It’s Monday (June 10, 2024)

Some things last week:

It was the first week of summer break for the kids.

We went to an Italian place known for its wood fired Italian style pizza. I saw that they had a seafood squid ink pasta, so had to get that too.

Also this prosciutto, burrata, arugula pizza.

A browse at the indie bookstore

The fancy (but oh so delicious and delicate) cakes we got. The front one is a pistachio cake with a raspberry centre (I loved it as the raspberry was a bit tart and the pistachio had this slightly savoury note to it, but the younger one had one bite and said, it’s too salty!). The one behind is a chocolatey chocolate cake.

More rainier cherries at the farmers market

The white nectarines and peaches have been sweet too!

We had to go to an outlet mall to get shoes for the older one, and there’s nothing much to eat around there but walking around, we realised that there’s a Jollibee, which we had never eaten at before. We all got chicken sandwiches, peach mango pie, and a pineapple refresher.

Currently…

Reading:

Crooked Plow – Itamar Vieria Junior

Ghost Town – Kevin Chen

Watching:

Band of Brothers with the kids (we’re almost done, and last weekend reached the part where they found a concentration camp, it was hard to watch, but we talked about it together afterwards).

The new Star Wars series, Acolyte.

Listening:

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, read by Meryl Streep (!)

Eating and Drinking:

Half a bagel with a cup of tea for breakfast

Cooking:

Last night, I made tom yum soup as well as Japanese curry. So we have that for leftovers.

Last week:

I read:

The Right Notes – Dominic Lim

The Obsession – Jesse Q Sutanto

I posted:

Library Loot (June 5 to 11)

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. 

It’s Monday (June 3, 2024)

It’s the summer break!

Some things last week:

My younger son graduated from elementary school last week. The school held a promotion ceremony on campus, and the parents organised a graduation party, as the Mandarin immersion parents council sets aside money for grad parties each year.

Some of the goodies at the grad party. Some of their teachers were invited, including their kindergarten teacher!

I had many photos of the ceremony and party but I won’t be sharing them as the kids don’t want them to be put online.

Instead, here’s a burger I had on Sunday 😛

Currently…

Reading:

The Right Notes – Dominic Lim

The Art of Prophecy – Wesley Chu

Watching:

Band of Brothers

Listening:

I just finished Kween so have yet to start a new audiobook

Eating and Drinking:

I had pancakes and tea for breakfast. The pancakes were extra I made on Sunday, so we had breakfast today.

Cooking:

I have some thinly sliced pork belly, so will make that into a pork belly rice bowl for dinner.

Last week:

I read:

Extremely Online – Taylor Lorenz

I posted:

Library Loot (May 29 to June 4)

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. 

It’s Monday (May 20, 2024)

Some things last week:

Made the usual Tartine country sourdough, using a 50/50 whole wheat/plain flour blend.

Sashimi special!

And also mixed tempura for Sunday lunch.

And the kids said that we haven’t had In-N-Out in ages, so here we are.

We went to the farmers market for the first time this year. There were cherries out, and at $5 a pound, that was a pretty good price for sweet cherries. We’re not sure if we want to go cherry picking this year (it’s about 1h drive from us), and I heard from someone who went last week that it’s about $4 a pound there. So I guess $5 a pound for cherries at a farmers market a few min from us is pretty good.

And we grabbed a flat of strawberries and they were huge!

The fifth grader made a solar oven at school and wanted me to take a photo of his creation.

Currently…

Reading:

The Family Chao – Lan Samantha Chang

Watching:

Over the weekend, we started watching Band of Brothers with the kids. The husband and I have watched it a few times, but after the kids enjoyed watching Masters of the Air, we figured they could probably watch Band of Brothers too.

Listening:

Kween – Vichet Chum

Eating and Drinking:

Had some overnight oats with honey, raisins and sliced banana for breakfast.

Cooking:

We still have some bits of leftovers for dinner. But I was thinking of making Thai curry, maybe with chicken and different vegetables.

Last week:

I read:

We Hunt the Flame – Hafsah Faizal

The Colliding Worlds of Mina Lee – Ellen Oh

Stars in Your Eyes – Kacen Callender

I posted:

Library Loot (May 15 to 21)

Mott Street by Ava Chin

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. 

It’s Monday (May 6, 2024)

Some things last week:

My mum flew back to Singapore on Saturday morning! She had stayed with us for about a month, and it was so nice to have her here. The kids were sad and teary about her leaving so after the airport, we took them to have burgers at Gott’s, which we hadn’t been to in years.

I had the bacon cheeseburger and the kids wanted a chocolate milkshake and onion rings. It was a strangely rainy day for May! It rained all the way to the airport, and it still rained all the way when we reached home.

The lovely indie bookstore Books Inc is next to Gott’s, so we had a nice wander around.

The day before my mum flew off, we took her to try the Korean beef soup place. I had the kalbi tang (beef rib soup) which was delicious. Unfortunately, this eatery doesn’t have the best side dishes though.

One of the dishes my mum cooked last week – Singapore-style chicken curry. So good, although a bit spicy for the kids!

