Sentimental Sunday - 13 years ago today

The best way to remember this day is by sharing the story that my favorite sister wrote about us.  We actually made a small book with photos but at the beginning of the book is our story.  I also found a copy of our favorite photo that was taken in one of those booth at the Great Mall during our first date.

February 2003

February 2016

We are still smiling, still on the same side and life is good after 13 years.  We have grown older together and have gained exactly the same amount of weight between then and now.  And who said long distance relationship does not work.  We look forward to many more years of togetherness, living on the same page and loving life.

 

Fast and Easy Friday - F is for food

Each week I try to write a couple of blogs and each week I try to think ahead of topics and photos to share.  Because of the style that I use for my titles which as you can see rhymes with each day of the week, I really thought by now I would have run out.  Of course I have had to repeat some of the words but in reality I am only limited to M, T, W, F and S.  I just hope that my followers/readers don't get tired, so if you have any suggestions like my BFF Maria who sent me a bunch of words to go with my weekly blog, please send it my way by leaving a comment.  Last weekend was my first weekend that I could actually get some baking and cooking done.  I like checking the fridge and cupboards and figure out what I can create.  First I saw a ready made pie pastry that needed to be used and wondered.  Now that you can find any type of recipe on line, I did a quick search and stumble upon one called "Coconut pecan pie".  The ingredients and instructions were simple.  Luckily I have everything to make this pie.  Once it was done, I remembered to take a photo for sharing.  I immediately send a text to my BFF Jean because this is her favorite pie (two in one).  She loves coconut and pecan pie.  I know that if it passes the test and get her approval,  the recipe will definitely be a keeper. For my next time, I am thinking of using a young coconut sport (macapuno) instead of the flaked coconut package. It will have a very fresh taste of freshly picked coconut.  As for dinner that night while waiting for the pie to be done, I started preparing my pierogi or varenyky.  For those of you who likes this type of dumpling, you know that it has to have caramelized onions, crispy bacon and a dollop of sour cream.  I did all of that and my dinner was so yummy considering my pierogis were from a frozen box.  One day I would like to make them from scratch and invite our friends to try them.  Maybe I can have a Ukranian night with cabbage rolls, perogies and some sort of grilled sausages like Kielbasa or something similar.

 

By the way, I have already received a text from Jean giving this pie a two thumbs up and she has placed her order for a birthday pie for May.  I should let her taste the variation of the recipe using the macapuno and wait for her review.  I figure someone who has tasted many variety of coconut pie as well as a variety of pecan pie would be the perfect judge for this type of combo pie.

Twiggy Tuesday- Perfect timing

Today I just realized that I have been blogging over five years and still only have 15 followers. LOL.  The reality is that I love doing it just for my family and friends so they can check every now and again to see what I have been up to.  The other reason is the satisfaction of being able to share, vent and just express whatever it is that's in you mind without being judge or questioned.  So far I have not run out of things to write or photos to share, therefore I will continue to do until the process becomes a chore or when my mind isn't as sharp anymore.  OMG I hope it will be a very long time before that happens.  Here's what I did the other day.  Jeff trimed all the branches from our Mulberry tree, you know the ones that produces all the twigs that I made in the winter of 2014.  This year I was trying to make something different but since I did not have a lot of strength, I couldn't bend and shape

the twigs.  In the end, I took all the twigs with little buds so I can make a new center piece for our dining room.  It is a dry arrangement so it's very low maintenance.  Most likely it will stay until end of Spring.

First I arrange all the twigs on the ceramic vase (Jeff made this in 2008).

Then I added the red berry looking stuff I found in our backyard.

 

Material Monday - Still completing forms

Almost at the end of the month and we still have not submitted the forms because they are still some sections of the forms that needs a bit more work.  We probably have completed 75 percent of it and we need to the complete the forms online to make it official.  Although we have all the materials as evidence, we have to photocopy everything for submission.  I have to admit that we have not been giving it our hundred percent attention.  My excuse, I have been sick for a couple of weeks and completing forms is the last thing I want to do.  Good news is that I have completed my Canadian Income Tax and ready for submission this week.  Jeff's excuse, he has been truly busy with work and even after his normal hours, he still has to put in an extra couple of hours here and there.  The only way we can truly finish both application forms is to spend a weekend concentrating only on this task without interruptions.  We couldn't do it this past weekend because Jeff is trying to get everything ready for his income tax appointment in a couple of weeks.  In addition to that, we had to babysit the grandkids yesterday in order for their Dad to do some side job.  Almost forgot, I also had to do some of the house chores that has not been done due to my illness.  Of course I still have to take it a little easy as I did not want to push it.  Two weeks of staying at home is getting a little old.  I missed a couple of rounds of golf, one night of bowling, and have called in sick three times to the volunteer place.  I cannot believe what I saw in our front lawn which goes to show I did not even got a chance to look out the window while I was sick. Maybe these plants think that Spring is here. 

