Mid Autumn Moon Festival

This past weekend, we got together with my family to pray for my grandma on the anniversary of her death and to celebrate Tet Trung Thu (Autumn Moon Festival). I have fond memories of lighting paper lanterns and eating mooncake as a kid and I wanted to pass that tradition on the Parker so we stopped by Van's bakery before heading to my parents to pick up some mooncake. At about 1000 calories a piece, these delicious little cakes are usually made with red bean or lotus seed paste and salted egg yolks. The more egg yolks, the more expensive the price of the mooncake but it's all worth it becuase the egg is the best part! We would fight over it when we were little and gobble up our mooncake slices with glee. 

 

If you are interested in taking your little ones to celebrate the Mid Autumn Moon Festival, head downtown this Saturday to the Chuang Garden at the San Diego Chinese Historical Musuem from 1-3 PM. There will be story telling, Chinese arts and crafts, calligraphy demonstrations and a chance for kids to make their own mooncakes!

 

Family Moon Festival

Saturday, September 21, 2013

1:00 pm - 3:00 pm

$4 admission for adults/Free for kids under 12 and members

 

 

[Exploring the texture of his first mooncake while sitting in my dad's lap]

 

[Van's bakery is always our go-to bakery for birthday cakes and other sweet treats]

 

[It's become a tradition to take a photo with anyone who falls asleep at a family get together! Haha sorry Mymy!]

 

 

[Don't drop that mooncake, Parker! That's a $8 cake.]

[Parker napping with my mom. My parents don't get to spend that much time with him so they were happy to help babysit so Tuan and I could go on our date night.]



A Book Review of Bebe Gourmet

According to our pediatrician, it's time to start adding meat to Parker's diet because breastmilk and veggies alone do not provide him with as much iron as he needs. When I received this news, I immediately began scouring the internet for baby food recipes that include meat. Unsatisfied with anything I found online, I began looking for baby cook books and found **drum roll please** Bebe Gourmet: 100 French-Inspired Baby Food Recipes for Raising an Adventurous Eater by Jenny Carenco. I received the book yesterday (yay for Amazon prime!) and, after a quick flip through, am so excited to prepare some of the meals for Parker. I know it seems silly to need recipes for purees but Jenny's recipes sound so amazing they make ME want to eat baby food. In fact, this smart little book also offers advice on how to translate the baby food recipes into meals for the whole family to save on prep and cook time. There are also bits of info from Dr. Jean Lalau Keraly, a Pediatric Nutritionist and Endocrinologist.

If you have been following the blog, you know that Tuan and I love to eat out and try new food. I hope that this book will awaken Parker's inner foodie.

[Thank you for deciding that what your baby eats is important. Thank you for believing that taste is one of the most important senses that we have.]

[Turkey with Chestnuts and Apples]

[Baby Beef Bourguignon. Yum!]

[Paella for baby]

Bebe Gourmet: 100 French Inspired Baby Food Recipes for Raising the Adventurous Eater

Jenny Carenco with contributions from Dr. Jean Lalau Keraly

Available on Amazon

Little Bandaids

I snapped some photos of Parker napping after he received his 6 month vaccines.

Tuan: Why are you taking photos of Parker?

Me: Because he's so cute and he's getting so big. I can't stand it.

[Can someone tell Parker he needs to stop growing up?]

[Iron man and Wolverine bandaids]

Living Coast Discovery Center

This past Saturday, we took a trip down to the Living Coast Discovery Center for family day. I can't recall where I first heard about the Center but I've been wanting to check it out for a while now. Admission was $14/person for adults and Parker was free.  The Center focuses on highlighting animals that can be found living in our local waters, skies and marshes including Moray eels, Leopard sharks, stingrays, sea turtles, rescued owls, hawks, falcons and eagles. Parker really enjoyed the fact that most of the exhibits had a seating platform for little ones to sit and watch the animals swim around. Even on a Saturday afternoon, the Center was not busy and we didn't have to fight any crowds to get a good view of the exhibits (like the zoo). The Center is located in the Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge and offers beautiful views of the surrounding marshland, bay, shipyard and Coronado Bridge. Parking is located right off the main road and free of charge. After you park, take the complimentary shuttle to the Center. The Center is very stroller friendly. The one thing we did not have the chance to do was hike through the marshlands but I would definitely do that the next time we visit.

