Nature calls

"I wrestled the teddy bear, and I lost."



After my Hannah detour, I'm finally finishing up Ed's limoncello. Probably not wise doing this next to the stove. Strong. Whew.



Nature visits tonight. This incredible leaf grasshopper thingy. We also had a beautiful pale green preying mantis visiting, but Preston caught it and ate it before I could get the camera out.

Homing device

Heading home today. My work here is done.



"I'm still guarding the patio furniture."



This is the scariest looking stork ever. And that creepy bear!



Interstate 5 is an absolute waste of GPS technology. Two vertical lines for hours and hours and hours and hours...

Fondling my woody

Further blog updates hereforth hindered by Nancy playing around in her new car instead of sending Davy the San Francisco photos.



"I don't like grandpa. Gimme uncle again. I will poop."



Taking a break from family togetherness tonight. So Crock Pot will feed the culinarily challenged folk tonight. Beef stew in progress.



"Don't worry, I'll still guard the patio furniture from the labrador shaped sheep."



Miss Nancy was in town for meetings. Good excuse to steal away an afternoon from accursed family time. Late late lunch at the Swan Oyster Bar.



Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways. One, two, three, four, five...



A detour for some bread at the Ferry building. With the most ridiculous valet parking ever. They moved the car all of 5 feet. Though, in this prime spot, the burled wood grain did attract a lot of attention- lots of touching and feeling from passerbys. The blinged out Cadillac Escalade remained unmolested.



And late late dinner at The Blue Plate. Duck rillettes, semolina breaded sweetbreads, and grilled squid. Mmmm... grilled squid...



Pan seared trout. And ribeye steak and frites. Mmmm... surf and turf...



And taco truck corn.

Homecoming

Hannah comes home today. Here she is snuggling in Uncle Davy's arms. She doesn't like grandpa because grandpa tugs on her arms and legs hoping she'll play tennis when she grows up.



Welcome home cookies for new Mommie. Made from scratch. And warm.



And dinner for the new parents. Grilled salmon, braised leeks.



Roasted proscuitto wrapped asparagus, and grilled stone fruit for dessert. Grandma was banished from the kitchen because she was too slow to peel the asparagus.



Preston's job was to keep the yellow thing and the brown thing from eating the patio furniture while the new parents are adjusting to Hannah. My job is to dangle shiny baubles in front of the new grandparents to distract them away from the new parents.



And strawberry banana bread for tomorrow's breakfast. This started out as normal banana bread, but I mismeasured the flour, and I added strawberries to make up for it.

Hello world

Hello world. Hannah has to stay at the hospital a bit longer since this breathing thing is hard. I totally understand.



Nice to see that she takes after her Uncle Davy.

Something fishy

Pan seared rock fish with lemon caper sauce. And pine nut cous cous. I volunteered for dinner duty while I'm in town playing uncle. Though, it's not much of a choice because I'd rather not eat my Mom's cooking. And it was utterly painful to buy lemons from a grocery store and not pluck one from the backyard. Painful!



Preston says, "Those are some of the weirdest looking sheep. The yellow one is annoying. And the brown one smells funny. And they don't stay still when I herd them into the corner."



The brown one.



The yellow one.

Cry uncle

It's baby time! Even though I left the house 15 minutes after the pregnant people, I still made it to the hospital before they did. Thanks to the miracle that is GPS.



Panda brand baby warmer. Just like the heat lamps over the french fries at McDonalds. There's probably a timer that beeps when baby's no longer fresh anymore.



There is such a thing as love at first sight.

Hannah Grace Chen
August 19, 2006
5:04 pm
6 lbs 15 oz

Giant baby head

Smelling salts

Taking Preston to see my impending niece. Preston loves riding in the car. Especially the smelly parts on the 5 fwy. Of course, I waited until morning to begin packing. This is a bad habit I'm developing. Must nip it in the bud.

Breakfast at night

Kirby got a new haircut. Preston and I made fun of him for 5 minutes. Kirby was sad.


Davy's take on bacon and eggs pizza. Is good. Like eating cereal for dinner.


Roasted pepper and artichoke pizza. Is good. 3 different cheeses.

Gone bananas

Best banana walnut bread ever! Gone in 60 seconds at the client meeting. The secret ingredient is ground cardamon.

Heart felt

Tonight's kitchen helpers are Sachi and Khai. I set them to work with the pasta machine.



Pasta carbonara. All of my favorite things one single dish. Bacon... cheese... eggs... homemade pasta... To die for. Die of a heart attack.



And braised fennel. The caramelized bits are the best. Made with love.



Ching Ching!