Surmount Saturday - I can't win

Just when I thought I was feeling better, my throat started feeling a little sore.  I made my ginger tea and finished the whole batch in two days.  My voice started to sound better until the Tuesday morning when I woke up.  There's not a lot of coughing but when I do, it hurts like hell.  It seems like the only thing that helps the soreness is my Fisherman's Friend. Thanks to my BFF Rose because the last time she visited she brought me some and I believe the last time I saw her in Las Vegas she also brought a few.  It's the only one I really like to take when I have a sore throat or colds because it's sugar free and it works for me.  But like anything, it's only a temporary relief.  I've been drinking a lot of liquids and staying away from dairy products.  The only relief is that I don't have achy muscles or headache nor runny nose. I am trying very hard not to just lie down and sleep.  But maybe that's what I just need, lots of rest.  You know that feeling when you have been under the weather for a few days, all you want is to get better and return to normal.  Sometimes it backfires when you try to rush it because you feel guilty about the house chores not being done or anything else that needs to be done are all off a sudden put on hold.  In the back of my mind, I am questioning myself why I did not get the flu shot, but I would have been in the same situation if I did.  That is why I just have to surrender and get it over with because I can't win.

This is how I want to feel and I want my bounce back.

 

Unfortunately, this is how I have been lately.

Flowery Friday - Could it be Spring?

It is very difficult to talk about flowers blooming and maybe spring, when I know my family and friends are still experiencing some very cold weather.  Last weekend my daughter sent me a photo of herself wearing her very warm winter coat.  It was -33 C or -27 F.  That is very cold and I still know how that feels.  That is why today I thought of posting some things that will make them feel warm or maybe think of actually spring arriving.  I was very surprised when we drove on Saturday to get some groceries to see these flowers in full bloom.  On the way home I made sure we stopped by to take some photos.  

This is the golf course we played last Monday and the conditions were perfect.

Willingness Wednesday - You have to at least try

As part of our Valentine's weekend, Jeff and I golfed with another couple Man and Tran. This was a great idea of Man to take our spouses out to play golf and dinner afterwards.  He picked the perfect day to play and we finished our round in four hours.  We were very happy to have our spouses come along because they are not really into golf, but would go anyway because it's part of the give and take in a relationship.  It was a relaxing day at the golf course and I believe everyone enjoyed the round.  Of course after four hours, we were all hungry.  Man suggested we try this new restaurant near the golf course.  The name is Shabu House.  This is our first time trying out this type of restaurant where you are seated across and there's some sort of circular stove in the middle of the table.  The menu was not very big but the portions were suffice for our appetite.  Basically you are given two types of broth that once they turn the stove on, the soup/broth stays very hot.  Once everything is set, you cook your own choice of meat and vegetables.  Everything stays very hot and you can take as much time as you wish.  We can't believe we finished all the items on our plate.  I was really surprised how Jeff was willing to try some of items that is not his choice of vegetables.  

And at the end of the meal, they offer a small bowl of green tea or red bean ice cream. 

Magnificent Monday - Restaurant with a view

There's a restaurant along the coast of Highway 1 in California that has a perfect view.  It's called Rocky Point Restaurant.  We stumble upon it when we took Susan to tour Carmel and Monterey while she was here during the Superbowl weekend.  It was a beautiful day to go on a day trip and since we were already in the area we decided to go for lunch.  We arrive at the restaurant and there was no line up although it took them a bit of time to seat us.  There were at least three workers that said, "they will be with you in a few minutes".  Finally a man arrived and we assumed he was the Manager.  We asked if we could seat outside and his response was "it will take at least 20 minutes".  So we decided to just take what was available inside.  Not even after 5 minutes, we see some tables open outside and sure enough the receptionist escorts a couple, then a party of 3 and another couple.  We really did not understand what was happening.  Anyway, we decided to order our food.  On the menu, it looked good but when we actually got it, it was what we expected.  Although the view was magnificent when we walked outside after our lunch, it was not worth coming back to take our visitors.  There are other restaurants that have the magnificent view, great food and great service.  Check out the photo of our lunch.

The view if you are lucky to have an outside seating.

