Chocolate and Conversation: 2012

Missing Pizza

I hate pizzas, but I miss CS pizza in Rockville, MD.

This place was opened by two young men with a love for Napoletana pizza, and they concocted the most exquisite tomato sauce to compliment the dough. My favorite way to top the pizza is with Sopresatta and Brussels sprouts.

I watch as the waiter holds up the tray of pizza, looking for the owner. Watching him, hoping he is walking in my direction, I salivate. Then as the plate of pizza is placed on the table in front of me, I know if my heart could, it would smile. I am served with the perfect pizza with golden brown bubbles dotted around the crust; it's a truly beautiful sight. I sit very still to take in the beauty of the pizza, marveling at the vibrant green color of each petal of Brussels sprouts lying atop, and admiring the appearance of this absolutely perfect pie that I ordered--I smirk at my own genius.

I worry that this time my taste buds will find flaws with the pizza, but I fall in love with it again and again. It is predictably good. As the first bite of the pizza hits my mouth, I breath deeply in complete happiness, I can feel my shoulders relaxed and instead of wolfing it down, I discipline my mind to remember the taste, the depth and layers of flavor. It leaves me with no wants. I inhale; the fragrance from the sweet tomato sauce seeps in deeper, and the papillae on my tongue dance.

Here is how you find them:
1596 Rockville Pike Rockville, MD 20852
(240)833-8090

A Bit Of Rambling

I am writing this blog post because I see that I have not updated my blog for 4 months, and I feel if I don't write something, I never will again.

So hope this counts.

...PS: We've finally feeling settled in CA, the kids have stopped asking to move back to MD. Everyone seems to be happy here, except the kids are freaking out because in Maryland, you start taking a second language in 7th grade, and here, you don't until 9th grade. So Aspen who is in 7th grade this year cannot take a second language whereas her friends in MD will be taking either Spanish or French. Jade benefited from having taken Spanish in MD, so she is the only Freshman taking Sophomore-Junior-Senior Spanish.

However, Jade is also freaking out because her Spanish class here is "SO EASY" because she already knows most everything the kids here are learning. Both Aspen and Jade have been complaining about how easy every class is and that they are not learning anything new in school. Andrew plans on applying for a program in MD next year, so the kids worry that if they move back, they will surely be academically behind. If we do move back to Maryland, there surely will be a problem with Aspen being a year beyond in her second language class. And Jade not learned enough in Spanish class here to catch up with her peers in Maryland. I didn't know how much gap there could be in public education from state to state. We have been told Maryland schools are top notch, and now I am realizing how much my kids have learned while in Maryland.

On the other hand, I took Kirin out of traditional school, and enrolled him in a charter. He is in 4th grade, but is taking 6th grade Math and Reading, and they are still very easy for him. He takes 5th grade Science and Social. I still feel uneasy about having him advance two grade levels, but he seems to be much happier with the materials.

This house that we moved into has really nasty carpet. The landlord cleaned it before we moved in, two days after we move in, all the spots came back up. It's pretty gross looking. I miss the house we have in MD with the hardwood floor and stinking brand new carpet we put in for our tenant with a dog!! (Shaking my head)

I surely love living in California. The farmers markets are wonderful, everyone is so physically active, lots of bikers on the road. The sunshine makes me happy. I love living in the West Coast.

Disney World Vacation, Part 4, the last installment

What's Disney World without MAGIC:

Even though this was not our first time there, this sight just takes my breath away.

It's like seeing the waterfall as you turn the corner after a long hike, or getting a bird's eye view of the valley below once you climb over a hill. As you walk though the street of downtown Disney, with all the colors, smells and the happy energy all around you, it's so surreal, and you are trying to absorb it all. Then there it is, the sight of the towering castle still takes my breath away. It's just that it makes such a statement. I tried to imagine what it might look like when the entire park is empty.

Sweets!

Micky Rice Crispy Treats on Assembly Line

Disney after dusk. The kids got a shot with the hosts.

Beautiful, vibrant wall mural

This one depicting the story of Cinderella

Disney World Vacation, part 3

I am finally posting more of the Disney pictures here for my kids to enjoy. My previous posts on Disney World can be found here and here.

The Third Installment of our trip: The Characters (Anyone who is not a princess)

From Pooh

To King Arthur

To Wannabes

Toy Soldier. I can't believe these toy soldier guys, they can stand motionless for a long time. Isn't he stellar?

Nemo ( a must see)

Mr. Incredible

Flik and Atta

Boo and the monster with the sock on his back

Jessie and the Donkey

Mrs. Potts, Chip, Cogsworth and Lumiere

Gotta have these - The Dancing Spoons

And of course, Vader Himself

Darth Maul, It was such a treat to meet him in person

Check out his hairdo

Queen Sage

I took Jade to General Young Women's broadcast and left Andrew home fending for himself with the rest of the kids.

He heated up some leftovers for dinner, and Sage protested by flipping her plate upside down on the dinner table, and said: I WILL NOT EAT THIS FOOD.

Andrew told her that she can just go to bed if she didn't want to eat. So she went stomp, stomp, stomp up to her room and slammed the door. From the kitchen, Andrew and the other kids could hear her screaming, yelling, and kicking the walls and floor. A few minutes later, she opened the door and yelled: I WOULD NOT DO THIS IF I WERE YOU! I AM GONNA TELL MOM WHEN SHE GETS HOME!!!

