February 1: For Christmas, my sister gave me an organic waffle mix. A clever way to make me eat healthier and learn to cook, since my sister knows I won't let food go bad. We don't have a waffle maker, so I decided to use the mix to make pancakes.
I don't think I've made pancakes since I was a kid. I did some quick searching on the Internet to prepare. Is it supposed to bubble like that? And how do I flip it?
Since I was in cooking mode, I decided to keep going. Auntie Valerie had given me a 25¢ bag of salad from Fresh & Easy. I could have eaten it plain, but Auntie Val has a special way of making it tasty: Cook it in olive oil, with some garlic and salt.
Wow, it looks like a real Chinese dish! Much better than a bag of salad. Taste-wise, I think the key is to add enough salt. But I know we probably have too much sodium in our diets, so I'll have to think about this recipe more.
February 3: I had lunch at
Seta, a fancy restaurant. I don't usually eat out at fancy places, but this was part of
dineLA's Restaurant Week. It's a week or two when restaurants all over town offer special fixed-price menus. It's cheaper for the patrons, and a good way to attract new business. Pictured here is my dessert, "Intense Chocolate." It's "bittersweet chocolate flourless molten cake, Grand Marnier blood orange reduction." It's got molten chocolate inside, which is pretty neat. I should also say that I went with a very nice girl I met at speed dating and … wow, I'm totally out of space!
February 5: I had lunch with my usual after-church group. The group varies from 4–14 people, but I'm usually one of the younger ones. This time, I was also the only guy, and I think Claire (top-left) thought it was so funny that she took a photo. (Claire, thank you!) Clockwise from Claire, it's Angie, Kathy, Helen, Inez, me, and Dorothy. They're my adoptive aunties, and they take good care of me.
That day was also the Super Bowl. Here's Uncle Al watching it at the end. Once Tebow's team lost, I was really rooting for the Giants. It definitely could have gone either way, but I'm glad the Giants won!
Uncle Al then wanted to go grocery shopping. Here we are in Stater Bros. I enjoy grocery shopping with others. I think it's the combination of 1-on-1 time to chat, plus being productive. In the cart, you can see some of what Al likes: Nonfat milk, salisbury steak TV dinners, and beef patties.
February 6: My Bible study group ("sedaqah" group) was planning a retreat for the next weekend, and I was on the food committee. To stay on budget, I did some comparison shopping. Here, I took a serious self-portrait at CostCo.
There's a lot about CostCo (and food), that I never knew! They have pre-cooked bacon, which costs only a little more than uncooked. ($3.36/lb vs $2.92/lb, adjusted.) And it's been "naturally wood smoked," so maybe it also tastes better?!
Quick tips: One can enter CostCo without a membership by asking to visit the pharmacy, or to buy alcohol. One can also shop at CostCo without a membership: Just have a member buy you a $25 Costco Cash Card. That's good for one shopping trip, and if you exceed the $25, you can just pay the rest in cash.
In a previous blog entry, I showed the CostCo employee-performance board. Here it is again: That Nadia girl must be really good. And I'm not sure what the right column is about. I thought it was a percentage, but you can see the top guy got over 100.
By the way, for food prices, CostCo was cheapest for eggs (10¢/ea), ground beef ($2.99/lb), salmon ($6.99/lb), bananas (46¢/lb) and sweet potato fries ($1.65/lb). Trader Joe's was better for orange juice ($1.99/64 oz), milk ($2.89/gal) since we only needed one, and cereal (TJ-brand cheerios for $1.99/15 oz, high-fiber cereal for $2.29/14.5 oz). Groceries like Stater Bros., Food4Less, and Valu+ were better when their fruit was on sale (oranges: 7 lb for $1!).
February 7: I visited my cousin Gigi. Gigi's technically my second cousin (my cousin's kid), and she's a freshman at Cal Poly Pomona. It was my first time there. I really liked this building. But now I'm wondering what it's pointing at?
Gigi treated me to lunch at the dorm cafeteria, which was a big treat for me. The food seemed a lot better than what I had at Cal or Caltech, but Pomona also has a strong hospitality program. But since the food's so good, I'll bet the students have to be even more careful about gaining weight!
