diet.  Husband has experienced fewer stomach problems, although ultimately he will probably have to get the surgery.  However, even after the surgery, since gallstones can come back, a healthy diet is recommended anyway.  We are going to be setting a great example for our Emma and getting her the right start to a healthy lifestyle.

Emma's Busy Social Calendar

Emma makes lots of friends. This past week she met mommy's friends, R from Ithaca, S from Seattle, and E from right here in San Francisco.

Here is Emma with E. Baby is looking pretty pensive here in her fauxhawk.

Emma also has to schedule in tummy time, so she can practice lifting and supporting her head. She's pretty good at it now.

Emma also went to visit Herbivore 3 times, 5 times if you count dropping in just to pick up pieces of vegan strawberry rhubarb pie (R, you better remember that we took one for the vegan team in visiting that restaurant so many times!), Enjoy Vegetarian, and Cha-ya (twice). We went to the new branch of Cha-ya that opened on 9th and Irving and enjoyed it immensely. It is a vegan Japanese restaurant serving cuisine based upon Buddhist vegetarian traditions. Trust me, you don't miss the meat here, and the food is absolutely fresh and delicious. We kept meaning to take pictures, but we ate the food so quickly that taking pictures only came as an afterthought.

Emma is scheduled to meet another of mommy's friends this Sunday, then attend a birthday party for E's little girl the following week. What a busy little baby!

The Dreaded Kale Smoothie

Well, the vegan has flown back to New York.  I am at home sick with a terrible cold. Can't tell if my cold has affected Emma, but she has been very fussy for the past three days. 

Before R came to visit me, she wrote to me to tell me about her special kale smoothie.  I thought it sounded absolutley gross, but it turns out that it wasn't so bad.  She made it practically everyday that she was here for herself, me and husband. The ingredients are super secret, but it tasted quite good and was very healthful.

This past week was a busy week, full of new friends for Emma, and lots and lots of vegan cuisine from around the city and at home. We have had vegan cupcakes, pancakes, pies, Japanese and Chinese food.  I will post more about the restaurants later, but sadly, I don't have any pictures of the vegan food.  

Husband and I have been really good about the vegetarian diet.  We both feel really good about it and proud that we have stuck to it for this entire month.  We are going to keep to the diet as much as possible.

The Vegan Has Landed

The vegan has arrived! My friend, R, arrived on Monday from Ithaca, NY to visit us. Emma has taken a shine to her.

Emma is growing quickly - she's got a large baby belly. She is also attempting to rollover.

On R's first night in San Francisco, we all went to Herbivore, a vegan restaurant. I admit I was skeptical at first, not because it is a vegan restaurant (one of my favorite restaurants is a vegan one), but because I had heard some negative reviews about the place. Happily, our meals were very good. R and I both had the "cheesesteak" and husband had the BBQ "chicken" sandwich. Here's the "cheesesteak" (yes, I know, a traditional cheesesteak does not have lettuce and tomatoes on it, but it was still very good):

The portions were huge, but we saved room for dessert and finished with a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie and German chocolate cake. The pie was especially delicious.

When Tigers Smoked Cigarettes

So, this morning, I was reading Emma this Korean fairy tale:

(Roughly translated, "The Angel and the Woodcutter.") when I opened the first page and read the first sentence.  Hmmm, I thought, maybe I didn't read that correctly, doesn't really make much sense.  I read it again, and then later checked in on Babelfish.  I was right.

The story opens with this first line:  "A long, long time ago, in a time when tigers smoked cigarettes."  What?

"Momma, everyone knows tigers don 't smoke cigarettes."

Getting Ready for a Party

Let's get ready to go to a party! She is modeling her new red dress (a little big, but she will grow into it) with her little ballerina socks.

Since it is chilly outside today, let's wear the little ladybug sweater that mommy made for her.

We are all going to attend a small baby shower for Lance's former co-worker. Emma soon will have another little friend born into the world.