family…toothy smile

So, we've had another milestone in the family; D lost his first tooth. What made this event magical, if somewhat traumatic, was where we were and who was with us.

See the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, we were out for a walk at Lands End on a beautiful, warm and windless day. Accompanying us were D's best buddy and his mama, my good friend. I'm so glad they were there as they diffused a potentially disastrous parent and child moment. 

The Tooth Fairy did make a visit that night leaving a silver dollar as old as me. Alas, the wonder faded less than twenty-four hours later when some of his classmates told an outrageous story that there was no such thing as a Tooth Fairy! Damn them!

F&N

back again…really!

Geez, I'm a bit embarrassed about my previous declaration of re-entering the blog world only to be absent for another month! It's safe to say, I've made it over the hump with all the goings on in our life.  

First off, we closed on our house and we are moved in! We've been in our new residence now for two weeks, and it's beginning to feel like home. Surprisingly! We were unsure how we would adjust to living in an old Victorian after loft living for 12 years, but the transition has been smooth and enjoyable. 

Instead of plywood floors, an open floor plan, no closets, no doors, and an industrial neighborhood, we have discreet rooms, plenty of closets [usable closets too! not odd left over spaces that can't even accommodate a hanger], doors for some much needed privacy, a garage and a composting bin! I've come to realize residential living is so civilized. 

I'm excited by our new neighborhood and all that it has to offer. It finally feels like we're living IN San Francisco as opposed to the outskirts of San Francisco. 

The one thing I do miss is this view of downtown.

 F&N

guess who's back…

back again! It was a tough decision to re-enter the blogshpere, but here I am, guns blazing. Thanks to everyone who still checked in regularly, and thanks to my friends who encouraged me to continue the F&N blog. 

A few of "life's moments" converged during the month of August, that quite frankly, overwhelmed me. The two major events were my grandmother's death and the purchase of our first house [what a mix of emotions!]. These combined with D's summer break, visiting relatives and work account for my absence.  

But the time off was good. It gave me some time to think about the blog world and how I would like to participate in it. 

It's good to be back! 

F&N

about the picture…I snapped this photo years ago at the Albany Bulb. It's painted on rock, and I believe the artist's pseudonym is Sniff.

family…a meltdown of sorts

This picture speaks volumes to the general state of our household affairs, and, I admit, a bit to my mental state. Emotions are all over the place: happy, excited, anxious, relieved and sad. I won't go into specifics now, but we'll be up and running soon with lots to share.

 As for the picture…I melted the stove clock while I was frying bacon. I'm such a jackass!

Onward & Upward,

F&N

family…our portrait

Is posting a stylized portrait of our family the same as a posting a photo? I'm not sure. So, I debated whether or not to share our portrait by Kitty Genius. You see, we've made it a rule not to post any pictures of our selves, specifically our faces, on this blog.  

Well, I'm going for it! 

Ok, it's more like a peek, but you get the idea. Thanks to Mon Ami for the lead, and to Ashley for the wonderful work. Check out her portraits gallery on Flickr.

F&N

family + tasty things…a "day of rest" cake

Shortly before summer vacation began, D had a day off from school. It was called "a day of rest".  Of course, I turned to baking as an activity the two of us could do to start our day, and after a very short discussion, D made up his mind he wanted a chocolate cake. The first recipe that came to mind was Nigella's honey chocolate cake…it's very easy, moist and tasty. 

Now that D expresses his thoughts and ideas clearly, baking together is not as easy as it once was. As we gathered our ingredients and tools, D began improvising, "let's use a square pan instead of a round pan! Let's make cupcakes! Let's add dried cranberries!" I somehow managed to keep him on track or rather distract him while I quickly measured, mixed and poured. Here is what the kitchen looked like by the time the cake batter made it to the oven!

The recipe calls for a honey glaze/icing which I usually skip because the cake is tasty without it, and, mostly, I'm too lazy to make it. D was insistent on having the icing. In my haste, I forgot to sift the powdered sugar…very bad! 

Doesn't it look awful! It's pimply and cracked! Appearance aside, it tasted delicious as usual. Now, we call this our "day of rest" cake, even though there was nothing restful about making it.

Cheers,

F&N

family…hello & goodbye, Nemo

Our caterpillar, Nemo, that we found a month ago FINALLY hatched! He was pupating underground for three weeks, and then wiggled his way to the surface where he stayed until he popped out of his chrysalis a week later. We were excited that he completed his transformation from caterpillar to moth. His survival was in doubt as we had very little information on how to rear these guys.

