Savory Saturday - Casa Teresa

Whenever we think of going out for some Mexican we can only think of once special place that we know the food is fantastic and the service is excellent.  This is Casa Teresa, a family owned restaurant located on the corner of Santa Teresa and Snell in San Jose, CA.  Jeff first introduced me to this place after he moved to his house.  My MIL just love going out for lunch at this place.  We all have tried different places in San Jose, Morgan Hill and Gilroy.  Their food was edible and reasonable but it doesn't taste home cook.  At Casa Teresa we have tried different items on the menu for lunch and dinner, the taste is very consistent.  We took some of our guests from Canada when they want to try some Mexican meals.  They all agree that the place is one they would like to come back on their next visit.  Today after getting our groceries, we stop by for lunch and tried something different on the menu.  

Carnitas Enchiladas

Chips and salsa

Chili Relleno

Friendship Friday - Twelve years ago

Most couple celebrate their wedding anniversaries but Jeff and I still likes celebrating the date of our first date which is today.  Twelve years ago when I was visiting a friend (if I was on Facebook, they would call it unfriend) introduced me to Jeff.  It was actually on her birthday that Jeff and I went on our first date.  He picked me up and we saw an afternoon movie and then he took me out to dinner.  Since the night was still young, we went to Dave and Busters to play some games and billiards.  It was great day and we still remember how much fun we had that day.  We did a simple celebration this year by going out to dinner at a steak restaurant.  Nothing special but it still nice to take a break from cooking and doing dishes.  We had a quiet night of watching our favorite shows and shared a dessert (Apple Bars) that we made the night before.  It amazing how time has flown by specially when we first decided to agree on trying long distance relationship.  No one thought that it would last but after five years, then everyone was just happy for me to have found a truly nice guy.  One day Jeff mentioned that he doesn't have a lot of friends like I do but he's very happy to have married his best friend.  Some people say that friends can never be lovers.  But we both agree that in a relationship, friendship is important because at the end of the day, it all boils down to you and your spouse/friend/companion/partner/lover/confidant. 

 

Ten Pin Thursday - Wii Bowling vs real bowling

A couple of years ago I organized a bowling night for Jeff's friends/co-worker.  It was a great way to see each other outside of work.  This was a successful event and everyone said we should do it again.  Two years later, I am tasked to organize another get together for friends.

Since a few of Jeff's coworker have retired, they have not seen each other for a few months.  This is the month that I am calling Friendship Month.  It is an evening to have some fun and the guys can reconnect with their former coworker/friends.  It is also a night when they can bring their spouses.  When I first moved here, we use to host a poker night on a Friday.  Each of the guys take a Friday to host at their home, usually every sixth week.  Lately they have not scheduled any due to whatever reason.  I have been invited to a few of those, specially when they are needing extra poker players.  It is a fun night of friendly poker game and sharing stories.  Of course there's a lot of food, drinks and some cigar smoking.  After a few emails back and forth, the Bowling night finally got underway.  We all got together at Bowlmor last night and it was great to see everyone.  Although I am a professional bowler on Wii, it was an eye opener to switch to real bowling.  The balls are heavy and it's very difficult to roll when your sciatica is acting up.  Some of the people came with their own ball and some of us just laugh on how bad our scores show up on the screen. Everyone enjoyed our reconnecting night at bowling and thanked me for organizing the event.  Maybe next time we will try billards and darts or even a golf tournament.