Rocky Point Crab Louie

Crab Sliders and a bowl of fruits.

 

Sweetheart Sunday - Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines to all my family and friends and my followers/readers.  I hope that you were able to spend it with a loved one or if not loving friends.  Today we decided to just chill at home as I was still feeling not a 100 percent.  In fact, my throat is a little sore and my voice is very raspy that when I called my friend Gina, she did not recognize me.  About a month ago when I found out Jeff was going to have a long weekend and it happens to fall on Valentine's, he suggested maybe we could go away somewhere.  Unfortunately by the time we started checking out places that we would like to go and stay, most of them have been booked.  Luckily we did not book anything because I was not feeling that great prior to this day, so I would have not enjoyed that mini get away.  Instead we decided to dine at home and ate our favorite meals.  It's interesting how much tasty our dinner was and it was very inexpensive.  We enjoyed our dinner in the quiet ambiance of our dining room.  

 

Sickly Saturday - Murphy's Law

It all began when I told one of my golf buddy during our weekly round of golf.  I was bragging that I am lucky that I did not get sick when Jeff got that nasty cold stuff.  He had it for at least three weeks.  When I first noticed he was coughing and sounding congested, I started drinking this home made tea with lots of ginger, apple, cinnamon, nutmeg and honey.  I made sure I consumed a cup in the morning and one at night.  As you know this year I opted not to get the flu shot since every year that I get them, shortly after I get sick.  Well, after that Thursday and Gil said "knock on wood", sure enough I started feeling not so good on Monday.  The bad part is that my BFF from Texas was still visiting.  She was so understanding and we ended up just hanging out at home.  The next day I took her to SFO and I went home immediately to rest.  There was no coughing or sneezing or headache, but a little achy muscle and lack of energy.  I continued to just take it easy and when I feel a little energy, I would do some of the house work.  The next day I am back where I started.  Yesterday was the first day I felt a little better until about dinner time when I felt nauseous.  I am still not sure what I had for the past week but I am happy to report that today is a much better day.  From now on, I won't be bragging about feeling very good or healthy.  I'll just accept it and enjoy the days that I am feeling great.  

 

Therapeutic Tuesday - My own way

Everyone has their own way of dealing with health and life issues.  Some are dependent on the company of people, others on alcohol/drugs and the rest on something less tragic on their health.  However you deal with it in order to make you feel better is entirely up to you.  Most of my therapeutic way seems to work to my day to day health issues.  For example, when I have any type of muscle aches and pains, I would slap a patch of Tokuhan to the specific area.  This is very similar to those heat/cold patches like Salonpas.  Before going to bed is the best time to use it and by morning time, the pain seems to disappear.  When it occurs during the day or while golfing, I would make sure that I use a couple to ensure a few hours of coverage.  Going for a massage is another way to get all the little kinks and knots taken away.  I remember when I was still working, I would go every other month or maybe once a month depending on how my body feels.  Here's a list of some of my therapeutic ways to fight those day to day health issues.  As I get older I am trying to find a more simple and healthier ways.  

• Getting a massage
• Eating your favorite food, dessert or snack
• Listening to clean classic hits
• Reading a good book
• Taking a short nap (anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes)
• Going for a short walk just to be outdoors
• Watching a Hallmark movie
• Taking a really hot shower
• Drinking your favorite cold or hot beverage
• Chatting on the phone with one of my BFF
• Sewing a small project that's quick and easy
• Writing a letter (snail mail) to friends who loves getting them.
• Something crafty like drawing or card making

My sister sent me these are they are only available in Canada.

She also sent these after I called her one day wondering if they still made them.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
         

Superbowl Sunday - I'm cheering for the other team

Superbowl 50 is here in the Bay area and for a whole week there were so many things going on and it is causing a lot of inconvenience for residents of the area.  Even though the Levis Stadium is in Santa Clara, they have a couple of Superbowl activities (tent) and more downtown San Francisco and San Jose.  For us, we just stay away from those areas for this week.  We are having a small group of friends for our Superbowl party.  As you know my team is not playing so the excitement is not as great.  But we still will be watching the game at home with our friends.  I have planned a simple menu instead of the original one that consists of steak and lobster.  This time it'll be some finger foods and a variety of desserts.  Without the Patriots, I would now have to pick a team to cheer for.  Definitely not the Broncos because they are the reason why the Patriots are not in Superbowl 50.  I think the Panthers will win and I hope they win with a lot more points between.  Whoever you are cheering for this Sunday, may the best team wins.