Another Singapore dish is kong bah or pork stew. We used the storebought buns to put the pieces of tender meat in.

And hotpot!

Currently…

Reading:

Watching:

Listening:

Eating and Drinking:

Half a strawberry and half a chocolate cereal mochi doughnut

Cooking:

We have some leftovers today for dinner. But I may make a baked pasta dish for tomorrow.

Last week:

I read:

Cat + Gamer Vol 1 – Wataru Nadatani

What I’d Rather Not Think About – Jente Posthuma

I posted:

Ice-cream Cake, Black Forest Cake #WeekendCooking

Library Loot (May 1 to 7)

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. 

It’s Monday (April 22, 2024)

Some things last week:

Oof last week was a tough one for me, as I was sick all week with some kind of cough/cold/chills situation that still lingers today.

The older boy’s middle school band performed at a music festival, where they bands are graded. They also did a sight-reading test, which I didn’t realise that bands do. They did great, receiving top scores for their performances.

Sunday was again track meet day, but as I was still not feeling 100%, I stayed mostly under the shady trees. It was pretty hot out there!

My son wanted a photo of his burger. We went out for dinner on Sunday and the younger boy got to pick the place as his birthday is coming up. Of course it involved burgers. But I did suggest a diner that allowed for the rest of us to eat other things too

Currently…

Reading:

Mater 2-10 – Hwang Sok-yong

Watching:

Weirdly I started watching Grey’s Anatomy, which I had not watched for a long time.

Listening:

Mott Street – Ava Chin

Eating and Drinking:

Toast and tea

Cooking:

Tonight we have leftovers from dinner out yesterday, but was thinking of cooking some chicken curry this week.

Last week:

I read:

Game On – Seressia Glass

Cleat Cute – Meryl Wilsner

I posted:

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

Library Loot (April 17 to 23)

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. 

It’s Monday (March 18, 2024)

Some things last week:

Another Sunday afternoon at the track meet. The 10yo’s 5th grade 4x100m relay team got 3rd place. He also ran the individual 100m, then did the tetherball throw and the long jump.

This time, we sat under the trees. The bleachers (pit?) that our team is assigned to gets the full-on afternoon sun, and it was a bit of a hot weekend. Plus, my kid wanted to spend the off-time with his classmate who is on a different parish team (you have to join the team according to where you live).

Tried out a new to us noodle place. This was their signature beef bone noodles which came with lots of coriander and also sliced daikon. I quite enjoyed it.

The chilli wonton wasn’t very spicy though.

On Friday, we made pizza. I had some leftover asparagus, hot dog, and deli ham. So all that went on the pizza 😛

The 12yo went for a friend’s birthday party – and they went go-karting. This was his first time and so I was surprised that he won both of the races 🙂

Currently…

Reading:

Dona Cleanwell Leaves Home – Ana Castillo

All the Sinners Bleed – S.A. Crosby

Watching:

We finished watching Masters of the Air on Apple TV.

Listening:

The Rabbit Hutch – Tess Gunty

I tried this book last year but somehow didn’t quite work at the time. This time I decided to go with an audiobook – this one has a cast of several narrators, and I quite like it

Eating and Drinking:

Cooking:

I was thinking of making Hong Kong-style baked rice with chicken today. I also have a cauliflower I need to cook up, so will roast that in the oven too.

Last week:

I read:

Eagle Drums – Nasugraq Rainey Hopson

One Summer in Savannah – Terah Shelton Harris 

I posted:

Library Loot (March 13 to 19)

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. 

It’s Monday (December 11, 2023)

Silly me, I somehow scheduled last week’s post today, anyway, this is today’s actual post.

Some things last week:

We didn’t do much over the weekend. The husband wasn’t feeling well, and the 12yo spent Sunday after his friend’s birthday party.

We had some super foggy days last week. And then a bit of rain. And today, it’s back to sunshine but somewhat chilly temps.

I can’t resist taking photos of the autumn colours.

I finally gave in and bought a pumpkin pie from Costco. It’s so huge that I always thought we wouldn’t be able to eat it. Plus it’s such a gigantic container! So I cut it up into and managed to fit them into different pyrex containers and stack it in the fridge. The kids were delighted.

My order from Lion Brand yarn came in. I saw that they had this 6 for $12 on certain colours/yarns. And these colours from the Schitts Creek collaboration they had looked just right for the project I wanted to do. Plus $2 each? The original price is $9.99!

Currently…

Reading:

Red London – Alma Katsu

Watching:

Listening:

This is such a brilliant audiobook. The narrators are so good!

Eating and Drinking:

Earl Grey Tea.

Cooking:

I’m boiling some adzuki red beans to make red bean paste. For dinner tonight, chicken drumstick stew with carrots, broccoli, and potatoes.

Last week:

I read:

The Guest – Emma Cline

The Arsonists’ City – Hala Alyan

Asadora vol 1 and 2 – Naoki Urasawa

I posted:

The Guest by Emma Cline

Library Loot (December 6 to 12)

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. This meme started with J Kaye’s Blog   and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. 