Walking Wednesday - I need to do it

What does it take to motivate one to start walking?  A health issue or weight issue.  But why is it too difficult to start.  I see some of the people in our neighborhood who walks their dog, walks with their spouse or maybe a family member and maybe a friend.  It's not that I don't walk at all.  When I golf with my friends, we always walk unless the course has a mandatory cart rule.  Another type of walking is when I am shopping with my MIL.  I try to park a bit further from the store or maybe park in the middle somewhere and we would walk to the different store around the plaza.  Sometime ago, Jeff and I decided to walk after dinner.  It lasted about a week and that was it.  I can't seem to walk alone as it's a bit boring.  Honestly, I'd rather play tennis and run around chasing the ball than walk around the block.  Lately my sciatica is starting to really bother my left side.  When I'm up and about doing chores, it doesn't seem to bother me.  But seating for a long period of time even after driving for half an hour, then it seems to tighten and it's a bit painful.  Jeff searched for stretching exercise to help alleviate the pain but I'm not good with daily routine stretching.  What seemed to help the last time was getting an hour massage.  It relieves all the different section that is tight and I'm so relaxed after.  Now this post has to end because I've been seating and I'm starting to feel it.  I might have to do my next post standing up.  I really need to walk it.  Just WALK.

Travelling Tuesday - Where to go next

It took forever to acquire enough air miles points for me to take Jeff somewhere and fly for free.  This is the year that we can do it and I have started checking out availability for the destination that will take the least amount of points.  So the search begins.  There are a couple of places we are debating on visiting.  Yellowknife, Northwest Territories and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.  You are probably wondering why these two of all places in Canada.  These were the first two places that I lived when I first emigrated to Canada.  I lived in Yellowknife for 10 years and Whitehorse for four years prior to moving to the province of Ontario.  Although I think the Yukon is much more scenic, most of my friends have moved out as well.  While Yellowknife is also scenic in its own way, I have to say there are still friends and relatives that are still living there.  Apparently the city has grown so much that I wouldn't recognize the size of the streets and all the different buildings that has been added.  If I can remember it correctly, it has been at least 32 years since I left that true very northern community pass the 60th parallel.  It will be great to see all the friends and relatives after all those years.  Jeff would certainly like to see the Northern Lights and what life is like living in the North, or the city at the end of the road.  Maybe I'll take a survey and see how many actually participates, please check out the POLL located on the right corner.

Yellowknife's sky 

Just outside the city of Whitehorse

               

Scenic Sunday - Spring is almost here

It might as well be spring.  This is actually a title of a song from the 40's or 50's that my aunt taught me how to sing when I was five.  I am surprised that I still remember all the words.  That was at least 56 years ago.  It's amazing sometimes how certain things stays in our brain.  This post is not even about songs, today is about how beautiful the weather has been.  This winter has been like spring although we are expecting some rainy weather next week.  I have been taking some photos to share with my readers and followers.

The birdie that got away.  Using my hockey stick putter, a very long birdie putt that left me hanging.

This was the cherry blossom tree on the 18th hole at the golf course where I volunteer.

For those of you who has visited us, this is the view when you come down from our home.

This egret was keeping an eye on my golf ball that rolled towards the little creek.

Shannon Saturday - One special girl

Many moons ago, I met a really nice girl who was very quiet and shy.  I have watched this girl grew up to be one special woman.  She is the daughter of my BFF Lorna.  Today I just received an email with some link to an awesome article about her.  You can check it out yourself.  Her name is Shannon Tessier.  Congratulations for being the unsung hero for this month. Keep up the great work.  You and your mom are a great team.  Check out these websites for more information.

http://charityvillage.com/unsung-heroes.aspx

http://www.chancefoundation.ca/

Ahhh, not the little girl anymore.  Go girl!

Faulty Friday - Faith versus Patience

There are two people today who are overjoyed.  Why? The long lost package has finally arrived and was received by my daughter this morning.  Two days ago, I decided to stop by the UPS store to complain about the lost package.  The young girl employee was very helpful and looking back, I should have stop there before making all these phone calls.  She instructed me to call the 1-800 number and she guided me through it.  She was coaching me what to say, etc.  Anyway, make the long story short, a investigation has been initiated.  A couple of hours later, I got a message from UPS needing more info.  Yesterday, I got another call and I returned the call.  Both my daughter and I decided to say a little prayer.  It won't hurt, right.  We have been patient since the package is a week overdue but the bad part is that they really did not know the whereabouts of the package.  This doesn't mean that I have restored my faith with the UPS.  I will have to wait a month to send my next package and I will try the US postal instead.  They are a little bit slow with no tracking system unless you pay extra, but at least I have never lost anything.  So the UPS saga has now come to an end.

