Productive Weekend

We had a pretty productive Saturday.  I made a little art project; all of us went down to Chinatown to have lunch; we walked all the way up to the Union Sq to the farmer's market for our weekly vegetable;  I bought some art supplies at Blick Art.

But we totally forgot to do a very important thing while we were down in Chinatown, getting hair cut for Leo.  Forgetting a haircut while down in Chinatown never happened to us before.  Never!!  It is certainly a long way for us to get down there with Ev (stroller issue, no elevator, nap time...etc.)  Somehow, we were so busy tending our child, we just forgot to look at each other.  It was until we were strolling up closer to Union Sq.  and while sitting down getting a coffee,  Leo saw himself at the reflection of the window and saw his chiapet on the top of his head.   It was already too late to walk down because it is too far to push the stroller back to Chinatown.

It is very easy to neglect your partner once there is a child (or children) in the picture.   Today, I made a  new resolution- from now on,  I will make a conscious effort to pay attention to my partner!

Here is the art project I made this weekend!  yes, this is a zipper pouch made from scratch!

I have to mention a dim sum place I went this weekend.  Total disappointment!  We used to go there once a week, then it was closed for renovation.  It took the longest time to renovate and we thought the restaurant was closed down for good.  The restaurant used to look like the 1960s with fake wooden panel (actually it might be from the 1960s and was never renovated for 50 years) , and after renovation, it looks like early 1980s deco with mirror every where.  But I never expect any ambience when I have meal in Chinatown anyway.  This place must feel that it is now renovated and it should recoup its costs from the patrons.  And in order not to increase the price, it just added the filler in the food.  It is horrible.  Absolutely horrible.  I have not been able to go to any dim sum place after our trip to Hong Kong this past summer because the dim sum in Hong Kong is so good, so fresh, so no filler added.   Then when I found out our old time dim sum place reopened in Chinatown and we want to give it a try.  It just does not taste good anymore.  This always kills me when a restaurant started to cheap out on the ingredients and expect patrons not notice any changes.   What a pity!

Long Island City Outing

I went to the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City today with my good friend.  LIC is so close to Manhattan but I never get the chance to know it.  The road (Broadway) to the museum has many mediterranean cafes and restaurants.  We randomly picked a restaurant called Bahari estiatorio (www.bahariestiatorio.com) that has a very interesting exterior design (it looks more like a restaurant in Manhattan then in Queens).  We had calamari and beef for lunch and it was great!

After walking 10 blocks from the restaurant which we were happy about because we were so full from our big lunch, we finally reached Noguchi Museum.  The museum  (http://www.noguchi.org/) is such a peaceful museum with minimalist approach on the building and the garden designs.  There were few people in the museum which is rear in NYC.  Of course, it is not easy to get to with the public transportation.

Noguchi was the sculptor who did the big gold statue in the Rockefeller Center (I did not know that until today but the weird thing is that I see that big statue all the time and never bother to ask who did that!).  The only problem of the museum is that it does not allow stroller.  It was definitely not easy when I was walking around with the 22 lbs toddler in the baby bjorn for almost 2 hours (yes, I took a break by taking Ev out, but his short short legs just could not walk too much yet).

Oh, I have to mention this yummy dish I made last night!

I was dying to have a ceviche, so I decided to make one for myself.  It was quite good the next day after all the juice getting into the shrimp and squid (I forgot to take a picture before I ate all the squid).  Of course, I used the CSA vegetable!  There are

shrimp (cook first)

squid (cook first)

cherry tomato (so sweet)

tomatillo

olive

lemon peel

lemon juice / olive oil / salt pepper and tabasco sauce

Toss everything together, refrigerator and enjoy the next day.  It was so easy and so tasty as a simple summer dish!

Lazy Sunday

What I did on this past Sunday when hurricane Irene passing NYC,  I made a pot of squash soup

and a tea towel for Amy and JP's new home in Luxembourg!  We will miss you, girl!

Love & Commitment

Our good old Amy (http://bocontheroad.blogspot.com/) was married yesterday.   It was not easy for the bride to stay calm and try to arrange the wedding when all the news broadcasted how insane this storm would affect NYC.  No one would expect any bride to stay calm if the last storm this magnitude hit NYC was 100 years ago.  But this was also the time to put the groom to test how well he can calm the good old Amy.  JP was perfect for Amy.  Hands down!!!  He is the peace in her dramatic life!!!  

The wedding turned out to be perfect!!!  The bride was so beautiful and the groom was so handsome and the food was so great!!  Everyone was so emotional at the ceremony.   What strike me was what the pastor   I love what the pastor said about what marriage is (this does not come out of my mouth often, the pastor) .  It is love and commitment.  Sometimes, love is just not enough during the marriage with ups and downs and more downs.  But staying together to support each other because both parties are committed is so important.  

I love going to my friends' weddings because it is such a beautiful thing to celebrate the occasion but it also reminds me how good I have in my own marriage (yes, sometimes, I need the sermon to remind me). 

Well done!!  Amy and JP!   Congratulations for both of you!!!

Try to stay calm!

Over the weekend, I had lunch with my girlfriends.  I told them that I have crisis almost everyday and I thought about how absurd it is that my life is not normal and I should clam down and take a deep breath.