Nemo was beautiful. He was big, fat and furry; you could see his eyes. He felt like a little pet. When we tried to release him, he clung to my arm. I realize now, that his wings were not fully developed. Slowly his two sets of wings opened and spread, and for the next few hours, he clung to his net waiting for night time.  When the lights went out, Nemo came to life! His wings moved so fast you could hear them. Once I released him outside, he was gone in the blink of an eye. 

Nemo in his chrysalis a few hours before he opened. You can see the pattern of his wings. His head is to the right of the picture.

Shortly after emerging. Isn't he cute? His wings hadn't spread yet. 

Nemo clinging to my arm. You can get a sense of how big he was. His legs had  tiny little barbs that allowed him to cling and crawl…very cool.

His big, strong wings spread.

D holding the broken chrysalis.

Watching Nemo change from caterpillar to moth was fun for the whole family. D became quite fond of him during the short time he was with us and cried during our first attempt to release him…so sensitive and sweet.

Anyhow, we moved on, and now we are discussing what insect we should get next. A praying mantis is on the top of the list, perhaps more caterpillars, or maybe a tarantula [if I get my way!].

F&N

tasty things…homemade apricot preserves

Summer has finally arrived and here is the proof…yummy sweet, juicy apricots from my mom's tree! 

When we picked our first harvest, I imagined baking tarts, pies and more upside down cake, but for whatever reason, no baking occurred. The little gems did not go to waste as we snacked on them all week and used them in a couscous and shrimp dinner.

Over the weekend, we picked more ripe apricots, about twelve pounds, and I knew then that I was going to make preserves with this harvest.

I've always wanted to make fruit preserves, but I never had an abundance of fruit on hand and was intimidated by the boiling and sterilizing process. With some on-line research, I found a recipe and canning instructions and decided to give it a go. 

I am quite pleased with this recipe and process. Because the apricots were so juicy and some overripe and I wanted to taste the tartness of the apricots, I cut the sugar way back. The original recipe calls for 6 cups of sugar to 4 pounds of apricots. I used 2 cups and that was plenty. 

The apricots and sugar are mixed together and left in a bowl overnight to macerate then transferred to a pot to simmer until it thickens. I liked macerating the apricots for two reasons: 1] you can control the amount of sugar and gauge the sweetness, and 2] I try to avoid boiling water and sugar unless I'm making caramel or flan because it ALWAYS burns.

Now, I need to make some labels and find homes for these tasty preserves!

Happy Summer,

F&N

NOTE: I didn't buy any special equipment, aside from the jars. These rubber tipped tongs made it possible to pull the jars out of the hot water and fill them with the apricots. It's an awesome tool. 

family…discovery of a caterpillar

This past Sunday we discovered this HUGE caterpillar at my mom's house. It was crawling along the sidewalk in mid-afternoon just waiting to scooped up by some bird or smashed underneath the wheels of D's scooter. D knew right away that it wasn't a butterfly caterpillar, "it's not fuzzy." Curios, Doc did some internet research and learned we had found a white-lined sphinx moth caterpillar. 

When he hatches from a pupae, he will be hummingbird moth! 

D named him Cater Nemo [20,000 Leagues Under the Sea being the current obsession]. We decided to make a little habitat for our new fella and bring him home. I would have never believed that you could see caterpillar poop, or frass as it's called! What's more interesting is Nemo pupates underground. I think it takes about two weeks to complete this cycle. He's "underground" now. I hope he's ok. Will keep you posted on his progress!

Some interesting info and great photos here.

Happy Hatching,

F&N

photo of humming bird moth from here.

more kite stuff

Kites have been a hot topic around here since our beach day. Did you know kites were invented in China? Well, that seems to be a popular theory. Based on my reading, the general consensus is the kite has been around for approximately 2,000 years. Did you also know there is a National Kite month?

Coincidentally, D pulled this book from our borrowed library books which are way, way, way, waaaay overdue! I had completely forgotten about it. We love all these books about the Kang boys and how their mischievous adventures result in a famous invention. What I like best are the author's note and project at the end of each book. 

The book reminded me of a great kite shop in Chinatown, and shortly after, we found ourselves here. 

I wished I had done more research as there is quite a variety of kites for various wind conditions. With some assistance, we chose some fine beginner kites! I'm fairly certain there will be a kite project occurring here during the summer. 