By the way, just for fun, I checked on line and it appears that they are still trying to find the package and the system has not been updated.  Guess what?  I won't take the time to tell them the updated information.  

This is for the driver that delivered my package to my daughter this morning. He's our hero.

Mandatory Monday - President's Family

President's day in the USA and Family Day in Canada, however you want to celebrate today, it all equates to a day off.  Of course it's all about the sale in the US.  All the store's are open and are offering whatever discount and deals and calling it President's day sale.  While in Canada it's all about spending time with family.  Although not all of Canada have this day off as some provinces wants their own time off and can call it whatever they want.  It's not a statutory holiday but it is observed in the province of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia (Feb 9th).  It was originally created to give time off for people to spend a day with their family between New Year's and Easter.  When you have freezing weather who wouldn't want a day off to stay at home.  By the way, this only applies to people who are not federal employed, they already have a lot of time off during the year.  So whether you are celebrating the President (which is really just a day to shop for great deals) or spending time with family, just enjoy and take it easy.  

          

Substandard Sunday - I HATE UPS

Five years ago when I move to sunny California, I used UPS to send some of my personal belongings.  There was a couple of boxes that had a lot of broken items.  I filled out my claim since we paid for insurance, etc.  After completing forms, sending photos, spending hours on the phone with UPS customer service, their stores, etc.  I gave up because there was no way to move forward.  It was then that I told myself that I would never use them to ship any package.  For whatever reason I guess I must have forgiven them or forgotten about the incident.  Lately, it's like deja vu.  I've spent hours on the phone with both UPS and Staples (the go between for UPS and customers).  Of course it's all over again, employee not wanting to do anything, just passing the buck and no one wants to accept the responsibility.  I decided to really trash them on my blog because of what they have done to my last package.  It's for my daughter and there are some special item that I want her to have.  Now I am sure the driver has it or maybe even sold it.  I have lost it and now all I want to do is tell the world what I think of them.  The meaning of UPS....

• Unprofessional packaging services
• Unskilled parcel shipper
• Unaccommodating package services
• Uncooperative package shipper
• Uninformed parcel system
• Unsophisticated package system
• Unintelligent parcel services

Here's some of the reviews that I read on the Top 1,385 complaints about UPS.

• UPS has been jerking me around for well over a week. They refuse to take responsibility for what they broke
• I'm appalled by how unprofessional the UPS delivery people can be, or even the service itself.
• I seriously hate dealing with UPS. Sadly almost every online retailer uses UPS.
• Really really pissed off with the service of UPS
•  UPS doesn't deserve not even one star.

Somehow reading other people's experience makes mine not as bad but still very unacceptable.  Please feel free to leave any comments about your own UPS hate story.

 

Forthcoming Friday - Are we too old to babysit?

Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day.  So today our unlucky thing is that we were asked to babysit Jeff's grandchildren (8 and 3 yrs).  Honestly it has been such a long time since we last babysat that I am not sure if we even know how to.  LOL.  Anyway since we didn't have any plans and we have not been asked to look after the kids, we thought it was about time.  We are hoping that the little one who is now three has develop a better bed time routine and sleeping through the night.  I am a bit jaded by they way things has been so I am not going to react until we actually see them at our home tonight.  Previous requests seems to have been cancelled or sometimes just not informed until later that it was not going to happen.  Too bad for us because it would be too late to make other plans.  We have not seen the kids since Christmas when they came by to get their gifts. Since we have not had them for a very long time, we have decided to give them back their toys that we kept at home.  But they have enough and did want them back to we decided to give it to other kids who will make use of them and are appreciative of extra toys.  We shall see how our pre-valentine night turns out. I guess it's more like our lucky day because we get a chance to spend time with them for a short time.  Maybe, if this actually happens, we shall see.

This was taken last Christmas and she loves anything pink.