Then the new week rolled around and first thing Monday morning, no internet connection in this apartment.  Are you kidding me?  L had not arrived his office yet and I called to find out how to fix this damn problem.  I need to have internet connection so I can be connected to the outside world.  Ev has been sick for awhile now and I started getting a headache.  I would like to use Skype with my mother (in Taiwan).  In any event, per instruction from L, now, I had to go check the router and modem (what the heck is that anyway?).  I had to have L on the phone first to find out which one is router and which one is modem.  The white one is router, he said.  and black one is modem.  I said what black one.  There is a dark blue one.  Is that a modem?  which plug I have to pull, there are 7 plugs total.  I got the right plugs and pulled off the router and modem, wait 5 minutes.  Not working.  Then try to restart the computer.  I did twice, and still not working.  Then L told me to use modem line directly on the computer.  NOT WORKING!  At this point, I was going insane because Ev started pulling the wires (he loves wires!).  I had enough.  I turned off the computer and left the house.

Of course, L came home late evening and there was internet connection.  What the hell?  This was not working for me.  Don't get me started in using the remote controls.  We have 4 for TV and DVD.  I never figure out how to use any of these things.

Then Tuesday came.  It was a perfect day for me.  I picked up my CSA in the afternoon and picked all the edamame with Ev.  Yes, look at the picture above, those are edamame branches and edamame grow on the branches.  Of course, you have to peel the shells.

I felt so great after putting Ev to sleep on that night because there was no crisis on that day.  Ok, this is a good start.

Then I heard something in my pantry.  I discovered mice in my pantry.  Of course, I had to call L.  It was 7:30 p.m. What the hell is he doing in the office 7:30 p.m.?  No, that is normal.  I told him that we have a problem here (actually this was a real crisis).  The mice in the pantry was eating away my favorite chocolate cookies.  It is French!!!  Anyway, I spent the next 3 hours taking out everything from the pantry and stuffing all the gaps between the walls and floors.  By the time L came home,  I was already exhausted.  He bought a whatever sonic plug to prevent mice coming.  It was $15.  I was so tired.

And the sonic machine did not work because 2 days later, I saw more mice poops in my pantry.  Again, I called L in his office.  Do you call this crisis?   I think it is.  Mice in the apartment really stresses me out.  I am just sitting here blogging away because I have no idea how to get rid of mice.

The thing is that I try to read online of people who live a very calm life, such as Soulemama.  Does she have mice problem???

CSA

I just joined the CSA on the upper east side and got my first order yesterday.  There were

spinach 

purple basil

tomato 

tomatillo

eggplant

banana pepper

onion

squash (various)

cucumber

I love it!!  I was thinking about what I can do with all of these food and thing happened.  Then I did not make anything last night.  I had a glass of wine and chips for dinner.  Things always happen and that just mess up my mood.  

The tenant in our old apartment had a shipment of furniture from Ikea yesterday afternoon.  She called me and told me that the super would not let her move those stuffs upstairs because it was pass 4:30 p.m. And she was not able to leave her shipment in the basement because another tenant is doing renovation and there were a lot of stuffs down there already.  In any event, I had another panic attack.  I always have panic attack all the time.  L told me that it is not our problem and she should have known that there are rules in any building for delivering furniture.  

In any event, we are in the process of getting her approved as a tenant from the Coop board.  Coop board sucks!!  We tried to waive all the application fee and move in fee.  Hopefully, she would not piss someone off in the building by having this shipment before she even gets the board approved.  Anyway, things always happen and I am incapable of taking a deep breath and relax.  I need a cigarette and a drink both (no, I don't need it.   for god's sake).  

Michelle Rhee- Bee Eater

Michelle Rhee was once on the cover of the Time magazine for being the D.C. School Chancellor.  She was also endorsed twice by Oprah Winfrey for having the chutzpah as education reformer.  It is so rare to see people have that kind of audacity to try to change such a chaotic bureaucratic system.  

Public school system really sucks in big cities in this county for a lot of reasons and lack of funding, super strong teacher's union (Teachers' Union) are some of the reasons to blame.  I never understand why this country claims to be the super power but the public schools are so bad.   Did you see Obama sending his own 2 daughters to public school?  What the hell?

Rhee joined Teach for America after college and was sent to teach in a public school in Baltimore.  After she was appointed to be the D.C. School Chancellor at age 37, she implemented system to get rid of teachers who were deemed ineffective.  Her biggest action was trying to abolish teacher tenure system.  Hooray for Rhee!!!!  How can anyone be accountable when their action have no consequence????

Teachers' Union did not like the idea at all and said that Rhee is the like Sarah Palin because Rhee was so naive about the education system and one can't treat kids the same as they all came from different backgrounds.  Of course, all kids are from different backgrounds and Rhee can't control what happens outside of school, but her job as a chancellor is to protect the children.

When Teachers' Union trying to put their members benefits first, the raise? vacation? number of hours per day???  What kind of crap was that?  Who is watching over the benefits of the children.  Should children have a union like Teachers' Union as well?????

NYC children have the option to take the test at the age 4 to ensure getting into the "good" public schools.  All public schools should be good school is basically what Rhee was trying to accomplish.

Mayor Fenty who appointed Rhee lost the 2nd election because Rhee created such a controversy and Teachers' Union ran a $1 Million dollars commercial about how bad Rhee was doing before the election.  Mayor Fenty lost the election and Rhee also lost her job as a chancellor last year.

But Rhee did not back down and she now has her own organization, Student First, http://www.studentsfirst.org/, please check it out and be a member to support her mission.  Here is the mission statement!

Our Mission is to build a national movement to defend the interests of children in public education and pursue transformative reform, so that America has the best education system in the world.

Hooray for Rhee again!!!  Go girl!, Go Korean American girl!!!!

Bee Eater? A bee came into the classroom when Rhee was a teacher in Baltimore and all the kids were running around (kids were already very antsy and knew how to push the bottom of any teacher).  Rhee grabbed the bee and ate it.  Kids were in shock and started listen to her.   She is crazy, but you got to love her!!  I do!