Some resources:

20 Kids • 20 Kites • 20 Minutes 

Sun Kite

Happy Flying!

F&N

family…parties

I've been hankering to throw a party, more specifically, a themed party. I can point the finger directly to Party Perfect for causing this stir at our home. But it's all good! I wish her blog was around when we had our first party for D, but I think Doc and I did pretty darn good!  So, I thought I would share some photos of birthdays past in my gallery.

 

The pattern has been to have a birthday party every other year. We seem to be on the even years. Age 2 and 4 are under our belt already, and birthday #6 is around the corner. So far, D has no expectations for a party every year. His main concern is CUPCAKES! Truth be told, I'm the party pusher. It's a great opportunity to combine all the activities I enjoy. However, D does enjoy parties and all the preparations.

Thanks for stopping by!

F&N

playing for change…play it loud

This amazing site, Playing for Change,  which just launched, will send a chill up your spine and bring happy tears to your eyes. Gather the family, turn up the volume and play the videos. Spend time on the website to learn more about PFC, the musicians and the journey to create the CD and DVD. 

The Inspiration

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.

Not only is PFC an amazing movement, but the site was designed by Polychrome Los Angeles, the sister office to our Polychrome San Francisco studio.

Enjoy,

F&N

family…lucky me!

Here is a small Easter gift I received from Doc and D. It's a wonderful intersection of things I love, crochet [learning to love] and curiosities! 

This scientific crocheted specimen was procured in-store at the Curiosity Shoppe. After some on-line detective work, the creator is Jessica Polka, and her blog is Wunderkammer which means a cabinet of curiosities. 

I realize I'm a latecomer to her work, and this may be old news to most of you. But man, I love her stuff! I squealed with delight when I visited her etsy shop and saw patterns for cuttlefish, squid, octopus, coral and more. Needless to say, I ordered all the patterns immediately!

Have a look at her site and follow the links. The photo on the right is from her flickr stream. It accompanies her article, Sculptural Crochet Primer, which is just the inspiration I need to continue my pursuit of crocheting. 

Safe to say, I will be be spending time with hook, yarn and jpolka's patterns. I'm super, super excited! I love that a thoughtful gift turned into a wonderful discovery. I'm very luck that my boys know me so well.

A Very Happy Crafter,

F&N

crafty things…easter preparations

Here is my "mood board" for Easter. I mainly put this together so I could select some fabrics for the table setting and other craft/decorations. Typically, our aesthetic and sensibility is very modern, but for holidays or special occasions, I have an incredible propensity for romantic/victorian/gothic decor. I find it very hard to reconcile the two modes. In fact, this is really my first attempt. And believe it or not, the oversize egg theme was something I've been ruminating about before I picked up the recent issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine.  I have an unexplained affinity for ostrich eggs.

For the decoupage, I've tagged some lovely images in this book.  I may abandoned them if the scanning/photo copying is too difficult given the book's size.

I'm also in the process of acquiring some silver pieces on ebay to complete the display and the table setting. I've entered a crazy bidding war on a specific little item…ughh. 

I'll keep you posted on the progress and preparations for Easter. I'm short on ideas for activities that the grandparents and other adults can do with D. I'd love to hear any ideas you might have.

Thanks for hopping by!

F&N

object Love…doggie

This is doggie. He belongs to D and has been his constant companion since day one.  As you can see, Doggie has been loved to death. He's threadbare, and I'm at a loss as to how to repair him. Sure, I can fix him up, but that requires altering his appearance and adding material. Will it be the same Doggie? Or will he just be a semblance of Doggie, like Mickey Rourke style? I'm not sure.

Doggie [lovingly named by D] is unassuming and patient. He's organic and natural, and he's the perfect thing to keep D company every night. He's a seasoned traveler, accompanying D on all our travels and vacations. He's a consoler, a good listener and a wonderful guest at tea parties. I'm so thankful for Doggie.

As he rests near my sewing machine, I contemplate "retiring" Doggie and storing him in D's keepsake box. This will allow him to keep his original threads and still be intact…pure. Or do I patch him up and return him to play as usual until D finally outgrows him? Emotionally, I struggle putting Doggie into retirement. You see, Doggie represents D's entire baby and toddler years. As I see the boy in D come into sharp focus and the vestige of his babyhood recede, there are times I wish I could keep D, like he is at this moment, forever. With Doggie still around, I'll always be reminded of my baby boy.

