Fun Summer with Everyone

I was writing on this posting with the song from Barney and Friends playing continuously on my head. Andrew likes to sing (or at least try to sing) this song. Fun…fun…fun…fun with everyone….

This is how I described our summer. This summer, we had a lot of fun. My parents, sister and brother in law came to visit us in LA for a week. We took them around LA and here are some pictures.

The picture above shown all of the women wore Batik. By the time we all dressed, Andrew insisted on wearing Batik too. So there we go from the Grove to Universal City Walk in our Batik.

A week later, we drove all the way to Milpitas to visit my sister, Jq. Our favorite activity that we had during our stay was walking around the complex. Andrew enjoyed having fun at the park, climbing a rock, posing on rock and some more.

We were all excited yet nervous waiting for my sis to go on labor. As soon as the doctor confirmed that she was not yet ready for delivery, we made our way to San Francisco. It was a fun short day where we enjoyed different kind of sushi at our favorite restaurant Sakana Bune. I didn’t have the chance to write a review on this, beside it was a treat from my brother-in-law. Thank you, Bert! Hopefully, I can write a review on this on my next trip to San Francisco. In short, this is the best Sushi restaurant that I can find in the US with reasonable price.

We then went to downtown San Francisco and quickly visited the newly built Westfield Mall and took some pictures at the mall and in front of the cable car. Our San Francisco trip was ended with a yummy famous Boudin breadbowl of clam chowder.

On our way back to Milpitas, we visited a far relative of ours. Andrew got a chance to meet with more friends, play with their toys and kissing the adorable Gabby.

During our stay at my sis’ place, Andrew was having a really good time playing with our good friend’s son, Nicky. Here are some pictures of them wrestling and swimming.

On my previous posting, I posted a picture of me and my older sister, Nat and how look-a-like we are. I think that is one of the reason why Andrew loves her so much.

A week later after we were back in LA, my brother came to visit with my cousins. Can’t believe how grown up they are now and even a lot taller than I am.

Being far apart from family, make you appreciate more of the time that you get to spend with them. I love my family and hopefully we can get together again soon. What a fun summer!

Ebi French Bean

This recipe originally came from my aunt. She cooked this dish when she invited us over for the New Year dinner. Arman loves it so much. Knowing that Arman is not a big fan of vegetable, of course I was so eager to know how to cook this dish. Unfortunately, I can’t remember exactly what the exact ingredients, so I just tried my own version, here is what I came up with.

Happy Birthday, Will!

I think the hardest time of being away from family is on our birthday. Although, you can celebrate it with friends, somehow, the feeling of not having your family around you, makes birthday a little bit different. Luckily, I never had to experience that. When I was in the US studying for my degree and working at the same time, I always had my siblings around. Therefore, I never experienced a lonesome birthday.

Today is my cousin’s birthday and poor him, he has to be away from his parents and siblings. So, Arman and I decided that we should give him a small birthday party surprise. We arranged a Shabu-Shabu (Hotpot) birthday celebration at our tiny apartment. Will came with no clue, ’cause I told him that I am having a housewarming party. I am glad that he was surprised and looked happy. After the tummy full of shabu-shabu, Will got to make a wish and blew the candle. Of course, Andrew wanted to do the same thing, and I had to turn the candle light on again. Once again, Happy Birthday, Will! Wish you an eternal happiness and successful career!