[Across the street from the parking lot "Beat the heat and chill with our hotties". Keeping it classy Chula Vista!]

[Spiny urchin]

[Parker was obsessed with this tank]

[Mantis shrimp]

[View of the shipyard]

[Too busy watching the sharks to take a picture with mom]

[Burrowing owl]

[My handsome boy in his Zara plaid shirt, Gap fedora, H&M leggings and Old Sole shoes]

[Time to go home!]

Side note! We had lunch at El Gordo's before we went to see the animals. One of my favorite taco places in San Diego.

[Al pastor taco. Almost everything on the menu is $2]

Living Coast Discovery Center
http://www.thelivingcoast.org/
1000 Gunpowder Point Drive
Chula Vista, CA 91910
619.409.5900

Date Night - Oddball Comedy Festival

Yesterday has officially been dubbed "hot mess monday" but it was totally worth it. I went through the day on 2 hours of sleep because Tuan and I went to the Oddball Comedy Festival last night at the Verizon Amphiteather in Irvine. It was a good show...up until the headliner, Dave Chappelle, took the stage. I'm bummed that Chappelle was so out of it during his set but we still had a great night of laughs.

 

Thanks to my sister and parents for watching Parker so we could finally have a date night. Actually, it turned out to be a triple date night because Tania, Brandon, Phil and Quyen all decided to buy last minute tickets.

 



 

[Ugh my nursing bra strap is showing]

 

 

[My fave comic on the main stage was Donnel Rawlings aka Ashy Larry from the Chappelle Show]

 

Snooze Del Mar

Last Sunday, Parker woke us at at 7:00 AM with his crazy rolling, hitting and constant chatter. Since we were up so early we decided to grab some breakfast at the new Snooze location in Del Mar because Tuan was craving crispy pancakes. We arrived at 9:00 AM and the wait was about 15 minutes for our party of 3. That's not bad considering the wait at the Hillcrest location is usually about 1/1.5 hours by 9 AM. Besides the location, here are some other differences between the two locations.

Del Mar

-Mostly families vs. mostly hipsters in Hillcrest

-Large covered patio seating area

-Balloon artist

-Easy parking

-PANCAKES ARE NOT CRISPY! Wahhhh

-Service was slow but that was expected because they have just opened on Sept 6. I'm sure it will be better in about a month.

Overall, the experience was good and Parks had a good time watching all the other kids running around. One of the hostesses came over at the end of our meal to ask us about our experience so we gave her some feedback that she said was helpful. I appreciated that! Next time, hopefully the blueberry pancakes will be crispy.

[Awkward husband]

[Awkward baby]

[Delicious chai latte]

[Cheers to good caffeine! Notice my button down shirt which I wore just in case I had to nurse. Thankfully I didn't :) ]

[Waited so long for our food he started eating his bib]

[Munching on a mum mum cracker]

[I ordered the Sandwich I Am. Sandwich I Am. Description: Udi’s soft pretzel roll filled with scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese and a sausage patty, served with a side of smoked cheddar hollandaise & house hash browns. Yes we can!]

[Tuan ordered the breakfast pot pie. Description: Breakfast Pot Pie Snooze’s homemade rosemary sausage gravy smothers a flaky puff pastry, topped with an egg your style (we’d say sunny side up!). You’ve reached breakfast bliss, complete with hash browns.]

[Letting Parker have a drink of water]

[Blueberry Pancake you should be crispy!]

Snooze - Del Mar Location
http://www.snoozeeatery.com/delmar-san-diego
3435 Del Mar Heights Road
San Diego, CA 92130

Losing the Baby Weight - 27

It's been a couple months since I last updated you guys on my post pregnancy weightloss. Life has been a little more hectic since going back to work full time. Well, this morning while I was picking out my work clothes in the dark, I pulled out a pair of jeans from my closet and to my surprise they fit and were comfortable. These aren't even stretchy jeans! I'm pretty jazzed about this morning. I'm only a couple of inches away from being able to fit all of my old jeans/trousers/pants now and I have less reservations about investing in new clothes. Woo hoo! Happy friday :)