Wee Reader Approves: Dark Emperor and other poems of the night

I’m no children’s book blogger but as a decent number of children’s books take roost in my house every week with our visit to the library, I hope to blog a bit on Mondays about the best book of that week’s wee reader library loot.

 

 

Unfortunately, last week’s library loot didn’t contain all that much to shout out about. So here’s something I had picked up on a previous visit. And it’s so so good.

Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night by Joyce Sidman (and these gorgeous woodcuts are done by Rick Allen) is just a sight to behold. Wonderful poems (like the Dark Emperor of the title here) and the absolutely wonderful accompanying woodcut prints, which capture the wild shadows and the “dappled dark” just perfectly.

I couldn’t quite figure out which poem to highlight in this post as they’re all wonderful. But I guess this one (with that little aside at the end) might just be one of my favourites – “satellite dish of head”.

I We loved Dark Emperor so much, I just had to go and get a copy of my our own.

Happy New Year!

Back home in Singapore, there’ll be some new pots of flowers, plenty of mandarin oranges for visiting, snacks of all kinds (my mom was busy making her yummy cookies the past weekend), new clothes perhaps?, and everything will be relatively spick and span. Here in Fremont, not much is new, although I guess the house is relatively clean, and we’re expecting a friend to pass us bak kwa (a kind of sweet-salty dried BBQ pork slices… so good) that we bulk ordered from a company in the Bay Area, and a feast at R&G Lounge (warning – site automatically plays music) in the city on Saturday. Celebration or not, I’m looking forward to the new year!

祝大家兔年快乐，万事如意，身体健康!

(Here’s wishing you a happy Year of the Rabbit, may everything you do be successful, and here’s to good health!)

Chinese New Year

by Lynda Hull

The dragon is in the street dancing beneath windows

pasted with colored squares, past the man

who leans into the phone booth’s red pagoda, past

crates of doves and roosters veiled

until dawn. Fireworks complicate the streets

with sulphur as people exchange gold

and silver foil, money to appease ghosts

who linger, needy even in death. I am

almost invisible. Hands could pass through me

effortlessly. This is how it is

to be so alien that my name falls from me, grows

untranslatable as the shop signs,

the odors of ginseng and black fungus that idle

in the stairwell, the corridor where

the doors are blue months ajar. Hands

gesture in the smoke, the partial moon

of a face. For hours the soft numeric

click of mah-jongg tiles drifts

down the hallway where languid Mai trails

her musk of sex and narcotics.

There is no grief in this, only the old year

consuming itself, the door knob blazing

in my hand beneath the lightbulb’s electric jewel.

Between voices and fireworks

wind works bricks to dust—hush, hush—

no language I want to learn. I can touch

the sill worn by hands I’ll never know

in this room with its low table

where I brew chrysanthemum tea. The sign

for Jade Palace sheds green corollas

on the floor. It’s dangerous to stand here

in the chastening glow, darkening

my eyes in the mirror with the gulf of the rest

of my life widening away from me, waiting

for the man I married to pass beneath

the sign of the building, to climb

the five flights and say his Chinese name for me.

He’ll rise up out of the puzzling streets

where men pass bottles of rice liquor, where

the new year is liquor, the black bottle

the whole district is waiting for, like

some benevolent arrest—the moment

when men and women turn to each other and dissolve

each bad bet, every sly mischance,

the dalliance of hands. They turn in lamplight

the way I turn now. Wai Min is in the doorway.

He brings fish. He brings lotus root.

He brings me ghost money.

Lynda Hull, “Chinese New Year” from Collected Poems. Copyright © 2006 by the Estate of Lynda Hull. Used by permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota, http://www.graywolfpress.org.

Lost bread and green tea

I loved today’s Writer’s Almanac poem, French Toast by Anya Krugovoy Silver

Pain perdu: lost bread. Thick slices sunk in milk,
fringed with crisp lace of browned egg and scattered sugar.
Like spongiest challah, dipped in foaming cream
and frothy egg, richness drenching every yeasted
crevice and bubble, that’s how sodden with luck
I felt when we fell in love. Now, at forty,
I remember that “lost bread” means bread that’s gone
stale, leftover heels and crusts, too dry for simple
jam and butter. Still, week-old bread makes the best
French toast, soaks up milk as greedily as I turn
toward you under goose down after ten years
of marriage, craving, still, that sweet white immersion.

“French Toast” by Anya Krugovoy Silver, from The Ninety-Third Name of God. © Louisiana State University Press, 2011.

 

I then started wondering (it was 5 am and I couldn’t sleep), so I browsed Poetry Foundation for more poems on food and drink and fell in love with this one, Green Tea by Dale Ritterbusch.

There is this tea
I have sometimes,
Pan Long Ying Hao,
so tightly curled
it looks like tiny roots
gnarled, a greenish-gray.
When it steeps, it opens
the way you woke this morning,
stretching, your hands behind
your head, back arched,
toes pointing, a smile steeped
in ceremony, a celebration,
the reaching of your arms.

Source: Far From the Temple of Heaven (Black Moss Press, 2006)

(ok it’s not for green tea but it’s a gorgeous Peranakan-style tea set that my mom brought for me from Singapore).