Still one of my favorite - this was taken about four years ago.

 

Sweet Saturday - Happy Valentines Day!

This is probably the best selling event for Hallmark.  As the song goes, "How sweet it is to be loved by you".  It was very interesting to see people around the stores a couple of days before Valentines Day.  We were in line to pay and we notice a man with a V card and two bags of Lindt chocolate.  Another man had chocolate, a fluffy bear and a small box of jewellery.  When I was getting a card for my MIL, I was watching this young man picked a card but not just any card.  He was going through and reading the wording inside, not just outside.  It took him awhile before picking the one that he thought would be the best.  Today there are street corners selling flowers, balloons and boxes of chocolates for those last minute shopper.  Jeff did not forget because I already got my gift last Thursday.  An hour massage and lunch with my friend Jean.  It was so worth it and truly a special because I needed it.  Sometimes golf does something weird to your shoulder, back and legs.  Getting the knots and kinks out is an amazing feeling but even more when the MT helps by stretching some parts of the body.  Anyway, whatever you do today, either small or big, it's all about how special you make it.  Happy Valentines to family, friends, readers and followers.  

 

Thor Tuesday - An amazing distraction

The Amazing Spider Man,  Snow White and the Hunstman and the latest THOR.  These are the kinds of movies that I would have never watched before.  You probably asking, why?  This is probably something that you don't know about me.  I don't like scary movies.  Although you must be laughing because you are wondering what part is scary about the movies I mentioned above.  Yes, it's scary - there are regular people that turns into monsters.  That is why it's scary and I get nightmares.  But wait, if the hero is one handsome young stud, then I can just concentrate and watch him without looking at the monster.  Jeff was so impressed with me because I was the one who was interested in watching these movies.  Although they are older movies, they are worth watching and I sure you have seen it in the big screen.  The good part of watching it at home, the screen is smaller so the monsters does not seem that large.  Now Jeff has been searching for any of the movies that Chris Hemsworth is the hero. We found a couple more to watch.  THOR, the Dark World and The Avengers.  I can't wait until movie night so I can just watch this handsome super hero.

 

Mailman Monday - UPS vs USPS

It has been over a week since I mailed a package to my daughter and she still has not received it.  This is the first time it has not arrived on time.  I am not sure if it has anything to do with the person that look after me at the USPS location at Staples.  During the week I seem to get the same employee who is a young woman who is very helpful and polite.  That Friday I came, she was not there and I got some guy who couldn't even spell and doesn't know what ON means and I had to show him in their drop down box.  Even if one is not familiar with Canada, it seems obvious that ON would mean Ontario as there are no other provinces that starts with those two letters.  When I finally got my receipt, he typed SUT for Suite.  I don't think that is even the abbreviation for that word.  Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow or next day.  This is why sometimes it's worth spending the extra money to use UPS, they have a tracking number and they are pretty good with their delivery dates.  Now a days with the latest technology, you can order something online and get it shipped within two days.  I realize Ontario is way out in the eastern part of Canada, but the inconsistency is unbelievable.  Sometimes you play less and it gets there within four days.  Then there's those other packages that cost more and arrives past the promised 4-7 days delivery.  Hopefully the package arrives this week as my daughter really wants to see the blanket I made her. Everyday I wait for a text from her in the hopes that I'll get some good news.  By the way, I forgot to mention that both our delivery person for UPS and USPS are just amazing. Everyone in our neighborhood loves them.  Maybe the problem is with Canada Post???

                                           

 

Favorite Friday - 2015 TV shows

The final season of Parenthood ended last Thursday which means we can pick another new show to add to our favorites.  Since we are only allowed to record two shows at the same time, we have to really pick our favorites.  Jeff is pretty good on how to put priorities on the shows we are currently following.  Here are some of new and old favorites.  Sometimes I feel that we do watch a lot of TV in the evening.  Jeff still works full time and although I am retired, I do have a busy schedule.  So I am thinking that watching a few hours in the evening is our way to relax and enjoy some together time.