Gigi and I. Gigi introduced me to some of her friends, and one let me wear this super-cute wolf cap. Apparently it's in style now. I felt like I was at Anime Expo.
Other things I learned at Pomona: All girls love Ryan Gosling. And that new movie, "The Vow," is supposed to be the next "The Notebook." I will just go on record now: I did not like "The Notebook." Nor "Sleepless in Seattle." I thought I would, I really tried, but it was just too…. Anyway, Ryan Gosling seems alright.
Gigi, thank you for a great time!
February 9: Having finished comparison shopping, my friend Peien and I were ready to actually shop! We bought a lot at CostCo and then had a nice time chatting outside over a polish sausage and soda. Since it was closing time, one of the employees was moving the tables around. They have this really cool tool which allows the tables to be easily moved by just one employee. I remarked to the employee how clever and thoughtful CostCo was, and he said that the tool is really to mitigate lawsuits, etc. from people hurting their backs. I suppose it's still a win-win.
February 10: Retreat time! My small group rented a house near Lake Arrowhead for the weekend.
On the way to the house, I stopped in San Bernardino, right before the mountains. They have a "Mr. Video"! That was the local movie rental shop when I was in elementary school. I particularly remember one weekend, when my parents let me rent a Nintendo from there for the weekend.
I had stopped to get something from Jack-in-the-Box. I stood at the counter for maybe 15 seconds, but there was no one at the counter and no one came up to help me. Then I saw it: An automated ordering machine. It was scary but cool at the same time. Coming soon to a Jack-in-the-Box near you? (By the way, I got an error when I first used it, but there was no one there to report it to….)
The retreat house was nice. It easily fit the 14 of us (well, three bathrooms, but it seemed to work out fine). The house also had a nice view of Lake Gregory (not Lake Arrowhead). In the photo, my friend Rob is practicing for worship.
At the retreat, each person had a bag. People could write notes to someone and put that in their bag. I wasn't sure what to think of this at first, but in the end I really enjoyed the opportunity/excuse to write to everyone. Apparently this is not uncommon at Christian retreats.
So what happened at the retreat? I don't know. We just hung out, read the Bible, and talked about God. But it seemed good. Hopefully many good seeds were planted.
February 17: I babysat for my cousins. There's Caroline, Brandon, and 1-year-old Charlotte. How did I handle a 1-year-old? Actually, Caroline took care of everything, and when we ran into trouble, we called Charlotte's mom back from across the street. =)
Here, Brandon is looking at a picture of his mom … when she was in middle school! Trippy.
The kids playing on an old, electronic organ. I was surprised it still worked!
Baby Charlotte. She has this way of looking at you that makes you think she's really thinking about you. I wonder if all babies are like that? I know everything's so new to them.
Charlotte is just at that age where she's learning to walk. Caroline and I took a couple of videos. (Viewable
here and
here.)
February 18: My friend Jill had a book-reading party. Jill is updating her book,
Making Housing Happen: Faith-Based Affordable Housing Models. Jill's house has a lot of character. One thing I really liked is this "park" she carved out in her front yard. There's a bench, table, and even a water fountain for passersby to use. Sadly, I immediately thought of liability issues of having a park in one's front lawn. I guess one needs faith that people won't take advantage of you, or that if they do, God will be there. Maybe that's why it's called, "Faith Park"!
February 19: I visited Uncle Al again. During fall, Al spent Sunday just watching football or sleeping in his chair. But I found him working hard tonight! In some ways, he seems to be getting stronger and stronger. We'll just cross our fingers and continue to take things one day or week at a time.
February 1: For Christmas, my sister gave me an organic waffle mix. A clever way to make me eat healthier and learn to cook, since my sister knows I won't let food go bad. We don't have a waffle maker, so I decided to use the mix to make pancakes.
I don't think I've made pancakes since I was a kid. I did some quick searching on the Internet to prepare. Is it supposed to bubble like that? And how do I flip it?
Hey, it looks pretty good! They tasted okay, too, but butter etc. definitely helps. And flipping the pancakes in the air was totally fun … until I messed up. (I don't like wasting food.)