Sniff sniff,

F&N

family…happy birthday

Things have been a bit gloomy around here. So when my birthday rolled around yesterday, it was a nice pick-me-up that was much needed. D and husband picked out some lovely and very unique presents. It was nice to receive a gift from D that he knew I would like. Generally, his mode of gift giving is to pick out something he likes, let's take Hot Wheels as an example. He will lovingly "wrap" it and give it to us saying "I got this for you, so YOU can play Hot Wheels with ME." 

Anyhow, here are the goods…

The tarantula and ostrich egg are from D, and I love them! They are a great addition to our shelf of curiosities [which I will post about soon… I need to spend some time capturing the beauty of that collection]. And yes, I like spiders. I think they are amazing creatures and hunters.  The vase is from Whitney Smith. Husband has excellent taste!

Can't get over the beauty of this egg! Husband thought is was ceramic; the lady had to convince him it's all Mother Nature's doing. Oh, the cupcake is from Miette, my favorite bakery in town.

F&N

crafty things…on hiatus

My craft projects list continues to grow for 2009. I refuse to begin a new project until I deal with this…

giant stack of photos! There are actually 374 photos that highlight our year, but this is just a drop in the bucket from all the photos of 2008. While I have adopted digital photography, I have not abandoned paper prints. If it weren't for iPhoto and Shutterfly, the majority of my spare time would be spent organizing, editing and printing photos. Before D was on the scene, that's exactly what I did. It was truly my past time.

In addition to motherhood, other endeavors such as baking, sewing, reading, exercising and knitting [life actually] vie for my spare time. Fortunately, I've figured out a system that keeps me trigger happy with the camera and allows me to archive and create wonderful picture books to capture our memories.

As I mentioned, iPhoto and Shutterfly have really made managing digital photos easy. Once I've edited pictures in iPhoto or Photoshop, I export them directly to Shutterfly [Shutterfly has an iPhoto plug-in which you can download to a mac for super efficiency]. Once in Shutterfly, I add borders and send off prints to the Grandmas, other relatives and myself. These are then "archived" into Kolo photo albums. I have one for each year, and each holds 300 pictures. But archiving and creating are not the same thing. 

To satisfy the "creative" craving, I use iPhoto to make photo books. This is the BEST THING EVER!

Now I can really tell a story about our year with pictures without having to print out hundreds and hundreds of photos. If you don't have iPhoto, there are other services such as Shutterfly and Blurb that allow you create your own book. In fact, I really want to give Blurb a shot this year as the ability to custom design your own book is even greater, practically unlimited. I'll keep you posted when I do.

So, I hope this was helpful in some way.

Say Cheese!

F&N

family…the year of the ox.

Chinese New Year is embraced and celebrated in our house. It all began so innocently with a borrowed book from the library about the customs and traditions of Chinese New Year. Hmm, I think applying to a Mandarin immersion program had something to do with it too. In any case, the stories and celebrations are so appealing, we couldn't help but create our own Chinese New Year.

Of course, each of us has our own reasons for participating. D's excitement is centered around the celebrations, food [especially our improvised Tray of Happiness] and decorations. Husband prefers a delayed New Year celebration following Christmas, as it allows him to actually enjoy the prospect of the New Year and reflect upon the past year. My love of Chinese New Year is twofold.

Firstly, I love the cleaning and organizing ritual. It's more than a surface cleaning. It's a DEEP cleaning which means I tear apart a room,  then purge, clean and organize it. This is cathartic and relaxing for me. It's a clean slate in the literal and figurative sense. [My neighbor insists it's symptomatic of a "type A" personality, but I'm not sure what that means.] 

Secondly, Chinese New Year is a great reason to have a party! Especially since the house is in tip-top shape after all the cleaning. Here are pictures of the Year of the Rat party.

Our favorite books about Chinese New Year:  Hiss! Pop! Boom!,  Happy New Year! Kung-Hsi Fa-Ts'Ai and Moonbeams, Dumplings & Dragon Boats. 

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

F&N

family…happy birthday MLK Jr.

This morning as husband and I started into our conversation with D as to why there is no school, D interrupts, "I know why, it's Martin Luther King's birthday. Mommy you should make him a cake, a chocolate cake. Or maybe carrot muffins." How could I refuse!

In any case, I was pleased that D had a jump start to our discussion around MLK.  He's formulating thoughts and expressing how he would like to be a "kind and brave" person like MLK. Although impossible for him to comprehend, we listened to MLK's I Have a Dream speech, very apropos given tomorrow's historical event.

Onward & Upward,

F&N