• Fresh off the Boat (only started this week)
• Junior Master Chef (did not think Jeff would like this because the host is Gordon Ramsay)
• Cristela
• Alaska Bush People -off the grid
• The Big Bang Theory
• Mom
• Grey's Anatomy
• 2 Broke Girls
• Mike and Molly
• American Idol
• Last Man Standing
• Shark Tank
• Celebrity Name Game

Of course I still watch most of the golf tournaments on the Golf Channel.  The Grand Slam of tennis (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open).  This season we have been off and on with following the Sharks.  I think I will be watching more closer to the NHL Playoffs.  How many hours do you spend watching TV?  What are your top ten and how much recording do you do?  

Testing Thursday - My new nurse

Most of you know that the medical cost in the USA is just way too ridiculously expensive.  A few weeks ago I had to accept the recent change in the delivery of my insulin.  In Canada, I have been using the pen filled insulin which is so easy and portable.  Traveling has never been so easy when you use those.  Even on a day to day use, it is so easy to carry and to apply.  Due to the high cost of these pen filled insulin with our current plan, I had to revert to the old school of using syringes.  Although I have only agreed to changing my evening insulin, it has become more of an inconvenience.  Because I have to rotate certain parts of my body to give the insulin, using the syringe is a little tricky depending on where you want to inject.  It has been a week since I started using the help of my new nurse, Jeff.  Although he has been out of practice because I had fired him a couple of years ago.  There was a few times that it was a bit painful when he does deliver the insulin.  Today I am happy to report that the training has been completed and he is now a very good assistance.  The delivery is painless and I am a happy camper using the old style of insulin injection.  As for my day time insulin, I am still using the pen filled type even though it cost more.  Somethings in life are worth spending a little more just to have a better quality of life.  

 

  

Talkative Tuesday - All talk and no action

Do you ever listen to some of your family members or friends that talks so much about something and yet their lives is full of issues because they don't know how to solve it?  If only they would spend a little more effort in trying to figure out what to do with their problem and not just talk about it.  It is a little tiring sometimes to listen to certain people who are like this.  It is also starting to get to me as I listen to the same problems over and over.  One could give some tips or advise on how to solve it but in the end no action is taken.  What happens is that all the issues just gets piled up until it becomes a big dilemma.  Now it's back to the same topic for the same issues and months later still no result.  I just remembered, these are the procastinators but sometimes I think it's also just being so cocky.  One can only listen and not judge the person, right?  But after many years, I think I am done.  I am not interested because I cannot allow myself to be drag into their too much drama in their life.

 

Mixing Monday - Just a group of nonsense

Just so that my followers/readers are not disappointed, I have collected a group of things to post today.  There is no theme or a specific topic, just whatever comes to my mind.  Let's start with yesterday's great Super Bowl result - my team the PATRIOTS won.  It was such an exciting game and parts of it was heart pounding.  I wore my Patriots t-shirt, hat and scarf.  Sometimes I would hide behind my scarf because I didn't want to see what was about to happen.  Anyway, the season is over until next fall.  Now on to the next topic.  Have you ever seen a very small carrot.  Let me show you what I picked yesterday from Jeff's garden.

The fruit beside it is a lime from Jeff's tree which I am using for sizing.

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter ask me to make her a blanket.  Since I did not have any project that was outstanding, I decided to go right away to the fabric store and buy what I needed.  She requested that the fabric pattern should be more for adult.  So I kept it plain and a simple pattern which I thought she would like.  The colors are very similar to her theme in her living room.  I was so excited to mail it to her that I forgot to take a photo.  But here's the fabric and you can just imagine it as a blanket with frills all around.

For my last topic I've decided to make the month of February - Friendship month.  I am sure there is a day for it but for me this is the month that I would try and reconnect with my friends everywhere.  I plan to send some emails, send some cheerful cards and maybe a package to some.  Since I have moved away from Canada, it is more noticeable how less friends reconnect.  I understand because everyone goes on with their lives.