Thankfully, Sage always comes around after throwing such fits, and after sensing she is not ever gonna get it her way, especially when dealing with her dad, she ate her leftovers.

Sage turned 6 on Saint Patrick's Day. She spent the prior 2 weeks planning her birthday which consisted of changing her mind every 3 minutes. One day, she was in one of her merry moods, and she sang at the top of her lungs:

For my birthday, i am gonna have breakfast with my friends. We are gonna have gumballs and cheese balls.

Sage often makes up her own songs, sometimes she sings instead of converses. One day she was skipping about the living room singing: I wanna look at myself in the mirror, cause I am so lovely. She then sang and skipped her way into the bathroom to look in the mirror.

Sage really, I mean, REALLY loves to come snuggle with me on my bed after she wakes up in the mornings. Andrew has gone to work by then. Sage just hops on the bed, and squeezes very, very tight next to me, puts her head on MY pillow with me, and does not try very hard to not squirm.

One morning, she was squirming so much, that I gave up on sleeping all together, so I just put my mouth into her ear, and sang: You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy, when clouds are gray. Oh, you'll never know dear, how much I love you, so please don't take my sunshine away.

Sage really loves songs, and singing. As soon as she realized I was singing, she went from being very squirmy to laying very, very still. I could hardly believe she could actually manage that. So I kept on singing until I finished the song. She immediately requested I sing again, and by the third time, she was singing along with me. Now, this song is our most beloved song together as mother and daughter.

I shared this story with Andrew at the dinner table and called Sage my sunshine. Jade then protested why I didn't sing this song to her and call her Sunshine when she was little. As I was pondering how to answer, Andrew said: "It's all about personality." I knew he was right on. I cannot imagine Sage being born in the old China, where girls don't have a voice, can't speak their mind, or have to be subjected to the cruelty of feet binding. She would never have survived that. Sage really has a sparkling personality. And she is only so happy because she is so free. In truth, she exudes sunshine.

Sage and I have many special moments together, like her squirming on the bed with me in the mornings, like us sitting on the big chair just cuddling or listening to her talk with tears streaming down her cheeks about how her BFF is no longer her BFF.

Me and Andrew's favorite Sage time is our "Tickle Time", which usually happens after school. This is usually what happens: I pick her up from the bus stop, and ask what she wants to do when she gets home, which she usually says: Tickle time! And even if she has a play date with a neighbor, she tells them that she needs her tickle time with her mama first before going to play. Our tickle time is pretty simple, it means that she gets tickled to death by me, and only when she says: "Ok, now armpits time." can I actually tickle her armpits, which is the highlight for the tickler. Because she just curls into a ball and laughs until she run out of breath.

She recently told me she has "three wobbly teeth." I don't know if she really has three, but for sure she has one that is wobbly.

I don't think I am ready for her to grow up yet.

Food War

I served up a plate of sauteed snow peas, baby bella mushrooms, hot steamed rice, and some nice looking chicken with beautiful dark brown color on both sides.

Kirin took a look and whined: "Awww, why do we always have to eat vegetables and meat, and other things. Can we eat something else like chicken nuggets? I CRRRAVVE them SO BAD! We haven't had them in like FOREVER"

Sage chimed in: "Yeah, I LOOOVVE chicken nuggets. Why can't we have chicken nuggets instead?"

Next day, we were eating dinner, and Sage gave me a stern look and said: "I wish we can eat Ramen noodles, those are so delicious. You never let us eat them!" (I wish I recorded the way she said it so you get the full drama.) She added: " You don't let us eat peanut butter and jelly pocket for school lunch either. Brook and Lauren and Nick all eat them, and it looked soooo good."

On some mornings, when Kirin gets in one of those mood, he would begs for boxed mac'n cheese for breakfast, and I often don't have them. Then he'd asks me to run a mac'n cheese errand to the store after he goes to school. And if I happen to serve them remotely healthy snacks after school, I hear complaints all night long, and how hungry they all still are for such things like Nutella or Fondue or ice cream.

Tonight while smoothing out her stomach and waist, Jade said: "Your cooking is terrible." I stared at her with wide eyes in disbelief of what she just said. Then she corrected herself by explaining: "Too much good cooking, it's a terrible thing for me."

I can't win, you know. No matter what I cook, they wish I give them boxed food, or that I don't cook so well so they don't eat so much.

Just now, Kirin is sitting next to me with his feet by a space heater and a blanket over his lap, preparing to read Calvin and Hobbes. He just now said: "Mom, this is perfect like this, now all I need is a sandwich and a can of soda. Huh, what do ya think, want to get me those?"

Dreams Do Come True

Disney World Vacation, Part 2 - Dreams do come true for a little girl.

This will be our last time visiting Disney World in a very long time. I was pretty determined to have Sage meet almost every princess in the park...as long as I don't have to wait forever.

Mission succeeded.

As it turned out, these are one of my very favorite Disney memories. It was so fun to see Sage's eyes light up when she enters the room where Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora are all smiling in their sparkling dresses. These princesses must have a book of things to say, from sparkles to mice in teacups to singing squirrels. They sure know how to enchant these little girls. But as beautiful as these princesses are, they can't compare to the big smile on my daughter's very happy little face.